James Wappel Miniature Painting

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Lady Killers

Here's a gathering of the deadly Reaper fighters! I like to take these sort of group shots of figures that are not part of a unit, army, etc.

In this case, it is even more pronounced, since there are three different styles of basing.

The common element between all of them is the muted greens and browns. However, a very bright teal color was incorporated into all of them... Reaper Mint Green.

While that color by itself is very intense, once it was mixed in with complimentary colors, it was very easily toned down. This provided color unity, and allowed me to use the Mint Green for metal accents.

It's also a fun catalogue of hair colors!

This gives you a better view of the bases. Well, more ladies are on the way, so stay tuned!!!

Skull and Sorcery

This is another one of those figures that you run across which has been hidden behind something on a shelf for years. A little while ago I finished off this half painted figure from Dark Sword Miniatures.

In addition to having fun with the marble and the object source lighting, I treated myself to a touch of freehand.

I thought that the curved lines of the freehand would help pull the veins of the marble up into the cloak, adding some interest.

These types of details are much easier to accomplish when you have finely sculpted and cast figures, which Dark Sword will always supply. That's why they are a favorite of mine! :-)

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Charging Ahead

Here are the rest of the images of the Stingray Riders!

I love the flow of this piece. The continuation of the swirling Stingray body is amazing! It frames the figure so perfectly!

I also enjoy the action of the riders, who truly appear to be in attack mode. No serene riders looking as if they are out for a Sunday ride. :-)

Oh yeah... and the Stingrays look pretty dangerous too!

The skin textures of the Stingrays are interesting. I am tempted to go with lots of purples and blues here, so that I can take advantage of all that texture. Standard grays and blues might not show off all that extra texture.

And a preview of the next post, where we see the Sci-Fi versions. As I have mentioned many times, Raging Heroes is very adept at creating multiple genres from the same figure set.

Stay tuned!!

Red Box Barbarians

It's been a while since the Red Box barbarians have been on the blog, so a few will make an appearance.

Just like all the other figures of this type, I had to match previously painted versions. The one way to try to match color schemes across multiple figure lines is to have as much color harmony as possible within each individual figure.

I attempted to spread around as much of the warm, muted greens as possible... in the skin color, furs, and even the sword blade.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Prey of the Mantis

I have but a few of these Raging Heroes ladies remaining from the video project. Each video took several figures, as I had to see if it would work for the lesson I wanted to teach, could it be finished in less than 88 minutes, color tests, practice figures, opening credits photos, and so on!

These were such fantastic miniatures, I used this as the subject of the Painting Purple/Demonette skin tones as part of the Painting Pyramid series. This video, and all the other skin color videos are available at Kings Hobbies and Games:

http://www.kingshobbiesandgames.com/James-Wappel-s-Fleshtones-Purple-Demonette-p/jameswappelfleshpurple-flesh.htm

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221930256516?

The Dark Nation begins

Time for another sprue set from the Unfinished Business kickstarter!

This ten man sprue contains the line troops (hired hands) from the Dark Nation, one of four new factions which will be introduced to the Wild West Exodus list quite soon.

As with all of the ten man hired hands boxes, each pose is completely unique, and the various pieces are carefully marked so that you can identify them.

And, as usual, you have five close combat hired hands, ready to mix it up with their larger combat halos. The combat halo mechanic makes each game very dramatic, and makes each player have to deal with tough tactical choices.

The long range fill out the rest of the hired hands.

Here are some individual shots...

I have not determined how I wanted to base these yet, but I will probably go with a more basic landscape. Perhaps there will be some burned out building remnants as well!

The Dark Nation have broken with the rest of the Free People, and chosen to use the dreaded RJ-1027 weapons. This influence of the Dark Council has lead to their ultimate corruption.

Unlike the Warrior Nation, these RJ-1027 powered weapons will glow red, with the unnatural energy of the mysterious power source.

They are led by the now corrupted Walks Looking, and they also pack some serious light support weaponry. The Heavy supports are truly colossal in size!!!