The Cries of the Tainted

So, you have witnessed the secret method of the ancient inscriptions... now you will discover where the souls of the tainted reside!!

This is a simple unit filler for the Enslaved Guardian Archers, which begins as a piece of 3/4 inch foam.  A magnet was added for the 4th archer.

I mixed dark green and blue with some black primer for the first layer.

A second coat of blue and green was added to the upper surface, so that I would have some wet paint to work with...

I mixed a teal green with some of that dark blue/green color for my first layer on the floors.

I then created a pattern of skulls and swirls (which will eventually be the demon faces).  I also kept the bases of the surrounding figures in mind, so that the patterns would fit in with the rest of the unit.

More and more of the teal color is added to the mix with each layer, so that I get more definition on the shapes.  Not all of them are done equally, however.  Some of them should be left darker than others, which gives the floor more sense of depth.

Both sides of the unit filler now have a good pattern, and I will continue to define the individual skulls and demon faces from here...

In this image, you can see the skulls have more shape, and the demon faces are emerging as well.  This is the key aspect of the effect, as you want it to appear that the floors contain the souls of the damned!

At this stage, the skulls and swirls are really starting to match the existing base.  I will do one more highlight on them before moving back to the dark tones.

I used a brighter seafoam green for this highlight.  Again, it's very important to highlight some things, but not everything.  Some rows of teeth help indicate the faces of the demons.

I attempted to make these parts of the unit filler more elaborate than the areas under the feet of the figures.  Since these would be clearly visible, there wasn't any concern about taking interest away from a mini that would be standing on them!

I used some Reaper blue liner paint to put some eye sockets on the skulls, and define a few more edges.  This would also help 'deepen' the effect, showing a small part of the abyss into which the souls have fallen!

The demon faces got a little more dark added inside the 'mouths'.

A small amount of fluorescent green was used to create the eyes of the faces.  A few tiny glowing dots were added to a few of the skulls as well.  This would bring some of them forward, or even make the 'shadowy' skulls in the background appear as if it was just two glowing eyes looking at you!

The dark blue was used to make some final touches to the demon eyes...

And PRESTO!  Unit filler. I will snap some finished shots so you can see the overall effect.

I loved this effect so much, I made "Painting Demon Marble" one of my kickstarter instructional videos.  As I love basing, I ended up filming a dozen different kinds of basing techniques!  Here's a peek at the 'core' video, which shows how you can make the sculpey bases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW80jZhpvsg

They are available on USB drives directly from me, and also from Kings Hobbies and Games:

http://www.kingshobbiesandgames.com/James-Wappel-s-The-Painting-Pyramid-s/130.htm

Call the Marshall!

Hey there, partner, where do ya think yer goin' with that big sack 'o cash?  Time to get the Marshall to look into this!

This is one of our original Deadlands figures, which I believe is from Artizan Miniatures.

I couldn't resist putting the little tree in the base!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321999138508?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Sacred Inscriptions

After the recent articles on the process of reworking the movement trays for the Empire of Dust, there were a number of questions on how the inscriptions were done.

These were created years ago when I first made the army.  I had to back track a bit, but could not find any step by step posts on the blog.  Since I had to repaint those new and adjusted trays, I thought I would take some images along the way!

Here's what I ended up with after chopping up the old trays.

Since I didn't have the original piece of paper that had the inscriptions (scaled to fit, of course), I would have to use my other trays as a reference.  You can see the cartouche of Pseusennes there on the left.

First, I needed to get the sculpey pieces along the edges painted.  Just three colors... a tan, a purple, and an off white.

The purple and tan were mixed together, creating a few different shades on the palette so that I could reach for them quickly.

I set down the lighter and darker shades first, so that I could blend them together.

I started doing that by carrying some of the 'middle' shades into both the dark and light areas.  Since I was working so quickly with a larger brush, the paint did not dry before this was accomplished.

All the tans are in place.  You can see the variations in light and dark.  I also touched up any of the black lining at this point.

As I mentioned before, I didn't have the original piece of paper.  Still, I had my original trays, which carried the warning "All those who enter the Tomb Cities of Pseusennes shall suffer a fate worse than death".

Having the two side by side made it a lot easier to transfer the design down to the new tray.  The paint is Reaper Brown Liner, which is a very nice, thinner paint that has incredible pigmentation.  This is ideal for such freehand.

The dark colors are in place, but you can see there is a difference between the original sections and the newer lines.  I need to pick out a few highlights along the edges, which will give it the appearance of being carved.

Fortunately I thought of this before I carved each and every movement tray when I first made the army!  That would have been many hours of torture.  This was mere minutes of painting.

I made sure to follow a single direction with these highlights.  The finished bits on the left definitely have more shape than the area without those highlights.

The completed tray!!!  Now I would need to do this to the other trays, and then work on the various unit fillers that I had created.  Those are future posts, so stay tuned!

Inquisitor Reva Garanov

Here's a converted Inquisitor for my old Demonhunters army that was made a few years ago.

I have lost track of how many different parts went into this.  I think there is even a Warmaster giant eagle in there!  I remember adding the second head to it :-)

This is how I always envisioned Inquisitor Reva Garanov, the primary character in my Deamonhunters army.  Here's some more conversions that I made back in the day:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/10/converting-non-gw-figures-for.html

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/222015106214?

A Hot time at the Cantina!

It's been a while since you've seen some buildings from Burn In Designs, so I thought you might like to see the Cantina!

It's a unique multi piece structure that has all kinds of character, and lots of places for your figures to hang out!!

This front view shows the entrance and the main sign.  The swinging doors are always a nice touch!

The bottom section of the building is the same size as the jail, with lots of room on the inside.  I will do a separate post on the interior later.

Coming around the side, you can see that the back of the building has even more going on...

The flat roof design makes it a lot easier to get your figures up there for some sniper shots at hapless cowboys down on the street.

Not one, but two entrances to the back!  This area is really fun for games like Wild West Exodus, where cover and terrain and not just important, but you can perform so many actions on stairs, and in narrow passages such as the archway.

Now you can see all of the back entrance and the stairs...

The stairs are also designed to hold figures, because nobody likes to make climbing rolls!!!

One more look from the other side.

Removing the top structure shows that you don't have to use both sections.  The roof comes off the top half as well as the lower section.

Now for some minis to show the scale of the buildings.  Seems like the Wayward Eight and Chef are looking to spend a relaxing Siesta this afternoon...

I really liked the shadows cast by the awning.

Here's a link to Lathan's Burn In Designs:

http://www.burnindesigns.net/