3,000,000 and counting!!!

Wow, that count was able to sneak up on me!  

I was anticipating that the blog would reach 3,000,000 views in early January, and I was dead on!!

It's only fitting to celebrate this milestone with a Reaper mini, since they number the most among the vast amounts of figures to be seen on these pages.

This one was very fun!  I loved creating the base for her (it's a 40mm round base, to give you an idea of size),  and painting in all the subtle color transitions in the fur.

I had thought of using this figure for the Painting Fur instructional video, but time was limited, and the size of the weapon meant that it would have been difficult to fit on camera.

However, the angle of the weapon was just right for my branch!!  

I also considered doing snow on the base, but I wanted to let the warmer colors of the wood and foliage create a bit of contrast with the cooler and muted tones of the figure.  I used a lot of purples, greens pinks and ochres.  A little teal was mixed in here and there for some added zest.

I think you can see that in these two views... the teal on the hair on the left, and the pink/purple tones on the chest.

Many thanks to all the regular viewers of this blog!  More than a few of you have been around since the beginning in February of 2012!  It's been quite a journey.

I try to keep adding new things to the blog, and maintain the variety of topics and subject matter for you.  That is not always very easy, since there are times where projects demand otherwise.

It's also my hope to get in some battle reports for you in 2016.  But favorites such as this Wulfen shaman will always be here for you to see!

Onward to 4,000,000.

Stabby Ninja

OK folks, you are getting a bit of a preview here of a step by step series that will be coming to the blog next week.  This is the color test figure for a ten man warband from Red Box Games.

I had to match a piece of art that had some unusual colors in it.  There was a great deal of dark greenish black in the hood and loincloth of the art, and I had to figure out how to make that work here on these guys.

They still have to keep in line with all the other figures from this particular project, but it was hoped that I could make this one unit distinguishable from the other archer/ninja warband.

I don't know if I have ever taken such detailed images of the painting process of an entire unit such as this from the very start, so it should be interesting!

You will get a nice look at how the Shaded Basecoat technique works in this kind of situation, and the subsequent glazing.  It might even show you why the technique was developed in the first place!!

Stay tuned!!

Running With Scissors

Those silly Repentia!  Always running around with dangerous stuff!

It's the same set of greens and golds as the regular Sisters, but obviously with more muted/dirty colors due to the Penitent status.

The bases will still be the same, however!

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221990292237?

Snowstorm!

For a while, you have been seeing the vast horde of snow base figures.  Nearly all of those have been on pre made bases, in order to match figures that were painted previously by someone else.

However, this latest batch of figures had a footprint that required large, wider bases.  This time around, I would need to make them myself... to the tune of several dozen.

I was already making a bunch of bark and branch bases for Wild West Exodus figures, so I knew I could maximize the effort by including these as well.

The rock texture of the previous bases matched the bark, so I knew this would work, customizing each base to fit the footprint of each mini.  They were made in the usual fashion, and there are a lot of articles on how to make the bark and branch bases in this section of the blog :-)

The more difficult part would be creating the same kind of snow effect from the original bases, doing that quickly and effectively!

Time to experiment!!!

I grabbed a variety of materials, all of which I hoped would create nice mounds of snow on all these bark bases.

Each of them on their own would not have enough 'body' to hold up, or would not create the 'pillow' effect that I also needed.  The Liquitex gel is supposed to provide the body, but the various gessos will make it more fluffly, with no sharp edges or brush marks.

The paint is going to be mixed in to pre-prime the surface.

Which leads to a very interesting blueberry sundae!  It looks crazy, but it just might work...

All mixed, and ready to go.  I was really happy with the consistency, and it was coming off the brush exactly as I had hoped.

It turned out to be even easier to use than I could have imagined!  You can see by the big pile how it was holding up very nice, but it also had the 'pillow' effect.

There were certain ways that I had to hold the brush, usually at a steep angle to the base... using the side of the brush more than the tip.

I was able to get a few of the bark 'layers' covered by piles of pillowy snow!

If I made a bigger pile and put it near the edge, I could get a nice fall off effect with just a single stroke of the brush!

Again, this is not really what I would do on most of my bases... the whole idea was to match something that was done previously, and do that rapidly.

This idea would work very well on terrain pieces as well.  I hope that some of you could utilize this concept on your own minis, movement trays or dioramas!

Old Timer

Yes, another old timey Ral Partha figure for ya!!

Interestingly enough, these older minis tend to have cloaks with broader folds, making it a little easier to squeeze in some freehand like this...

I thought he might also look pretty neat on this marble base.  The reds and golds seemed to play off the cooler purples very nicely!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/321970021262?

Dawn of the Red

There's a lot more Red Box Games minis to show you, so we will get started with some undead guys.

I think these could be very fun in a Kings of War zombie horde... a nice change from the usual zombie figs.

Zombie Celts!!

The set comes with a number of different poses.

With the multibasing of Kings of War units, I think you could create something very fun with these guys!

Obviously there's going to be a lot of subtle color transitions.  I have been using a muted purple to shade the greenish flesh.

Ten more zombies to come!!  Stay tuned.

Swiss army Assassin

Years ago (as in 4th Edition Warhammer 40k)m I converted this figure for my Inquisition army.

I had a collection of bits and other figures that I used to create this Eversor Assassin.  I know the base was an old metal Eldar Banshee.  I think I used some Guard bits, a fantasy Chaos helmet, and many other objects.

I believe that a few of the pieces might even have been from Battlefleet Gothic!

I also had a lot of fun painting it.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221988190425?