Layer-By-Layer

So today's post is going to be a bit more involved and a bit pic heavy (at last count, 22 pics).  I've been posting on the Unofficial Robotech RPG Tactics page on Facebook, and have been getting comments that people like the paint jobs that I do.  So I figured that these guys might like to see how I paint up these guys layer-by-layer.  Let's start with the very first coat of green:



When I originally started these I asked my friend what color scheme he wanted, and the response was a dark green trimmed in black.  The bottle for this green looks dark, but it's very thin and goes on thin.  Right from the beginning I knew that this was going to take multiple coats of green.  First though I applied a coat of Nuln Oil (a black wash) to help get things started:



That is MUCH better already, but as you can tell the color isn't quite smooth yet so I applied another coat of green:



You can get to this point by doing a basecoat, wash, basecoat, or by doing two basecoats followed by a wash.  The two layers of basecoat give you the solid dark green color, and the wash darkens it even further, but more importantly it gets in the cracks/recesses.  You want that to happen when you start painting the layers on top of what you already have so the eye will have an easier time distinguishing the separation of plates/pieces.



I got a bit ahead of myself here.  The next step I did was to add a bit of highlighting.  On the right you can see the first level of highlights, and on the right you can see the covering wash I did afterwards.  Overall I've been having a difficult time getting down how I want to highlight robots.  Turns out that flat planes are more difficult to do than spherical surfaces.  So what I tried to go with was picking out the edging of the plates as if the lighting was coming from the front and above the plane.  I didn't do the best job, but figuring out lighting schemes is still a bit new to me.



Here's a comparison pick of how things look compared to a finished fighter.  When highlighting I like to take a brighter color and mix it in with the layer below it (in this case the basecoat), and I tend to err on the side it being brighter knowing that I like to do a wash over the layers when I'm done to help smooth things out.  Next up, the start of white!



I've talked in the past about painting white and I'll say it again.  When painting white make the brightest white the highlight and start with an undercoat of grey that's close to white.  In this case the layer you're looking at is a very bright grey, but it *LOOKS* white.  If you held up the bottle of paint though you'd see it as grey, and it's a nice subtle detail that works.  Here's proof:



As you can tell, the one on the left has a much brighter, "White," coloring to it.  In my experience that's the trick to painting white, and the inverse for black.  Make white the brightest, and black the darkest.  Now I'm going to put the white on:



It may not show up as well in the pic, but if you look closely you can see the grey next to the white both in the cracks and, "At the back," of the white (since the light is coming from the front I want the brighter colors at the front).  If you've been watching the missles in the past couple of pics you'll have noticed that I cleaned them up by painting them in the same grey, and in the above pic they have been washed with Nuln Oil:



Now I've gone over them with a creamier, more off-white grey.  The reason for this is because when I was painting the fighters I figured that if I kept them at the same grey I used to undercoat the other white parts that they'd be overlooked on the model and then forgotten.  Using the grey that I did (more of a lighter stone grey) they pop out a *LOT* more, but don't detract from the model.  This is one of those instances where something turned out really well.  When painting over the plating be sure to leave some of the darker layer visible.  This is usually the little recessed area between the plates.



Another instance of me getting ahead of myself.  With the majority of the fighter being done I have moved on to more of the details.  On the right you can see the base layer for the, "Metal," that I used for the gun, thrusters, and head cannons.  On the left is the highlight layer.  The thing that always strikes me when doing highlight layers is how bright they appear.  I have to remember that paint will dry darker than when it goes on, and that I also like to use washes to help smooth things over:



There's nothing like seeing the colors do what you want them to do!  Alright, now I'm quickly approaching the end.  The two things left to do are the cockpits and the bases:



If you look closely you'll see that I've started the bases at the same time as the cockpit, but what you might've missed is that I used the same color.  The blue I used for the basecoat of the cockpit is thin like the green I used for the rest of the fighter.  When I first tried this on a cockpit I was annoyed, but then I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if you painted this onto the base, and got the effect of the fighters rushing over water?"  I tried it out, and looked great!  There were some other things to do, but first I wanted to finish the cockpits:



As before, when doing a higher layer try to mix in the brighter color.  You'll end up with a better transition that isn't as jarring as if you'd just painted the next layer straight on out of the bottle.  Mixing is really easy to pick up, and shouldn't take a lot of experimentation.  Usually for me it's just a drop or two of the brighter color because brighter colors will lighten up darker colors MUCH quicker than the other way around.



Just a few swipes of paint and the cockpits are done!  Now to focus on the bases again.  The blue looks good, but on it's own it's rather bland.  To try and mix things up a bit more I drybrushed some green onto the, "Waves," to help give them even more variation.  Looking at them now I'm tempted to add some brighter white to it and see if that doesn't actually bring things out.



You'll have noticed that I brought the blue up on the stand holding up the fighter, and that's because I didn't want to just paint a stand that was all, "Air," and figured that some water being caught up in the flight would be a nice touch.  It's a personal choice in the end.



Another instance of it being difficult to see in the picture.  On the left is the one with the green, and the right is just plain blue.  You can see why I'm thinking about adding some white to get more of a wave effect.



Here I've started on the, "Air," part of the stand.  It's a very very light pastel blue.  The reason I went with this is that I want a very, well, air look to the stand.  The next step will be to drybrush over it with actual white.  This will have the added help of bringing out definition on the stand while keeping the lighter colors:



One thing to note is that I toned down the height of the blue.  I like more subtle/smooth transitions, but am not sure how well it turned out in this case.  I'm happy with it though, and it's not jarring to look at, which is the intent.



Now I have two pics where I've got the red down on the missles (again, making them pop a lot more), and the wing lights.  I followed my normal procedure of dark then light, but the pics didn't pic it up very much.  Looking at the models I can see it, but my camera just didn't capture it.  Now that I've just about reached the end of this week's entry I'm remembering that I forgot to do the thrust, so I'll have to sneak that in next week.  Speaking of next week, I got the urge to do a little work on him:



More on him next weekend.  My blog posts are likely to show up on Sunday as the rest of October my Saturday's are pretty busy.  I leave you though with a picture of four finished Fighter Mode Veritechs:

The Ninja in the Woods

My Patron has been particularly generous lately, and as such I've put a bit of an emphasis on the commissions he desires.  So far it's been a lot of OGRE stuff, with still more to come, and as it's the launch party of the Designer's Edition of OGRE this makes the perfect opportunity to show some off!  First up we have the Ninja OGRE, and the paint scheme for this was quite simple:



Bet no one will see a skyscraper-sized sentient tank painted all in black coming, am I right?  In spite of the simple scheme this one required a touch of finesse.  Pure black, like any single color, is very featureless.  I actually mixed in black with a dark grey, and while it looks black it's actually not a completely flat black.  It does rely on natural lighting to pick out the features a little, and because of that I made the sensor dome (disco ball on the very top) a dark grey, and the missiles a solid night blue.  These will help to give a sense of definition and allow the viewer to pick out the details.

The other treat for today is an OGRE Mk VI painted up in ATACS camo.  What is ATACS you ask?  It's a camo great for blending into the woodland background.



If this looks familiar you might be thinking back to Lictalor the elf and his cloak.  In that write up I tried to do an ATACS style cloak, but the technique I used was primarily drybrushing.  For this commission I decided to use a more thinned/water-color style approach.  As with Lictalor I started with a bone/khaki base:



The fun part of using very thin paints is that they go on QUICKLY.  Easy flow makes for quick work, and while normally it can produce a sloppy piece it actually works in my favor as it gives that splotchy look meant to hide details.  Looking closely at ATACS you can see that there's very little of the basecoat visible, and what looks like the base color is actually a very light grey-green:



I covered a lot of area, but if I tried to cover more I would've ended up just coating the entire thing a second time.  I knew that as I went the thinned out paint would flow and move very easily, and thus help to cover some of the extra areas.  Up next is the drab olive green that people will think of as the "main" color when first glancing at the piece.  I missed a series in the photos which shows this green exclusively, and you'll see the next step as well:



The camo pattern is broken up here and there by patches of darker color.  That's what the dark green is, along with a hint of brown and some leafy green.  Working with thinned watery paints is really fun.  You only need to thin out the paint to a milky consistency, and the result is remarkable.  The water will loosen the paint and carry more pigment into recessed areas, which is a great way to get shadows on your figures, all the while leaving less color on the raised areas.  If you have a brighter undercoat this will leave hints of a highlight.  If you don't have a lot of time to paint and want to get some models painted up quickly that look decent you just have to put down a basecoat and follow it up with a wash.  They won't look perfect, but it'll be a nice little trick if you want to get figs on the table.

Moving on, I needed to hide the dark splotches (actually a very dark brown).  They're meant more to act as tiny shadows rather than to break up the overall color.  So what I did was to take a leafy green and paint over most, but not all, of the brown areas:



Rather than being like leopard spots they're just hints of darker color dancing among the rest.  After letting the paints dry I started to feel like the green was a bit *TOO* stark.  So what I did was to take my main "green" color and really thin it out to a point where it was very transparent.  I then decided to go over the recently painted areas in an attempt to dull them down and blend them in.  The end result worked out quite well in my opinion.



You'll notice that I painted the missiles the dark green, which I did as a means to add definition by adding contrast.  The amount of contrast is just enough to not break up the pattern as one looks at it while still giving the illusion of camouflage.  Overall I'm pleased and feel that my patron will feel equally pleased.  Two OGRE's ready to add to the rest for delivery.

Lictalor Strongbow

There has been a project I've been meaning to work on for a friend that I just recently finished.  I present to you: Lictalor Strongbow




This is the PC that my friend has played for over a decade (or more) when he has had the opportunity to.  I have run a couple of sessions with this character, and it has been a pleasure of mine to finally bring him to life.

My favorite part about this piece is his cloak.  I was asked to do a forest-style camo, which I believe I have managed to capture pretty well.  The particular style of camo is called A-TACS.



To start I decided to go from light to dark with my layers.  This way the brighter bits would poke through here and there to create a better blend rather than the other way around which would have made the cloak appear to be brighter.



Before I started painting the cloak I had decided to do five layers.  The base layer would be the brightest, and then I would add two darker brown layers followed by two green layers.  With each progressive layer I'm dabbing on the paint in much the same way I would with drybrushing, but instead of trying for a more even covering I wanted to get larger clusters that were inconsistent.



I did not use a wash at all on this cloak for two reasons.  The first reason is that I wanted it to look a bit rougher and a bit dryer.  The second reason is because I was worried that any wash, even a thin one, would dull the brighter base coat and put it closer to the second layer.



With the third layer you can see how the dabbing effect is coming through nicely.  Like sunlight trying to break through the branches on the trees.  I had thought about doing another layer of dark brown, but felt that what I had so far would work since I still had green to add.



For each of the two colors on the base coat I used a light and a dark shade.  When I added the light green I started to think that I might be close to done, but the green was still light enough that I felt another layer of dark green would really tie it all together.



Once I started putting on this layer I knew I had made the right choice.  At a glance it looks like there are some dark spots that stick out, but when I take a closer look it becomes harder to distinguish them.  This is a great forest cam, and I plan to try this out again for other models I have waiting to be painted.

Trophy Wights

As a Henchman for Wyrd Miniatures it is my solemn duty to spread the joy and love of Malifaux.  To do this I run demos mainly, as well as leagues.  Every now and then though, I run a tournament!  My first tournament for Wyrd is going to be called The Fetid Cup, so named for my good friend who took a job in another state.  I miss him a lot, and haven't gotten to play as much Malifaux since he left.  Fetid Strumpet is his username, and the tournament is obviously dedicated to him.  In addition to other prize support for this tournament I wanted to make up three very special trophies.




I thought it would be appropriate to use his three favorite miniatures from his faction, Resurrectionists.  Topping the list is his favorite character from the setting, and favored miniature, Molly Squidpiddge.



To say that Fetid Strumpet adores Molly would be an understatement.  He even goes so far as to throw a game in order to destroy any fake (not his) Molly that should be placed upon the board.  In second place is the well done sculpt of an undead showgirl, the Dead Doxy.



The Dead Doxies are a normal minion, but the sculpt is very well done.  It takes a lot more than what you'd think to make a good zombie miniature.  Undead showgirls aren't the only attraction, and one of the main minions used by the Resurrectionist master Seamus are the Rotten Belles.



I was very surprised at how well the models turned out.  It was a very simple paint job, and it had a nice effect.  I used six colors in all to paint the above models (not counting the black I used for the ring around the base).  So let's dig in!

I started off with a basecoat of Glorious Gold (Vallejo72056) for first/Molly, Chainmail Silver (Vallejo72053) for second/Dead Doxy, and Bright Bronze (Vallejo72057) for third/Rotten Belle.  For a little while I though that the base colors themselves did a fine job, but I wanted to do something a little more (this is a tribute to my friend after all!) so I added a wash of Sepia Ink (Vallejo72091). 

 

At first I had thought about using a black ink for the shading, but then it struck me that a medium to dark brown ink would be much better.  Glad I went with my instinct on this one as the effect was wonderful!  I was really surprised at how the sepia interacted with the chainmail, giving it a really rusty tin man effect!  Once the ink had dried I went over them again with a heavy drybrush of their base color.



Doesn't look like that much progress does it?  Just stay with me a while.  I've noticed over the years that when you use a wash and drybrush over it with the basecoat that you almost seem to lose the effect.  It is there though, I assure you of that.  You notice it as you add on more and more.  The final step was to drybrush over again, but this time use a brighter coat.  I used Polished Gold (Vallejo 72055) for first, and also for third.  I was able to use it normally on first place since I wanted it to look very gold, but on the third place model I used it very lightly.  Third place was supposed to be bronze so I wanted to make sure it had just a little extra luster to help distinguish it from the gold, and I'm quite pleased with the results as you can see.  For second place I used Silver (Vallejo 72052) in the same manner as gold.

These trophies will be given away as prizes for my very first Malifaux tournament!  Come on out and play if you want a shot at one of these beautiful pieces!

I haven't neglected my commission though.  Painted another two wights for the growing hoard.




I may have mentioned before that the Wights are supposed to have black armor, but painting black so that it looks good is a bit tricky.  Either you use a dark grey for a highlight or a dark blue depending on how you want the shade to show up.  For the wights I've been using an Imperial/dark blue, drybrushing it with chainmail, and then washing it with a black ink.



If the black has too much blue showing up I just wash over it with another thin coat of black ink and that usually does the trick.  If these wights look like they're standing funny then give yourself a prize!  Both wights had problems with the ankles, and I had to re-glue and pin both of them to some extent.  The pins fit in with the bone though so that worked out nicely.

Coming up on Friday I plan to do a large amount of painting.  Or hope to anyways.  With luck I'll have a nice pile of freshly painted miniatures to talk about Friday night!

There is Always More Time. There is Infinite Time.

This weekend I tackled a project I had been dreading for some time.  A few years back I painted up a Narn G'Quan class cruiser.  I ended up spending so much time painting the chevrons that cover the hull that I swore I'd never paint another one ever again.  Well, I knew going into the Babylon Project that I'd likely end up painting one.



So now sit back and listen to my tale!  The G'Quan class cruiser is a simple looking model, and if you just stick to solid colors you could go through several of em over the course of a weekend.  My love of Babylon 5 meant that I'd be going all out.  Here's the photo I worked from for both of my cruisers.



Going into this I knew that the chevrons on the hull were going to be the big thing both in terms of coverage and time.  With that in mind I started on the metal trim around the hull.  It's a pretty simple setup, you start with your metal and then do a black ink over it.



I knew that I wanted to get the area between the two hull plates black, and I accomplished this by letting the ink pool a bit more in the crevice as well as using a darker shade (accomplished by thinning it less). My primary intention for this was to have a backdrop for the lights.



I was able to get this effect by using a very tiny brush with yellow paint, and then using a series of alternating dots and tiny dashes.  The one thing to keep in mind when using yellow on black is that it has a tendency to have a green hue if you don't have enough paint on your brush.  The reason for this is that black paint (at least as far as miniatures go) is actually a really really really dark blue.  Blue and yellow make green.  I discovered this early on in my painting career when I tried to paint the underbelly of a dragon that I had primered in black.  Took me somewhere between five and seven coats and it still had an off look to it.

On to the chevrons!



When you look at the inspiration pic for the G'Quan you can see the black chevrons outlined by cream colored lines.  Painting over black is difficult, but I have a trick I use in these circumstances.  I paint the entire outline in the trim first, and then I paint over it with the main color.  Here's the bottom (two engine columns)

 

and the top (one engine column).



One thing to keep in mind is that these chevrons are all free handed.  There's no guidelines, no mold markings, no plating.  Nothing.  What I had originally hoped would take me two to three hours ended up taking me ten.  Don't get me wrong, the end result is a very eye-catching piece.  Scrutiny may reveal some areas that I didn't go back to touch up, and that would be due to a diminishing amount of patience on my part.

Bottom



Top



Free hand is a great way to spice up any miniature.  Whenever I've shown off my miniatures I usually get a round of  'ooos' and 'ahhhs,' but whenever I've shown off the G'Quan I've gotten some very amazed and impressed sentiments.  I attribute it to the chevrons.

When I started doing the Babylon Project I didn't have very many miniatures, and had resolved to set out to find more.  I expected to have to struggle through ebay, and hit up local conventions.  My attempts to search the net had proved fruitless.  However a friend of mine managed to embarrass me by finding a site that was not only selling them, but had an incredible variety to choose from!  Thanks to her I have enough miniatures to paint each month as well as being able to extend the project by a couple more months.  As a tribute I have put her name, in Narnish, across the hull.



Yes, that was all done freehand.  To help you better understand the level of commitment this requires let me show you a size comparison.



You might not think that a large area to cover, but it is.  You can divide up both the top and bottom into eight sections each.  The two plates at the prow, the two sections of the bridge (the part that goes over the engines), the two back plates, and the two back wings.  This comes to a total of sixteen different areas to cover with free hand chevrons.  So where's the difficult part?  Aside from the sheer amount of time involved using a tiny brush and trying to get the lines straight; it takes a lot of effort to devise a pattern that (at least for the Narn) is not repetitive. 

 
 

If you start repeating chevrons then a pattern will emerge really quick, and this will ultimately detract from the overall piece (in this case anyways).  So it's with this in mind that when I got to the engines it felt like a welcome reprieve.



That's about four different layers right there.  A medium warm yellow followed by a bright yellow, and then you mix in white with the bright yellow and top it all off with a drop of white at the very center.  For any kind of lighting effect you want the darker color furthest from the source, and the brightest color representing the light source itself.

 Having tackled this challenge let's set the old (on the right) next to the new (on the left), and see how they compare.



They look very similar.  I used bigger chevrons on the original, but the metal is a bit dusty (I used drybrushing).  The new one definitely has a bigger spark of life to it, and for all the frustration of spending a significant part of my day painting chevrons, I gotta admit that I think it's pretty sharp.  The other glaring difference is in the color of the hull.  The original one has a red that's got a good chunk of orange in it.  Originally I wanted to say that this was closer to what you see in the actual series, but seeing it side by side with the new (which has a straight red on it) I'm not so sure.

One final note for today.  The past 30 days has been very busy and very hectic for me.  Juggling OGRE miniatures that I had started for a friend, picking up a commission, and coupled with the busy season for my job has left me with very little time to dedicate to this project.  With Gen Con right around the corner I feel like I'd be cutting in to the next month.  As a result I'm extending the initial month to August 14th, and beginning the next month on August 20th.  This way I can get more miniatures painted for my starter month, and not hamstring myself for the second month (not to mention give me a bit of breathing room).