It's almost official! :-)

Well, it's almost that time.  I have been mentioning in recent weeks that Kings Hobbies and Games will be carrying a portion of the Painting Pyramid video series in their webstore.

That will be official on Monday, October 5th.  The focus will be mostly on the "core" videos, which covers the Shaded basecoat and glazing techniques.  In addition, a variety of Non-metallic techniques, freehand, and color theory videos are going to be available.

One of the color videos is called "Yellow Alert", and it is typical of the five which are offered.

As you can see, I explore the whole range of colors that fall under the term "yellow".

One of the reasons I made each color (reds, blues, greens, grays) was to help people with mixing colors, as opposed to searching for the right jar of paint.  If you know how to make certain colors, you will cut down on the number of paints that you need to buy, or haul around with you!!

I made these in response to all of the questions which I get so often on "How do you make your reds lighter without getting pink" and so on. :-)

Each video covers basic topics such as the paint, primer, brushes, and palette.  Also, every video begins with a version of the "Shaded Basecoat", and then moves on to the "glazing" stage.

When I reach one of these stages, you can see that all the colors which will be used are placed on the palette and discussed.

When necessary, I do little asides like this.  Every NMM and skin tone video has one of these 2D representations, so that it's easier for you to see what's going on.

The videos average a running time of 100 minutes.

I have a dozen half hour preview videos, including this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnvcMwauXZk

In addition to painting videos, I have a number of basing videos.  There are five on offer right now, but eventually that will expand (I did 12 of them total!)

Here's a link to this basing video preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEP1ILxyGcs

The videos will be offered on USB drives (usb 3.0), and there are discounts for the purchase of multiple videos.  Putting them on USB drives allowed me to get the highest quality resolution, and it gives you a chance to load them onto as many devices as you want.  Not to mention that it is really easy to carry around!!!

So, come Monday, you will have a place to go to at all times for your corner of the Painting Pyramid!!

Don't forget, additional titles will be added over time.

http://www.kingshobbiesandgames.com/category-s/130.htm

Ducks in a Row

 

I finally had a chance to take a series of group shots of some of the Red Box Games barbarian figures recently.

 

As I posted the individual figures, I continued to stress the value of painting the semi-translucent greenish tones into the skin colors.

 

This technique created an additional level of depth in those skin colors, without adding a lot of extra painting time.

 

Rather than paint endless layers of either opaque painting or glazes, this method of "back and forth" was invaluable.

 

Painting that semi-translucent color into what would normally be the shadow areas also smoothed out some rougher areas by default, saving even more time.

 

Looking back, I see that they really helped me find a whole new range of tones in browns, tans, and so on.

 

Even larger sets of group shots await, so stay tuned!

More Tiny Tanks

I just realized that the finished images of the Somua s35.  It's Flames of War 1/100 scale.

It was an intriguing design, as it was a style of drive wheels that transitioned between the WWI type of treads to a more recognizable Second World War design.  The Matilda had a similar kind of 'guard' on the wheels, which was intended to control mud and dust dispersion. 

A large number of unusual vehicles which began the war were eventually weeded out, as the demands of new combat tactics were recognized.

Thanks to Rich for doing some of that spot research for me!

I look forward to exploring more of these unique early war vehicles, and playing out those campaigns in Western Europe, North Africa and the Levant!

Which begs the question... will these two sides be Allies, or Adversaries?

Film Noir

The Legion returns with another interesting character figure.  As with all the other snow based figures, this one must match previously painted figures.  It means an extremely limited palette.

Normally I would try to inject as many different subtle color changes as possible into the grays, but going too far with that would take these out of harmony with what's already been done.

So, I did a tiny bit of greenish tints in some places, and purplish grey in others.  These two grays play off each other (green and purple mixed together make a very interesting gray, after all!), so I could get away with it. :-)

I even did an entire video on gray colors in the Painting Pyramid "Shades of Grey" video.

Here's a peek at one of the 'color theory' videos, this one covering Yellow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnvcMwauXZk

Oh No!!!

As many of you already know, one of my favorite elements about Wild West Exodus is the impact that civilians can have.

They roam (or run) about the streets of the town, in random directions and distances.  Sometimes they can move directly into your path, and get in the way!

I have even watched them walk right into my well placed mines and blow them up, creating a huge hole in the ground, and my defenses!

Even more dramatic is using one of the civilians as a human shield.  Yes, you can try to grab one of them, and hide bravely behind them!!

This is one of three civilians made by Wild West Exodus.  There's also a man running around.

I highly suggest that you give these folks a try, as they add a great deal to the gaming experience, and to the cinematic feel of a fight!

Spears and shield... and more

In keeping with the "use the colors already out there" manufacturing style, these Privateer Press figures fit the bill.

With all of the relatively neutral greenish grays and browns, they had many of the same colors as bases, trees and such already needed.

As I have mentioned before, this approach allows me to get a little done here and there on many different figures.  Sometimes a figure will be near complete for a long time... it's been chipped away at here and there for a while.

When I have an extended period of uninterrupted time, that's when I can power through and finish off mass amounts of figures.

With all the travelling and dragging the studio along with me over and over again, this has had to be the approach.  Not exactly what I had hoped for in this year, but there's been a lot of transition going on, and one must play the cards you are dealt.

It does keep that variety going that I speak of so often.  Nothing like combining several completely unrelated genres to keep things interesting!!!

Finally, we are getting closer to the 'official' start of the Painting Pyramid videos being offered in an actual web store.  This will be Kings Hobbies and Games.

Since I will be away from the studio even more in the months ahead, it's become more important to have someone else available to send out the USB drives containing the 100 minute long instructional videos.

Some scenes from those videos, such as the Hiding in Plain Sight.  Each video shows some very specific techniques, but general topics are covered, such as the brushes, paints, palette, and even the primer.

And Freehand Cloaks...

Along with one of five specific color theory videos, this one called Raging Reds.

The idea behind these is to push your understanding of various color ranges, so that you don't have to rely on buying a specific color.  You have a chance to create it yourself!

More info to come on these in the coming days.

A link to KH&G:

http://kingshobbiesandgames.com/collections/the-painting-pyramid

Palette Wars!!

There are times where anyone who does this has immense frustrations and stresses going on... lots of stuff that just wants to distract you from the goal of painting.

What better way to assault that frustration than to douse it in the Flames of War!

I was provided with a number of French units for my own Flames of War quest, and painting a few of these tiny tanks seemed to be just the thing to freshen up the tired brain.

We are not quite sure which campaigns we want to do... strictly France '40, or dive into north Africa and the battles in the Mandate area.  Probably all of them!

As this little reference diagram shows, there are a number of different choices.  One thing that drew me to the French units was a chance to paint some very unusual markings and uniforms.  Well, at least not the stuff that you see so commonly.

This version seemed like the best choice for a France '40, which is our most likely starting point.

This one is very interesting though!!  Who knows what you will see eventually :-)

As I already had most of the colors out on the palette from other projects, it was time to slap some onto the Somua!!  However, it looks like someone is a little upset by its sudden appearance on the palette.

This is my turf, bud.

The Somua in the back will be more of a desert style, hopefully one that will work in a Morocco or Syrian campaign just as well.

I don't have any of my weathering powders with me, so some additional touches will have to wait until I get back into the home studio.

This really was an essential couple of sanity hours.  Instead of mashing ones face into the pile of broken glass over and over, turning to something a little simpler or simply different can truly rejuvenate you!

Once this little guy is finished, I will be sure to get you those pictures.