The peacock and the skull

Here are a few bases that I created in very little time utilizing some Green Stuff World basing products.  First, we have the Mandala texture roller... here's a link for you: http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/textured-rolling-pins/868-rolling-pin-mandala.html

In combination with a few layers of cork and placing some Sandy Paste in the gaps, this Dark Sword figure is all set for painting!

Cathy will be painting this on her live stream in association with More Than Dice a Podcast.  She streams every Tuesday through Friday from 3pm Central to 5pm.

I think she will be going with a peacock motif, using the wonderful Jade color from the Pro Acryl series!

Cathy will also be painting this Reaper figure, which was based with the help of the Green Stuff World Crunch Times skeleton sheet and some additional skulls.

Once again, in combination with the cork and paste, those could be merged together quite seamlessly!  I have a tutorial video showing how those are used here:  https://youtu.be/ECA4rXwSAjU

Be sure to check out Cathy's live stream, where she will be working on a few different figures during the week.  Be sure to say something in the chat, because she loves the company while she paints!!!

Swamp Things

The Creature Cast//Slow Fuse gaming paints yield some very interesting results, like this river troll from Games Workshop!  Here's a video that I did a while back when I first got the paints to see what they could do: https://youtu.be/sFsQ4VrQG44

I had a lot of fun with the scales and skin, which felt like they should be fish like, but also of a higher saturation.  The Purple and Jade from the range are favorites, and they have a natural synergy together.

As an intermediary, we have some of the Sky Blue in places.  This helps the Jade to translate into purple instead of becoming more of a gray.  Purple and Green mixes are one of my favorite ways to create Green, so adding the blueish tone first cuts down on that "graying" of the color.

I used the Reaper Liner paints to make them even darker, such as the Green and Blue Liner paints.  I was also using them much like a glaze, and those Liner paints are fantastic for glazing, as many of you have seen in my videos!

I did much of the water with the Green Stuff World clear UV resin.  This can be very handy, as the water effects can take a LONG time to cure on their own.  I will be doing more experiments with this to see how it can be built up to create waves and so on...

I was tempted to add some mushrooms to the base... but perhaps on the next one!  If I do, they will be sculpted in a very similar manner to this tutorial: https://youtu.be/b0ZGhq6GoO0

Wraith World

One of the things I try to do with my tutorials is to keep them as close to "real life" as possible.  That means taking commission projects and turning them into videos!

In this case, I had to match this color scheme, which was going to be a major challenge, because that painter uses a VERY different technique than I do.  You can see that it is mostly edge highlighting and using metallic paints, which I was not going to be able to use myself.

So, using the typical set of Reaper liner and clear paints, I set down to work.

As always, I started with my initial glazes and Shaded Basecoat. The idea here is to get the lights and darks into position as quickly as possible to put a "framework" in place, which I can build from with additional refinements later on.

Once those initial building block are established, I can move towards the all important mid tones and other details, such as weathering, etc.

You can see in these images that I was able to get the feel of the reference image, but still keep it more in line with my approach.  The key is that "messy" stage at the beginning when I am moving paint around rapidly.

I have done a few other blog posts as well on "reclamation projects", where I have to take figures painted by someone else and rescue them, since they were not painted in the manner requested.  I have also done a few videos on basing commission projects, because I felt like it would be helpful for people to know how they could get a very unique basing design and still be able to repeat it many times in rapid succession.

While anyone who has to paint entire armies for their own games needs to get them done in a minimal amount of time, it is especially important for a commission painter to be able to get projects out of the way as soon as possible.  Hopefully these videos that I am creating assist in that cause!

This video is one of many that I have done for the $5 pledge level, which are typically "On the Workbench" sessions.  Here is a peek at the video:  https://youtu.be/pdp9OlIgDu0

I am always churning out more tutorials, sometimes on very spontaneous subject matter such as this.  Signing up on the Patreon page for as little as $5 a month will provide you with access to these episodes which are designed to cast new light on certain topics: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Dark Runes

Dark Sword figures provide an excellent "canvas" for various tutorials, and this one was no exception!  There were a few things I wanted to try out, as I have been doing a lot of NMM on all the Song of Ice and Fire minis.

The home made wet palette made another appearance as well, as the fans keep drying out paints like crazy during the lessons!

Here's an example of what I was trying to replicate... some metal effects done on a Sandor Clegane figure from the Song of Ice and Fire range.

For those who are able to watch the tutorial, they will see how I take the reference images and carry over those effects onto the figure, especially all the reflections.  Once I started using armor cosplayers images as references as opposed to pictures of armor in museums, I began to get a better idea of what armor looks like in an "environment".

The other major goal of the lesson was to demonstrate how to integrate freehand designs more spontaneously, and have them match the basing.

You can see that in this image, where I used the Green Stuff World Celtic theme texture roller to create an ancient stone temple base.  During the video, I show a few simple steps to replicating those patterns on the cloak.  This is Episode 16 of Painting Dark Sword.  

In each video, I try to show a few different elements... sometimes that is a specific color, or a range of colors.  It can also involve a certain technique, or how to combine various techniques.

I even switch up the materials, as some are painted in oils.

All of these are part of the Painting Dark Sword pledge level on the Patreon Page.

The Dark Sword pledge level is $10 per month, and also provides access to other "stand alone" tutorials which are done each month. You can check that out here:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Cruel Seas: All ahead full

As I get the next few fleets ready for painting, I thought I would show some images of the Regia Marina from Cruel Seas!  This has been a lot of fun, since painting 1/300 scale ships is something I have wanted to do for a very long time.

I recently published a tutorial on the Gabbiano Class corvette of the Italian navy, and here's the link: https://youtu.be/gEnCenN6fjA

Painting the Dazzle camo and the weathering is a blast!

I just had to begin with the Italian fleet, because the Air Recognition markings are so much fun.

Here's some more of the fleet, much of which was painted at Little Wars in April.

I will be doing more tutorials on all the other fleets, as well as terrain demos and battle reports!

Each fleet has a very different look and personality to it, so I look forward to painting all of them.  The Kreigsmarine is being prepped right now...

I will also be doing some patron only videos, such as my series on the Winter Soviets.  That was part of my Army Painting pledge level, where I take on an entire unit, and show the complete process from basing to the final details of painting!  You can find that here: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Savage Blood

I have been having a great deal of fun basing my Song of Ice and Fire miniatures using a variety of Green Stuff World products... the latest of which are the "Crunch Times" texture sheets.  I have been using the skull piles and skull and bones sheets to base my Free Folk units.

It is possible to break those up, and then use them for bot the bases and the movement tray!  In effect, you are creating a moving diorama.

In my latest basing video, I demonstrate how this process works: https://youtu.be/nnAX658rMd8

I also take you through some steps to magnetize the figures to the tray, which I have been doing for all my units.  This makes them so much easier to deal with as far as transport, but even on the table when you have to constantly move a tray around some obstacles or rotate them.  I have seen "explosions" in every battle report so far where a batch of figures go flying.

The priming process is just like this tutorial using the Badger Stynlrez primers: https://youtu.be/5pfwjapw98A

This "Pre Shading" process can make things much easier and faster when it comes time to paint the rest of the unit!

Here are a few of the "Color Test" figures.  This is an important part of the unit or army painting process, and something that is always covered in the second episode of every 5 part Army Painting series on the Patreon Page.  It is here where you can determine how long a given effect might take, and then you can multiply that by the number of figures.  

This way, you know in advance how much extra time that could add to your project, and you can either eliminate that effect, or save it for select figures such as champions.

I have a number of videos showing how I do the snow and blood effects, such as this one on Shaggy Dog: https://youtu.be/W8MCJm14IYs

I am almost finished filming Series 9 of the Army Painter Patreon sets.  As I mentioned earlier, each one is usually 5 episodes long, and takes you through each step of the process from initial basing to finishing touches!  By signing up for the Army Painting level (which is $15 per month), you also have access to all the other tutorials done for that month, and that means about 20 hours of video tutorials!!

You can sign up for the Army Painting pledge here, so you don't miss out on dozens of unit and army painting content!:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel