Monday, December 20, 2021

Gingerbread Knight: Christmas 2021 Promo Figure

     The past two week I worked on the Gingerbread Knight, which was a Bones USA promo figure that came in this year's Reaper Christmas Sampler.  With all that was going on with preparation for Christmas, I thought this would be a fast and fun figure to work on.
        I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking the parts (comes with the left arm as a separate piece) in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued the arm to the body using Gorilla superglue gel. Next, I glued the figure to a 1" primed metal washer, using Aleene's Tacky Glue.  I glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's School Glue. 
     I tried to take the easy route first and use Citadel Contrast paint for the gingerbread.  So I gave the figure a base coat of Ceramcoat "White"; and when dry, I mixed some Citadel Contrast "Fyreslayer Flesh" and Citadel Contrast "Snakebite Leather" together and painted it on the figure.  When dry, I was sad to see that it came out very mottled.  I had hoped it wouldn't, but knew in the back of my mind that it probably would.  Oh, well; I tried.
     I then started over, painting directly over the Contrast paint, with a mix of Folk Art "Teddy Bear Brown" and a little Accent "Mustard Seed".  When dry, I gave the entire figure a coat of Citadel Shade "Agrax Earhdahde".  I let that dry, and then drybrushed the figure with some Reaper MSP "Ginger Cookie", because I just had to.  :) 
     Next, I painted all the icing decorations, as well as his epaulette and candy cane, with Americana "Snow White"  I let that dry, and then did his eyes and belt with a mix of Reaper MSP "Ultramarine Blue" and  Crafter's Acrylic "Tropical Blue".  Then I painted his mouth a mix of Folk Art "Tomato Red" and Crafter's Acrylic "Tutti Frutti".  After that, I painted his buttons with Crafter's Acrylic "Holiday Green".
     I then painted the stripes on the candy cane and epaulette with some Citadel Contrast "Blood Angels Red" in hopes it would give it a bit of a translucent look. When it was dry, I touched up all the white parts of the icing with Reaper MSP "Peppermint White".  Again, becuase I felt I just had to. :) Lastly I painted the entire base with Americana "Zinc". 
      I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave him a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.  Then when the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to glue some sand onto the base.  When this was dry I  painted it with Citadel Contrast "Basilicanum Grey".  When that was dry,  I drybrushed the sand withAmericana "Grey Sky".  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figures with Testor's Dullcote".   Afterwards, I went back and painted the epaulette and candy cane with some Americana "DuraClear Gloss" varnish.



     I'm pleased with how this fun figure turned out. It was just the perfect simple sculpt to tackle in the busy weeks leading up to Christmas.

Monday, December 6, 2021

Durman's Ledgers: Bones 5 Figures

      Over the past few weeks, as time permitted, I worked on painting the pair of "Durman's Ledgers" I had from ordering two of the Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter Set from the Bones 5 Kickstarter.  This past week I finally finished them up. 
      I prepped the figures in the usual way, soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued them to 1.25" primed metal washers, using Aleene's Tacky Glue.  I glued the washers to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's School Glue.
     I began by painting the bases of the bookstands with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".  I then painted the top parts of the stands with Americana "Snow White".  When dry, I used Citadel Contrast "Templar Black" to make marble-like striations on the white tops, doing some with the paint straight from the bottle, and some thinned a little.
     Next, I painted the pages of the books with Ceramcoat "White".  I then painted the cover of the lefthand book with Reaper MSP "Auburn Shadow".  I then used this color to paint the bookmark of the righthand book.  Then, I painted the cover of the righthand book with Accent "Mustard Seed", and then used this color to paint the bookmark of the lefthand book.  There appeared to be some sort of clasp mechanisms on the edges of the covers, so I painted them with Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze".  I also used the "Brushed Bronze" to paint the metal plates on the bookmarks.
      I let everything dry for a while,  and then gave the bookstands a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" Shade.    Then, I painted the pages of the books with Citadel Contrast "Skeleton Horde".  I followed with using some Citadel "Agrax Earthsahde" Shade on the book covers and the bookmarks.
     I let all the washes dry, and then drybrushed the bottoms of the bookstands with Americana "Zinc", Crafters Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and Americana "Grey Sky".  I then carefully applied some highlights to the tops of the bookstands with the base "Snow White". 
     Next, I drybrushed the book pages with Americana "Bleached Sand".  I then painted in some text, using Reaper MSP "Heraldic Red" for the big letters, and the "Charcoal" for the small text.  After that, I highlighted the lefthand book cover with the base "Auburn Shadow", and the lefthand book cover with the base "Mustard Seed". I finished up by highlighting the metal parts with Ceramcoat "Metallic Bronze". 
      I then painted the bases with Americana "Neutral Grey"; and when dry, I went around the outline of the bookstand bottoms with some of the "Nuln Oil".
      The next day I gave both pieces a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   Another overnight dry, and I sprayed all the pieces with Testor's Dullcote".    



     I'm really happy with how these turned out.  One of the few times the end result matched the original vision I had had in my head.

     My next post will be in two weeks on December 20th.