Sarcophagus: Figure 101 of 265

I finally got back to painting this week, but knew I wouldn't have a lot of spare time to do it as we're still unpacking boxes from our recent move; so I chose the Sarcophagus figure from the Dungeon Dressing set to work on as I embark on my second hundred figures from the Kickstarter.  The completion of the figure also marks the wrapping up of the Dungeon Dressing set, and so it goes on the list of completed sets over in the right-hand column of this blog.
     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"x 2" black-primed steel base with Aleene's Tacky glue. I also glued the lid on the sarcophagus down, since I store my figures in boxes lined with magnetic sheeting, and I didn't want the lid bouncing around loose in the box knocking other figures over during transport.

  I decided I would try to do something a little different than just boring gray stone; so I hit upon the idea of doing the piece as pink marble, inspired by the multiple rose carvings on the Sarcophagus.  And, since I had had some success doing white, and green marble on the Stone Golem, and black marble on the Altar of Evil, I thought trying pink would be a nice challenge.   So, I looked up some Google images of pink marble, and with that inspiration in my head started to paint.
   I began by giving the whole piece a coat of Apple Barrel "Apple Light Pink". I then went back over the Sarcophagus and added a speckled pattern with Americana "Shading Flesh".

Next, I added thin striations across the whole thing with first black, and then white paint.

  Lastly, I gave the piece a wash with GW "Devlan Mud Wash", and then went back and added some highlights with the original "Apple Light Pink". My final step was to paint the base with Folk Art "Medium Gray".  I let the Sarcophagus dry overnight and the next day gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish."  The following day I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote."

In general I'm pleased with the piece, though I think the striations came out a little heavy handed, or perhaps too numerous.  I will say the effect looks better at a distance than the close-up photo does.

Figure 101 of 265: Complete

Painting Table Update

Just wanted to let you all know that things are taking a little longer than expected, and I only just got a space cleared and my table for painting set up this morning. I still have to find which boxes have the paints, and the miniatures I had prepped in them.  My goal now is to be back on track this week, and have a finished Bones figure for posting next Monday, so tune in again then. :)

Edward supervises the set-up of the painting table.  

Nightspectre: Figure 100 of 265

 This week I am happy to announce that I completed my 100th figure from the first Bones Kickstarter: the Nightspectre, from the Haunts set!  This milestone also marks the completion of the Haunts set, and so it gets added to my list of completed sets over on the right-hand column of this blog.  Onward to the next 165 figures!
   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 2" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.

With all the other figures from the Haunts set, I had fallen back on the obvious step of applying a wash of green ink to the figure, or some a part of it, to give some shading to the translucent green plastic.   This time I thought I'd try something different, and so I  gave the whole figure a wash with some thinned Iron Wind Metals purple ink to begin with.  After the ink had dried, I very carefully painted the skeletons in the vapor cloud with black paint

When the black paint had dried, I painted the skeletons' bones with Americana "Buttermilk".

I then went back and applied heavy highlights to the skeletons with white paint. I then painted the base of the figure black to cover the green translucent plastic that I was going to apply flock over.  After the figure had overnight to dry, I painted the whole thing with Cermacoat "Matte Varnish"; and when this was dry, I flocked the base.  The following day, I sprayed the figure with Testor's "Dullcote".

  I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  I actually think the purple ink over the green translucent Bones material looks kind of cool.
  I will be taking a break from posting anything next week, as my wife and I move to a new house this week, so I will be without a painting table for several days.  I'll see you back here on the 23rd when I will post figure 101, and we will be marking the 1 year anniversary week for this blog. :)

Figure 100 of 265: Complete

Ghostly Summons: Figure 99 of 265

   This week I painted the Ghostly Summons translucent figure from the Haunts set.  I'm very excited to be one away from my 100 figure milestone, so be sure to tune in next Monday as I reach that goal.
        I began my preparation of 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 1.5" 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 by giving the whole figure a wash with GW "Dark Green" Ink, thinned down and with a pin head sized drop of dish soap added.

I then started to work on the flames.  I mixed some white into some Americana "Olive Green" and drybrushed the very bottom where the flames meet the stone base.  I then used the "Olive Green" straight up and dry brushed higher up on the flames.

Then, before that first color had time to completely dry, I switched over to Americana "Leaf Green" and drybrushed even further up onto the flames. Lastly, I switched over to Accent "Forest Green" and drybrushed the flames at the very top where they blend into the feet of the ghosts.

I now painted the summoning stone circle with Folk Art "Medium Gray". And painted the ghosts' eyes with Apple Barrel "Yellow".

When the stone circle was dry, I gave it a wash with thinned black ink to help bring out the runes carved in it.  When the ink was dry I drybrushed the stone, careful not to get any on the flames, with a lighter gray called Duncan "Slate Grey". I also painted the metal washer base with the "Medium Gray". I then went back and drybrushed the stone again, lightly with the "Olive Green" to give the impression of reflected light from he flames.

   After everything had overnight to dry, I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish", and when this had had a day to dry, gave the figure a spray with Testor's "Dullcote"

   I'm still not a fan of the translucents as they really frustrate my natural tendencies to want to do shading and highlights.  The shading with ink is fine, but highlights just end up looking like opaque patches from some angles.  Nonetheless, I am pleased with how this figure turned out.

Figure 99 of 265: Complete

Treasure Chest: Figure 98 of 265

This week I didn't have a lot of time, as I was prepping to go to the Nashcon gaming convention in Franklin, Tennessee this past weekend, where my game club and I ran 14 games.  So, I picked a simple Bones figure to complete before I headed out last Thursday: the Treasure Chest from the Dungeon dressing set.  
    I began my preparation 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 had sprayed this figure with the Krylon Fusion Flat Black, a couple weeks ago when I was experimenting with using it, and the paint on the chest was still a little tacky.  I glued the chest to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to half a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue. 

To start the figure, I drybrushed all the coins and treasure laying around the base with Ceramcoat "Bronze".  I then went back over the treasure and did a lighter highlight drybrusing with Ceramcoat "14K Gold"

Next, I painted the wood on the chest with Americana "Mississippi Mud", and then did all the metal work on the chest with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter". I also used this color to paint the hilt of the sword, as well as a coupe of pieces of non-coin treasure in the pile.

I now painted the scabbard of the sword in the treasure pile with Apple Barrel "Burnt Sienna", and the sword's grip with Accent "Real Umber".  I let all that dry a little, and then gave the whole piece a wash with some thinned GW "Devlan Mud" wash.

After the wash had had a few hours to dry, I did highlights on the figure, starting with doing some drybrushing on the wood of the chest with Americana "Khaki Tan", being careful not to get any on the metal bits. I then added some highlights to the treasure pile with the "14K Gold".  After this, I took some Folk Art "Silver Sterling" and carefully painted some of the coins in the treasure pile as silver pieces. I also used this color to add some highlights to the metal work of the chest and hilt of the sword.  Lastly, I used a little Ceramcoat "Metallic Copper" and added a copper piece to the pile here and there.
   I let the chest dry for a several hours, and then gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  After that dried, I flocked the base.   The next day, I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote" spray paint.

I think this turned out very well.  It was a nice simple figure to do, with a lot of good details sculpted in it which made drybrushing on it it very easy.

Figure 98 of 265: Complete

Hellakin Goregutter, Halfling Rogue: Figure 97 of 265

Over the weekend I completed the Halfling Rogue figure from the 30 New Bones set. By unofficial count I am only 6 figures away from completing this large set. And three figures away from reaching the 100 figure milestone!
     I began my preparation in the usual way; soaking him in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish soap added, then giving him a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I glued the figure to a 7/8" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to half a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue. When the glue holding him to the tongue depressor was dry, I gave the figure a light wash with some heavily thinned black ink with a pinhead of dish soap added to help delineate the belts, straps, clothing, etc. on the figure.  As I have said before, I really have trouble seeing the details on these bright white Bones when I am holding them under my bright painting lamp.

 I began painting him with doing his face and hands with Americana "Shading Flesh". I then painted his tunic with Accent Mustard Seed, and his pants with DecoArt "Cinnamon Brown"  I completed his clothing with painting his cloak Folk Art "Poppy Seed" and his ankle and wrist braces with Folk Art "Medium Gray".

Next, I painted his belts with Accent "Real Umber", and his scabbard with Anita's "Burnt Sienna".  His hair, both on his head and on his feet, I painted Americana "Asphaltum".

  I painted in his eyes, then moved to the metal bits, painting all the buckles, buttons, studs, and his sword with Folk Art "Silver Sterling".  The grip of the sword I painted Americana "Charcoal Gray".

I let everything dry for a couple hours, and then came back and gave the figure a wash with thinned GW "Devlan Mud" wash.  After the wash dried, I went back and added highlights to his skin and clothing with the original base colors.  I then let the figure sit overnight, and then gave it a coat of Cermacoat "Matte Varnish". When this had dried, I then flocked the figure's base.  The next day I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote" spray paint.

   I'm satisfied with the figure, but can't say as it was particularly exciting or challenging to paint.  A nice one to add to the collection though.

Figure 97 of 265: Complete

Satheras, Male Warlock: Figure 96 of 265

Over the weekend I finished Satheras the Male Warlock figure from the 30 New Bones set.  I've only got a few more figures to go to complete this big initial offering set from the Kickstarter.   I tried initially to straighten his staff, but  found it hard to get his staff perfectly straight because of the two sculpted contact points.  So, I did the best I could in the limited amount of time I wanted to devote to the job, and told myself that being a grizzled old warlock, he might just have a gnarled and bent old staff.   
     I began my preparation in the usual way; soaking him in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish soap added, then giving him a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I  had actually prepped and primed this figure a while back when I still had the good Krylon Camouflage with Fusion Flat Black spray paint, so I didn't have the tackiness issues I'm getting with the regular Krylon Fusion now.  I glued the figure to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to half a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.

I began painting by drybrushing the whole figure, except his extended leg, with Folk Art "Medium Gray", and then adding some lighter drybrushed highlights with GW "Fortress Grey". I then drybrushed his one boot with GW "Shadow Grey".  Next, I painted his pants leg with Americana "Asphaltum", and then carefully added some  highlights to the pants with Americana "Mississippi Mud".  After this I painted his staff Americana "Charcoal Grey"

   I now painted his hands and face with Folk Art "Milkshake", and followed this with painting the parchment in his hand with Americana "Buttermilk".  Next, I painted the lining of his hood and shoulder garment with Apple Barrel "Apple Maroon". I also used this color to paint the small bag hanging from his belt, and the strip at the top of his boot. At this stage I painted the small cords holding the bag, and the cords on the amulet on the staff with Accent "Real Umber". The small patch on his knee I painted with GW "Snakebite Leather", and the two threads on the patch I painted with  Americana "Khaki Tan".

I now moved to the large stone in his staff.  First I painted the whole stone GW "Blood Red", and then I painted the top facets with the "Apple Maroon", and the bottom facets with Apple Barrel "Apple Lt. Pink".  I then added highlights with a bit of white paint, and then added a bit of the "Apple Lt. Pink" to the white to do highlights along some of the facet edges.  Next, I worked on the metallics, painting the gem fittings, the amulets, his buttons, and his belt buckle with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter".  I then went back and added highlights to these with Folk Art "Silver Sterling", and then went around his shoulder garment and painted the runes on it with the "Silver Sterling" as well.

   Lastly, I gave his pants, face, hands, and staff a wash with GW "Devlan Mud" wash with a little water added to dilute it.  When this had dried, I went back and added some highlights to his face and hands with the original "Milkshake" color.  I also touched up where some of the wash had gotten on the parchment with the original "Buttermilk"; and finally with black paint and a thin brush I added some squiggly lettering to the parchment.
   I let the figure sit for a few hours and then I painted the whole figure with Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".   The next morning I flocked the base, and let it dry all day, then late in the afternoon I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote".

I'm pleased with how the he turned out, and figures dressed in all black are always a nice easy paint, as so much of it involved simply drybrushing.

Figure 96 of 265: Complete