Attack of the Ents

This massive treeman was a challenge just to put together, much less paint!

I think there were at least 22 "branches" that had to be glued in place.  These had to be positioned in a way that was realistic, but also less likely to break.  I didn't want too many pointing straight up, or out to the sides.  You can see that more than one branch actually points downward.

The other reason I did this was to make the upraised "arm" seem more threatening, as opposed to a mere collection of branches among the whole canopy.  I used some Woodland Scenics foliage on the base and the branches.  This is the same material that I have been adding to my historical figures, especially the large gun emplacements and weapon teams.

I used my typical shaded basecoat/glazing method, the very same one that I used in my Painting Pyramid video series.  It is always quite ironic when I paint a treeman, as the figure that was used in the glazing video was in fact a treeman!

It was the perfect subject for a glazing video.  The best way to get the colors and shading down into the unending crevices is through glazing, and this also allowed me to shift colors rapidly and easily.  Endless layers of lighter colors would have taken a tremendous amount of time.

Eastern Blades

My old Easterling army was a cavalry based force, and this character was one of the key elements.  As the blades suggest, he was very proficient in close combat.  In the Lord of the Rings game system, cavalry not only had speed, but some serious hitting power when matched up against infantry.

Knocking down an opponent was a very key tactic in the game, and this was something that a mounted figure could do to a standard infantry man.  Also, the soldier on top of the horse could survive a hit, as it was possible for the horse to be killed instead.

By comparison, most cavalry in other systems were nothing more than fast moving infantry.

It was this depth that made LOTR my favorite system at the time, and prompted the use of chariots for my Khandish allies.  The chariots had a further level of charging impact, and additional layers of survivability.    Once again, chariots were usually treated like fast moving infantry that might get some generic impact hits.

These cavalry units could be spurred on even further by war drums and priests, increasing their speed and ferocity.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222664580970?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Home Repairs

Now that all the shaded basecoat has been completed on the buildings, it is time to mark out where the line of shattered exterior stucco begins.  While it is possible to do this with a regular brush, I wanted to show a method that can create a more random looking edge.

We always trend towards creating patterns, and one way to prevent that is to take it out of our hands.  In this case, it will be a torn paper towel, which is something that I used for my spacescapes all the time!

The idea is to tear off some concave and convex pieces of the towel, allowing it to tear naturally.  It should also have some bits of fuzz off of these ends, so don't cut it with a scissors!

You can see the effect in the lower image, where the lighter color has been sprayed to the outside of the mask.  This leaves a very irregular edge along the area where the bricks have been exposed on the collapsed walls.

I try to emphasize this edge even more around shell holes.  Keep in mind, I will be going back over these with brushes and weathering powders to create additional effects.  This process has more to do with establishing where those edges should be.

However, if you are in a hurry, this is a very quick method for getting them presentable!

You can see the look that I am going for here.  If you want, you can place multiple masks on the walls if you are not comfortable spraying onto one side of a mask and risking overspray onto the bricks elsewhere.  

Here I have a wall where the remaining stucco forms a line in between two large areas of exposed brick.  You could use a few bits of blue tac to hold the masks in place.

For a stronger edge, you can use lighter tones, or continue to spray a bit longer.  Again, the whole idea here is to create more random patterns.

I think you can even recognize where the edge of the paper towel and the paint on the wall match.  I turned the mask backwards to get more shapes from that single mask.  I also had a few other pieces that ended up with edges that had a different shape.

This is also an illustration of why I left the bricks a little darker.  Had I highlighted them too much, this new layer would not have as much impact.  Also, I want to have lighter color mortar in between the bricks, and I have discovered that it is much nicer when it is lighter on the dark bricks.

For shell holes on walls that do not have as much exposed brick, I tried to experiment with masks made of blue tac.  It is more difficult to get the random torn edges, but that is something that I can do by hand.

The buildings are now ready for the next set of effects.  I will go back in to these areas with a brush and create a more pronounced edge, painting cracks and other indications of damage, etc.  The weathering powders should also create a more scorched, dusty appearance.

As for the interiors, I have created some wallpaper that should really help to add to the overall look of the buildings.  I did this on some Wild West structures, and that really made a big difference.

That will be covered in the next post, or a facebook live episode if it is too difficult to snap images during the process.

Here's a peek at one of the wallpapers that I made in photoshop.  I found a number of patterns in a "1930's wallpaper" search, and then took the small pieces into photoshop to create much larger sections to cover the walls of the buildings.

Each of type of pattern is actually 8 of these small chunks that I snagged on google.

Stay tuned for the next episode!!

House Painting

After allowing the glue and oxide paste enough time to dry thoroughly, it was time to get some paint on these ruined buildings!  Using the Badger airbrush (Patriot 105) and some primers would not only make this task faster, but save some abuse on the buildings by not hammering away at all the deeper areas with a brush!

I decided to start with a neutral gray Stynelrez primer to seal everything in, and set the stage for the other muted colors.

I tried out these "terrain paints" from Badger for the first time.  They are like weathering powders in a way, comprised of many earth tones and greens.  I thought they might be handy for the brick piles, exposed wood and brick, etc.

I began with the Weathered Black, which was a darker, warm grey.

I worked on all 4 buildings at the same time.  On the "intact" building, I will be putting printed carpets on the floor.  The walls will have wallpaper, just like the ruined structures.  So, the interiors walls were kept pretty simple, focusing on darker grays in the corners.

I also made sure to have some darker shading around shell holes and over the burned out windows.

The airbrush certainly made it a lot easier to reach all those crevices, especially on the multi story ruins.  It also meant that I didn't have to risk breaking away my bricks to get color down underneath them!

Once I had established where the darks would be, I began to work lighter, trying to catch some of the highlights without getting too bright.  I still have to add the browns and reddish colors for the bricks!

You can see the difference in tone once those warmer colors are added.  This is why I wanted that neutral grey to start out, so that the browns and reds would not be as intense as they might have were these primed black instead.

The open ruins structure shows off those warm colors.  Keep in mind that many more layers of powders and other paints will be added!  These are just the initial shaded basecoat setup layers.

You can see the color temperature difference even more on the intact building as the warmer lighter colors contrast with the cooler gray.

An even lighter series of tan/creme colors were applied to give more contrast to the outer walls.

You can see that I am trying to create stains and scorch marks already.  These will be further enhanced with more details later.

A reddish color was sprayed on the exposed brick walls and the piles, making sure not to get too much of a "single color" look.  I have some very fun details that will be added to the bricks to bring them out even more that I will show you in a future episode.

The next episode will feature something very interesting!  I am going to use one of my old spacescape painting techniques in order to lay out where the shattered walls will expose the darker bricks.  Stay tuned!

By the way, you can get these Badger airbrush products at Webairbrushes.com with a link below.  If you use the coupon code wappellious, you will get a 42% discount.

http://webairbrushes.com/

The Marshall

I have painted a few of the Ladies of the West now... but finally one of them is ready for my Lawmen of Wappelville!

Continuing the theme of painting figures that require similar colors,  the palette of this figure matched those of 3 other genres that I was working on at the time.  For instance, if I am working on a skin tone, I will try to find as many figures as possible that require something similar and do that all at once.

I even used some of these same colors on a treeman and a troll... even on a giant birdman and WW2 figures.  The list goes on, and so does the progress.  As I have said before, it is a fantastic way to keep the line moving and get things done more rapidly.

Lately, however, I have noticed the "side" benefit more and more, which is keeping the energy level higher.  Instead of getting bored painting the same thing over and over (especially if the figures are not favorites!!) I can switch to something else that I do enjoy, and take the sting out of painting things that really don't interest me.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322794250839?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Chaibo

There are many new interesting miniature lines these days, and one of them is certainly Siren Miniatures!  Each figure is sculpted with incredible details, like little Chaibo here.

Every time I turn around, there's a little touch of detail, but not something that is overwhelming, or intrusive.

I have painted many of the dwarf characters, and each one is very unique.  The way the muscles are sculpted reminds me of the old Ilyad Games figures.

These details allow for all kinds of color transitions, which is what I did here.  There are bright lemon yellow colors next to muted purples and greens, while grays and reds balance against those combinations.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322792146759?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

News from the Front!

Let the terrain mania begin!!!  

Some fantastic new battle mats have come in from the folks at TableWar, and each of them will be the setting for entire ranges of terrain.  These will generate dozens of how to articles here on the blog, where I not only show how to make the terrain pieces themselves, but also how to unify them more with something like a battle mat.

I really enjoy the carrying cases, as I will be using them very often.  They also keep the mats safe and dust free when not in use!

Here's a link to the website:

http://www.tablewar.com/the-f-a-t-mat/6x4-f-a-t-mat/

These are heavy, strong mats for sure!  I think they will stand up quite well to any kind of punishment I will inflict upon them.  

Each mat is rendered with subtle designs such as these nice designs.  The terrain pieces I have been working on were done before before I had this mat in hand, so I didn't have the opportunity to generate specific pieces to best take advantage of the innate design elements seen here.  I will try to modify them a bit so that they mesh even better.

Future terrain pieces will be made with the mats in mind, as I mentioned.

Still, I could not wait to start putting out some of my finished pieces on this mat!!  I didn't get too involved with trying to figure out which way to orient the mat itself.

The exposed dirt/trail seemed to be a fun element to build around, so I tried to position my tree stands and central hill to take advantage of that.

Hehe, I could not resist plopping down one of my wagons onto that trail!

I added more and more of the smaller trees stands, trying not to cover up any interesting rocks or other graphics.

Here's the view from one side of the board.  I found a small easel which I will try to use for my painted backdrops to cover up all the nasty shelves which normally appear in these shots!  I already have something figured out for the long table sides.

Now from the opposite end of the board.  After seeing the terrain pieces on the nasty, dirty tablecloth, I am very pleased to see all that hard work resting on such a great mat.

I will also be adjusting my lights a bit.  Believe it or not, I have too much of it right now!  I have a host of 60-100 Watt LED bulbs which had been secured for an older camera.  That camera was horrible in anything but the brightest lighting, but the new version requires far less.

That is probably something else that I will get into when I move forward on the future terrain articles.

While I thought that my large pieces would cover up too much of the mat, this view made me realize that they work quite well, and there is still plenty of mat to see.  I will try many other configurations to see how that looks.

I can even add other smaller pieces of scatter terrain, such as fences, small bushes, more animals, etc.  Farmland is another aspect of terrain building that I have experimented with, but you have not seen.  

Farm fields, bocage, cottages and farm houses should also look very nice on this mat.

One final view... I think I may just have to do that inaugural battle report now.  As always, stay tuned!