Carrying a Torch...

Over the last few months, I have been preparing several Dark Sword figures for additional video painting demos to be part of the Patreon page.  These will be more targeted than the usual facebook live sessions.  For instance, I have figures like this one which would obviously feature Object Source Lighting.

The Dark Sword figures are ideal for these kinds of videos, as they have such sharp details.  That makes a big difference when you are trying to get them to be seen on camera, and it even takes less time to paint them because of how fine the detail and casting were done!

I have been testing various new apps like XSplit to make recordings for the YouTube channel.  My goal is to record lessons each week, and then raffle off those figures.  If it works, patrons who pledge to see these videos will get links to that specific video, so they can view it when they wish.

There are some other new things I would like to add to the page, including the original Painting Pyramid videos.  If possible, I could get one full video posted each month, and send that email link to the patrons as I mentioned earlier.

Once I can get the technical elements down, and do some testing, I will be able to send out links to the patrons and see how it works out!  Here's a link to the page:

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Deal Me In

This Doc Holiday figure was one of my favorite WWX figures, mostly because of the fun I had creating the tree and the bloody playing cards!

One of his abilities was to decapitate enemies by tossing these playing cards at them.  So, I cut up some tiny pieces of paper and painted both number and face cards.  It was definitely a challenge!!

Painting the patterns on the backs of the cards was even more difficult.  Of course, they did not have to be completely perfect, since I was putting blood effects on them.  

It was on my WWX figures that I really got into the "bark and branch" technique, using tree branches and dried foliage to create small trees.

Now that I use the airbrush for 'primer painting', getting color on these pieces of foliage is far easier!!

He's also here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/322996781551?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Water World

I conducted a number of experiments on these Naiad figures from Mantic Games.  First, I wanted to see what my collection of sea shells might look like on the bases, while I also tried out some new aquarium foliage and even colorful tufts from Green Stuff World.

I ended up having to do the usual modification of the aquarium plants, and that was to do a wash of a greenish mix of Vallejo washes and Reaper Liner paints.  Those dry extremely matte or flat, which kills the shiny texture of the plastic leaves.  They are also very durable and get down into the crevices, which means that they won't flake off when the leaves move or get bent.

As for the seashells, I had to put a similar glaze over the top of them to make them match the rest of the colors.  They were far too bright and stark otherwise.  It was a much lighter version of the plant wash, since I still wanted to keep the natural patterns on the shells!

Finally, I used a few of the new Green Stuff World grass tufts, which were just the trick to match some of the Reaper Clear Magenta colors and the other high saturation Clear paints.

Saddle Up!

I have been working very hard to get a lot of new things ready for the Patreon Page... new styles of videos, more figures, and so on.

I have been looking into ways to create Patron only videos, which has meant loading new software, figuring out how to use that, getting the YouTube account approved and settled for these new applications.

My goal with these new types of videos is to record them like my Painting Pyramid videos and have them posted to my YouTube account.  This would mean better resolution than the facebook live sessions, and they would be easier to find.  These would be more frequent than the Facebook sessions, as the figures would be smaller too...

Finally, these figures would also be raffled off, and those pledges eligible to participate would have an even better chance of winning one of these amazing Dark Sword figures.

As I mentioned, I have been furiously prepping dozens of these figures, which will allow me to show all kinds of fun techniques in both acrylics and oils, as well as basing treatments.

I also want to utilize a few larger commission figures for some of the Facebook live sessions, such as this very interesting piece.  This one is calling out for some icy colors, so I will have a lot of fun painting this one live!  While it would be neat to try the oils on it, I think that the Reaper Clear paints might be the medium I will use.

Coming soon to a live session near you is this fantastic cowgirl will be the next oil painting live session, and she will also be the next raffle figure for the Patreon Page.  As always, any level of support gets you into the raffle!

She was a fundraising figure for AMPSA.  If you would like to get one of these for yourself, you can email Dallas at ampsayyc@gmail.com

I cant wait to work with the oil paints on this, as the leather surfaces are just calling for burnt siennas, umbers and ochres!

Here's the link to the page:

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Skulltaker

This Enigma Miniatures figure was a very interesting piece to paint, as most of the figures from that series were.  They always had interesting details.

As this was part of that very large army commission, the basing and overall colors had to match a lot of the previously painted figures.  This meant a very compressed color range!  To top it off, the skin tones were requested to be a blueish black... taking away one more contrast element.

This meant trying to find contrast in those other areas that yea hear me mention so often, and that is warm vs cool, and saturated vs unsaturated.  You can have saturated colors in a limited palette exercise, as long as they are in line with the rest of the colors in that 'family'.  It is a very subtle way to establish contrast, but it is a lot of fun to try!

Wildlife Refuge

This Great Eagle was the centerpiece of my LOTR Galdhrim army.  The figure itself is no longer in print, but it was the perfect pose to represent a giant beast taking off after dispatching his prey!

I had a lot of fun painting the wings and the face.  There are a few other similar creatures that I painted as the subject for my Painting Pyramid tutorial videos, including the Griffon and Giant Owl.  Those are each 105 minutes long, and demonstrate how to paint these large monsters in a more efficient way.

When you have large wings such as these, it is important to get some variations in those brownish tones.  You can see that some are more saturated that other, while greyish browns compliment those brighter tones.  Some sections have more yellows, and other parts have some greenish shades.

While having lights and darks can be important, keeping these very broad surfaces interesting takes more than one kind of contrast!

I especially enjoyed painting the face, as it was very nicely sculpted.  After painting many birds of prey in 2D art, I was very familiar with how to approach that part.

The base was particularly important.  Given the position of the talons, I really wanted to have some dead Easterlings as fresh kills.  If you saw some of my previous Lord of the Rings posts, you know that I had a large Easterling/Khandish alliance army.

For the Bilbo's Bash tournament, I had to have one "good" and one "evil" army.  They had to show in some way that they were fighting each other, so the Khandish chariots had trophy heads, while the Gwaihir figure had it's Easterling victims!

A few plastic Easterling figures were cut in a few spots and repositioned.  I have a number of blog posts from that tournament, so you can check those out in the Bilbo's Bash section and see how they were used.  Given the unique way combat is resolved in LOTR, this kind of unit was a great compliment to the Cavalry and to the Stormcaller casters.

The general idea was to use the spell to knock down the enemy, which would be charged by the infantry from the front.  At the same time, the very fast cavalry would strike from the sides, and the Great Eagle would fly over the mass and pounce from behind.  It proved to be very deadly!!

He's also here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/222788096620?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Eastern Blades

This is one of my favorite conversions for my Lord of the Rings armies, which used a variety of parts and bits.

There are a few Riders of Rohan horses, a few Khandish bits and a Tomb Kings chariot!

I had to cut down both the carriage section and the pole about 1/2 inch each to get it to fit on the 60mm base, but it was well worth it!  Here's a previous post that shows how this process looked:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/05/operation-desert-storm-legions-assemble.html

The base was done to match my army display board, which I have shown in a series of posts:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/water-world-creating-falls.html

This post shows the display board and both armies together, just before the Bilbo's Bash LOTR tournament!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-battle-of-fortress-falls-minis-on.html