A Date With Morticia

Here are a few scenes from filming the latest Black Heart bust tutorial video for the Patreon Page!  I love using the Mig Ammo Oilbrushers for these busts... here you see things set up along with the primed Morticia...

While I always have fun doing miniature painting videos with the oil paints, busts are a special treat with their relative size.  This means I can do much more on areas such as the eyes!

This is a facebook live session that I did a while back on a different bust, just to give you a sense of how I approach these in the tutorial videos:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212698297826442/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I also had some fun painting a little landscape on the plinth, and it seemed to be a fun way to introduce people to oils in 2D as well.  

As you can see, I tried to use all the same colors which were used on the bust itself so that it would be cohesive, and not overpower the main interest of the face.

I am thinking of creating a pledge level that would provide a "hard copy" version of the tutorial on a USB drive, and an unpainted version of the bust itself.  This would be an all in one level where you could get started with your painting even sooner!

I already have a pledge level that gets you the hard copy video, and the painted bust too!

If you want to see even more of these tutorials, you can check out the Darkest Hearts pledge on the Patreon Page here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Crown of Chrome

Time to continue the process of painting the 1/2 scale Black Heart Models bust!  As you saw in the first episode, I was using the new Badger Metalsmith color set to shade and tint a number of metal colors.

I was mixing in some additional Ghost Tint colors to achieve more dramatic dark tones and push some of the metal colors towards brass, copper, etc.

I used "regular" Stynlrez primer for the face, so that it would stand out from a texture standpoint from those metals.

And here he is, the genius behind the amazing Black Heart Models busts that everyone is so crazy for!  He developed some new rotating display cases for GenCon too.

We have already been making plans for next year, which should include a larger video monitor, so that people can see what I am doing on camera more easily.  There might even be scheduled times for specific demos, so that you can plan your dealer's room excursions around them!

After working on the main bust all day Thursday, I did some more elements on the face and the 'crown'.  This was also done with the Metalsmith paints.  Hopefully you can see some of the variety in the tones of the metals...

Time to attach those pieces, and see how they look!  You can also get a peek at some of the glowing areas, which I am working on now with my fluorescent paints.

Adding those sections created even more of a contrast with the textures of the face, which was great to see!

I will also add a touch of my fluorescent orange to the eyes, which should make them even more piercing than they already are.  As I told many people watching, the idea was to do the eyes, mouth and other details with a brush for a few reasons.

First, it was just easier to do so.  There are some things the airbrush does more efficiently, and vice versa for the traditional brush.

Second, the brush would provide that hard edged contrast that was needed to draw the viewer towards the eyes and central facial features.

There's plenty of things going on with this bust, so I need every available form of contrast.  Light vs dark, warm vs cool, muted vs saturated, and also hard vs soft edges.

I have some more posts coming of the activities in the Badger Booth, so stay tuned!

A Second Skin

We are finally back from GenCon, and the unpacking process is still under way!  This year was really interesting, and that started right off the bat when George put this massive 1/2 scale bust in front of me!

It is of his own inspiration, and he did a masterful job with it.  We thought that it would be the prefect subject to try out the new Badger Metalsmith paints as well.  Nothing like tryout out a new medium for the first time on a scale you have never attempted before... in front of a live audience no less.

I began with a neutral grey primer.  The set comes with a white and a blueish black, which allows you to get a lighter or darker look to the metal colors that you are spraying on.

At one point I even mixed a little of the black primer in with the grey to darken it.  I started to layer on some more of the Stynlrez primers on the face, since we wanted to determine if that should be non-metal tone.  The rose colored primer was sprayed over the grey in more of a dusting, so that it would almost be a purple tone.  I eventually went over that with more of the "flesh" colored primers.

I knew that I wanted some blueish glow in some interior areas, so I added the Plasma Fluid Ghost Tint to the white primer.

I didn't know exactly what kind of metal colors I wanted on the torso, so I experimented with some of the 'gold' mix.  That is, you take the metal colored primer and mix in the gold Ghost Tint (usually about 3-5 parts Ghost Tint to metallic primer).  This goes through the brush very nicely, and you get a decent, fine grain metal on the surface.

I added more dark shades of Ghost Tints (such as the Iron ore shade) and even some "regular" Ghost Tints such as brown and Oil Discharge to create darker metals.  This is usually the bugaboo for "metallic" paints... getting lighter and darker colors.

In some cases, I mixed the Plasma Fluid with the metal primer, and got a very nice blue metal!

Here I was using a lot of the darker Ghost Tints to deepen my shadow colors.  As long as you have a tiny bit of the metal primer in there, you will still have a metal sheen.

I even added some Fresh Blood Ghost Tint to make some of the cables more of a copper metal.  There is a special copper tone included in the Metalsmith set.

You can see more variety in the metals starting to emerge, and even some reflected light.  Keep in mind, this is pretty huge, so it was really vital to include that reflection, as well as some hefty shadows!  Stay tuned for part two, and more experimentation.  

Thanks again to George and Ken from Badger and Black Heart Models.  It was truly a lot of fun this year!

A Warrior's Heart

While many of the fantastic busts from Black Heart Models are of the Horror movie genre, the line of historical busts has also bee fun to paint!  I have already tackled the Genghis Khan bust, with Ivan and Hannibal coming soon to a live session.

In the meantime, here is Geronimo, a bust which posed a unique set of challenges.

For obvious reasons, there are no color references to go by, so I had to extrapolate from other sources.  I had even toyed with a sepia tone concept, but that extra challenge of attempting to make the skin colors believable for this subject had to go forward!

I had also contemplated some designs for the pedestal that would have reflected the nation of Geronimo, but, it seemed to me it would only distract from the bust itself.  A muted and condensed color set was required for the face and clothes, so patterns or colors of any kind would not have worked very well.

You can see the design that I put on the Genghis Khan bust here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-darkest-heart.html

I have done two live sessions so far on these Black Heart Models busts, with more on the way.  I am also creating a special recorded and edited video on a few others which will be made available to my Pateron subscribers:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

A New Species

Here's a few shots from the Black Heart Models bust that I painted during a live session last week.

It was a lot of fun, experimenting with new colors, in addition to the Mig Ammo Oilbrushers!  This link will take you to that broadcast:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212698297826442/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

While I could not follow these reference pics exactly, they were a handy guide.  I might still try to do the lacquered effect on the skin, but I have to make sure everything is completely dry.

I used a Badger airbrush on the pedestal base, starting out with light primer colors, and then going over the top of those with a few of the Ghost Tints.  You can see that I emphasized the blue and magenta, as I thought this might be a perfect compliment to all of the greens and tans of the bust.

It was a tricky balance, since the colors on the bust were somewhat muted.  There are some areas that have a deep blue green or dark red, but those are in specifically designated areas.  Using Pthalo Green and Quinadridone Magenta really added some extra punch, very similar to what I do with the Reaper Clear and Liner paints.

I had been waiting a long time to test out these brighter and more intense tones.  This bust was certainly a great candidate!

You can find her on the Black Heart Models webstore here:

http://blackheartmodels.com/products/micro-mania-busts/micromania-sil-species

I will be painting many more of these busts, which I will be turning into various tutorials.  Some of these will be "hard copy" recorded and edited videos available only to my patrons on the Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The Darkest Heart

This very nice bust from Black Heart Models was painted mostly with the Mig AMMO Oilbrushers.  Those offer very nice consistency right out of the container, which is identical to 'regular' acrylic based miniature paints.

I printed out a few reference pictures to work from, so that I could try some fun color variations on the face and the armor.  As you can see, I liked the 'hammered steel' helmet, and went with that.

Here's the webpage for Black Heart:

http://www.blackheartmodels.com/ecommerce/

I had a lot of fun painting this bust on a Facebook live episode, which you can view here:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10211758937983033/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I did some finishing details with acrylic paints once the oils had dried.  Working on large scale subjects like these busts are very fun for me, as I have never gotten a chance to do that before!  

The larger size allows me to incorporate even more of my old 2D art techniques.

I'm planning to do more of these historical busts on future Facebook Live sessions, including Hannibal and Vlad!  If the Patreon page receives enough funding, I can do more frequent live sessions and more Patreon videos as well.  Any contribution is helpful, and makes you eligible for the monthly raffle figure!

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Secrets of the Past

Continuing the finishing stages of the Black Heart Models bust means briefly switching to acrylic paints.  I will be using a few of the Secret Weapon Miniatures weathering paints, such as this Verdigris color.

The vast majority of the bust was painted in a Facebook live session here:

I darkened it with a bit of Emerald from Vallejo.  While I don't want to emphasize the copper too much, I thought that it would tie in nicely with the bust, the design that I will paint on the plinth and make the name plate on the back more integrated.

Speaking of the nameplate, you can see what I am talking about.  I thought that making it part of the weathering would make it interesting and less noticeable.

I tried to build up a bit of the verdigris on the upper surface as well.  This will continue up into the bust itself.

Once again, the company logo is worked into the weathering as I begin to do a few streaks.

I did some more streaks on the front of the plinth, and then did some research to look for Mongolian designs...

I tried to stick with something simple, and that would lead up to the face, and work with the medallion on the chest.  I thought I could get away with one burnt sienna tone and the verdigris colors in combination.

The design is hashed out a bit more, checking to see how much attention it might draw away from the bust itself.

Instead of doing a series of outlines as I saw in the reference image, I thought I would do some shading of it instead.  This way I could tone down the design a little if it became too much.

Just about done!  There will be another post coming up with the final images of the whole piece.

I have a few more of these fantastic busts from Black Heart Models that I will be painting in Facebook Live sessions, and also in special Patreon videos.  They might even be one of the monthly figure raffles as some point.  If you would like to join in on the fun, the Patron page is here:

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel