Hi Paul, I haven't gone AWOL I'm following quietly and and taking notes on anything not already gleaned from Tim. I too will pass on the "housecoat"....just not fashionable up here in the North woods of "MANTANA". Thanks for taking the time to do this SBS. Rick H.
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Couple of Raphael 8404s ordered, along with some of The Masters' brush cleaner...Comment
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You won’t regret it..…..Comment
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Ok, initial preparation and basing. Normally I would go over each figure and remove mould lines. But with this unit, for the first time I've not done that at all. They're pretty clean anyway, and the sculpts are very complex with lots of detail, so I'm hoping I can lose any mould lines in all that. I've seen some remarkable work done by people like James Wappel where mould lines have been left in plain view, yet don't detract from the finished figures. We'll see how these turn out.
The figures come ready assembled and attached to their bases. I've taken to removing unit leaders from their bases and inserting material to raise them up a bit, so they stand out from the crowd, quite literally. That way, on a crowded battlefield, it's easy to see which units have the benefit of a special leader.
The figures are standing on a jeweller's rubber block. These cost about £5 and are great support for drilling, cutting and sawing. You can hold the figure firmly and it won't slip, but you won't break it either.
The unit leader was cut off his base, drilled through each foot and a couple of short lengths of wire (paperclip) superglued in place.
I've glued a thin piece of cork on the base, then a sliver of Scots pine bark. I use pva on one part and cyano on the other. The two glues seem to activate each other and work really well in combination when either glue in isolation won't work.
The figure can then be pushed into the soft cork and pine bark directly - no need to drill holes. Again, glued in place with the aforementioned combination.Comment
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Then the figures are attached to those spatulas and primed using the airbrush. First black -
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If you don't know, a zenithal prime is where you spray white primer down onto the figure from above, creating strong highlights and illuminating detail.
Here's another figure that shows off the zenithal prime rather better.
It also highlights the rather speckly finish I'm getting with the white primer. This is not great but it doesn't affect the finished figure. I probably need to adjust the white primer with retarder to stop it drying in mid-air before it hits the figure.
The zenithal prime makes it really easy to see the detail of the sculpts, and identifies where you need to paint highlights and lowlights.Comment
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Hi Paul
More interesting info here. Not come across a jewellers block before. Does it actually hold the figure or is it just a firm surface to work on? Nice trick on the CA and PVA, I’ll have to try that one….not sure I’d ever go with no clean up, even though it’s a phase I absolutely hate
I’m a recent convert to Zenithal priming myself. However, I highlight using white paint because it’s already primed LOL…. Before that I used to prime in grey, then wash in dilute black to outline the detail. I sometimes include an intermediate grey highlight because I prefer painting over mid grey. The spray method is quite a lot quicker and if you’re painting a largish rank and flank force time comes into it….Comment
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Hi Tim, the block just acts as a compliant but firm surface to rest the figure on, or more accurately to hold it down to. The fact that it is raised above the surface of the worktop makes it easy to grasp and hold the figure comfortably - it's quite difficult to explain what's so good about it, but it definitely makes life easier.
Highlighting in white paint rather than white primer is ridiculously obvious - why didn't I think of that?!
Re. no clean-up, like you I hate doing it, but I am quite uneasy about skipping it. But I'm firmly of the opinion that you have to try stuff out to move forward and improve - even if it doesn't always work out!Comment
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I didn’t really think of the white paint idea….I ran out of white primer and used paint to keep a project moving….then thought Doh!!!Comment
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Most interesting conversation between the two of you, like Rick I'm leaning a lot here. .Comment
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Yes indeed.......zenithal is new to me and might be worth a try in 1-87 scale......should help to speed things up a bit. Good tip on the white paint Tim. See here, you both have secrets to divulge! LOL
Rick H.Comment
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So, at this stage I've run out of excuses not to start actually adding colour.
Deciding on a colour scheme is quite fraught, I find. The colour scheme here is broadly the same as my entire horde army - a mix of greens and browns. With some units I've added some blue and a bit of metallic, and the monsters (giants, mammoths) and special characters have lots more colour variety.
But green and brown do work well. It's important to remember that these are the main colours, but they are the background, not the foreground. For example, on this unit the key colour feature is going to be all the bone. And the figures are not defined solely by the colours anyway - the sculpts themselves ensure each unit really stands out from the others.
To start with I really just slap on the colour. No need to worry about going over edges yet.
I started with just a couple of figures (the complete unit is twelve, plus the unit leader), with the hope I can work out what is going to work well, before painting the rest of them as a single batch. That's the plan - for now!Comment
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Even after just the first figure, where I started with the greens, I realised it would be better to do the browns first and the greens second. So that's what I did with the second figure.
Then I did a first coat of bone - just beginning to take care not to chuck it around too much.
Hopefully you can see how thin these first coats are, from that bone colour. I've been trying hard to get my paint dilution right, and it's not easy. Generally, the thinner the better, but not so thin that it's just a wash that runs everywhere.
You can also see that I realised it would be better to paint his club bone first, not brown, so I corrected that.
This all seems very pedestrian, but I'm trying to show just how hesitant and hit and miss the whole process is, for me at least. It's really not "step by step" at all, just blundering around working out what works best.Comment
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And that's where I'm at right now.
I'm not sure this is of any great value to anyone, but perhaps seeing how you can just tentatively take the painting process one step at a time, thinking about how it works (or doesn't), making adjustments and stepping forward one pace more is a perfectly legitimate approach.
The other thing I always find is that, until I've taken quite a lot of steps along the process of painting a group of figures, I really have no idea whether or not I'm going to make a right pig's ear of them. That's how I'm feeling about these right now.
I was even less certain when I did my first batch, back in February. For those I used Vallejo contrast paints (they call them inks). I can distinctly remember how it was only when I put the last colour on, and there was no white primer left to see, that I realised it was working - quite a "Eureka!" moment.
Maybe that uncertainty is all part of the fun?Comment
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Nice start. That’s complex figures, so I’ll be interested to see how you progress….I like the way you are keeping the preshade so giving interest to the surfaces on the miniature. I tend to overdo this and have to paint it back in
As to colour schemes, that’s where historicals score. You just copy the actual uniform……Fantasy figures take a little more thought.
I too paint a couple of figures first if I’m starting a new imaginary scheme. I use several methods to decide on a scheme though. I use the colour wheel, pictures or photos where the colours work together, home decorating resources, or sometimes just port over historical uniform schemes and use them in a different context……I also try to contrast warm and cool colours to give more contrast. I am really jealous of the true artists that can do this instinctively :loudly-crying:
I too struggle with paint dilution. Sometimes it’s spot on, flowing well, and covering as required. Other times it is too thick, too thin, or lumpy! The wet palette helps, but as you pointed out earlier, some colours just suck up the water and over dilute….I do tend to use a dab of flow aid or Matt medium with the water these days because it helps the paint flow off the brush in a more consistent manner.
Have you experienced light colours turning chalky? I’ve had it happen a couple of times, due primarily to over dilution. I tend to only make washes with darker colours these days.
Do you unload your brush first before painting? I find it improves control, stopping the paint flooding off the brush. Basically I touch the loaded brush to a sheet of kitchen roll or cartridge paper to wick off the excess moisture. The paint then only flows off the brush when you work it, not when you just touch the surface.
By the way, Vallejo inks are just that….inks. They are not contrast paint. Contrast paint will give basic highlights and shading when used thickly over a smooth primer. Inks are more controllable and much more versatile from what I’ve seen.
If you add glazing medium to the inks they make superb glazes, by the way, and are fantastic at adding richness to a painted surface when used as a glaze….Daler Rowney inks are fantastic for this as well as Vallejo.
The Payne’s grey is a great shader, desaturating and darkening a colour so it can be used for shading. The white is a really nice colour when freehanding a design on a shield or such….
This is a really informative SBS. You’re really letting us into your thought processes, not just saying “put that colour there, and this one here”….great stuff!Comment
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