More fun from Raging Heroes: Mantis demonette finished!

Here we have the finished result from my flesh tone test.  As I mentioned before, this was a test figure for one of my non-human flesh tone painting DVD's.

I will try one or two more of these tests, so that I get just the right figure for the DVD!

The base is a design that I created for Coolminiornot.  It is part of the Groundwerks series.

Mantis demonette from Raging Heroes: a step by step fleshtone

While I try to work out all the technical snags of the painting DVD kickstarter, I decided to go ahead with something I have more control of... painting!

This is actually a practice piece for a multi-part set of non-human flesh tone DVD's. The figure is from the Raging Heroes line.  A similar figure to this will be used to create the actual DVD.

I started this out by mixing a bit of pink with a greyish white for the flesh.  The claws and lower legs were painted with the pink and Reaper ash brown.

More of the pink is mixed in with the original flesh tone to lighten it.  

I mixed in some very pale elf flesh into that mix to lighten it further.

This all follows the 'shaded basecoat' principle, as you will see in the subsequent steps.  My goal was to set up my darker glazes.

Starting with the legs, I have a few glaze colors at the ready.  A violet, a dark blue, and a black.  The first glaze is a watered down violet, starting at the top of the section I want to shade.  As I move further down, the dark blue is mixed with the violet.  The black is added when I reach the feet, since I want that to be a bit warmer.

The same process is done on the claws.  I tried to leave the ends of them a little lighter, as I am considering putting a little bit of blood splatter on them.

This image shows that I treated the head the same way, as well as the little horns on the back.

I have also begun to work back into my middle tones at this point.  I mixed in some of my pink color with the dark glazes.  This is a favorite little trick of mine.  I end up with a semi-transparent lighter color.  This can be very helpful for subtle transitions!

Tomorrow I will show the shading of the flesh, as well as the freehand work.

Again, this is a practice run for one of the initial DVD's.  By practicing this a few times, I will be able to pass along more information in the relatively compressed time frame of 100 minutes :-)

Abelard Flintrock Mechanist from Stonehaven Miniatures

Tonight we have another member of the Stonehaven Miniatures Dwarf kickstarter!  This is Abelard Flintrock, Mechanist.

When he lost his left arm, he immediately designed a replacement, which he views as superior.  He has often considered removing his right arm to 'even things up'.  While convinced it would be more practical, he hesitates to make any permanent change.

Happy Birthday Blog! Eleven months and counting!!

I only noticed late last night that today was going to mark the 11th month of the Blog's existence!  It is hard to believe that it's been almost a year!

During that time, there have been 930 posts, 450,000 pageviews and thousands of comments... it has been quite a ride. :-)

I am also reminded to say thank you to everyone who has check out this crazy thing, and listened to my mad ramblings!  It is still the best way for me to take over the universe, though...

I am trying to plan out some sort if 1st birthday post for February.  That would be all about Lizardmen, which were the first set of posts.  I guess I will have to paint a few new lizzies for that!!!

The blog has certainly changed a lot in the last 11 months.  I cannot be certain what direction the blog will take in 2013, but I have a few ideas.  There will certainly be a lot more LOTR painting, but there will also be a hefty amount of Dark Eldar posts as I make the army ready for Adepticon!!

In any case, I will always try to keep it interesting!!!

OK... a few more group shots of the Knights of the Blood Rose riding off to war!

Some of my Galadrhim Knights for Bilbo's bash...

Well, it's about time to use those photos you saw me processing in the last post!  Here are a few of my trusty Galadrhim knights.  With the ability to move through cover, and more importantly 12 inches of normal movement, they were a vital part of my army.

They were a perfect tandem with Gwaihir, the Great Eagle.

The high fight skill could turn many a fight their way.  And they could also hold out against a crowd.  I look forward to adding a few more to my 1000 point army!!!

This particular rider is on a Dragonforge base.

This figure is on one of my own bases.  I created an elf like design on a stone panel and made a cast of it.  Pieces of it were used on these cavalry figures and my infantry as well!

This is one of many new group shots I took...

How I photograph my miniatures, a glimpse into my world :-)

As I keep running into learning curve issues with the filming of our miniature painting DVD's for the Kickstarter, I was reminded of how long it took me to perfect the still photography of our miniatures!

All of you loyal Wappellians will recognize my typical "multiview" images that have graced the pages of this blog, CoolMiniOrNot, and many other sites.

Today I have a post for you that demonstrates how I go about doing that:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/p/how-i-photograph-my-miniatures.html

This process was devloped over thousands and thousands of photographs and 13 years.  I guess this is why those "moving picture shows" are proving to be less easy!!!

While these photos are not as fancy as the ones you see on CMON and other sites, I don't have time to screw around with those methods.  I need to have the figures shot in a very consistent way, since many of them are part of continuing projects over the course of several years.  A sudden shift in backdrops, etc., would make it really difficult to get a true comparison of the colors.

So, I hope this is helpful!  Gee, will I have to shoot a DVD of this process too?  He he... :-)

Taggar Oathkeeper, Dwarf Cleric from Stonehaven Miniatures

Yes, another Dwarf miniature from the Stonehaven kickstarter!!

This time it's Taggar Oathkeeper, a Dwarf Cleric who always tends to his duties.  If he is unhappy with a situation, he keeps it to himself, growing grumpier by the minute until he explodes.  Afterwards, he is embarrassed and very accommodating.

I almost forgot to mention that the base is from Dragonforge!