Back to the Brushes 241

Another quick up date and another three Arab archers from Essex Miniatures.

Day 15 - 11 figures completed

More to follow shortly.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 209

First post of the New Year, so let's not delay over much.

Best wishes to everyone and may your brushes never splay.

Quick work in progress picture to start 2019 off with.

These are from a long stalled project that is the Late Romans. As the original army is being rebased at present to 60mm fronts to suit ADLG, a few gaps are appearing during the rebasing of the same. Thankfully, there were more than enough of these Gripping Beast figures to fill in the ranks when they are rebased. It will be interesting painting these to match their previously painted figures as my painting style has changed a bit since 2006/7 when these where completed. All the more fun!

Only 15 days into this years AHPCIX and the plans are changing already. Nothing new there. 

Cheers for now

Fantasy Hero 8

The title should really be Heroine as the figure below is an Elfess, if such a word exists, but that would be too much like work - only joking. This figure is from the Citadel Compendium 2 released back in 1984 and along with others from the C08 High Elves were and are some of my favourite miniatures from this period.

To be retaken as face out of focus.

A great figure to paint and after some deliberation opted to paint the chest piece as a metallic breast plate with both steel and gold. The red and gold has worked well on this figure and although it will be difficult to see on these pictures the metal areas have all been lightly gloss varnished as well to lift the over all finish of the figure.

The basing shows some new oak leave foliage that was bought recently for use with this range of figures - yes there will be more later this year - and the leaves really are oak leaf shaped.

Added a few extra layers of tone to the flesh on this figure as felt it needed more depth in the flesh areas and was looking for a paler overall skin tone. The Foundry Expert flesh range was used to achieve the finished colour.

The red on the tunic ended up more red than its original base colour which was more burgundy in tone. The change isn't a bad thing just something noticed during the painting. Base colour was GW's Mechrite Red Foundation Layer and the next three layers were Foundry's Bright Red A, B and C to highlight.

Overall, very pleased with the finished look of this miniature and glad the extra time was spent on her to achieve the look wanted. Hope that you enjoyed the pictures. 

Cheers for now. 

Back to the Brushes 140

The other night came to thinking about styles of painting and dragged out a memory of a Neoclassic painting by Jacques-Louis David

The Death of Marat

Can't recall the whole back story to this, something to do with post Revolutionary France and waiting on the "knock" on the door and Marat decided not to face Madame Guillotine. For a dark subject matter found this picture very peaceful with a strong sense of purpose/principle to it, 

Always liked the use of darkness in this picture, makes the other colours more vibrant and clearer.

This picture got me looking at how I paint miniatures or wee men as they are often called. David in his later life was a teacher too many painters and emphasised the contour in his teachings. In miniature painting the contour exists in the quality of the sculpting rather than the drawn line that David expressed in his teachings, both however are equally important and more so when colour is added. Whether layering, blending or blocking paint on a miniature the contours of the sculpt guide the painter in achieving the impression of tone and light on the miniature, in fact with some miniatures the quality of the sculpting is best seen once paint or undercoat has been applied. 

Next time you paint consider the not only the colours that you are using but the lines and contours the sculptor used to create the miniature you are painting before adding the paint. Perhaps that sense of peace and purpose I found in the picture above will be there too. 

I was asked by a friend the other day how many brushes are in the picture of the painting table, is it about fifty? The answer is 121 in varying states of use from virginal to well loved to totally fucked, with the oldest being approximately thirty-one years old and still serviceable. Shows you that if you look after somethings they will be there for a long time. 

Cheers for now

Losing that gaming mojo

From time to time our motivation for the hobby ebbs and flows. Some drift off and never return others find a new period, scale or game to re-motivate themselves and others drop from one part of the hobby be that painting or gaming. 

Been there in differing ways over the years with different parts of this hobby from role-playing, skirmish games and larger table top games, the mood and motivation for these flags from year to year. Can be down to not gaming, too many games, new games, old games or just pure can bothered any more.  The constant has always been the painting and it often leads back to gaming with more energy than before.

So when your motivation drops, remember may the road rise with you and anger is an energy!

Off now to do a little painting

Cheers

All Hell Let Loose 13

It's been awhile since there has been a post relating to WW2 here and it possibly could be awhile before there is another one; that said here are two armoured cars that have recently been seen here as a part of the Armour bonus round.

Both miniatures are from Frontline Wargaming and are both easy to make and easy to paint. Above left is a Sf Kdz 221 and right a Sf Kdz 223.

These have been painted using a mixture of base coating, washing and dry brushing and fuller description of this can be seen at the link above.

Decals from Skytrex

What the Jabos saw

More of both completed figures and work in progress to follow shortly.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 122

A few updates on progress for the AHPC VII

As the two German Armoured cars are now waiting on varnishing it's time to start on the Bren carriers for the British. There are eight Carriers, a Wasp and a Lloyd carrier here plus two jeeps. Being painted however not part of the challenge are a Sexton 25lb and a Sherman ARV; both of these have been loitering around the painting table for years now and it is time they were finished.

Some progress on the wagons and the prep is finished for the Curtgeld figures at the end of the row. Three figures and Two Painters will plot the progress on these as working in a team with RussG on this part of the challenge.

Lastly are the newly added rangers to the challenge with flesh underpainting complete and armour blocked in . Still struggling with poleyn being on the top right figure, however he is from the AD&D range that Citadel produced in the mid-eighties. There are another four ranger types that may get added to the mix depending on how well the AFV's go.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 119

As the Painting Challenge fast approaches trying to get a few figures finished before moving on to new themes for the duration of the Challenge.

These three heavily armoured figures have been a bit of a challenge in their own right, especially the figure with the mace. The cloak on this chap has been black, yellow ochre, black, purple, black, bottle green and then black again. After leaving the figure in the corner so to speak have finally decided that black works best with the tones in the armour. Well at least it won't need another base coat this time.

The other two figures from Grenadier had issues with the armour and washes. The blue/black mix wasn't right and after another two coats of Nuln Oil finally seemed to work. Only the hair and plumage to finish and these are for basing.

Layering metallics gives a good result and is very different than straight dry brushing the colours up and picking out highlights. Dry brushing is still champion if there are large amounts of chainmail although this can be picked out with wet brushing if very careful.

Hopeful to get these completed over the next few nights

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 112

The start of a new fantasy warband based around clerics and paladin types. Figures from Citadel, Ral Partha, Reaper and Mirliton.

Ral Partha

Hoping to use these figures to show a bit of the painting style used. This will include painting flesh, fabric and metal, three key elements of both fantasy and historical miniatures. This warband will all be fantasy figures for a change.

Citadel

First up, starting with a black undercoat, the flesh has been blocked in foundry Conker brown B then layered with Foundry Flesh A. The pictures are flooded with natural sun light so you may have difficulty in seeing the layers clearly.

Reaper

Should point out that the undercoat is Humbrol Matt Black acrylic and is brushed on. Trying to limit the use of aerosols in hobby pursuits as well as everyday life.

Citadel and Mirliton

An old classic from Citadel with a left handed sculpt; they do exist!

Citadel

The figures are hex based as they will possibly see use in roleplay as well as skirmish games.

The last figure is the long over due Curtgeld for last year's painting challenge. A Foundry figure with some reference below.

Below is an obvious source for the inspiration of the miniature and a good reference for colours. Not sure who the original was by. The differences are clear when both the miniature and the painting are studied at the same time.

More reference and inspiration with a painted version of the same figure below. Again not sure of the painter although they have done the miniature justice.

More to follow shortly.

Cheers for now

Fury of the North 16

The two figures from Gripping Beast shown below where painted circa 2003 for a Rohan project that never passed go. Both figures were part of the command structure of the forces planned for the Rohirrim foot.

An interesting choice of colour for the weapon's belt and scabbard, not a colour that would be used for those items now. At this point most of the figures painted would have been used for fantasy skirmish games and these are possibly some of the first pure historical figures painted.

The axe bearing figure was to be a standard bearer, which was recently replaced with the Dane axe allowing the figure to be tucked into a SAGA warband or similar Dark Ages skirmish game.

The musician/horn blower will also be added into the SAGA warband, however will he be more conspicuous than his axe wielding colleague.

The cloak above was painted in Dallimore's layering approach; this being an early example of this style being used here. Prior to then it would have been wet blending when time allowed or dry brushing. Styles change, now the layered approach is the principle style used and the others are there if necessary.

On the subject of painting styles watch out for some progressive work in progress pictures in the near future showing layering being used on a new fantasy warband.

Cheers for now