Flower Girl

One of my favorite video series of the original Painting Pyramid campaign was the set I created for color theory... on 5 colors.  These were the 5 colors which I was asked so many questions about!  That included Reds, Blues, Yellows, Greens and even Grays.

I thought it might be interesting to combine my new Dark Sword painting tutorials with one of these color theory specific episodes... and this time it was green!

Here's the original swatch set that I painted during the older "Green With Envy" video.  The idea was to show how you can create a rich and full set of light and dark, cool and warm, as well as saturated and muted versions of "Green".

While nearly all of the colors that I used in that first video are probably gone now, it was so interesting to see that I had replacements for all of them for this new version.

I wanted to take things a little further this time, including the basing as part of that color theory.  Not only painting the base, but even what colors and types of foliage were chosen.  I had four different flower and shrub tufts from Green Stuff World, and choosing which ones to go with was a major part of the process.

As usual, I go through the Shaded Basecoat and glazing techniques, showing how to mix that wide variety of greens along the way.

Then it came time to choose the foliage.  Early on I decided to go with yellow, and how that could still contrast with my greens, even though red is the natural "opposite".

It seemed like a great way to show a new way to think about the flocking of a base.  Normally I apply the shrubs and other tufts at that "end point", but this time I made the choice very early on, and painted specifically to that choice.

Here is the result, with many course corrections along the way.  This is something I try to show in every video that I film, so that people become less worried about making changes to their figures as they paint them.

Since I use the Shaded basecoat and Glazing techniques as opposed to heavy amounts of layering, flipping around a color scheme does not take long, and I don't have to worry about "messing up", as I don't have countless hours invested in layering up one tiny area.

I also stress moving around the figure, and not getting bogged down in one place.  It is so important to maintain that global view of the figure, and provide the proper context.  That is, if you only paint the face next to a lot of white or black primer, your skin tones will be radically affected.  Once you place a dark blue next to that face painted next to white, you skin tones will look quite odd!

The Dark Sword video series is $10, and you will see all the videos that pertain to the painting of those figures, as well as the other videos that a $5 pledge would bring in.  That is usually about 8-10 hours of videos each month.

Here's a link to the patreon page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Cave Dweller

This is one of the more entertaining trolls that I have had to work on... he definitely has an attitude!

He had to be painted as a cave troll, to match a few others that were part of the group, which meant I had to get as much depth as I could with various grays.  These were shifted cooler and warmer, with some purples and magenta being used as accent colors.

I sculpted a few mushrooms for the base, which you can see a little better in the image on right.  I also used the Vallejo Moss and Lichen environment medium, which was really interesting.  That is the yellowish color on the mushrooms and on the stones surrounding it.

That has a bit of a texture to it, and it really does look more "dimensional" than if I had just used some regular paint.  I will be using this on some more figures which are part of this group, so I will try and do more of a step by step for you.  Stay Tuned!

Pork for Dinner?

I don't know what the official name for these guys might be, but I will just refer to them as Rhinox :-)  These big beasties were fun to paint, and provided plenty of opportunities for subtle transitions in various shades of umbers and burnt sienna.

I think that you can see the greenish gray tones in the shadows, which is something I have been emphasizing in my tutorial videos lately.  That is, having more than just a darker version of the same brown in your shadow areas.  For instance, if you have a reddish cloak, some deep grayish green in the shadows can provide much more interest and depth.

In this instance, that grayish green helps make the reddish burnt sienna pop much more, since they are opposites.  As a result, I get more contrast without having to make the color significantly lighter.

This is part of the triple play of contrast that I mention in my painting videos over and over.  Contrast gained by saturated vs unstaturated colors, warm vs cool, and light vs dark.

Lannister Supremacy

One of the things that has impressed me very much with the Song of Ice and Fire miniatures is the dynamic and dramatic poses that were achieved.  Normally figures made of this material tend to be more static or blocky.

The pose of this Lannister Captain is very elegant, but he also fits into the unit tray very easily.

The cape flows very well, and tracks the armor and figure quite nicely.  In addition, the weapons are always prefect every single time!  With the filing of a few mould lines, these figures are ready to paint right out of the box.  Also, they are really unbreakable by comparison to resin figures of a similar type.

I put a touch of freehand on the cape, but I may add some more, especially on the interior surface.

He was part of a larger unit of Halberds as you can see here.  I worked on a dozen regular Halberds, including a standard bearer.  That was done as part of my Army Painter series on the Patreon page. 

The series takes you through the entire process, starting with the basing and prepping of the unit, and all the various painting techniques.

This image fills you in on the primary technique involved, which is Sky-Earth Non Metallic Metals.  I have done this on entire units before, but the Lannister figures are perfect for the SE-NMM.

The video series has 5 episodes and about 11 hours of footage.  My Army Painter pledge level is $15, and is available on the Patreon page.  In addition, you can see all of the other videos created, including basing, large creatures, and more!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Operation Sting

Earlier this month, I had a chance to participate in my first full fledged Bolt Action tournament, good old Operation Sting! Brent and Seamus worked so hard to make the event happen, as did many of the other participants.

We, like many others, brought terrain tables.  That made for some very nice looking tables, and a great variety.  I think that was my favorite part, having many different themes to play on!

As you know, I brought the Fallschirmjager army for Monte Cassino.  We had to make an objective marker, and you can see mine in the courtyard.  This was sculpted from scratch to match the Madonna statue which stood there.

That gave me just enough room to place some of the other units, including the weapon teams.

I was very happy at how the upper level of the broken monastery worked out, and I could easily place all the figures inside.  Better yet, it will be a fantastic terrain piece when it comes to playing games in this theatre.

I tried to make distinct areas to place my various units for a few reasons.  First was appearance of course, but also to help me figure out which squad was which!  I had no time whatsoever to practice or play test with this army in advance.

In effect, I was being handed a brand new army on the spot, and I was going to have to learn this army in the crucible of a 5 game tournament!

Each unit had its own designated spot, and I knew which one it was by that location.

I like this view, because so many of my reference pictures were taken from this angle.  Since I had a bit more room (and light!) for photos at the tournament, I thought I could get you some fun new views of the board that were not possible as it was being constructed.

When I placed order dice on the board Friday night before the tournament, I was not entirely certain that I would have a painted unit to match it!

If you have not seen the making of the display board, that is detailed in a number of step by step tutorial posts:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/10/monte-cassino-display-board-phase-1.html

I was very glad that I utilized the openings that were in the original pieces of scrap foam... making them arch support where the hillside had been blasted away.

One thing I wanted for this overall piece was "openness".  That is, I could get down to this angle and be able to see all the way through it.  This is a distinct property of ruins such as these, and I wanted to capture that.

If you recall the method I used to create these broken floors, and how easy that was... these images made me even more happy!  Here's a peek at the blog post explaining them:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/11/monte-cassino-part-3.html

I was so thrilled to see how the figures looked in the broken floor rubble!  Just as I designed, they could stand on top of the rubble without tipping over.  This bodes well for all the urban ruins that I want to create for Stalingrad, Berlin, Budapest, etc.

I will be doing another post where I show the photos I was able to take during the games.  My result was far beyond anything I could have imagined heading into this event, so stay tuned!!!

A Brand new Line: Creature Caster Paints!!

Just a few days ago, I was able to try out the brand new paint line from Slow Fuse Gaming and Creature Caster!  It has been a very long time since I tried out a new set of paints, so this was going to be interesting.

I grabbed a Mierce Miniatures monster, because I had recently painted one with my usual Reaper and Secret Weapon paints.  This way, I could see how well I could achieve a similar color scheme, and if I could execute the process in a similar manner.

I had the same yellowish/gray Stynlrez primer on the surface, and I set out to start doing my usual Shaded Basecoat/glazing steps.  As these have very heavily sculpted fur, I wanted to see if the paints could get down into those nooks and crannies... that does not always happen with other paints, unless I am using oils!

These bottles are also a bit different.  I have always hated the standard dropper bottles, as they perpetually clog, or the nozzle stays inside the cap and I end up with a giant spill of paint on my palette.  These work a bit more like elmer's glue containers.  You twist the top nozzle and squeeze the container.

They are a bit on the stiff side, so keep that in mind.  It does help prevent you from putting out too much on the palette though.

You can see the results were quite nice.  Great coverage, and everything dried very matte.  I was able to do a lot of glazing, but also work in more opaque layers.

At the moment, there are 36 colors, including 5 metallics. More are on the way as well!

As I mentioned before, this project has been in the works for many months, and every detail has been gone over many times.  I don't want to think about how many container supply websites that were visited.

New paints are not exactly a priority item on my list of things that I need, so these needed to make an impression on me from the start.  

I filmed a 1 hour live testing session for the patrons on my Patreon Page, so that they could see these in use for the very first time.  I was even taking the seals off the containers on camera, so that everyone knew I had not touched them before.

More things are being painted, including some Creature Caster figures as I put these paints through very intense testing.  They must be able to do all the things which my other paints can do very well right away... and so far it looks great!

Here's a link for you to the Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Man The Wall!!

I am really excited about painting the Knight's Watch army for the Song of Ice and Fire miniatures game!  After making 2 winter armies for Bolt Action, I have plenty of possible techniques and materials at hand.

This example of the Scorpion Bolt thrower combines many of those materials and techniques to create the mud, melted snow, and even the icicles!

There are products from Secret Weapon Miniatures, Woodland Scenics, Mig Ammo, and more.  I really wanted to have that slushy snow/mud mix where the crew have been moving around, with the less trampled snow around the edges.  Finally, the icicles were just too much to resist!

I already have a few winter themed tutorial videos on my facebook page and the blog:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212572308356784/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

These overhead views really show the Mig Ammo mud effects mixed with the Secret Weapon Crushed Glass method, and how they work together.  This is something I did quite a bit on my Winter Soviets... and now I will be bringing Winter to The Wall :-)

Most of the Knight's Watch painting tutorials will be for my patrons, both at the $5 entry level and much more at the $15 Army Painting level.  That is where I take you through the entire process of painting a unit, from initial basing to the finished painting (usually about 5 episodes and 10-12 hours of videos!).

The first unit I will tackle are the Ranger Hunters, but I will also be doing a video on the second Scorpion and crew!

Here is a link to the page... right now the final episode in the Lannister Halberds series is in production!  You can Wear the Black too!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel