The Dogs of Rome

While the original posts in this Gangs of Rome series focused more on the mobs and the larger mosaic tile bases, I didn't want to forget the most important aspect of the game... and that is the Gladiators!

Here's a few more, and this time you get a better sense of how the ID number and wound counters fit into the bases.

The majority of these characters have bases that match those larger versions that were made for the mobs.  Here's a link to one step by step post:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/05/mosaic-tile-basing.html

Most of the figures were painted with oils, part of a huge batch that I was working on along with a number of other figures.

I have discussed the value of oil paints when tackling huge batches of figures, where the extended drying times make it easier to carry out blends on a large number of figures all at once.  It is almost like having a wet palette for your miniatures!

Finally, we end up with the Mastiff, who is one big puppy!!!

Wyrm Lord

This unusual beastie had a very specific color scheme request, which is very typical when you do commission stuff.  We have been doing commissions for a very long time, since 2001.  Sometimes you get very interesting requests, and sometimes very unusual requirements!

You never know what that is gonna be, so you just have to roll on.

Most of the time they are very fun, and this limited palette exercise was as well, done entirely in oils!

Here is the image that I had to try and match...

What I love about the oil paints is the ability to mix very subtle color shifts right into the paint, instead of having to go back in with glazes, etc.  I was able to sneak in those warmer ochre colors with no problem!

I also experimented even more with glazing the oils.  Since the capillary action is even greater with oil paints than water, I thought this would be a very good proving ground.  If you see any of the vehicle painting exercises, you know that people do those "panel line washes" or "Pin washes".

Those are made possible by that enhanced capillary action, as thinned down oils (white spirits only!) make the paint so much thinner, it can even flow "upwards" against gravity!

Now I make my own Paenel Line Washes... but it is quite interesting to do them on top of wet oil paint. :-)  I am still quite surprised that it is possible to do so.  As I often mention during my live sessions, it is the layering of thick paint over thin, and then thin over thick, etc., that allows each of these very wet layers to stick to each other ;-)

Here's an example of the latest demo, which is going to be a YouTube tutorial video for the patron very soon:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212917227339543/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

Steel Green

Whenever people would ask for advice on painting Non Metallic Metals, my response would always be to "reflect the environment around the figure as much as possible".  

In my recent live demos and previous blog posts, I have been emphasizing that more and more... but there are a few other tiny touches which can also make those 'metals' a bit more interesting with a little 'sparkle'.

The first post from this unit had a purple/lavender color as an 'accent' tone.  It probably did not even register to most viewers as purple, especially in person.  However, it was still there, just as there is a greenish accent here.

What this added color does is create a bit of "spectral" highlight here and there, as if light were refracting off parts of the surface.

This is especially helpful on larger, broader surfaces like many you see on this figure.  Otherwise it would simply be a sea of blueish gray!  Now that I see many of these NMM paint sets floating around, I feel that it is even more important to talk about this concept.

In some recent articles, I suggested that the best NMM paint set is whatever colors you are already using on your miniature and base!  This really is the case... as incorporating as much of the surrounding color as you can into your metals (no matter what it might be reflecting) will make the viewer believe that those surfaces are in fact metal!

Secret Weapon: Top Secret

During another great hangout on the Styrene Syndicate, I was working on a vast number of projects all at once, which is pretty much normal!  I was also trying to get a few more units ready for the next battle report, and this ambulance was one of them.

There was not much time, so I had to do this one quickly.  I brought out a few key paints, such as the Vallejo washes that I save for painting greenish vehicles in a hurry, along with the Reaper Liner paints and Secret Weapon Weathering paints.

I employed my usual system of placing the washes and wiping away the excess with the sponges and my larger brushes.  You can see this process under way on the cab.

Mixing in Blue and Brown liner every so often to darken or alter the color temps a bit, I worked towards the back of the Citroen truck (a resin and metal figure from Warlord Games).

On the canopy, I used a little more of the sepia wash, and made sure to scrub quite hard as I wiped it away from the recently painted ambulance markings.  The idea was to try and wipe some of those away, as markings on cloth/canvas can fade and crack away more rapidly because of the flexible surface, etc.

Then it was time to do a bit of dust and fading with the Secret Weapon Weathering paints!  This worked in reverse of the darker shading washes.  I wanted the lighter 'dust colors' to stay in the crevices where the canvas was stretched over the frames.

Again, this all had to be done very rapidly, so I could not employ the oil paints as I normally would.

I also made sure to have these glazes go over the top of the ambulance markings, which would give me a second type of weathering and wear on them.

I also did this on some of the stowage too...

Once that was completed, I needed to quickly apply some dirt and dust to the wheels and undercarriage.  There are dozens of Secret Weapon weathering paints now, and this one is quite perfect for that... and it just so happens to be called "Light Dust".

As before, this was applied mostly as a wash, and wiped away.  There were plenty of crevices and crannies to leave some behind!  The Secret Weapon paints are designed to 'flow' a bit like oils, and they are also meant to dry extremely flat, or matte.  

This gives them the extra bit of realism, as they match the kinds of textures you see in dust, rust and so on.

One more substitute... this time adding the dust paint with some weathering powders.  I just wanted to apply a few quick blotches of this here and there.  Again, normally I would use a set of mud products for this phase, but I only had about an hour for the entire painting process!

I went back over some parts of the tires with (you guessed it) Tire Black and a few other colors designed to use on tires.  They just think of everything...

After some spatter and a few other quick details, this was all set for the next battle report, The Bridge to Nouvion!!

Guerre Des Chars

I painted these vehicles during a recent hangout on the Styrene Syndicate, having quite a bit of fun!  Eventually I want to be able to create a few battle reports that include these Renaults, plus the completed Somuas and Char B1 Bis.

Eventually I may use them for Vichy French in a Torch campaign, or possibly for Syria.

I have not tried to replicate any specific DLM units yet... I think that process will have to come later when I can figure out the best way to make more new vehicles, or acquire existing tank kits.  Lately I have learned a great deal about how to scratch build vehicles!

These were painted with acrylics, using mostly Secret Weapon Weathering paints (that includes the camo colors as well)

My intent was to film a battle report with them right away, so I wanted them to be as dry as possible.  I also wanted to demonstrate what the Secret Weapon paints could do.

Once things calm down here a little, I will try to do more Twitch broadcasts.  I think those will be even more useful than the Facebook live sessions for longer painting processes such as painting a platoon of vehicles!  Those seem to be geared more for a "worktable" session, as opposed to a single very targeted lesson.

Stepping Stones

One of my favorite miniature lines is Siren Miniatures, for a few reasons.

First, there is always a lot of wonderful detail, but not at the expense of "paintability".  Even though there is a decent amount of details and other elements, you can still paint these up without much tedium or difficulty.

There's also quite a bit of flow and movement in the poses, even when the subject is a dwarf like this guy!

Check out the rest of the collection on their website:

http://sirenminiatures.com/

He's also available here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323305831137?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

The Clan Escher

At long last, the group image of the entire Clan Escher that was painted a while back.  This was the very first non historical unit that I tried painting in oils.

When I worked on these, it was much earlier in my exploration of using oils on figures.  I have discovered many interesting techniques since, and now I paint a much higher percentage of the figures strictly with the oil paints.

In particular, I now have many more high saturation oil colors than I did initially.  In fact, I now have a number of metallic oil colors... I was quite shocked to find out that they even existed at all.

Here's another look at the facebook live session which shows the beginning of the process:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10211936982874044/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I have been prepping some more 40k figures that I will try out in oils as well.  These will be turned into new Painting Pyramid tutorial videos, done in multiple parts.

I have created some new pledge levels on the Patreon Page to cover this in more detail.  They are referred to as the "Army Painter" levels.  The lower levels give you access to the instructional videos via YouTube links, while the higher levels get you hard copy USB drives with high resolution versions of the edited videos!

There is an ultimate Army Painter level which also gets you the figures themselves...

You can check that out on the page here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel