Another new foliage experiment

Another Dark Sword miniature, another foliage experiment!

It was also an occasion to play with a touch of freehand on the cloak!

This foliage must be a different coloration of one that I have used in the past on some Memoir '44 miniatures.  In that case, the color was a dark green.

You can also see him here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/321784896487?

Union Gal... at the double quick!

We return to the Wild West with Willa Shaw, a take no prisoners character for the Union faction.

She is very unique among Wild West Exodus characters right now, as she has two incarnations.  First, there is Willa Shaw on foot.  Her synergy with Union Hired hands to go get them to move a bit faster.  That can be very helpful if you have to reach those confounded Reb trenches!

There is also a version where she rides a special Iron Horse, with its own Light Support synergies.  That one is in progress!

Cloak and Dagger

Sorry this is so late, folks!  Between all the crazy storms and the Hawks, I was spending a lot of time turning off electronics and moving things to the basement as the tornado sirens were going off.

I thought it might be fun to have the Dark Sword minis all in one place, so that the various robes, foliage and color schemes could be compared.

Each one had its own unique set of foliage as well.

As for the cloaks, you can get an idea of how I like to carry through the shading.  Having the fine detail and wonderful sculpting of the folds was great, and made my life a LOT easier.

It's also important to have color variations on these relatively large expanses.  Sometimes it meant more gray, or adding some brown, or even tossing in an opposing color to create interest or tone something down.

The view from above definitely gives you a nice look at all three bases.

While all three of these were painted with a relatively muted color scheme, I was still able to get some separation between each one.  Some greens were a bit warmer and saturated, mixing in yellow to lighten them, while others had more of a grayish tone.

The view from above also demonstrates how I tried to get some additional contrast via the foliage.  The figure on the right is a good example, with the bright red flowers next to the muted green cloak.

I hope you enjoyed this set!  There are more Dark Sword figures on the way!!

Foliage and metal...

Here's another one of those classic Dark Sword figures. As usual, a lot of nicely sculpted details.  Not only does it make it easier to paint things such as the hair, face and hands, but the metal parts are also much easier to work with.

The tree is a fun piece of foliage, which is surprisingly resilient and tough.  It was just the thing I was looking for with this piece.

I also combined it with another vine set.  It seemed to go quite well with it!

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/321783675020?

Man on the run!

Or should I say Beastman.  Yet another in the Mierce Miniatures series.

I didn't realize that I was experimenting with a few different colors for skin tones, mostly due to the fact that I only used paint jars that were actually sitting in front of me ;-)

I don't recall any names of those colors off hand, but I can say that they were more saturated that what I have been using lately.  In fact, the yellows and the reds which I mixed together for the main base were pretty bright.

It was the use of the lighter seafoam greens which toned it all down, and kept it from getting too nuclear :-)

Elegance in the West

When I first got this figure from Reaper Miniatures, I thought it was a neat miniature, and it would make a great civilian when I start playing my Warrior Nation posse in Wild West Exodus.

I didn't expect to enjoy painting it so much, or to get such an interesting result!

Since I want to introduce this greenish color to my official Warrior Nation figures, I was very pleased to see how the warmer 'kelly' green juxtaposed with the warm tans, umbers and siennas.

If I can continue these sets of colors on my hired hands Braves and Scalpers, I think I will have a very interesting looking posse!  Stay tuned.

Seeing the world in Miniature

That would be Miniature 13.  They recently launched a successful kickstarter, and they have been hard at work producing all the miniature since!

Here are two of the first miniatures, which were very nice casts!

You can see that having great concept art can lead to very nice figures to paint.

And here she is in miniature.  I made a base which I thought would continue the setting which was established by the sculpt itself.  I am going to paint her in these colors, which means we will have a very fun set of side by side images coming!!

It was very easy to get these figures assembled, which is always a plus.

And now a look at the other figure.  He is standing on a 40mm base.

You can even leave the cloak off the figure, so that you get to see all the work on the tail and back plates.

Another sculpt that will join the previous figures.  I love the lines on this!  There's a fantastic flow to the chest and arm details that will make them very easy to paint.

So, check out Miniature 13, and see what they are all about:

https://www.facebook.com/miniature13/timeline