Generating the Void...

OK, while we were at Draxtar, Scott was in need of a few Void Shield Generators.  What he had was a few power generation units from Secret Weapon Miniatures.

They are fantastic kits, and are very easy to paint!

Scott's idea was to combine the two together, so that it would be more the size of a Shield generator.

I had a piece of foam with me, so I cut that up to fill the gap between the two pieces.

A piece of sculpey was added to the bottom section to give it more stability.

A few fiddly bits were added to the foam to give it more interest.

Let the painting begin!  Some fluorescent paints mixed in with Emerald and sky blue, which was then lightened with a blue/white.

You can see what a big difference in contrast you get when you restore the surrounding dark colors.  The warm nature of the red also gives it a boost!

However, it is also more grayed down, which is critical. That makes the highly saturated glow colors seem that much more 'pure'.

Working on the gold/brass here.  This was done to match Scott's overall color scheme.

A few preliminary glazes on the lower unit.  These were done by mixing some deep red wash with black, adding some Reaper Brown Liner to warm it up a bit.

A few more darker glazes near the bottom.  Even more Brown liner added to the black shade.

I painted a few little glowy diodes on the extra tower section for effect and interest.

Two of them side by side.  Very Mayan in appearance!

Using the bases

Ok... you finally get to see the other base with a mini on it!

This very cool Reaper mini was on the list for a number of videos.  Freehand cloaks, flesh tones, even yellows (obviously).  In the end, it was used for the Object Source Lighting video.

I had lots of fun working the various yellows, orange, browns and reds.  With the ground cover and even the tufts working in that same color range, I knew that keeping everything in harmony would be relatively easy.

On the flip side, however, that meant creating contrasts would be slightly more difficult.  That had to be done through value contrasts and saturated vs unsaturated versions of colors placed opposite of each other.

Thanks again to Mr.Justin for his fantastic broken columns!

She is also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321436772655?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

A day at Draxtar

A slight shift of plans over the weekend.  I had the studio all packed up and ready to go, but the location changed suddenly.  

Scott came up with the idea of visiting the folks at Draxtar Games, out in Batavia.  So, we loaded up the vehicle, and were on our way.

First, it was very nice to see some old faces from the Bunker!  Gregg, Mike, Homer and more!  It's been years in some cases!

Speaking of cases, there is a wide array of painted goodness in this one!  Fantastic work, covering a wide variety of game systems.

And there are plenty of hobby supplies to be had at Draxtar.  It was hard to fit them all in one image!  Vallejo, Privateer Press, GW, Secret Weapon and more!

You need minis?  How about a wall of Reaper figures.

Tons of other stuff as well, such as the X-Wing and Trek craze.

Oh, and Flames of War!  Nifty!

As you can see, wide open, nicely lit, easy to see, paint and play.

Yes, places to play.  Full size gaming tables with lots of fantastic terrain.

Remember the paint bar?  Well, this is about as close as you can get to those glory days.  Even better, I think.

So, thanks again to Scott, and to Draxtar!

A link:

http://draxtargames.com/

Stowing away some Secret Weapon

I have been compiling and saving a bunch of stuff for a special project... putting stowage on a Secret Weapon tank.

I did some google searching for some ideas...

That's quite a load!

In addition to the RAV 6 x 6 tank from Secret Weapon, I have a variety of items.  I have some sandbags from Secret Weapon, some Highland Guard bits from Victoria miniatures, as well as model tank bits from Tamyia and even some metal pieces from Reaper Miniatures!

I wanted to have a tank commander, so that meant carefully shaving off the top of the hatch.

Applying the first of the sandbags.

I had to make sure that the sandbags didn't interfere with the heavy bolter/heavy flamer... and even the main turret!

Stuff is starting to pile up!

I also want to have some Victoria Mniatures Highland Guard sitting on the outside of the tank as well.

This view shows you some of the GW bits I had been saving.

Much more to come!  I will also be 'wetting down' the sandbags so that they sit a little more naturally.  I didn't want to do that until everything was glued on.  Stay tuned!!

Preparing the Ancients

Here's a few shots of the completed bases.

I can see the designs changing as I fell my way through the look of the army.  Ideas will come to me as I work on these initial test figures.

Obviously, lots of fluorescent paint.  I am leaning towards pinkish glow for the Gauss weapons.

That should be a nice contrast to the green, just as it was for the Tomb Kings!  The Ushabti were a great example of that.

The Necros themselves will definitely be getting a lot of blue.  Not so sure about golds at this stage.

I will see how that all works out.  And so will you!  Stay tuned.

Being a flake

Armed with my new jar of Mica flake gel from Vallejo, it was time to try out the material on an actual base for a figure.

The figure is a Reaper mini... Alastriel.  The broken column pieces are from Secret Weapon Miniatures.  First, I applied some Oxide Paste to fill out the open areas between the columns.

The Mica flakes were added to create the ground cover of leaves.

Time to get to the painting!  Starting out with some neutral grays and browns.

Lightening with some green/gray.

Now for the splash of color on the leaves!

Getting warmer... and lighter.

A little more color on the skull.

A few glazes helped to tone down and tint the ground cover.

More darks applied.

A few tufts of grass, and it's all set!!