Harnessing the power of the Sun (almost)

One of the many things I have learned during the process of filming these videos would be the incredible capabilities of LED daylight bulbs.

I experimented with a few of these as I was looking to get more overall light in the filming area when I did things that were bigger than my LED magnifier lights could handle.

I tried out a few of these... not cheap at $23 each!

However, the results were AMAZING right off the bat.  It was just like having miniature suns.  The first time I turned them on, the dark dungeon of the basement studio was brilliantly illuminated!

These bulbs come in all sorts of bizarre shapes and sizes...

But the daylight bulbs are the masterstroke.  They are more than twice as expensive as the other two types of LED bulbs, but you get every penny back.

I have gotten 40 and 60 watt equivalents.  I may try some 75 watt bulbs, but now you are talking about $35 or more.

This was the first time I tried one of the bulbs... in an ancient, beat up swing lamp (the one with the clip on it).  I could not believe the results.

This was a 40 watt equivalent from Walgreens, at about $14.  It was perfect in one of my photography lights.  Far superior than the photography light, which was very odd.

The LED lights don't cycle the way all other bulbs do (even the CFC bulbs), which makes them usable for video!

I wish I knew this months ago, but then they were not as prevalent as they are now.  My new hop is that the long tube versions for the old style fluorescent lamps drop in price.  That would reclaim a half dozen lamps for me!!!

Raging Brunhilde

This represented the last of the 'standard' painting videos.  After this one, it was about more 'exotic' materials such as the powdered pigments and so on.

One last time... a row of paint jars!

This was one of the larger arrays of colors on the palette.

Another color sketch!  Trying to illustrate how gold is the most reflective of the non-chrome NMM's.

The much more complicated Shaded Basecoat.

And then many rounds of glazing.

And tinting, and shading.

Colors back out onto the palette.  Sometimes I really like this stage, because it is the time that I mix regular paint with my glaze colors.

Just about there!

Here she is... Miss Konisgmark

I will continue to do some more 'finish' work on this figure, since that is going to take at least another 3 hours...

Then she will really match the standard bearer version!

Hiding in plain sight

With the help of some Urban Warfare Viridians, it was time to do some camo!I

I started off with the desert camouflage scheme.

Prior to the glazing phase... keeping all the colors in line, so that even the wargear didn't stand out too much.

Glazing time!

I set him on the base that had been prepared (I show how to make these in one of the basing videos).

Then the jungle sniper.

Some of the colors from the desert camouflage came back a second time, this time to make sure there was enough variety in the greens.

Time to glaze again!

He now looks sufficiently green!

Ah yes, the narrow slit that I get to look through to see the palette!  I looked forward to NOT having to contort myself more and more as the video shoots went on...

A slight change to the pattern from the desert camouflage... more like branches filled with leaves.

I had a base set up for the jungle sniper as well.

A new sculpt from Darkhammer miniatures

The green of the latest sculpt from Darkhammer miniatures has been revealed.  This beastie will be very fun to paint!  Here is the concept art.

The artist did a wonderful job of capturing that concept art, and I am sure the casting quality will be as high as it was for the undead Samurai.

I see lots of fun color combos here!

Can't wait to see the actual figure!

I think I will be using some weathering powders on this guy. :-)

Here are some WIP shots of the Undead Samurai.  I have been doing glazes on it since these were shot...

I have been making a nice Japanese garden base for him, and finding lots of designs for the banner, etc.  Stay tuned!

No more wings...

This was the last of the Big Beastie videos that needed to be done.  I did a little color swatch exercise to begin...

And the dove right in to the Shaded Basecoat.

Lots of big brushes and colors on the palette.

Looks like he might sneeze!

Working the armor...

Must be time to glaze!

One wing glazed, one not.

A different set of shades on the other sides of the wings.

Glazing the armor.

And then there were two!

Dancing along.

Many thanks to Ultraforge for letting me use their big Demons!