5 replies to this topic

[Shogan]

My first attempt since reapercon. I worked on lining, laying, and improving the eyes. I'm not so happy with the gun but I think I was ready to be done for the evening when I painted it. Overall I'm really happy with my progress. I still have a ways to go but this was a big jump for me as I had never lined or done anything more than a base coat. I plan to finish her up tomorrow. I need to do her shoes and I want to put her on a base with floorboards, like a saloon. I would really appreciate any constructive criticism or advice. Thanks!

[Jordan Peacock]

Wow, I really like the value of the green in that dress! What paint(s) did you use for that?

If you want to do a base with floorboards, there are a number of methods that could work, depending upon how much trouble you want to go to.

1) Cheat, and get some pre-fab 30mm bases with wooden floor textures, such as: http://www.warcastst...&category_id=23 (War Cast Studios -- I've used a few of these for assorted pirates and cowboys)

2) Or, get some craft sticks to make a floor. I've been able to find some in assorted widths at craft stores -- the cheapest ones would be the big "popsicle stick" kind that I can pick up in any Wal-Mart with a craft section. I've also seen thinner, narrower craft sticks in dedicated craft stores. Someone gave me a bunch of "matchstick" craft wood pieces that I've also found to be useful, but unfortunately I don't know where to actually find those. While this would be honest-to-goodness wood, you'll probably still have to score the surface with a hobby knife (basically dragging the knife along to roughly suggest grains) to get a decent effect for painting. If you want a really rough-looking construction, you could whittle along the corners and take chunks out, or, once the whole thing is inserted into the base, carve gouges out (to suggest some rough events have taken place in this saloon before).

The downside is trying to get the edges to fit nicely within the lip of the 30mm base, and most craft wood is going to be too thick to go down flush with the edge (if you care about that sort of thing). The softer craft woods can be cut with scissors, however (though it's a bit rough on the scissors) so at least they're easy to work with.

3) Get some mat board scraps. (If you have a friend who cuts mat board for framing illustrations, you might be able to get some cheaply. ;) ) The best kind of mat board would be the kind that is BLACK on the inside, so you can score it and cut it, and you still have a black base. Designate an area on the mat board that's a bit larger than the base, then make some parallel scoring lines with a hobby knife to indicate "planks," but don't cut them all the way through. (It won't hurt anything much if you do, but it's just not necessary.) For extra points, you could angle your cut slightly one way, then go back and angle it the other, and then peel out the resulting "wedge," so that there's a noticeable but slight gap between the planks.

Then, go back with a hobby knife and score some "wood grain" on each plank, careful not to cross the line from one plank to the rest. A bit of variation is good -- curve the lines on one plank one way, then curve them another way on the next, so it's clear that each plank is separate and it doesn't all just go the same way. (At this point, perfectly straight "grain" lines would detract from the effect.)

Then, once you're happy with the "wood grain" effect, carefully cut out a circle to fit within the lip of the 30mm base, erring on the side of making it a little too big, if anything. You can go back and trim it down to fit, after all. You can then glue the "planks" down to the base, and it's easy enough to drill right through with a pinning drill. You can pretty much paint the mat board normally, dry-brushing it to bring out details, just as long as you don't go overboard with heavy wet paint and washes. (This is paper, after all, so getting it too wet is going to result in warping and peeling.)

4) For the super-quick-and-dirty lazy-and-cheap method (which probably wouldn't work all that well with this particular model, since the tab is not a tight fit), I've simply scored *the surface of the area inside the 30mm lip* itself with a hobby knife, cutting out "planks" of about the same width as the slot, continuing the edges of the slot to the inner lip, as if the "slot" were another plank. As with the mat board, I can score the surface of the plastic, and if the scoring kicks up too much plastic, I can shave that off. Then, I go back and paint the "planks," dry-brushing details. When I insert the figure (still on the tab in this case), I try to paint the tab's top to fit. This only works so well as the tab actually fits; if it's a bit loose, then I'll have to apply a bit of putty to fill in the gaps. I don't worry too much about thoroughly texturing the top of the tab, save but to score it a few times just so that it doesn't look unduly smooth compared to the rest of the base. And, of course, once everything's attached, I paint it to fit. It's best to paint the mini prior to this (temporarily affixing it to a different base) so that I don't risk painting on the mini messing up the details on the planks.

P.S., nice work on the blonde hair! Also, I really like the fancy decorative swirl on the gun stock. Nice touch!

[Shogan]

Thanks for the compliments! I used the warm greens triad from Reaper. I love reaper paints. Thanks for the advice on the bases. I lucked out this year at reapercon and took a basing class with Martin Jones and he showed us how to make a wood floor base with green stuff. It was really cool. I'm ready to be off work so I can finish her. :)

[psyberwolfe1]

Or the other easy method. Model Train Store, 1/8" basswood clap board, and xacto circle cutter.

[themudhead]

Need more shading in the skintones. Use dark paint on the undersides and crevices of the skin. Between fingers. And be sure and line between the ruffle and the skin.

Looking good though. Keep it up.

[Shogan]

What kind of paint do you use on the fingers and crevices on the skin? Do you use a dark liner or just a darker skin tone? Thanks for all of the advice.