Thursday, June 18, 2015

The Crazy Crustacean


This unusual Crustacean is from Mierce Miniatures.  It's part of the "monstrous infantry" segment that I have mentioned previously.


He's pretty large, on a base that is about 80mm.


I had a lot of fun playing with the color contrasts.  Some very warm oranges and reds, juxtaposed with the cooler, muted purples.


I did a lot of work with the filberts early on blocking in all these shades, moving things around, shifting where each color block went, and so on.  This is the great flexibility that the Shaded Basecoat technique allows!


The horde grows...


Here's another pose from the Beastman group.


Again, I was able to use some interesting colors in these skin tones.


I also used the semi-transparent light glazes, mixing 'regular' paints with the Secret Weapon washes and such.


Whatcha readin' there?


Yes indeed, one more Dark Sword figure!  This Swan Priestess is a much more recent sculpt than the previous figures you have seen.


The base was my usual baked sculpey, while the candles were made of polystyrene tubing covered with Vallejo water effects gel to simulate the melted wax.


I have been trying out all kinds of materials for that over the years, and this was absolutely perfect.  It was the closest thing to actually melting real wax. :-)

Obviously I had a lot of fun with the marble colors and patterns.  The idea  was to set up the colors of the dress, but also provide some contrast to all the white... including the candles.


She's also here:



Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Another new foliage experiment


Another Dark Sword miniature, another foliage experiment!


It was also an occasion to play with a touch of freehand on the cloak!


This foliage must be a different coloration of one that I have used in the past on some Memoir '44 miniatures.  In that case, the color was a dark green.

You can also see him here:


Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Union Gal... at the double quick!


We return to the Wild West with Willa Shaw, a take no prisoners character for the Union faction.


She is very unique among Wild West Exodus characters right now, as she has two incarnations.  First, there is Willa Shaw on foot.  Her synergy with Union Hired hands to go get them to move a bit faster.  That can be very helpful if you have to reach those confounded Reb trenches!


There is also a version where she rides a special Iron Horse, with its own Light Support synergies.  That one is in progress!


Cloak and Dagger


Sorry this is so late, folks!  Between all the crazy storms and the Hawks, I was spending a lot of time turning off electronics and moving things to the basement as the tornado sirens were going off.


I thought it might be fun to have the Dark Sword minis all in one place, so that the various robes, foliage and color schemes could be compared.


Each one had its own unique set of foliage as well.


As for the cloaks, you can get an idea of how I like to carry through the shading.  Having the fine detail and wonderful sculpting of the folds was great, and made my life a LOT easier.


It's also important to have color variations on these relatively large expanses.  Sometimes it meant more gray, or adding some brown, or even tossing in an opposing color to create interest or tone something down.


The view from above definitely gives you a nice look at all three bases.


While all three of these were painted with a relatively muted color scheme, I was still able to get some separation between each one.  Some greens were a bit warmer and saturated, mixing in yellow to lighten them, while others had more of a grayish tone.


The view from above also demonstrates how I tried to get some additional contrast via the foliage.  The figure on the right is a good example, with the bright red flowers next to the muted green cloak.


I hope you enjoyed this set!  There are more Dark Sword figures on the way!!


Monday, June 15, 2015

Foliage and metal...


Here's another one of those classic Dark Sword figures. As usual, a lot of nicely sculpted details.  Not only does it make it easier to paint things such as the hair, face and hands, but the metal parts are also much easier to work with.


The tree is a fun piece of foliage, which is surprisingly resilient and tough.  It was just the thing I was looking for with this piece.


I also combined it with another vine set.  It seemed to go quite well with it!

She's also here: