When the shoe is on the other foot...

Sometimes, when the shoe is on the other foot, you end up getting a kick in the pants. :-)  In some ways, this was that kick.  I was creating the techniques for the Painting with Powders video.

That had been a major struggle on an off for the last 4 days.  I was trying to achieve the vision that I had for such a technique well over a year ago, when powdered pigments were just starting to gain prevalence. 

Let's just say that I now know what it is like to be all the people who are trying to adapt my methods and mesh them with their own.  This last happened to me in art school, when I had to take what the teacher was showing me, and make it my own.

For the last several years, my techniques had been evolving, so even dramatic shifts were not exactly traumatic, since they were all branching out from one source.

This was something entirely new, completely alien.

Justin from Secret Weapon Miniatures was kind enough to do a demo for me, showing how to use the new Sealer product, as well as rubbing alcohol.  However, I still had to learn all the ins and outs of the materials for myself.

Now, check this out.  It looks pretty ordinary in terms of palettes for me, doesn't it?

However, what you are actually seeing on that palette are only these!

Yes, this miniature is being entirely painted with nothing more than 'weathering' powders.  Here are some images of the earlier stages.  Fortunately, my usual methods of working lighter to darker colors suited this well.

Exchanging Sealer and rubbing alcohol for water and glaze medium was very distracting at first.  I had to learn all new sets of properties.  For instance, the lighter pigments act differently with each medium, while the darker pigments tend to act exactly the same.

I even learned to rub away pigments, and wet blend new colors in!  Imagine being able to wipe away a color you didn't like :-)  So, I will be showing the finished images at some point late tomorrow!  Stay tuned...

Chaos Steel on Ice

Here is a new version of my very first Blood Bowl team... the Juneau Ice Bergs!  The first time I tried painting them back in the 90's, I had no idea what I was doing... either with the miniatures or with the game :-)

I disbanded them a long time ago, but the stadium remains intact.  You can find images on this in the Blood Bowl stadium section.

Ever since, I wanted to give it another try.  Using all the tricks that I had learned over many years of mini painting, I was able to get the results that I wanted originally, but did not know how to do.

These are some images of the team mostly completed.

The ice bases were very fun, and they really go well with the stadium!

The last time I played these guys in a very brief league, they were doing far better than they had so long ago.  I had hundreds of games in between, and I was able to pull off a lot of dramatic plays.

I had a different approach with them than the usual Chaos Dwarf team, but it paid off in lots of star player points and wins.

I will be saying goodbye to these lads, as they are being donated to a Wounded Warrior project.

Here is the link:

http://www.7citiesbb.com/

What do you do with those resin sprues?

I know that a lot of people already do this, but over the last few years I have had a lot of fun (and satisfaction) using leftover resin sprues for basing!

They come in all shapes and sizes, and since almost everything I have to work on these days is resin, why not get some use out of all that?  I think these sprues are from 4-5 different manufacturers...

While you can do something very similar with sculpey, the resin pieces are super strong.  I used them to support some Reaver jetbikes in my Dark Eldar army, as well as on some of my 40k terrain.

It does not take a lot of extra work to get the sprues in a condition for basing.  I included some of this in the 'Blasted Concrete' video, since I am sure a lot of you have (or had) this stuff sitting around.

Once it's all painted up, it looks quite nifty!!

Never a can of RAID when you need one...

A while back I finished off the base for the Spider Queen, and the 3 brood swarms as well.  As you know, I used the Reaper Bones plastics for those swarms.

They were just the trick, fitting reasonably well on the required 40mm bases.

It will be very fun to pop these guys up in some much needed areas.  Perhaps to keep a standard bearer occupied of out of position, or prevent a response or counterattack once I have charged.

It could also be a handy way to get at spearmen and negate that support.

Working with the Shadow Lord on the Fell Beast, I should be able to protect these guys pretty well from shooting, at least enough to deliver them to the point of attack.  Besides, with the ability to move through terrain unimpeded, the giant spiders will be able to pop out of forests or other safe zones.

It would be hilarious to see the queen and her broods wipe out some archers lodged in a structure... all thinking they are nice and safe :-)

I will shoot some images of all the spiders together... right now there are half a dozen giant spiders in addition to these guys!

The forest for the trees

Here was something that I would work on to practice some of the glazing, and test out the new washes from Secret Weapon.  He is an Ultraforge miniature, cast in resin, on a 50mm base.

Ultraforge make a lot of large creatures and demons... you can see them here:

http://www.ultraforgeminiatures.com/?page_id=74

I have already done a WIP post on this guy, which showed some of that glazing and tinting process.  Not only did I test out some of the more 'traditional' washes from Secret Weapon, I also broke out a few of the very bright washes, such as the Fallout wash.

I mixed a lot of those washes in with my opaque paints when I went back in to the middle tones.  That is something that I am trying to bring up as often as possible... not just in the specific glazing video.

Some of the benefits of using the wash to mix with your paints is that the color becomes tinted to what shadow colors are already there.  I am essentially creating colored water to mix with my paint, instead of regular water.

I also mix glaze medium with my colors, but that tends to be used more to keep a paint color active instead of tinting it, since glaze medium extends the drying time of your paint..

Working with bikes...

I don't know how helpful this might be, but here are a few things that I learned working with those new Forgeworld bikes.

Since they don't come with any real instructions, that always complicates things a bit.  In addition, I had never assembled regular bike kits before, and was doing that a little in the dark.  While we were away, I worked on prepping these.  First I had washed all the resin parts and scraped off mould lines, etc.

It took me a while to figure out just which parts belonged where... but even more importantly, which ones should you glue first!  Over the years, there has been more than one occasion where I glue something that should have waited a step or two.

Plus, there are also times where you attach something that would have been far easier to paint and then assemble later.  Lessons such as these are usually learned the hard way.

I learned that the FW front wheels of the bikes are a little harder to get into place.  I almost had to let them move around once the 2 halves of the bike were glued together.

Once they were glued in place, I set the bike upright, and let the front wheel work its way into position.  The glue is allowed to set as I move onto the next one.

Once those have set. I put the rest of the FW pieces on to the bike.  Those two pieces you see under the bike were a bit of a mystery at first.  They are two different sizes, as the end of the forks on the right and left sides are also different sizes.

After those are in place, I had to attach the front mounted bolters.  Fortunately, there was not much distortion in these pieces.  I was very relieved!!

As all those pieces set, I put the legs in place without gluing.  There is no way to get at everything I need to on the bike with the rider in the way!

This let me get the torso and other upper body pieces attached, using the glue/green stuff/glue method.  The handlebars make positioning weapon arms more difficult than I anticipated.

The legs have to be pulled a bit closer to the handlebars to make the arms reach, which might be part of the slight shrinkage that can happen when casting resin parts...

Be sure to leave plenty of room for the power pack when positioning that rear panel!  Again, another hard lesson learned.  I had only done 2 of the bikes at that time, and I was able to move the pieces.

So, from this mass of various grey parts, a squad of White Scar bikes shall emerge!  I know this was not the fanciest post, but I hope that it might save someone a bit of annoyance when they take on these bikes.

Getting lost in the jungle

Here was the other camouflage figure!  Once again, a Viridian from Urban Mammoth

These snipers were just the trick for something trying to hide out in the jungle.  The cloak was also a nice variation from the desert marine.

Just as with the desert camo figure, the 'other' colors, such as the rifle, were mixed with the "resident" greens that surrounded it, making it blend in even more.

And now for the contrast between the two figures.  The settings make such a huge difference!!!