Cathy's project continues...

Here are some more images of Cathy's base!  You have seen the WIP images of how she built the base from the baked sculpey, carving and weathering each block, as well as the mosaic floor.

This is the second post showing the process of painting it.

Cathy did some color test marble pieces first to practice...

It's always a good idea to do such practice sessions, since it will definitely save you a lot of time and struggle, and yield a better final result.

Here is a reference she was using, a painting by John William Goodward.

Now for some images of the base after this stage of painting:

You can really see the greenish marble, along with the stains in these images...

Stay tuned for the next episode, where she works on the smaller mosaic pieces!

Painting with Powders... it can be done!

OK!  As mentioned yesterday... a miniature painted entirely with 'weathering' powders!

Yes indeed.  No kidding.  Even the base.  In fact, I am really enjoying painting the bases with the powders.  It might even get more interesting when I try out the other Secret Weapon products that make snow and mud.

There was a great deal for me to learn to make those powders work as a painting material.  It is not easy, and you really have to think and plan ahead.

The reason I thought it might gel with what I am doing is that planning ahead is a big part of it.  Starting lighter, knowing that eventually I will be tinting and shading everything darker.

Even with this technique, starting lighter and working darker is a great approach.  You can create de-facto 'glazes' using the fixer product.

For the time being, bright colors are not something that would be possible using the powders, which is why this is more of an "earth tone" piece.  There is a logical explanation for this paradigm.  The vast majority of powders are made for weathering or related techniques, so they are naturally more muted.

If you want to lighten the colors, you can apply them as a 'powder', without any liquids or mediums.  This will give you a very nice smooth look, although you will have to spray it later with dullcoate to seal it.

The original intent for this video was for painting large creatures, but I really wanted to push the limits to see what is possible.  You will find that working on a large miniature after doing this little lady will make it seem a lot easier!  Working with much bigger brushes on the large surfaces should be very nice!

Spiders everywhere!

OK, after another very long night of work, we conclude with some group shots of the Spider Horde.  This really puts the Arachnid in "Arachnids of Evil"!

This represents the spider element of the new army.  They are accompanied by Morghul knight cavalry, and the Shadow Lord on Fell Beast.  My concept is, as I mentioned before, speed and hard hitting multi-wound units.  

With the protection of the Shadow Lord from shooting (as well as terrain for the spiders), I am hoping to be able to deliver some serious punches to the opponent.  The Shadow Lord is supposed to help neutralize banners and captains, either by shooting them down, compelling them, or picking them up and tossing them aside.

The Spider Queen s also supposed to provide a sudden advantage at the point of attack by spawning the broods.  She can also knock down cavalry units, and provide a high strength fight skill 6 set of attacks on pesky leaders.

I am also counting on the multiple attacks and poison of the giant spiders.  They also have a high fight skill, and multiple attacks.  In conjunction with cavalry charges, I think they can be quite deadly.

For those who may not have seen the original posts of those giant spiders, here are a few.

I used WFB spider mounts for goblins.  There is a post that shows how I used green stuff to convert them into giant spiders...

Now it is time to finish off that Shadow Lord on Fell beast!!

When the shoe is on the other foot...

Sometimes, when the shoe is on the other foot, you end up getting a kick in the pants. :-)  In some ways, this was that kick.  I was creating the techniques for the Painting with Powders video.

That had been a major struggle on an off for the last 4 days.  I was trying to achieve the vision that I had for such a technique well over a year ago, when powdered pigments were just starting to gain prevalence. 

Let's just say that I now know what it is like to be all the people who are trying to adapt my methods and mesh them with their own.  This last happened to me in art school, when I had to take what the teacher was showing me, and make it my own.

For the last several years, my techniques had been evolving, so even dramatic shifts were not exactly traumatic, since they were all branching out from one source.

This was something entirely new, completely alien.

Justin from Secret Weapon Miniatures was kind enough to do a demo for me, showing how to use the new Sealer product, as well as rubbing alcohol.  However, I still had to learn all the ins and outs of the materials for myself.

Now, check this out.  It looks pretty ordinary in terms of palettes for me, doesn't it?

However, what you are actually seeing on that palette are only these!

Yes, this miniature is being entirely painted with nothing more than 'weathering' powders.  Here are some images of the earlier stages.  Fortunately, my usual methods of working lighter to darker colors suited this well.

Exchanging Sealer and rubbing alcohol for water and glaze medium was very distracting at first.  I had to learn all new sets of properties.  For instance, the lighter pigments act differently with each medium, while the darker pigments tend to act exactly the same.

I even learned to rub away pigments, and wet blend new colors in!  Imagine being able to wipe away a color you didn't like :-)  So, I will be showing the finished images at some point late tomorrow!  Stay tuned...

Chaos Steel on Ice

Here is a new version of my very first Blood Bowl team... the Juneau Ice Bergs!  The first time I tried painting them back in the 90's, I had no idea what I was doing... either with the miniatures or with the game :-)

I disbanded them a long time ago, but the stadium remains intact.  You can find images on this in the Blood Bowl stadium section.

Ever since, I wanted to give it another try.  Using all the tricks that I had learned over many years of mini painting, I was able to get the results that I wanted originally, but did not know how to do.

These are some images of the team mostly completed.

The ice bases were very fun, and they really go well with the stadium!

The last time I played these guys in a very brief league, they were doing far better than they had so long ago.  I had hundreds of games in between, and I was able to pull off a lot of dramatic plays.

I had a different approach with them than the usual Chaos Dwarf team, but it paid off in lots of star player points and wins.

I will be saying goodbye to these lads, as they are being donated to a Wounded Warrior project.

Here is the link:

http://www.7citiesbb.com/

What do you do with those resin sprues?

I know that a lot of people already do this, but over the last few years I have had a lot of fun (and satisfaction) using leftover resin sprues for basing!

They come in all shapes and sizes, and since almost everything I have to work on these days is resin, why not get some use out of all that?  I think these sprues are from 4-5 different manufacturers...

While you can do something very similar with sculpey, the resin pieces are super strong.  I used them to support some Reaver jetbikes in my Dark Eldar army, as well as on some of my 40k terrain.

It does not take a lot of extra work to get the sprues in a condition for basing.  I included some of this in the 'Blasted Concrete' video, since I am sure a lot of you have (or had) this stuff sitting around.

Once it's all painted up, it looks quite nifty!!

Never a can of RAID when you need one...

A while back I finished off the base for the Spider Queen, and the 3 brood swarms as well.  As you know, I used the Reaper Bones plastics for those swarms.

They were just the trick, fitting reasonably well on the required 40mm bases.

It will be very fun to pop these guys up in some much needed areas.  Perhaps to keep a standard bearer occupied of out of position, or prevent a response or counterattack once I have charged.

It could also be a handy way to get at spearmen and negate that support.

Working with the Shadow Lord on the Fell Beast, I should be able to protect these guys pretty well from shooting, at least enough to deliver them to the point of attack.  Besides, with the ability to move through terrain unimpeded, the giant spiders will be able to pop out of forests or other safe zones.

It would be hilarious to see the queen and her broods wipe out some archers lodged in a structure... all thinking they are nice and safe :-)

I will shoot some images of all the spiders together... right now there are half a dozen giant spiders in addition to these guys!