Playing Fetch

It has been a while since the Circle Oboros doggies made an appearance, but here is another one that is part of the massive winter force.  That is comprised of several different companies, including Tharn and Oboros figures.

This one had to match all the others that had come before, which means that I rely even more strongly on the Shaded Basecoat and Glazing techniques.  It is so much easier to match a figure when you don't remember what you used in the past, or that is not even available any more.

Just as I stressed in the classes at Reapercon, the idea is to not only simplify your color palette, but to paint as many other figures at the same time which use those colors.  As I was working on this figure, I had at least a dozen other completely unrelated figures on the table.  

Sometimes all you are painting is one small element of each figure, or only a certain amount of that batch.  It is funny how much I realize that figures end up using so many similar tones.

This particular color scheme presents an interesting contrast, with some warm, bright colors right next to cooler and very muted tones.

Rock On!

I have seen these Privateer Press Trolls for quite a while now... this is the first time that I have seen one of these rock toting monsters in person.  This is certainly a lot easier to paint with the Shaded Basecoat and glazing techniques.

This allowed me to get the muted greenish tinge on the rocks while creating opposing purple and blueish tones on the skin.  with so many things going on all over the place, and so many shapes, it is important to have all of those 'relate' to each other as well as possible.

The Shaded Basecoat works in a similar way to regular 2D painting, in that you cover all of the surfaces as quickly as possible, which means that you are also mixing your paint on the figure along the way.  When you do this, you end up with very interesting blends and transitions almost by default.

The basing was done in the usual bark and branch method... I think that I have a video of the making of this base, and several others:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10209658916083798/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

Something that is entirely metal and this large can really be a challenge.  I learned that using the same rubber gloves that I use when painting vehicles was helpful in not messing up painted areas as I handled it.  Keeping the oils from my fingers away from it really helped!

One of the aspects of glazing that I tried to emphasize at Reapercon was the concept that a glaze could also be a "lighter" glaze.  That is, taking a traditional glazing color such as a sepia, and mixing a lighter opaque color with it.  This tends to create a semi-translucent middle tone, which is what I used in many areas of the skin and especially the rocks.

This was a semi-translucent mix of green that worked so well on those stones...

Assassin of Gold

Reapercon is the one convention that we do each year which focuses almost entirely on miniature painting.  This makes it very different from the other shows that we do, which have more of a mix.  

Obviously there is a lot of conversation about painting, and techniques of all kinds.

I was able to introduce a new class about using oil paints, and do another vehicle painting class.

I emphasized in each class that you can combine techniques and even tools, while trying to simplify your approach at the same time!

In the vehicle painting class, the use of rubbing alcohol and weathering powders was featured instead of oils and acrylics in order to show everyone something new.  Lots of folks paint with oils on tanks, and everyone has used acrylics. :-)

This time around I was able to spend a little more time at my table, which meant that I could talk about miniature painting with a lot more people!  That was really fun, since I had tons of figures set up at the table as examples.

Black Heart was also there with George's fantastic busts, and now I have a few of those for trying out more new techniques.  Stay tuned...

He's also here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/322844472665?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Reapercon!

Well, everything is packed and ready to load into the vehicle as we head off to Reapercon 2017.

As usual, I will be doing classes, with a few new additions.  This time around I will be doing an oil painting class, and painting a historical vehicle too!  I will have a lot of my Bolt Action stuff in tow also, although I don't think there will be enough space to have my terrain.

Hopefully there will be more time this year to paint in the event space before and after the classes.  I like to do spot demos and other fun things, which might be more possible with only 1 class per day.

The other 2 classes I am doing will be the core of everything I do, and that is basing and Shaded Basecoat technique.  For those who won't be able to take those classes, will also have my USB drives filled with the painting videos.  You will be able to choose from any of the 53 available titles.  All you have to do is come by and ask.  As the videos load, we can discuss some of the finer points of what each 100 minute video covers.

We look forward to seeing everyone in just a few days!  I believe that this is one of the 25th anniversary figures that Reaper has made.  This one generously came along with a recent order of figures for the painting classes.  Thanks to all the folks at Reaper!

Working in the Shade

As most of you already know, I like to use a version of my Shaded Basecoat technique with the airbrush, that that this is done with the Badger Stynlrez primers.

In this case, I will be doing this on some French infantry from Warlord Games, one of the last units for the army.  Since they will have to match all the other previously painted figures, the colors used would be very simple.  The idea is only to establish where the lights and darks would be. 

The first Stynlrez primer was the dark brown Ebony.  All I am doing is covering the entire surface, setting up the next primer color.

I really like how this deep brown color works.  It is relatively neutral as far as being a warmer or cooler, but still have more interesting tone than gray.

Some black primer was sprayed near the bottom of the base pointing upwards, so that it would also hit the bottoms of the figures too.  This would be the darkest areas of shading.

You can see that even with this one addition, there are already some nice value gradations established.

Since I will be using my normal glazing techniques once the priming is complete, I only need to provide a hint of greenish brown.  This is the next layer, which is mixed with a little bit of the brown primer.

The image on the right shows one figure with the green primer and a little yellow primer added. By spraying it from above the figure, you can immediately get a sense of how the overall figure should be shaded.

It must be remembered that I want these colors to be a few shades lighter, because I am doing many glazes over the top of this primer set.  That's going to darken everything down significantly.

The final layer is a mix of the yellow with some white.  Not only is it important for getting the last highlights on the upper surfaces of the figures, but highlighting the base as well.  

This can really be seen with the kneeling figure on the left.

At this point, the unit is basically ready for the rest of the painting process.  I may use acrylics or oils at this stage, depending on what else is being painted at the same time.

The view from above shows off the base too.  If you want to get some of these excellent primers (these are the some ones you have seen me using on vehicles and even terrain), you can get them at webairbrushes.  If you use the discount code "wappellious", you get a 42% discount:

http://webairbrushes.com/

The Barbarian

Ever since I painted my very first Norsgard figure, I knew that I had a new miniature line that I would enjoy very much.  The resin is very resilient, with a nice smooth finish and not brittle or hard.  While that makes them easier to assemble, it also makes for a very nice painting surface!

Other areas like the fur cloak and the weapons tend to be in nice shape too.  When those are more detailed, it means that I can paint some more interesting varieties of tones into things that would ordinarily look gray.  While it might look like gray right off the bat, there are plenty of greens, purples and blues as well.

It is important to include those tones, since they are all reflected in the colors that I used on the skin.  This helps to ties everything together.

You can check out more of those fantastic figures here:

http://norsgard.com/game/about-norsgard.html

If you are wondering about the size of the figure, he is on a 40mm base.

The Templar

I had some fun with this Templar Knight.  This was one of the first complex mounted figures that I used an airbrush for the shaded basecoat phase.

This meant that I could paint the whole thing more or less intact and fully assembled, which was more handy than I thought!  Usually there is the nasty ritual of trying to glue a fully painted rider onto a fully painted horse, which never seems to fit correctly, even when you have dry fit it a hundred times!

Then you end up making one of those green stuff 'saddles' to make sure the guy doesn't fall off, and you have to hope that you don't get glue and green stuff in places that you painted.

Better yet, you now have to get a brush with paint into areas that were never supposed to be exposed in the first place!

In any case, it also made it easier to keep the same flow of light and shadow having the figure on the horse the entire time,  There have been far too many times where I have painted shading or something elaborate in an area where it will never be seen, or where it does not make sense entirely once he is back on the horse.

As usual, I was working with a basic Badger Patriot 105, and using the Stynlrez primers.  All I am trying to do is get that preliminary shading, figuring out in advance (while priming at the same time!) so that I can get right into the final shading and mid tone work.

I also used some combinations of Mig Ammo mud on the base and the horse.  The first layers were a lighter tone, to represent the dried mud.  Subsequent layers were darker, to represent the fresh turned dirt/mud.  Then I added the foliage and some leaves cut with the Green Stuff World leaf cutters.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222676614508?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649