More Flint & Feather Finished...& how I take my pictures

Here's some pictures of the Flint & Feather 28mm Huron/Iroquois that were on the painting stands in the last post, but are now finished.

These sculpts are so cool & great fun to paint.

I took a bunch of photos this morning of the Dad's Army figures, so I will be posting those over the next few days.
My photo setup is very simple - an Olympus VG-160 compact with a mini  bendy tripod, a paper background I found on the internet & printed out, something to fix the background to (like an empty bottle or ornament), plonk the whole lot on the dining room table, open the vertical blinds right up on the sliding door, and let the indirect morning light provide enough natural light. The next bit is crucial- edit the pictures with the basic picture editing software that comes with Windows. This includes enhancing the colour by clicking on something white - try leaving the paper background with a white border, or insert a white something into the edge of your photo - this will really improve the colour balance. Then crop it to what looks about right, and compress the image to "document" size.

All the best,

John.

Dad's Army WIP Part 5...Painting British Battledress

Here's how I paint British Battledress. This is over the base I created with Vallejo English Uniform, washed with Secret Weapon Blue Black. I know other folks will have combinations of colours that they like, but these are the colours that I have found work best for me:

Vallejo English Uniform, Green Brown, and Khaki.

English Uniform is painted back over the figure, leaving the wash/foundation layer in the creases and where shadows are more likely.

First layer is English Uniform.

 Next I use Green Brown for a highlight on areas that would be more exposed to light that is roughly overhead. This is demonstrated on the back of the figure below.

Green Brown over English Uniform

 The final highlight is Khaki, applied to areas that would get the most light - knees, tops of arms, cap, etc.

Khaki Highlight -front

Khaki highlight -back

The next post will show this set of figures with all the details painted up, including eyes, webbing, weapons, and "Molotov" Bob's bottle :-)

Thanks to those who have left comments so far, always great to know that others find this stuff useful.

There will be no post tomorrow, hope to be back with another on Monday.

Dad's Army WIP Part 4...How I paint the fleshtones

G'day all, the next exciting episode for you! This time I'm giving a breakdown of how I'm doing the flesh areas on these figures. These are the typical colours that I use for "European" skin-tones....well, unless they've been stationed in the Western Desert for a while ;-)

I'm going to focus on a single figure so I can demonstrate my process a bit better. I shall call him "Molotov" Bob! Below is Bob with his foundation colours plus his various washes:

The first colour of choice is Reaper Bright Skin Shadow, applied with a No.1 da Vinci Kolinsky sable brush.

Here's what Bob looks like after this layer:

Notice that the foundation/wash areas have been left in the areas around the mouth, nose, ears, below the chin, at the wrists, and between the fingers (click images to enlarge).

My next colour layer is Reaper Bright Skin:

Here's Bob after his this layer:

These layers are placed on the edges of the ears, hand, knuckles, nose, top of cheekbones, part of forehead, and fine lines above the top lip.

For the final highlight I use Reaper Bright Skin Highlight and a size 0 brush (same make /type as before, just finer).

Now some pictures of Bob with these final touches to the flesh areas:

One of the keys with the final highlights is not to be heavy handed, small, fine strokes or dots will do. Place these highlights on the tip of the nose, top of the cheekbone, tips of ears (if not under a hat), top of forehead, knuckles, top surface of hand, and fine lines above top lip.
I used to put highlights on the chin, but after some further reading and observation this seemed unnecessary for this scale - unless you are painting a figure with a hugely exaggerated jaw/chin.

Here's the batch with the flesh areas done. Painting the eyes/spectacles and hair is done later.

I hope this proves informative, as well as an interesting comparison with what the figure looked like with just the washes.
In my next post I hope to bring you a step by step of how I paint the Battledress, including the triad of colours I use.

All the best,

John.

Dad's Army WIP Part 3...Washes

OK, here's the part where the washes get applied. Rather than go for an overall wash in one colour, I have opted for four coloured washes for different parts of the figures. Washes not only put some handy shading in creases etc., they also create another colour. To my  mind this works out as a pairing of lining-in & glazing;  how much of this new colour you want to leave showing is up to you. When you look at the pictures at the end of the post you will see how the creases and shadows have been defined, and new colours created by overlaying the semi-translucent wash over the top of the foundation colours, (you may want to compare these with how they looked in the previous post).

The first wash I apply is the flesh wash. My flesh wash is a homemade mix - see picture below for a visual of the mix. it is composed of mostly Daler Rowney Red Oxide acrylic ink, with some Reaper Brown Ink & Reaper Flow Improver (I can't tell you the exact proportions because I don't know them :-), I just stopped when I thought it looked about right.)

Flesh Wash combo

Next up, the majority of the uniform gets a wash of Secret Weapon Blue Black - I think this colour is excellent for British Battledress, to my eye it is complimentary. I would not use this coloured wash over German Field Grey uniform for instance, I would probably use a brown instead. Over a red uniform I would use Secret Weapon Green Black.

The next wash to be applied is Secret Weapon Sewer Water (don't worry, it doesn't smell like a sewer). This is put on the helmet and the boots.

My final wash is P3 Armour Wash, this is applied to the weapons - doesn't matter if it goes on the woodwork too, that can get tidied up later.
I like this product from P3 for all metal work, works a treat. Once it's dry you can always go back over with some metallic paint if you want some extra shiny bits :-)

Below are the brushes I use for most of my washes. They are soft brushes with natural fibres, but nothing fancy like sable.

Here's what the figures look like once their washes have dried:

A close up of some of 'em:

They look much darker now, but not too dark. In the next stage I will go back over the figures with original colours plus some new ones, leaving some of the glaze colour where I want it.
In the next post I will show you how I paint the flesh on these figures.

All the best,

John.

Dad's Army WIP Part 2...blocking colours

OK, this is the bit where I list the basic colours I've used for blocking in. These act as the foundation colours over which washes will be applied, followed by overpainting, highlighting and detailing.

I find it hard to take decent pictures at my wee workspace, so please bear with me :-)

Below are the first thirteen figures with all their foundation colours blocked in.

These are the colours I have used:

• Reaper HD Sunburn Flesh for skin areas
• Vallejo Brown Violet for helmets
• Vallejo Black Grey for boots and bayonet scabbard
• Vallejo English Uniform for battledress & caps
• Vallejo Green Ochre for helmet chin straps and extra bags (not service respirator bag)
• P3 Thrall Flesh - regular webbing
• Vallejo Yellow Green - Service Respirator bags

See picture below.

Paints continued...

• Vallejo Mahogany Brown for Rifles/Gun stocks
• Vallejo German Grey - gaiters & metal work on guns
• Reaper Ruddy Leather- rifle slings
• Vallejo Olive Grey- scarves on a couple of the figures
• Vallejo German Cam. Black Brown  for hair
• Reaper Peacock Green for Molotov Cocktail bottle

See picture below.

That's quite a lot of different colours for what looks like a fairly straightforward uniform I guess :-)

Below is a picture of the wet palette that I use for my main painting tasks. Hmmm, think that paper might  need changing soon :-). I find a wet palette essential for my work, especially in the hot corner of the living room where my workspace is - our summer weather dries the paint out fast.

My next post will be about the wash stage. I will be using four different wash colours for this.
Cheers,
John.

Dad's Army WIP Part 1

This is my first work in progress post for the Dad's Army project. My plan is to take the pictures and post them next day, so what you are seeing are yesterday's photos.
Today's post is fairly straight forward prep stuff - filing, gluing & undercoating.
Next post will give you the stuff most of us are interested in when looking at a painting post - "What colours do you use?"

I am starting out with two blisters of rank and file Home Guard to "get my eye in".
The figures themselves don't need a lot of tidying-up, the casts are quite clean. A minor bit of filing on the bases, and a very gentle flex of the pewter to make sure they can all stand up on their own. There is a wee bit of clipping on two of the figures which have separate rifles with hand attached.

These are the basic tools I use for getting metal figures ready: a set of various shaped files; some clippers; and an old craft knife.

These two figures are carrying their rifles in their left hands. The rifles have the left hand cast on and just need a bit of superglue to affix them. They will be left to cure and undercoated the following day.

 Undercoating...
Nowadays I undercoat all my figures with the excellent Background range of paints from Derivan Matisse. Previously I used their Pale Grey, but now I prefer the slightly darker green-grey of Gum Tree Green (they are an Aussie paint manufacturer). The Background paints are designed for sealing artists canvases or boards prior to painting, and so not only give a great seal over the figure, but also a good "tooth" on which to apply paint. I am not a fan of black undercoat, it does stuff to colours laid over it in my opinion, and I think white a bit too stark - I favour a neutral starting point, not too dark, not too light. The brush I use to undercoat with at the moment is an inexpensive No.10 synthetic round. Undercoating brushes get worked pretty hard, so I don't advise using your best sable :-)

After giving the undercoat a thorough shake I get some paint from the inside of the lid and lay it on my disposable waxy paper palette, and start undercoating. Sometimes little patches get missed in the undercoating stage, that is where washes and lining in come into their own in the latter stages.
I picked up the pad of disposable palette paper from an art shop, it has been really useful.

The figures are stuck down with Blu-Tack onto empty pill bottles or similar - my favoured ones were some sort of yoghurt drink. The bottles have some rocks in them to prevent them from toppling like dominoes :-)

Undercoat/Sealer & undercoating brush. Undercoat is dispensed onto the disposable paper palette.

Here are the figures with their undercoat on - first two rows,  figures in the back are part of my slow burn Anglo-Saxon project. The two figures on the left are waiting for the super-glue to cure. Rest of the blister packs have been organised into separate clip-seal bags.

Stay tuned for the next post where you will find out what my base or blocking colours are :-)

Figure Painting Tutorial Part Two

Figure Painting Tutorial Part Two

Back again with the second part of my thoughts about figure painting. Like I said in part one, treat it like a picnic table with an assortment of stuff on it- please take what you would like and leave what doesn't gel with you. Enjoy. :)

Painting skin:

In the first part of the tutorial I put on the base layer for the skin and the wash layer- face & hands- now I'll talk about what I do next with that.
Here is the combination of paints I use in the process of painting human skin:

I picked the Reaper Master Series Bright Skin triad last year in Melbourne & have been really happy with how it has performed. It gives a bright appearance like the name suggests, which I think is ideal for getting a decent contrast for these little figures. The order you see in the picture is the order in which I apply them.
After applying the wash layer & allowing it to dry, I work back over with Bright Skin using a fine brush, making sure I leave remnants of the darker colours in creases & recesses. After this layer dries I do a final highlight with Bright Skin Highlight. Using a very fine brush I apply highlights to tip of the nose, upper part of cheek bones, sometimes to the forehead if the figure doesn't have a hat, knuckles of the hand & on upper surfaces of the outer parts of the hand. Here are a series of pictures to help illustrate my descriptions:

Happy to answer your questions and comments. :)

Figure Painting Tutorial Part One

Figure Painting Tutorial Part One

Like most people in this hobby my painting style has been influenced by others and has gradually developed over time, trial, & error. By sharing some of my painting steps with you I am not saying that they are superior to yours, they are just what I find works for me. Please feel free to take and leave whatever you like. :)

First Things

The first thing for me is the primer (unless you count the washing of some plastic figures, or the cutting back of flash, or the filing down of excess metal). I know that a lot of people use black, and I understand the reasons behind this, I too have used black as a primer in the past- especially when painting for other people & wanting to get stuff churned out in good time. Now, however, I use Grey as my primer shade of choice, and am currently using artist's acrylic gesso for this. The gesso gives a good protective coating to the figure, shrinking nicely & sealing the figure, and also giving a good "tooth" to apply paint to. I have found it to be excellent for both metal, "bendy" plastics and hard plastics.
I believe grey to be a great neutral for miniatures. Personally I think black can dull colours down and white can make them brighter than they need to be. My views on this were influenced some years ago by a master miniature painter Joe Videki and his wondrous website loaded with useful links & pictures of his own work- check it out HERE .
So grey acrylic gesso is my starting point:

In  the foreground are some figures I'm working on for a halftrack, plus a plastic Anglo-Saxon from Emhar that I am painting for my son's 1/72 Middle Earth collection. All undercoated with grey acrylic gesso.

Blocking In

My next step is to simply block the figures in with the main colours, usually the darkest shades. In the case of the British figures seen above I "blocked in " with the following colours from Vallejo:

Bronze Green- helmets; English Uniform- battledress; Russian Uniform- webbing & pack; Black Grey- boots and metal bits; Mahogany Brown- rifles.

In this process I do the flesh first, using Reaper Master Series "Bright Skin Shadow" as my base colour.
I haven't recorded what colours I used for the Anglo-Saxon figure.
Here they are all "blocked in":

The driver is from AB, the others are from Kelly's Heroes.

Having a Wash...

This next stage isn't something I picked up from reading Joe Videki, although some of the colour theory has been an influence.
I think washes are a great boon to the wargamer, and different people use them in different ways. Some people prefer to apply an overall wash of a murky brown to all their figures at the end, others just apply a subtle wash to flesh areas and still others use a wash that is a darker shade of their main colours.
My idea, influenced by colour theory picked up from Videki & glazing ideas used in fine art training, is to try and use complementary colours for shading. For an intro on complementary colours you could start by looking HERE . In it's most basic form the complementary of red is green; orange is blue; purple is yellow etc..
Now I don't have this down as a fine science, I just do what looks about right, so, for example, when I used to paint the redcoats of British Napoleonic era troops I would use something like an olive drab for my shading stage- a kind of green as the complementary for a brickish red.
For my British WW2 battledress I have settled on a dark, murky blue as a wash- I used to water down Payne's Grey acrylic paint, but now use pre-made washes for this. For the British webbing, packs and helmets I apply a brown wash- they are base coated in a green shade & so get a brown which has something of red in it.
It is worth noting that shadows are not actually black, however because the figures are tiny we still need to have visible differences between areas of light & shade. The washes are reasonably dark which helps provide contrast- contrast is really important when it comes to small scale items. If we were viewing a real person from a distance, the colours would be lighter too.
I must admit I haven't tried washing flesh with a greenyblue yet- may try that as an experiment some time. For flesh I use a fairly normal flesh wash from Vallejo:

For metallic surfaces like weapons or chain-mail I use an armour wash after base coating in something like Oily Steel from Vallejo:

P3 or Secret Weapon Armour Wash

Here's the washes that I currently use for the British Battledress:

Secret Weapon or a mix of the two Vallejo Washes.

And the washes for the webbing, pack & helmet:

Either of these will do.

Remember that the wash stage is not the last stage in my painting method, there is a whole lot more to be done.
With this stage done, here's what the figures now look like with the washes freshly applied:

That is all for the moment. A second part will follow soon - stay tuned.....

I forgot to add to my WIP last week that I also have an Italeri British 25pdr with Quad tow under construction- have finished most of the Quad & am working on the gun. This week I have made quite a bit of progress on the Scalescenes farmhouse that I am building.