Painting some Followers of Bone

[Tim Marlow]

Good to see them done Paul. I can see what you mean about the front and back of the yellow clad guys. I think the issue is a lack of colour contrast between the brown fur and the yellow tunic . They are of a similar tonal value, so one doesn’t pop off of the other. The combination works on the back because there are only those two main colours so are easier for the eye to read. On the front all the lighter bone protuberances act to make the yellow seem darker, and so less pronounced against the brown. Great looking unit though….bring on the bases…..

[PaulinKendal]

Thanks Tim. I've an idea for the tray that may or may not work - I don't want to lose the punchy contrast between the dark bases and the brightly coloured figures. We'll see.if it works!

[PaulinKendal]

So, what are the five main things I've learned during the past eight weeks?

1. I've changed the brushes I use. This is the biggest single improvement I've made. I now have a few unused "fine detail" brushes that I realise I'll probably never, ever use. I reckon a top-notch No.2 is all I need.

I would thoroughly recommend to anyone who wants to improve their painting, try a £15 experiment with either a Winsor & Newton Series 7, or a Raphael 8404. Go on, you know you want to.

2. Flow improver is now giving me extra working time with paint, even when using tiny quantities of pigment. And, obviously, better flow.

3. I'm now cleaning and storing my brushes properly, to maximise their usable life (this step goes with the £15 brush experiment - buy some brush soap and conditioner at the same time).

4. Mould lines. I didn't clean these figures up at all, and it shows. The green figures are worst affected, with flash clearly visible on their skull headgear.

But in general I'm really pleased with how straightforward it was to mask the mould lines with paint, and how little they detract from the finish of the figures. Even where mould lines run across knuckles, they don't really show too badly at all.

With individual character sculpts in future I'll continue to remove mould lines as carefully as possible, but when I'm painting up a unit like this, I'll only worry about mould lines in the most obvious places.

By forcing myself to leave mould lines this time, I've learned I can be much more relaxed about them in the future. Which is nice. And it's also an object-lesson on why it's valuable to try left-field experiments from time to time.

5. I've had a successful first proper go at painting yellow. And it came out pretty well.

As a result of all this, I'm really looking forward to my next project, painting a few individual characters to the highest standard I can manage, using these new skills and techniques.

Thanks to everyone who looked in. I enjoyed doing this more than I expected to, and of course this thread was the catalyst for learning all the above, and much more besides.

And a final, sincere, tip of the hat to Tim Marlow, for all the advice and suggestions - really appreciated, mate, you've really helped me improve my ability in this fascinating, engrossing pastime.

And of course, happy to answer any final questions, folks.

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Paul
Glad you enjoyed the blogging exercise, and even more pleased that I could be of some small help. It’s always helpful to bounce ideas off of someone, and the brush quality/brush care thing was the single most important step I took when improving my own painting so I thought it was worth passing it on. Looking forward to your next subject with interest now.

[PaulinKendal]

Coming shortly...