35!

I got a late start today and didn't really feel like working on something I'd have to put a lot of effort into. So, I pulled out a familiar...something that I could do quick and easy. I picked out this little dragon. The other figure is just there for scale.

He's meant to be a black dragon, but the off black I choose is very blue, and I used blue-ish tones for the highlight, so he's sorta black, sorta blue. I could...and maybe should...go back with some actual black for the shadow areas, but I probably won't. I like him as-is. The highlighting on his chest scales doesn't really show in these pictures either, but I think that's because of the angle he's at. It'd be more visible with a front-on shot.

34! And, shading the lizard man

Finished Hans's base and put him in place. Had a couple issues with the base, mostly that his feet didn't go on flat. So, I built up under the right foot with some paste. I'm pretty happy with the final result.

Here's a marginally better shot of the base.

Later, I worked on shading the lizard man. Remember him? I did the base coat and then...went to other things. There are two layers of shading - green mixed with purple, and then straight purple. I need to go back and smooth a few of the transitions some.

Hans: gun, rope, base

Did some highlighting via lining on Hans's gun and the rope. Forgot his sidearm. Forgot to fix his mouth, too. Hopefully I'll remember to do that stuff tomorrow, especially since now it looks like he might have a little rub off on his nose.

Started on his base. It's a 'junkyard' base. So, I figure the chunky bits are some kind of dirt, and I put in some puddles of goo as well. I'm hoping that the lighter green stays streaky, but I haven't had luck with that before. Maybe this water effects stuff will be a bit better about that. We'll see.

Hopefully tomorrow will be finishing the base and putting him together.

Hans: Backpack, guns, rope

Put the highlighting on the backpack, did the rags around his arm, and started the guns and rope. Oh, also did his belt buckle and the buckles on the backpack. He's pretty close to done. I just have to highlight the guns and rope, and then it'll be on to his base. I have to remember to refresh the dark line between his lips, too.

Hans: Shirt, backpack, belt, etc.

I decided I liked Hans's sort-of army colors, so I stuck with it. It may not be the optimal choice of colors, but I'm going with it anyway.

I shaded and highlighted the shirt. Also, I put the brown base coat on the belt, backpack, pouches, and so on, and lined/shaded it. Still have to highlight those bits. I'm not sure what the lighter patches are on the backpack...perhaps shine from the lighting.

He's coming along pretty quickly. At this rate, he should be done buy the end of the week.

Hans: Pants, boots, and shirt

Shaded and highlighted the pants and boots, and tried a color for the shirt.

First: his boots. I always intended to make them brown. It occurred to me that with the olive green pants, those could be combat boots, which (as far as I know for the US army) would still be black. I thought about it. I decided I really wanted them to be brown.

As for the shirt, I'm not convinced on the color. It's sticking with the 'army' sort of theme that's developing for him, and it goes fine. However, I'm starting to be a little concerned that there's not going to be enough contrast. The boots, pants, shirt, skin and hair are all different colors, sure. But they're all similar brightness, and the green pants, yellow-green shirt, and yellow hair kinda...blend. The boots are brown, but brown is neutral and doesn't really help. The belt and backpack I was going to make the same brown as the boots, so that still will kinda blend. The gun will be black, which will stand out more. I was going to make the cloth tied around his right arm red, which will pop, and maybe also the rope. It's modern rope, probably nylon, so there's no reason it has to be hemp or sisal colored. I might go with black for that, too. So, if the rope is black, the gun is black, and the backpack and belt are brown, I could make his shirt, say, beige, and add some contrast via different brightness there. Ah...I also see I missed painting the back of his collar, there above the backpack. I'll have to be sure to catch that.

33!

Finished up the skeleton, which was just doing the base and putting his arm on.

I used dry pigment powder for the base, as an experiment. I have a bunch of the stuff but I haven't used it much. It provides a very different look than paint, I think. It doesn't pick up texture the way paint would, but it's easy to make areas of different color blend together smoothly. I was going for a dead/swampy look to the ground, so the colors I choose were mucky browns and grays. I think it looks OK. I'm not sure if it's convincing. I also put some water effects in a couple spots...one of which became hidden under the tombstone club he's got when I put his arm on. :p I think in order to make it looks swampy, I'd have to put more spots of water on. I didn't want to do that before seeing how it looked dry, though. I may throw some more on later. More likely not.

Two notes when working with pigment powder:

• It will get everywhere. Prepare your work space accordingly - make sure other projects are well out of the way, and put down some newspaper or paper towel or something to catch what will spill.blow off.
• Do not breathe the powder. It is not good for you. Get a mask. 

Last, it's been noted that there isn't really a good sense of scale for this guy. He's large. I mean, really large. So, here's a picture of him with a normal-sized skeleton between the gravestone and his left foot, and a typically sized Reaper human figure next to him.

Told you. He's big.

Hair & Pants for Hans

Cleaned up a couple rough spots on his skin, filled in his eyes, did the hair, and base coated his pants. I need to adjust the placement of the hair highlight a bit, but that's probably all I'm going to do with that. Also got to figure out what color I'm going to make his shirt.

What happened to Mr. Skeleton? Why didn't I finish his base? Well, the sandy paste shrinks when it dries. So, there was an obvious ridge around the plastic base. I put more paste on that to try to make it a bit smoother.

Skeleton base and Hans

Put the sandy paste on the skeleton's base. I like the stuff, but I haven't figured out how to put it on without getting little ridges or edges from the tool I used to put it on. I tried using a sitck, a brush, and my finger, and had the same results with all. I may try trimming it down after it's dried to smooth it out. I'm going to try to scrape the stuff off the edges of the base then, too. It dries to a sort of rubbery consistency, so I think I can get that to work if I'm careful.

So that didn't take long. Once I finished it, I went back to Hans and worked on his skin. It's shaded and highlighted. I need to clean up a couple spots, but I don't think it's too bad.

All but the base

Got the skeleton done except his base. The right arm isn't glued on yet; I just stuck it in place for the pictures. The transition on the sword looks either nice and smooth or harsh and bad, depending on the light. The light for the pictures, clearly, is the bad side.

I'll be using some Sandy Paste on the base to make it even, and then I'll paint it to be dirt and probably put a few grass tufts around.

Focus on Mr. Skeleton

Mr. Skeleton has hit 'just work on it until it's done!' stage. Highlighted the hair on that one head, made the border of the chain mail red (it does seem to just blend in nicely with the rest of the red), and started on the metals. They need highlights.

He's not going to be my highest quality job ever, but it's OK for gaming.

Plugging along

Primed and base coated the green stuff on Hans. The fingers are a little chunky and the firefinger is still cut off (he's only got 3 fingers wrapped over the gun, if you look close), but I'm still happy with it.

Also made some progress on the skeleton. Highlighted the heads, did the leathers, and base coated the hair on the one head.

I think I'm going to make the border of the chain mail the same red as the rags, Doesn't make a ton of sense, but maybe it'll blend in. As for the big dark brown swatch on the back of his belt, there was a pool of wash there that I kept hitting with my finger while it dried. That pulled up the liquid, which left a bare spot with that dark ring around it. I put a heavy blob of wash on it to try to cover it over, but that made that dark blob...and the dark ring still shows. Haven't decided how concerned about this I am.

A step back

I started with Hans, figuring I'd work on his skin. Which I did. But then I found a big mold line on the inside of his left arm. Also, I'm not sure if it's a casting defect or what, but the fingers on his right hand were too short. It looked to me like they should wrap father around the gun than they were. So I pulled out the green stuff. Smoothed out the mold line, tried to give him longer fingers. We'll see how that works out. It wouldn't surprise me if my added fingertips end up kinda funny looking. I'll have to re-prime those parts and start again. Looks like I added some cat hair, too. I'll have to trim that off once the stuff has finished drying.

So then I moved on to the skeleton. Didn't get much done, just put a base coat and wash on the heads and hand.

Skeleton & Beefcake

I got a little more done on the skeleton today. Next I might do the heads and hand hanging from his belt.

And started another guy. This is Hans. He's been sitting on top of a pile of figures I bought recently, just staring at me every time I walked past, clearly demanding to get painted next. I tried some more P3 spay primer on him, but a lot of it rubbed off when I was working on the pins in his feet. So, I had to go back over it with brush-on. Boo! I may not have given it enough time to dry before working on Hans more, though.

Hans looks a lot like Dolph Lungren, so he'll be blonde. Since he's supposed to be a post-apocalyptic survivor, here's what I'll be using for his base.

Skeleton progress

I actually worked on him a little yesterday and today. The rags look shiny because the wash is still wet. I'm sticking with 'fast and good enough' on this guy, just to get him done. I put a lighter drybrush on the top of the skull and other areas that would be lit from overhead. Did the fur bits and also the rags. Oh, and the wood sticks on his thigh. Still not sure what to do with that border on the chain mail.

Sidebar

So, I didn't feel like working on the lizard tonight...wanted something simple. So I lined the snail - the updated picture on him is over on the 2014 gallery page. I also went back to the giant skeleton. Remember him? I decided to give the old drybrush a try before I started over on the guy.

I'm content with the results. Not the most super high quality paint job ever, but given that I'm sick of looking at this guy, I think it'll do. And I actually like the way it looks better than when I went back over to layer the base color back up. I'll hit highlight areas with a lighter color and call it good, I think.

I have to say I'm puzzled by the loincloth(?)in the front. It's sculpted like chain mail, but has that border around it, which...I'm just not sure what to do with. So I might start with things like the various strappy bits instead. Probably I'll paint them like leather, though linen might make more sense. It's just that linen won't stand out from the bone.

32 - Almost

Took a break to do something quick today. This guy is from one of Reaper's familiar packs. It took about an hour and a half, I think, but after looking at the pictures I'm going to go back and line between the snail body and the shell.

31!

Well, almost. Balon is on his base, but I have some more rub off to deal with before he's really finished. It's not my best piece ever, but I'm not unhappy with it. The water effects dried a bit cloudy - I think I put on too much too quickly. I also put some splotches of paint on top of it meant to look like sea foam. Successful? Enh.

Started on the next guy, too. This is one of the last couple lizard men I have left. I've based coated him and his wings. It took about 50 minutes.