Monday, November 24, 2014

Shaeress, Dark Elf Queen: Figure 125 of 265

     This week I took a break from painting Goblins, and instead worked on Shaeress, the Dark Elf Queen, from the BBEG set.  I hadn't looked up this figure in Reaper's webstore before I painted it, (I feel seeing painted examples of a figure before I myself paint it, has the potential to sway my own ideas on color scheme.)  so I didn't know she was a Dark Elf. If I had, I might have chosen a different color scheme, and gone for a more Drow look to her skin and features.  As it was, I wasn't sure what I was dealing with when I first studied this figure.  She seemed to be in finery that was torn and tattered (The best I could guess from the sculpting. This is another one of those figures that I sometimes had no idea what I was looking at on the figure.) So, I imagine that she was some sort of Elf princess that had fallen under a dark influence (So I wasn't too far off).  Now, I find my go-to palette when painting Bad Guys, is more often than not, red and/or black.  So, with this figure I decided I wanted to do something different, so I thought I would go for a kind of sickly, swampy, green look.  This color scheme would also fit into my mental idea that she was some sort of fallen elf.
     I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.   I began painting by giving her a wash with thinned black ink with a tiny pin-point drop of dishsoap added to help it flow into the crevices and help show the sculpting outlines.
     I then painted her skin with Folk Art "Milkshake". Next I panted her stockings and sleeves with Americana "Olive Green", and her skirts(?) with Accent "Forest Green".
  My next step was to paint her armor, hair-ornament, and shoes with GW "Brazen Brass.  There were two straps on her left wrist that I painted Apple Barrel "Apple Black Green".  I let all this dry, and then gave the entire figure a wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash.
   After the wash had time to dry, I came back and painted her hair black.  When the hair was dry, I gave it a light drybrushing with Duncan "Slate Blue" to add highlights.  I then added eyes (white with black pupils), and lips with Folk Art "Burgundy". I then highlighted the skin with the base "Milkshake". Next, I highlighted the sleeves and stockings with the base "Olive Green", and the skirts and wrist straps with Americana "Forest Green" (A slightly lighter shade than the original Accent "Forest Green" I had used.).  Finishing up, I added highlights to the armor with Ceramcoat "Bronze". Lastly, I painted the white areas of the figure's integral base with Americana "Asphaltum" to hide the white Bones material before flocking.
      I let the figure sit overnight, and the next morning I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  Later that afternoon I flocked the base, and the next day I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.
    I'm generally pleased with the figure.  I didn't particularly love this figure (I found trying to figure out the details of her outfit frustrating) so I just did a quick and simple paint job on it.

Figure 125 of 265: Complete

Monday, November 17, 2014

More Pathfinder Goblin Pyros: Figures 123 & 124 of 265

     This week I worked some more on the We Be Goblins! Pathfinder Goblins Set.  I prepped them in the usual way; soaking in water with a bit of dish soap added, giving a gentle scrub with an old soft toothbrush, then rinsing and drying.  I then glued them to 7/8" fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then glued the washers to a tongue depressor with a couple small dabs of Elmer's white glue, for ease of handling during painting.
     To begin with, I painted their skin with Anita's "Baby Blue".  When this was dry, I gave the skin areas a wash with thinned Iron Wind Metals "Blue Ink".

   When the ink wash was completely dry, I began painting the Goblins' outfits.  I started with painting their tunics with GW "Vermin Brown". Then I painted their loin "hangings" with Folk  Art "Gray Green".  Next, I did their "armor" plates with Accent "Mustard Seed".  Their leggings I painted Folk Art "Barn Wood", and their wrist wraps I painted Americana "Khaki Tan". 
     Now I worked on some of the detail bits. First, I painted the hat on the left-hand Goblin with Apple Barrel "Apple Black Green". I painted their teeth Americana "Buttermilk", and what I assumed was teeth hanging around their necks I painted with the "Buttermilk" as well.  I also used the Buttermilk" to paint the skull and tusks (?) on he right hand Goblin.  Next, I painted the cords on the "armor" plates, and the necklace cords with Ceramcoat "Maple Sugar Tan".  I painted the feather on the left-hand Goblin's arm with Folk Art "Burgundy", and the pouches they both have on their rear belts with Anita's "Burnt Sienna".  Finally, I painted the torch handles with Americana "Mississippi Mud", and the sword grips with Americana "Asphaltum".
I now painted the swords with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter".   I then painted the balls on the sword hilts with Folk Art "Metallic Blue Sapphire".  When everything had had time to dry, I went back and carefully applied GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash to all the parts that weren't blue skin.  I was as careful as I could be not to let it run onto the blue skin, except I applied small amounts to their eye sockets and mouths.
After the wash had had time to dry, I went back and added highlights.  I began by highlighting the skin with the original "Baby Blue".  This allowed me to cover any mistakes where wash had gotten onto the blue. Next, I added eyes with the "Buttermilk", and then added black pupils.  I then used the original clothing/armor colors to add highlights to all they were wearing. I highlighted the hat with Americana "Forest Green".  I highlighted the blades of their swords with Folk Art "Silver Sterling".  Lastly I painted the torch flames beginning with Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon at the bottom, and then Americana "Tangerine", and then Ceramcoat "Bright Red". lastly I added some dabs of the "Burgundy" at the very tips of the flames.  My final step was to paint the figures' bases and washers with white.
      I let the Goblins sit overnight, and the next morning I gave them a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  Later that afternoon I flocked their bases, using Woodland Scenics snow flocking.  Unfortunately, it's been really cold here recently, so I wasn't able to find time to spray them outdoors with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish yet. You'll notice they're a little shiney in the last picture.
  I'm again pleased with how these fellows turned out.  Five more to go.

Figures 123 & 124: Complete

Monday, November 10, 2014

No New Figure Today

Due to my preparing for, and attending, Fall-In this past week, I was unable to complete any figures to post.  Tune in again here next week for another completed Bones figure.  For those that are interested, here are some photos I took at Fall-In: Fall-In Photos


Monday, November 3, 2014

Pathfinder Goblin Pyros: Figure 121 & 122 of 265

    This week I took a break from the BBEG Set, and worked a bit on the We Be Goblins! Pathfinder Goblins Set.  As I get closer to the halfway mark on this project, I wanted some quick little figures that I could paint in groups to help move my numbers along. :)
    As the weather here has turned chilly, it put my mind to a long-time desire I've had to do some winter specific figures for use on snowy terrain.  Since I had already painted the other Goblin set in this Kickstarter normally, I thought these Goblins might be fun to do as some sort of Snow Goblins.
       I prepped them in the usual way; soaking in water with a bit of dish soap added, giving a gentle scrub with an old soft toothbrush, then rinsing and drying.  I then glued them to 7/8" fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then glued the washers to a tongue depressor with a couple small dabs of Elmer's white glue, for ease of handling during painting.
To begin with, I painted their skin with Anita's "Baby Blue".  When this was dry, I gave the skin areas a wash with thinned Iron Wind Metals "Blue Ink".
     When the ink wash was completely dry, I began painting the Goblins' outfits.  I started with painting their tunics with Folk Art "Medium Grey". Then I painted their loin "hangings" with Folk  Art "Dapple Gray".  Next, I did their "armor" plates with Accent "Mustard Seed".  Their leggings I painted Americana "Khaki Tan", and their wrist wraps I painted Folk Art "Barn Wood".
     Now I worked on some of the detail bits. I painted their teeth Americana "Buttermilk", and what I assumed was teeth hanging around their necks (it might have been fringe...I'm not sure) I painted with the "Buttermilk" as well.  I also used the Buttermilk" to paint the skulls on the right hand Goblin. Next, I painted the cords on the "armor" plates, and the necklace cords with Ceramcoat "Maple Sugar Tan". I painted the upper arm wrap on the right-hand Goblin with Folk Art "Burgundy". Finally, I painted the torch handles with Americana "Mississippi Mud", the sword grips with Americana "Asphaltum", and the rock the left-hand Goblin is standing on with the "Medium grey"..
I now painted the swords with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter", as well as the ring around the top of the left-hand Goblin's torch.   I then painted the balls on the sword hilts and the coin-like things on the right-hand Goblin's wrist wrap, with Folk Art "Metallic Blue Sapphire".  When everything had had time to dry, I went back and carefully applied GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash to all the parts that weren't blue skin.  I was as careful as I could be not to let it run onto the blue skin, except I applied small amounts to their eye sockets and mouths.
     After the wash had had time to dry, I went back and added highlights.  I began by highlighting the skin with the original "Baby Blue".  This allowed me to cover any mistakes where wash had gotten onto the blue. Next, I added eyes with the "Buttermilk", and then added black pupils.  I then used the original clothing/armor colors to add highlights to all they were wearing.  I highlighted the blades of their swords with Folk Art "Silver Sterling".  Lastly I painted the torch flames beginning with Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon at the bottom, and then Americana "Tangerine", and then Ceramcoat "Bright Red". lastly I added some dabs of the "Burgundy" at the very tips of the flames.  My final step was to paint the figures' bases with the "Baby Blue", thinking the blue color would look neat under the snow flocking I planned to use.
      I let the Goblins sit overnight, and the next morning I gave them a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  Later that afternoon I flocked their bases, using Woodland Scenics snow flocking.  Unfortunately, this was not as opaque as I hoped, and a lot of the blue undercoat color showed through.  I tried over-painting a lot of the now-flocked areas with white paint, and reflocked them.   The next day I sprayed ithem with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.
   I'm pleased with how these fellows turned out.   I think the general winter tones really make the torch flames pop. Now on to their 7 friends.

Figures 121 & 122: Complete