Work in progress: Pre Heresy Imperial Fists

Hey folks!  Here is something that I have been working on for a while, and it is getting close to finished.

It's a squad of those Forgeworld Pre Heresy Imperial Fists.  To begin with, there as a lot of "fixing" that had to be done with some unfortunate casting issues.

Then they were primed, and it was time to get down to painting!

You can see the earliest stages of the shaded basecoat under way.  The first image shows the base colors being put down, so that every part of the miniature had some kind of color on it.  This is important, as you have all heard before, so that you have something to compare your lights and darks against.  If you left everything white or black primer, and painted only yellow next to it, that is going to mislead you on your shading down the road.

In the second image, I have started to lighten up various areas with that very controlled drybrushing, which is more like "dampbrushing" :-)

These images show the lightening process taking place on every surface, every color.  The reds, turquoise, etc.  I am leaving the yellow alone for now, as those hard to reach areas mean that I keep hitting the yellow areas with my lighter shading!

At this stage, I put the stripes on the chainfists, and indicated where the little areas of gold will be.

It's just about time to start shading everything darker.  My first task is to take a dark brown and put some dark lining into the deepest recesses.  This is also done in the eyes, and on the undersides of the torsos, arms, and feet.

Now the fun begins!!  I took my glazes and began to shade everything darker, starting with all the weapons, shields, and other grey surfaces, such as the back of the torso.  You can see that I also began to rough in some freehand, such as the shields (I wanted 3 different designs on the 3 shields), as well as indicating where the insignia will go...

I continue the shading process with the other colors, such as the reds and the turquoise.  You can also see that some of the freehand has been develop a bit more, especially on the shields.  I also developed the Imperial Fist insignias a bit.

Some basic shading is also being done on the yellows, as I establish the darkest darks on the armor (basically a chocolate brown).

Now I start to refine some of that shading by working back into the middle tones, on the turquoise in particular.  This is done somewhat transparently by mixing in some glaze medium with the paint.  I love doing that!!!  I am even starting to put in some lighter yellows.

As I continue this, my main focus will be on those yellows, and making them lighter.  Once that is done, it will be time to do all the battle damage and rust effects, like the other PH Imperial fists.  If you want to see those, you can find a whole slew of posts on the left hand column under Imperial Fists!  The bases are also in a "how to" post.

This "shaded basecoat" technique is the cornerstone of all my techniques, which is why it is the first painting video of the Painting Pyramid Kickstarter!

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

How to blow up a Tardis...

As you loyal Wappellians know, I don't often get the chance to paint in two dimensions!  

This was a very unusual painting for me, since it was in a style that was definitely not mine!  The one time I do a 'regular' painting, and I use an entirely different method.  Go figure.

There have been times where I have, in the course of my miniature painting, been asked to replicate the styles and techniques of other painters who had worked on previous minis as part of a big project, and so on.  It's never easy, since you have to try to discern what they have done, and how they did it, by strictly looking at the final result.  Again, never an easy task.

I knew this would be a very interesting challenge for me!

Things got started with some yellow, yellow ochre, and a little Cadmium red (makes if go fastah!)

Working quickly, and with one of my worn down #8 miniature brushes, I set down the darker reds and oranges first, and worked up to lighter yellows...

Look familiar?  Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. :-)

I worked the yellows even lighter with the introduction of some titanium white, trying to keep that 'layered' look, but avoiding the temptation to smooth out and hide every brush stroke!  I had to constantly remind myself not to do that.

Now it was time to get some of the darks in here.  I had some deep purple, cobalt blue, and cerulean blue.  You can see more of the lighter cerulean blue in the Tardis, while the purple was used in the 'sky' portion.  This was important, since the purples in the blueish sections would mesh a bit more with the reds of the spiraling flames...

Almost completely covered.  You can see that I used 'negative space' painting around the spirals, meaning that I painted around those lighter areas with my dark colors.  This is actually a watercolor technique.

OK!  Time to work on that Tardis!  I mixed in some white with the cerulean blue to pull out the door shapes, and worked on the windows.  I did make sure to get just a touch of yellow into all that, to keep the white from being chalky, and to reflect the explosion a bit.

I went back into my red/yellow mixes to blend in the spiral flames with the darker purples.

Here I put in some more sharp dark edges in places to define the explosion a little more.  I wanted the hardest, sharpest edges to be in that center of interest.  This can (and should) be done on miniatures as well. I always try to establish "focal points" such as these.

A little more blending, a little more light yellows added to the firey spirals.

I work some more lighter blues into the sky portions, creating a little more depth, and following the directional strokes of the yellow/orange spirals to reflect and enhance that motion.

Some more lights introduced in various areas for interest, a coat of gloss varnish, and POOF!  Exploded Tardis, Van Gogh style! :-)

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