Duck and cover... more Forgeworld Empire

Here are the finished pictures of the handgunner!  

I always get a kick out of seeing these images after processing all those step by step images! :-)

I will be even more intrigued to see the unit as a whole when it's completed.  Of course, it is pretty interesting to see these in various stages of painting.  :-)

Well, it's time for me to wrap up the last of my work here in the wee hours and finish the last of my packing.  The next several posts will be done on the road, so bear with me if they appear at odd times!  Most of it will be prep work.

On tap would be Tomb Kings... putting green stuff armor on those horsemen conversions.

A Lord of the Rings Mordor army... converting Fantasy Goblin spider riders into giant spiders.  Lava bases for all!

Dark Eldar... building venoms, reaver jetbikes, and a raider.

And anything else I can get done!

Aim, Ready... Fire! Another gunner joins the unit

Here's another step by step figure from that Empire unit.

As you can see in this first image, it is absolutely vital and critical for our shaded basecoat technique to stay within all the lines, painting very carefully.

OK, maybe not.  That's what I love about the technique.  I can just slap paint on this thing with a big brush and work rapidly, getting colors on all the surfaces as soon as possible.

With each passing image, you will see more and more precision...

As usual, I am racing towards my lightest shades in all areas...

Once you reach that point, it's time to glaze and shade!

And again, once the shading is done, it's time to get into those all important middle tones!

You can see a little more definition in the SE-NMM

Working the blue mid tones...

Here I am putting some texture on the rifle stock and the little vials.

Final highlights are added, and some clean up on edges leads to another finished piece!

As I have said many times here on the blog, that shaded basecoat technique which I refer to is the cornerstone of all the rest of my painting techniques.  Since this is so important, I have been agonizing over my choice of miniature for that all important painting DVD.

I have decided to test out a Raging Heroes figure, which seems to fit all the requirements.  This weekend, we are hoping to do some more camera work and computer research as well.  Next week, I will paint up that test miniature to see if it will be as effective as I hope it will be.

I will post that to the blog for all of you to see!

Stay tuned!

It's our little secret...

Well, what happens in Wappleville does not always stay in Wappleville. :-)

This is a color test miniature for a new faction in the Dark Age game system.  The head piece was the most interesting element to me.  It would make an interesting statue or neat terrain piece if it were scaled up much larger.

This faction has yet to be released, so this will have to be our little secret for now! :-)

Mighty handy with that shootin' iron...

Just when you thought I had forgotten about those Empire handgunners, guess who shows up?

I have been working on those pretty furiously, so we have another painted mini for the movement tray!

Here he is with the unit...

Fire away!

Nurgle Sorcerer completed!

At long last, this figure is done!  It has been around for a while now.

As has been mentioned on the previous step by step threads, this is one of the neater "space marine"  unnamed, non terminator armored characters.

Usually Nurgle marines are the domain of Cathy, who loves her Nurgle!!

The way the left hand is holding the halberd has been the same position I have done on a few of my earlier Grey Knight characters from years ago.  It was quite a surprise to see that pose now!

I wish the photos could show more of the wild and crazy color combos.  In the future, I may try shooting some video of painted figures to see if that kind of 'live view' might help in that case.

Mixing in the fluorescent paints with the 'ardcoat was a great find during this whole Nurgle project.  Always learning something new!!!

I almost never used 'ardcoat for anything, but trying it out on these figures has opened up a whole new area of techniques.  Constant experimentation is so vital.  Not only does it lead to improvements in painting, it keeps things fresh! :-)

Something stinky is coming...

Here is something that has been in the works for a while... a Nurgle sorcerer.  It is an interesting mini that I had never heard of until it arrived.

These next few images show the usual shaded basecoat process.  Here's the banner being prepped for its darker glazes...

Some glazes applied.  Remember, the idea is to set up my middle tones.  I want to do a broad range of color variations in that zone, especially on a Chaos mini such as this.  Those middle tones are really key to establishing reflected light and such.

Same for the sorcerer.  Working the lights as much as possible, so that the glazes and shading will set up my darkest darks...

Don't be afraid to go super light at this stage, since lots of darkness is coming!

And here it is, some darker shading.  When it comes down to it, many transparent glazes and washes take a lot less time than a similar amount of opaque paint layers!

Part of those middle tones is your weathering, such as rust, which is what I like to add right after the shading/glazing stage.

More work on the banner and sorcerer.  Stay tuned for the final images tonight!!!!

The Flying Tigers: The finished figure

After all the steps displayed in the previous two posts, I am left with this completed figure.

It was very fun!  I look forward to trying out some more, as I try to refine a painting DVD to be created around it.

The next figures from this group will probably have additional markings and insignia.

Enjoy!