Santa Bones!

   Mrs Claus was very generous in the gaming department this year!  I got the new Reaper Holiday Edition Paint Set, the Limited Edition Pack Reindeer, Garrick the Bold (aka Sir Forscale), a Charnal Grub, and the 12-Days of Reaper "Santa's Helpers" figures.  Also got a bottle of Citadel "Vahallan Blizzard" texture paint to try on my Frostgrave bases, one of the Walmart cheap 28mm train sets, and a Dollar Tree make-up rack to hold my growing collection of Reaper Paints.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Male Storm Giant: Figure 266 of 266, or, The Last Figure Left!

     At last!  Here we are at the end of our 3 year journey. I was able to set aside some dedicated painting time this week, and I finally finished up the Male Storm Giant figure from the Storm Giants set.  This finishes this set, and it joins the list of completed sets over on the right. And, more importantly,  this finishes the Bones 1 Kickstarter paint and post project!  I've now painted every single figure I received from the Bones 1 Kickstarter.   No fears though, I will continue on with this blog, posting my work on my Bones II, Bones III, and beyond, figures.  I will probably cut back to just one entry a week to allow me to get back to painting other things as well.
    I have to say it's been an amazing journey along the way.  I've had the chance to experiment with a lot of techniques, and learn a bunch of new things.  Starting the blog led me to the Reaper forums where I've met a lot of cool folks. And I've also enjoyed getting to know my readers here on the blog.  Hopefully, I've helped and inspired a few of you along the way.  And, I don't think I could have gotten to the end if it hadn't been for all the support and feedback I got from you all through the years; so a big "Thank you!" goes out to all of you.
     For now though, I'm going to go on a bit of a Bones hiatus for the rest of the year, and concentrate on Christmas and family.  I'll be back in January though; with new Bones figures to post and share.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! Now on to the last figure...
     I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking the figure in water with a bit of dish soap added, giving a gentle scrub with an old soft toothbrush, then rinsing and drying.   I glued the figure to a pair of 1.5" black primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue. The washers were large enough that I didn't feel it was necessary to take my usual step of gluing the washers to a tongue depressor for ease of handling.

   Since I had just painted the female half of this set a couple weeks ago, I thought I would use the same old D&D Monster Manual inspired Storm Giant paint scheme for this one as well.  So, I began by giving the entire figure a wash with heavily thinned Reaper "Blue Liner" using a wet brush.  This was to help bring out the details so I could see them better.  When the Liner was dry, I painted all his skin with Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet"; and after that, I painted his hair with Crafter's Acrylic "Navy Blue".

     Next, I painted his loincloth/skirt/kilt with Americana "Zinc", I also used this color to paint the parts I planned to make regular iron or steel metal.  The parts I planned to make gold metal I painted with Accent "Golden Harvest".  After that, I painted the leather strip armor at his waist, the straps of the wrist and shin guards, and the pouch on his front with Accent "Real Umber". I painted his belts, and the pouch around back with Americana "Bittersweet Chocolate."

     I then painted his toenails and fingernails with a mix of Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender" and the "African Violet".  After that, I went back and repainted all the parts I had painted with the "Zinc", (except his loincloth/skirt/kilt) this time using Folk Art Metallics "Gunmetal Grey". I then I repainted all the parts I had painted with the "Golden Harvest, this time sing Ceramcoat "Bronze".    Then, after everything had a while to dry, I gave the entire figure a wash using Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash using a wet brush.

      After the "Nuln Oil" wash was dry, I painted his eyes, giving him pupils using the "Gunmetal Grey", (The Monster Manual mentioned "silver-grey eyes". ); and I painted his nipples using a mix of Black and the "African Violet".    Next, I  highlighted all his skin using a mix of the base "African Violet", and the "Apple Lavender".  After that, I highlighted his hair using Ceramcoat "Denim Blue", and did lighter highlights with Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue".   I then gave his sword blade a wash with Iron Wind Metals "Dark Blue" ink using a wet brush.

     Next, I highlighted his loincloth/skirt/kilt with Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey". I then highlighted the folded over parts I had painted Black, as well as the face on his shoulder, with Citadel "The Fang".  After I highlighted the shoulder face, I attempted to paint it like it had lightning radiating from it (to go with the Storm Giant theme).  I painted central bolts with the "Cool Blue", and then painted secondary little shoot-off charges from the central bolts in White.
     I then highlighted the leather strip armor at his waist, the straps of the wrist and shin guards, and the pouch on his front  with Folk Art "Dark Brown". And after that I highlighted his belts and the pouch around back with Americana "Mississippi Mud" mixed with a bit of the "Bittersweet Chocolate".

     It was then time for the metallic highlights, so I first worked on the parts I had painted with the "Gunmetal Grey", highlighting them with Folk Art "Silver Sterling".  For the sword, I added a bit of Folk Art Pearl "Aqua Moire" to the "Silver Sterling" to give it a bit of a blue cast, before doing the highlights on the blade.  I then did the parts I had painted "Bronze", highlighting them with Ceramcoat 14K Gold. Lastly I painted his base with Ceramcoat "Walnut".
      I let the figure dry overnight, and the next morning I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish". Later that afternoon I detailed the base, and the following morning I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote".  When the "Dullcote" was dry, I lightly filed the end of his sword hilt, and then glued a tiny blue nail-art gem to it.

Figure 266 of 266: Complete
Bones 1 Kickstarter: Complete!

Just a Little Bit Longer Now...

   It's interesting that the last figure should be the subject of such delays, but once again I was not able to get the Storm Giant done for today.  Unfortunately, holiday preparations and our monthly Frostgrave campaign game took all my free time this past weekend; so I didn't get a chance to pick up a brush at all.  The current plan is to set my sights on Thursday now.

The End is Near...But Not Quite Yet!

      We've had a house guest staying over this past week, and my painting time ended up being reduced to almost nothing.  So, I was unable to get much work done on my last figure, the Male Storm Giant, much less finish it.

   Therefore, I will set my sights on Monday to get this fellow finished and posted; and wrapping up my Bones 1 Kickstarter painting project!