Dog Food

One of the latest new releases for the Song of Ice and Fire miniatures game is the Stark Heroes 2 set, which contains some interesting miniatures.  I knew right away that I was going to have a lot of fun basing the Shaggy Dog figure.

It all started out with my usual bark and branch method of basing.  Here's a peek at how that works: https://youtu.be/INPfPLCTZcE

However, between the dog itself and the pose, I thought that I could use some of the nifty body parts from Secret Weapon Miniatures!  The sprues have heads, torsos, arms, legs and even feet!  I chose the bit that has one arm still attached to the torso.

Keep in mind, I was positioning this to take advantage of the movement tray.  I would place the rest of the body parts on the corner of the tray.

The rest of the tray had the "branch" bit, which will give me the opportunity to create some icicles, which you can see on the end of the previous wolf painting tutorial: https://youtu.be/dB4qtag5r9g

You can see the rest of the body parts placed in strategic areas on the base and the movement tray.  I will be doing some really fun blood effects with the snow, where the blood will be seeping into the snow.  I think I also did that effect at the end of this live session: https://youtu.be/3dpSONjJGQw

All of the pieces of bark were placed and angled so that the wolf would appear as if he were up on a rise.  The leafy material that you see is actually loose leaf tea that I had collected for my terrain pieces.  When it is crushed up, it makes some very nice ground cover texture.

I also did the rest of the characters in the box with a similar method.  These will be painting tutorials for the YouTube Channel and the Patreon Page!  ShaggyDog will be an exercise in painting black, just the opposite of Ghost.  The rest of the characters will be painted during live sessions and other one off tutorials

Basing is such a vital part of everything that I do, it even has its own pledge level on the patreon page!  You can check that out here: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Forging a new Metal

This was an experiment that really yielded some amazing results!  We had the Vallejo Metal Medium sitting around forever, but had never found a purpose for it  When I tried it out on the Sauron miniature from Lord of the Rings, it was even better than I had hoped!

Fast forward several months, and you have this video that I made for the Patreon Page and the Geek Nation class at Adepticon this year: https://youtu.be/W2BnTyDxT7Y

Here's a link to that early article: https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/forged-in-fire.html

You can see what the final results of that experiment looked like here: https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-fires-of-mordor.html

I also tried that out in a Facebook live session, mixing even more colors with it to see what it could do!  Here's a link to that video: https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212185674011167/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

In this instance the effect was much more simplified and muted, because it was part of the Geek Nation class that I taught at Adepticon this year.

The most helpful property of the Metal medium is the way it can lighten the color that you mix it with.  This provides you with the ability to shade you new metallic paint, which is normally very hard to do without losing the metal effect or  shifting the color as you try to lighten it.

I am still amazed at how many uses there are for this material.  Originally I was just going to use it on the blackened steel on the rifles and machine guns of the Bolt Action figures, but it proved to have so much more potential right away.

You can see that and many other experiments on the Patreon Page here:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Warrior Sons

The most complicated and challenging Army Painting tutorial series is now complete!  I am uploading the 5th and final episode of a 13.5 hour epic.

It all began with basing, of course, with a technique very similar to what was used on the Pyromancer bases: https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2019/05/world-in-flames.html

Balancing the rainbow cloak effects with the shimmering armor and swords meant "building" each effect evenly, since so much of it was reflected on many surfaces!

Managing that over 12 figures all at once can seem like a daunting task, but if you step back in think things through, it can be broken down into more easily managed chunks.

I also kept the amount of paint colors used to an absolute minimum, even though we really do have every color of the rainbow.

Seeing units like this on the battlefield is a real joy, and the satisfaction of knowing how many effects that I put into creating it will surely come through on the upcoming battle reports.  yes, that's right... battle reports!

Here you can see how the basing works hand in hand with the miniatures.  In some cases, you can see a bit of color on the worn, broken stones.  Not just areas of red and yellow paint, but even some cut leaves in a similar color as well.

Using the Reaper Miniatures Pearl White allowed me to get an extra bit of texture on the robes, in effect resembling the semi shiny fabric such as silk.  I had never tried anything like this before, so it was certainly interesting.

While the Army Painting series are the most unique part of the patreon offerings, I have dozens of other tutorials, such as the Dark Sword miniature series, Creature Caster, Big Child Creatives and countless "one off" videos like this:  https://youtu.be/1mMsq-Ktru0

I am working my way through all of the various Song of Ice and fire armies... Lannister in this case, but also Free Folk, Starks, Night's Watch and Boltons.  Here's another video focused on Ghost, which is an example of the "one off" tutorials: https://youtu.be/dB4qtag5r9g

Be sure to check out the Patreon Page, where you can get in on the Army Painting pledge level.  Keep in mind that when you sign up, all the previous series (plus the other videos beyond the Army Painting tutorials) are yours to access!!  Here's a link: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Blood Knights

Here are some finished images of the Flayed Men heavy cavalry that were painted during a few YouTube live sessions.  Here's a link to the first one where I was working in oils:  https://youtu.be/IkrM2b7xl7E

I continued this unit into another session, where I did some work with acrylics, along with the snow and blood effects!  https://youtu.be/3dpSONjJGQw

I had really been looking forward to painting this unit, since they reminded me of cavalry units from other game systems, except that these were all one piece, unbreakable and had far more motion and action to the poses!

I was able to try out a few new things in terms of painting, basing and even the blood effects, trying out some new materials.

I have another one of these units now, and I will set up some more traditional studio style painting videos, similar to the Army Painting series that I have on my Patreon Page.

That will be available, along with the previous 8 series, when you take the $15 monthly pledge.  This also gets you access to all of the other videos, such as the Dark Sword, Basing, Creature Caster, Nocturna, Black Heart and much more!  Here's a link where you can check that out:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

World in Flames

The latest basing tutorial is up on the Patreon Page now, and it shows yet another use for the Liquitex heavy Gloss Gel.  I have used it for water, icicles, and yes, even fire!  In this video, I also showed how I used the Green Stuff World Lion theme texture roller using sheets of baked Sculpey clay.

The flaming skulls, also from Green Stuff World, were really fun, and just the right touch!

With the Sculpey and Skulls in place, it was time to add some extra flames to the rest of the bases and the movement tray.

This does dry clear, and it can even be tinted.  While I will be painting these in a classic Object Source Lighting with fluorescent paints, you could even mix that fluorescent green with the gel and make your flames that way if you were looking for a quick down and dirty method.

Here's a peek at the tray will all the effects added!  As I mentioned before, it will dry clear, so I wanted to get a few pictures while it was still easy to see.

I did my usual Badger Airbrush Stynlrez primer technique on the figures and tray, so that I could establish some quick shading.

You can sign up for the Basing Techniques pledge level on the Patreon Page at $10 per month.  This will get you access to the regular basing videos, but also the episodes that focus on basing from other series, such as the Army Painting and Dark Sword levels.

Of course, signing up for the Army Painter pledge level will provide access to all the videos done over the month for only $15.  When you sign up, all of the previous content is also sent to you, since I try to build each series and technique on previous videos!!  This means hundreds of hours of tutorials at you fingertips, covering just about anything you can imagine.

Here is a link to the page, where you can sign up for all those tutorials!  I try to create the widest array of techniques and materials to give you more and more options: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

True Sons

As most of you know, the key part of every army is your Color Test figure.  This is where you establish not just the color scheme for your army as a whole, but where you can figure out what is viable in terms of effects with the time you have to complete the project.

Episode two of Army Painting Series 8 is up on the Patreon Page now, and it includes one more Color Test figure.  I think this one is even more critical, given the nature of the Warriors Sons, and those crazy Rainbow cloaks!

I try to keep things as simple as possible, using a few basic Reaper colors, such as the clear and liner paints. The one specialty item is the Peal White, which you have seen me use in previous YouTube tutorials: https://youtu.be/6aj98FOCJPA

As I work through this color test figure, I try to keep track of how much time something takes.  While this time will be shortened in the process of assembly line painting the rest of the unit, it can still let me know if the look I am trying to get will take an exorbitant amount of time.

I think this is a major factor in the partially painted army syndrome.  The project begins with anticipation, excitement, and expectations.  When those are not met, or when the realization hits that those effects could take a REALLY long time to create, the project grinds to a halt.

My goal with each Army Painting series is to avoid this problem, giving you the tools to get those effects you want in a reasonable time, but even help you to figure out if you want to try those in the first place.

In each series, I conduct a discussion on these points.  It is hard to believe that this is Series 8, especially when you consider that each series is 5 episodes, and usually 12 hours running time.  All of the other tutorials that I do each month also feed into the Army Painting series, where I can isolate one particular technique or color.

I feel very comfortable in saying that there are very few, if any sources that can get you almost 100 different videos the instant you sign up for a pledge.

You can sign up on the Patreon Page now at the Army Painting level and get all the previous series as well as other tutorials!!  Here's a link: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel