Working in the shade

That time!  Shade and tint.  Out come the Black shade and liner paints.

Mixing them in secondary batches along the way and thinning them with water and or flow improver, I worked along the lowest edge of the base.

I pulled some of the darker shades up into the rocks as well, mixing in a bit more blue.

I did a lot of wiping away paint with my hand and towel on this.  I would do a few applications of darker paint on the rocks, and dab that away while it was still wet.

I wanted to repeat that blueish gray color on the armor was well, so I saved a bit of that mix for the armor plates.

The glazing is done in stages... not all at once!  This was my first layer on the loincloth.  Many more would follow.

I had some darker glaze colors on the bottom of the leg, so I 'pulled' those up to the upper thigh with a drier brush, turning the figure upside down so that gravity would assist.

Moving up the figure, starting to do the first glazes on the face an mane.

I continued to the upper arm...

I added more glazes to the loincloth and to the face.  Remember, 3-6 light glazes will get you some nice color transitions.  One massive splash of glaze gets you a mess. :-)

Working on the back, mostly the bow, quiver and such. I tried to introduce some green here, so that it would contrast with the cooler reds of the skin tone.

Another layer of dark on the quiver.

Here you can see some major difference in the bottom edge of the loincloth.  That was mostly a mix of red and brown liner paints.

More successive glazes on the back sections.  Some places got as many as 7 or 8.

The semi transparent light glazes are next!

Some Work in progress on the Minotaur

Before I could get some paint on this guy, I had to finish off the base/plinth.  I really love these huge plinths from Secret Weapon.  The metal skeleton is part of a Secret Weapon set for basing.  The red material is Oxide Paste, as usual.

Some primer, and a set of basic colors.  I like to keep the colors simple, doing more mixing and less fooling around looking for the 'perfect' set of colors.

Adding a few more warm colors to the palette, which also lets me create some nice greens.

As with all shaded basecoat adventures... I start out in the middle, and work my way as light as I can.  The idea is to set up the glazing, tinting and shading that comes later.

Working lighter and lighter, creating new colors and shades along the way.

Getting into the brightest lights now.  I never use pure white to do this.  It is always an off white... in this case, I added yellow.

I did some final lights on the metals and a few parts of the skin.

The glazing stage is next!  Stay tuned!

Colonel Klink... you are a dumkoff!

All right, some pictures of the other Germal special units... this time some Gestapo.

This is what they looked like right before the glazes.

Just after the glazing, using the Black Shade from Vallejo, and the various Reaper liner paints.

Details are added, as well as a bit of mud and dirt.

Ready to fight!

To make the initial layers of paint on the hexes, I had a green, a brown and a black.  I used a beat up craft brush to apply the colors, changing the locations and allowing them to blend together.

OK!  We have the Italian unit, the Waffen SS, and now the Gestapo.

Painted vs unpainted.

This image has the Gestapo, the unpainted, and a unit of regulars that Rich painted.

Another shot with a comparison of the regular next to the specials.

Lots of infantry here!  The Americans are on the right.

A new kind of camo...

The last "Paint and Play" session saw us painting some specialized Axis units.

The original box of Memoir '44 comes with a huge amount of infantry for both sides, but I believe all of the sculpts are the same for each one.  The Germans, for instance, have one pose/uniform.

Since a number of the scenarios call for specialized units (which are normally marked with a counter), we thought that a few of the squads could be painted in different color schemes.

We chose a few, including the Waffen SS, which had some very unique camouflage uniforms.

The colors I would use were quite similar to the set used on the Tiger tanks (see previous post).

After starting out with the tan/brown color, I set out a darker olive green, and a terracotta color.

The green went down first, using a more worn out craft brush.  This would go along way towards establishing the 'pea pattern' so well known for the Waffen SS.

The terracotta shade was painted over the green and tan, just in lesser amounts, using the same craft brush.

The all important lighter dots were painted over these with a more pristine craft brush

Here's what they looked like before some darker glazing and shading.

Let the shading begin!

I had the Vallejo Black Shade, along with a number of Reaper liner paints.  Those make some very effective glazes, particularly on scale as tiny as this.  They offer a lot of control with incredible pigment integrity, no mater how much water you toss in.

They also combine very well with the Black Shade.

Once the darker shading was complete, I went back in to pull out some details on the skin, weapon, and enhance the camo pattern.  For the most part, I painted some smaller light dots of tan and terracotta.

Another look.  I will be adding gravel and flock to these to create more of a setting.

And a preview of what's coming next.  As I was working on these guys, a Gestapo squad was also under way!  Stay tuned for that.

Rich snapped a few images as I was painting.  I use my LED magnifier light for everything, but it REALLY comes in handy when the figure is only 30% the size of my 'normal' figures!!!

A Minx coat ;-)

OK folks, I think some of you have heard that I am painting this very fine sculpt for the upcoming kickstarter from Minx Studios.

To make it even more special, I used one of the fantastic new plinths from Secret Weapon Miniatures to create a decorative base.

Step one was to grab some tin foil!

Then a bit of 'pre-sculpting' with the foil to make sure everything will be in the right position, angle and so on.

Over the top of the tin foil will go some of my favorite sculpting material, particularly for this type of base.  This is Apoxy sculpt.  I have done a number of posts on this material, and how I use it to create a variety of rocky bases.

It has many fantastic properties.  It is incredibly strong, but you can carve and sand it if necessary.

Using a little more water with it will make it more malleable, but it will not disintegrate. 

A thin sheet of the Apoxy sculpt is placed over the tin foil.  This does a few things.  First, it saves a lot of apoxy sculpt!, Second, you can actually use some of the rough texture of the crunched foil to make some very nice rock textures.

It also makes the whole piece a bit lighter, and easier to place the figure as well.

This is what it looks like after pressing it down in a few places with my fingers.

Using a few basic flat sculpting tools, I attempted to create strata in the rock face, as close to the concept art as possible.

These pictures show more refinement in the textures.

The sculpting phase is complete!  Once this sets up, I will add rocks and gravel, and other extras such as skulls, branches, etc.

This is the information on the Kickstarter, which is not far away!!!  Check it out!

Go Hawks.