Painting your Rivet Warrior: A step by step

Here is a little 'how to' on painting one of your Ally Rivet Wars miniatures.  I started out with the usual prep work, and got them on pins...

I want to emphasize that I tried to use as limited a palette as possible to paint this, so that it was a little easier to absorb the information!

It was then primed with Vallejo Nato Green primer.  My first layer of paint was Reaper Field Grey, but a typical olive green could be used instead.

These images show the figure as I mixed in some Reaper tan, little by little.  I was using a #4 flat acrylic brush, by the way, with relatively dry paint.

I did't want to focus in on just the uniform, so it was time to work on the face.  I took some Vallejo brown rose and mixed that with a bit of the lighter field grey/tan mixture, so there would be more color consistency. With each layer (still working with that flat brush, by the way), I introduced more of the rose.

I used some dark brown for the hair, and then added some Vallejo parasite brown.  The lights were created by adding some of the reaper tan.  I added some lights to the face by mixing in some pale flesh with the brown rose.  The leather items, such as belts and cartridge cases, remained the darker brown.

Once all the areas have at least gotten a few layers of colors, I start to work in the final highlights.  This is done on the helmet, the arms (shoulders), the face and the hair.  Some lighter colors are added to the leather surfaces by mixing in some tan with the dark brown.

Here's a closer view on the highlights, and a bit of the gun.  I mixed Vallejo intermediate blue with highlight USMC.

Now for the most important part.  The eyes!  I tried to make sure that the areas around the eyes were somewhat darker, so that they would stand out.  These faces are tricky, for obvious reasons.  You are trying to superimpose one shape onto a completely unrelated shape, so you have to 'fudge' things a bit.

Once the whites of the eyes were placed, I put in the iris, and then painted the upper eyelid.  I mixed a little of the dark eyelid color with the brown rose, and shaded under the eyes.  I then highlighted the iris with a dot of white

The eyes are big enough to put color in the iris if you wish, and even paint in a pupil if you want!  However, this image is about the little insignia, and the rust effects.

I took a brown/blue mix and painted a few paint chips around the edges of the helmet, as well as the top.  The 'bottom' of these paint chips are highlighted with a tiny bit of tan, while the 'upper' edge is shaded with black.  I painted some rust streaks using that Vallejo Parasite brown.

Here's the base.  Basic grey with a blue/black shading wash.  The rust was done the same way as the helmet.

Here he is!!!

I will be filming the painting of one of these as yet another test video for my painting kickstarter... go check it out!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel

Some terrain building at the Dragon Shoppe...

Kevin at the Wondering Dragon Shoppe had been asking if we could make some new hills for the game boards he was building for their Warmachine/Hordes gamers.  These would be very similar to the ones you saw featured here over the late summer.

Rich and I took the opportunity to do some test filming.  We knew it was going to be very noisy, but that was not really the point. This was going to be the only type of "how to" video which could not be filmed by a static camera on a tripod, so why not take advantage of the live camera man to get better angles!

Kevin already had several sheets of foam waiting for us.  These were the 1 inch variety, which caused a slight change in plans.  As it turns out, it was very good, because the foam was easier to cut, and therefore easier to film!

Here's a few pictures of me getting rocks and sand scattered all over Kevin's store :-)

I also made him a few obelisks, which I hope to finish off with Trollblood runes!

Of course, the first time I made one of these was for the Tomb Kings project!!

And here are the results of an evening of chopping, gluing and mayhem!

Kell Hammersong, Dwarf fighter from Stonehaven Miniatures

Tonight we have another fun Dwarf from the Stonehaven Kickstarter!  She is Kell Hammersong.

Despite her looks, Kell is as stubborn as any dwarf.  Drawing her line straight back to the first king of Stonehaven, Kell feels she is destined for greatness.

Kell is always eager to help, though her solutions are often ill-conceived and risky!

The base was provided by Dragonforge...

Here is a group shot of the gang so far!!!!

Fun with foam! Monuments and hills...

OK!  Since we are going to be making terrain for the Dragon Shoppe today, I thought I would include a few pics of terrain that has been made in the past. 

This first item is an ongoing project for my Lizardman army.  It is a terradon aviary.  I am sculpting all the terradons that will be nesting and guarding it as well.  As you can see, it is made almost entirely of pink foam.  All I used to shape it was a utility knife and some sandpaper.

There is a lot more to do on this...

I will be sculpting in lots of cracks, as well as adding glyphs, vines and trees.

A close up...

Here's what we are supposed to build at the Dragon Shoppe today.  They need more terrain pieces to go with the board that we made for them so that they can do more games of Warmachine!

You can do a search for that multi-part "how to" in terrain building.

These are some of the hills and rock outcroppings that we made for them in the summer.  These will also be part of a Stretch goal tutorial video on our Painting Pyramid Kickstarter!!  Go check that out!!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel

Making a base for your Rivet Warriors!

Today we have a little treat for all you Rivet Warriors participating in the Kickstarter by Cool Mini.

You have seen my painted versions of the regular bases.  However, I wanted to present something new to you.  Making a specialized base for your figures.

I started out by cutting a piece of thick plasticard to the same size as the original base.  A piece of cork was added to that, extending the overall surface just a bit.

To create the sandbags, it was time to break out the Apoxy sculpt!

I folded out the clay in shapes that looked a lot like pillows.  I made sure to have the ends pinched down, so they would look more like sealed bags.

Then it was time to add more sandbags, just as if I were laying bricks.  I made sure to have any overhanging ends sagging downwards.  After they had set up for a few minutes, I used a sculpting tool to create a bit of a seam.

With the bags complete, it was time to get some rocks and gravel onto the base.  I took out my trusty oxide paste...

And applied it to the base.  Then I put on the heavier rocks, followed by the smaller and finer grains.

Time to see what the figure will look like!!

The painting was done with just a few colors, a light greenish grey, a chocolate brown, and a darker blue/brown.  I worked quickly with my larger #8 brush to get pigment everywhere.  The bags had more of the light greenish grey to distinguish them from the ground.

All surfaces covered.  Time to work lighter!

The light Green/grey is added to the chocolate brown on the bags, getting a bit lighter each time.

This is as light as I need to get, so now the glazing and shading begins!

I had a reddish brown glaze, a muddy brown, and a black.  These were alternated over various areas to get some differences in the colors.

OK, the glazes are done!  Time to let this dry...

And then add the miniature!

This is a basing tutorial that I want to create for my Kickstarter series of painting videos.