Spirit of the Forest: Figure 41 of 265

This past week I finished the second member of the Forces of Nature set: The Spirit of the Forest. I did my usual prep of soaking in water with a little dish soap added. When dry, I glued the head on with E6000 glue. I then glued the figure to a large black primed washer with Aileen's Mighty Tacky glue.

I began by giving the whole thing a coat of heavily thinned Americana "Asphaltum"paint. And then let this dry

Next I  painted anywhere there was a bare end of a log or stick with Americana "Khaki Tan", and then drybrushed the whole figure lightly with some Folk Art "Barnwood".  I then began picking out the mushrooms and other fungi with various shades of off-whites and greys, and all the foliage with various shades of green. 

I painted some of the mushroom caps with GW "Tanned Flesh", and the vines wrapping around the figure I painted with Americana "Sable Brown".

When this had all dried I gave the whole thing a wash with Windsor Newton "Peat Brown" ink.

I then went back and did some light green drybrushing highlights on the foliage.  I also painted the remaining mushrooms with GW "Blood Red" and added little white dots.  The eyes I painted with Apple Barrel "Maple Syrup", and then gave them black pupils with tiny white highlight dots.

When everything had dried overnight, I painted the whole figure with Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish", and then when dry, I flocked the base.   Finally when the base had had time to dry, I sprayed the figure with Testor's "Dullcoat"

All in all, a neat looking sculpt that really comes to life with some quick and easy painting.  The flora growing on him is so splotchy and jumbled, It's easy to paint and pops nicely with the brown wash.

Figure 41 of 265: Complete

Final Reaper Reveal is a Big One! (And We're Not Talking about the Monster)

How's this for a big finish! Now if they can only reach 3 million!

Excuse me while I go add $35 to my pledge... :-)

Reaper Bones II Kicksarter Nears the 24 Hour Countdown Mark

The Reaper Bones II Kickstarter has almost reached the 24 hours remaining mark. The rewards should be coming fast and furious now.   It's time to get on board if you've been undecided up to this point.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-ii-the-return-of-mr-bones

Oops, I Did It Again! - Reaper Bones Kickstarter II

Well, for those who don't already know, Reaper began another Bones Kickstarter on the first day of the month, and up until now I had resisted; as the box of mostly still unpainted Bones from the last Reaper Kickstarter is till sitting next to my painting table. It was good incentive not to buy in.    However, I am weak when it comes to such quantities of nice inexpensive minis, so I knew it was only time before I caved.  So today in a weak moment I went and pledged.  Oh, well, my painting queue is now full for the next few years. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  If I can only finish the first Bones Kickstarter box before the projected delivery of December 2014 for the second.  :-)

For those that are interested here is the link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-ii-the-return-of-mr-bones

Bones Beetle Swarms: Figures 39 & 40 of 265

This week I finished of two of the Bones beetle swarm figures.  I prepped these as usual, soaking them in water and dish soap first, then rinsing and drying.  I then primed them black with Krylon's Camouflage Flat Black with Fusion, as I planned to paint them mostly with drybrushing.  I also planned to use these figures with my 10mm armies for our Fantasy, Ancients & Medieval  mass-combat rules, "Bear Yourselves Valiantly"; so I based them a little differently than usual, using a black primed 3" x 1.5" steel base, which is the standard unit size for our rules.  I thought these figures would make great giant beetle swarms in 10mm. (They would for 15mm, too)

These were very quick to paint.  I began by painting some of the larger exposed ground areas between the beetles with GW "Graveyard Earth", then I  did a heavy drybrushing with Americana "Asphaltum"

I then did a lighter drybrushing with DecoArt Cinnamon Brown, and finally a highlighting drybrushing with Americana "Sable Brown".  After this had dried, I painted the figures with Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  I let them sit over night, and the next day I flocked them.  Then after that had a chance to dry, I sprayed the stand with Testor's "Dullcoat".  Finally, I applied the unit stats label we use for these rules to the base.

I think they turned out good, and I'm pleased with how they look with 10mm figures.  They give a nice impression of a horde of giant flesh eating crypt-beetles about to swarm a unit.

Figures 39 & 40: Complete

Bones Orc Marauder and Orc Stalker: Figures 37 and 38 of 265

This week I complete two of the orcs from the Original 30 Bones set: the Orc Marauder and the Orc Stalker.  After washing them in some dish soap and letting them dry, I spray primed them with Krylon Camouflage with Fusion "Flat Black". When this dried, I glued the pair onto black primed 1.25 inch fender washers using Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued them onto a tongue depressor, for ease of painting, using a couple drops of Elmer's white glue.

The first step I did in painting them was to give the figures a heavy drybrushing with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter".  I then drybrushed their fur garments; using  Americana "Asphaltum" followed by Americana "Mississippi Mud" for the orc with one sword, and GW "Codex Grey" followed by GW "Fortress Grey", and GW "Shadow Grey" followed by Duncan "Slate Blue"  for  the bottom and top respectively on the orc with two swords. I knew there would be a little overlap of the fur colors onto the chainmail since drybrushing isn't precise, but I did the best I could to keep the colors separate, knowing I would go back later and neaten the edges with a fine brush.

 Next I painted their skin with Aleene's "Deep Khaki". I then did all he belts, wraps, pouches,and straps with plain black .  On the orc with the two swords I did his wrist pieces and his sword hilt with the "Asphaltum."

I then painted the weapons with the "Metallic Pewter", and used the this color with a fine brush to also clean up the spots on the edges of the chainmail that got the fur paint on them.

I painted their teeth with  Americana "Buttermilk".  And the horn on the back of the two sword orc with GW "Kommando Khaki".

 After all this had dried, I gave both figures a wash with GW "Devlan Mud" wash.  When the wash had dried, I added highlights to their skin using the original "Deep Khaki" mixed with a little Aleene's "Dusty Khaki. I then painted the eyes with  Americana "Buttermilk", going back and adding a black pupil in each eye. I also went back and highlighted their teeth with this color.  I also added a little GW "Codex Grey" highlighting on  the belts, pouches, etc.  Finally, I added some GW "Chainmail" highlights to the Orcs' swords, armor and chainmail.

After everything had dried overnight, I gave the figures a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish" and, when dry, flocked their bases.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed them with Testor's Dull Coat".

All in all, I'm pleased with how these orcs are turning out.  It should be an impressive sight when I eventually gather the horde together.

Figures 37 and 38: Complete.

Ink Washing Bones to Bring Out Details

Sorry to my regular readers, but I didn't get a figure finished this week. However, I thought I'd share a little on my efforts with using ink to bring out the details in the Bones figures.  As I have mentioned in past posts, I have been having a bit of trouble painting some of the Bones figures due to the large amount of detail on them, and the difficulty I was having in seeing this detail on the bright white figures under my bright painting light.

To help with this problem I thought I would experiment with applying a black ink wash over the figure in hopes it would shade the lines between details on the figure in an effort to make them more visible.  My first effort didn't work out so well, as the ink just pooled on the plastic figure. (See photo below)

I then remembered an old trick to help break the surface tension in inks and paints; which is to apply a tiny bit of dish soap to the liquid.  The soap helps the ink or paint to flow over the surface and prevents the beading and pooling I was getting.  So I added a tiny pin-head of dish soap to the ink I was applying, and had much better success. (See photo below)  This allowed the ink to flow into the recesses of the details, highlighting them nicely. Now painting the details will be much easier.

I will be continuing to work with this method on future figures.

Reaper Launches New Bones Kickstarter

Reaper launched their new Bones Kickstarter this morning, and have already reached over $500k in support from 5000+ backers at the time I'm writing this.

The big question now is to back, or not to back.   The box of over 200+ unpainted minis sitting next to my painting table is a big incentive not to, but the thought of all those inexpensive minis and large monsters is very appealing.   Note now they are having you pledge in at increasingly later ship times to help keep the shipping more manageable this time.  Also, for a $1 Pledge you can get access to all the add on monsters, etc.
Here's the link:
Reaper BONES II Kickstarter