Raging Heroes Orc for a kickstarter video

I thought I would put up some images today of the first test for the Shaded Basecoat "how to" DVD.  These were taken after the first stage of the technique.  It is now ready for the darker shading and tinting.  This particular DVD is the first of the Painting Pyramid Kickstarter videos to be created.

I had chosen this figure from Raging Heroes for a few reasons.  The surfaces are pretty large, and the detail is incredibly fine, which would in turn make it easier for viewers to see what I am trying to do.

Also, there are a variety of surface textures... flesh, metal, cloth, and so on.

I was worried that using a figure which was mostly a cloak, or flesh would not offer enough information on a video that introduces painters to this kind of painting philosophy.

I have been waiting for a chance to film the rest of the painting process, but between the craziness encountered writing the initial proposal and the very dark skies here, I have focused on other elements of the process.  For those of you who have seen images of the film setup in previous posts, you can see a huge difference in the overall lighting when I film during bright daylight.

That ambient light cuts down on the glare of the lights dramatically.  I paint very rapidly, so if I only use the lights in a darkened room, they tend to reflect way too much on the wet paint.  It's no big deal for me, since I know what it is supposed to look like!  For someone who is trying to see exactly what I am doing, those reflections might be a real impediment.

As I have said before, I am trying to make these the very best they can be.  I have also been reminded not to rush foolhardily into production, because there are 20 different subjects that have to be covered!!  Just so you know, this is only the painting DVD's.  There are make more on basing and sculpting.

Should goals be met, etc. there are 10 much more highly specialized DVD's that I could create.

It's a bit scary to realize just how many of these there are!!!

Walkin' talkin' Papa Nurgle...

As the editing software search continues, here are some more views of the Plague Hulk.  These were take more from a ground level view.

At this point, I am trying to create a bunch of new graphics for the kickstarter proposal, using all the very tough lessons learned from the weekend's tribulations.

Many hours were spent changing just about everything from the original plan.  There are too many crazy little details to get into here, but suffice to say, it is not terribly easy.

We must have felt very similar to all the folks who come to us for advice about ebay.  Since we are 11 year ebay veterans, the problems that newcomers have to that experience are ones we dealt with long ago, when ebay was actually much harder to use.

I will be making another attempt this week, armed with lots of new knowledge, and hopefully some new graphics as well!

I hope you get some enjoyment from these pics of the Big Walking Pustule!

Fallen Dwarf King by Stonehaven Miniatures

Here's another very interesting Character from the recent Stonehaven miniatures kickstarter.  This is the Fallen Dwarf King, who has a wealth of possibilities.

Aside from obvious role playing ideas, I thought this could be an interesting Lord of the Rings Dwarven hero... perhaps a survivor of another goblin invasion, like that of Moria?

Monkey business: cheeky little monkey...

Well, after spending a lot of time monkeying around with those kickstarter proposals, I had to do some serious painting.  Well, this was not as 'serious' as you would think. :-)

He was a fun little guy, that's for sure!

Here he is with the unit...

More to come!!!

The view from above, some images of the painted Plague Hulk

More from the archive today.  We start out with some finished images of that Plague Hulk, with views from above.

You can see the dramatic difference all the glazing and darker shading made.  That stage is not the end of the story, of course, as it still took many hours to go back into the middle tones and lighter areas.

This is to create even more color variations.  For instance, the teal color on the torso was mostly added at this point.  I make lots of adjustments like this as I paint any miniature, but especially on figures such as these.

To strengthen the joints where the legs met the main body, I used the oxide paste to fill in any gaps, and to add an extra layer of support.  It was fortunate that this was a Nurgle piece, since the oxide paste was used in other areas to balance it out.

I did use some weathering powders for rust and soot.  Once that was dullcoated, I used some 'ardcoat on a few glistening areas.

Giant pieces such as this represent all sorts of challenges.  It does help develop techniques that much faster. :-)

I will be posting more finished images as the day moves along!  Stay tuned...

The Great Resin Hulk: more WIP shots of the Plague Hulk

After many hours of discussions and consulations, we have made some adjustments to the 'yet to be submitted' Kickstarter proposal.  It does mean that I have many hours of creating new graphics ahead of me tonight, however.  The learning curve is quite steep, especially when you are doing something that is relatively unique, as we are.  All those examples we looked at really don't translate all that well to our own specifics.

Anyway, enough of that!  Here are some more shots of the Hulk itself.  And man, was this a giant hunk of solid resin!  I was so worried that it was going to collapse the legs when I put it all together!

You will see what I did with that later.  For now, we have a few pics that illustrate that Shaded Basecoat thing. :-)

I think I even used a bit of fluorescent magenta on the pinks.  I am pretty sure that I mixed in some Fluorescent yellow with my green for the slime!

After this stage, I spent many hours glazing and tinting away!

More news as it comes in...

Having a leg to stand on: starting to paint the Plague Hulk

I will be continuing with the Plague Hulk project here as I continue my efforts to figure out the Kickstarter proposal.  There were enough unexpected elements involved that adjustments had to be made.  It would also help if the "save" button truly meant save (sorry to blow off steam there!)

Anyway, back to the painting.  I should mention that all these images are near the end of that "shaded basecoat" stage.  At this point, my main goal is to have color everywhere, so that I can judge how light or dark I want something to be.

For example, if something is primed white, and you only paint little parts of it at a time, even a relatively light color, such as fortress grey, is going to appear very dark.  If the mini is primed black, that same color will seem very bright!

So, I try to eliminate that effect by starting out with that all important middle tone.

When I used to teach my pastel classes, I would demonstrate this concept with 3 different colors of pastel paper (light, middle tone, and dark).  It had a very dramatic effect!  It is something I plan to do on the Shaded Basecoat DVD.  It will be in that first 20 minute segment where I discuss what the technique is, and why I use it, the benefits, etc.

When I am painting these initial greens, for example, I try to have a few different kinds of green on my palette.  Some more yellow green, some that are practically teal, etc.  This promotes the variations in colors that would not be possible if I were to dab away at small, isolated parts of the figure.

It's even more important when you are working on monstrosities such as this!

Well, that's it for now folks.  This busy day has gotten 3 times busier, so I must try to put out all these fires with my empty can of diet Root Beer...