Combatpainterminis

Recently I have been struggling with the notion of how much detail  to put into the painting of 15mm figures.  Do I paint the figures to stand out at arms length or do I paint them to be examined close-up with a magnifying glass. The third alternative would be to paint them somewhere in between. WW2, a few weeks ago I discovered a painter that uses a very loud painting style. He then takes pictures from a few feet away and they truly scream out at you. I know this method and have used this method for years but over the last two my painting, especially of 28mm have become much softer. No harsh screaming degrees of tonality or color, more of a sleepy and quiet look which requires a close look to interpret.

One issue I have always had with gaming at cons is that there is never any light. This has always gotten me crazy. I spend hours and hours painting these models. I then use them in a game and you can barely notice the work. This of course has been with the 25mm models. 15mm and less is a whole norther world. This is what I did-I took some models and painted them in a very discrete and subdued fashion using washes. I based and took pictures. Then weeks later I went back and added more details. Finally, I took them about three weeks later and added more detail but this time used more contrasting colors to bring them to life and make them stand out on the tabletop. The purpose of all this is to allow you to make out the details from a few feet away. I really like this look and think that it actually makes sense. At the end of the day it shows up pretty obviously in the pictures. You decide…

Original

Retouched 8th Army

Original

Retouched DAK

Goodness! Love doing these! Don’t actually game FOW myself but love to paint up the stuff! Been getting lots of hits on my FOW stuff lately which is good. I  am waiting on some paints to do some Shermans I got in one of those beginners boxes. Also, looking to trade FOW unpainteds for some painting if there is anyone out there interested. Will be headed to Cold Wars miniatures con in March. I will fly to NY then rent a car and get to PA for the 3 days. After that it will be Historicon in July. I think it will be held in Valley Forge but I am not totally sure. Anyway, I touched up both these armies and the USA is already on auction and the 8th Army will go up in a while. Also, my DAK are up as well. I have vehicles for all these armies but didn’t add them to the auction cause it would just be too much. Here are some pics:

This has been a fun week. It doesn’t take much to do that lately. I have been working on some 28mm undead cowboys from Valent Studios. These are part a of the Deadlands range of figures. These figures are sold as 28mm I haven;t measured them and really don;t care to. They look about right to me. The are well detailed and paint up easily as all their smaller bits are accessible and they aren’t too overburdened with excessive gear. They are just right. They have some nice cuts but unfortunately have some mold lines right over them and it take some care and concentration to preserve those as you get to the mold line. Now to the painting and then the pics. I chose to go with one color for the Foundry range of paints for the dead flesh. I avoided adding blood to this as they are really not freshly dead but have been dead for a long long time as they are cowboys and these really don’t exist much anymore. I chose pretty much subdued palette for these-browns-blues-blacks and  maroons mostly. I didn’t want too much orange, purple or anything very vibrant. If you were following my Zorro painting, you can go to my gallery for that. Here are some undead cowboys to look at for now.

Added another image to the collection! In this set you have the townspeople. You get 6 of these ; two women and one man, 4 soldiers and 2 Zorro characters; one is mounted and the other is not!   All are nice and simple to paint with not too much to do. All come with their own bases. I had the intention of selling these but it seems that my son, 8 has demanded he receive these as a reward for all his efforts in school. I cringe at the thought of him playing with these as they have very malleable swords in the very delicate Old Glory style. These are made by Bluemoon by the way. These figures can serve many purposes. They will work for any western style diorama or scenario, for Alamo villagers or for and beyond the twentieth century and the mexican revolution! Will add another pic tomorrow!

Here we go! I traded for these with a good friend. Gave him some nice stuff I just wasn’t into at the moment. These are not state of the art models but good enough to have some fun with. Especially, since they are a $40 plus $8 shipping from Bluemoon(Old Glory 25’s) I got for free.   Anyway, had some fun and tried to downplay most of the colors. I seem to overstate them way way too much. having the issue with the dreaded “sheen” which takes a simple bottle of flat to correct. I don’t have this at the moment and won’t pay $6 or $7 for shipping to get it. I will be adding an additional picture while telling a short story each day in my Zorro series. I was looking at some Youtube shorts about Zorro yesterday and had a blast doing so. This inspired me to write my own episode for my site. I must admit that it will be short and Sweet and that Zorro will get the girl in the end. I have to admit that I would love to get some foamboard and throw together a couple of buildings to put in the background; This would take me no more than a few minutes.

Haven’t painted any of these since about April/May of ‘09 when I did about 250 of them. Ouch! painful painting so many of anything! My camera was out and have but one picture and that is in Miscellaneous at Displaced miniatures I believe of some French. Back then, I painted both French and Germans. The Germans I have no record of. I painted OG figures. This time around I was sent some WWI models designed by Scarab Miniatures. These paint up very easily. Well defined and easy to get to hands. The faces could be more accessible. They have these huge moustaches that take up halfthe face. lol…Still I recommend these just for their animation and overal design. All straps and packs are also well designed and accessible. The folds are deep so you can really take these on using many different painting techniques-washes, layering(As I did) or even dry-brushing. it will work!  I added a few pictures to keep a record of what I did this time around. My camera is back to normal so I can take a decent picture. I wasn’t too happy with the sheen on the models but I have no other flat spray to hit them with to eliminate what my Krylon Matte leaves.

I had no really challenges this week. All went rather smoothly. I picked up 4 brushes at Hobby Lobby in San Antonio for $6 and they are looking good. I am taking care of the points “more than ever before. Had to order the pumice gel I use on bases from a place called “Cheap Joes”.  It is an art supply house. They got me my stash within a couple of days!  I can’t get it anywhere other than in Austin and that is 4 hours from where I am. I had to order it, just no choice. I haven’t had much time this week.

I have been painting like a fiend. Pretty happy with how my projects turned out. Got them finished within the week. Had an assistant come in and help with some basic stuff for me to get me going a bit faster. She did some base coats and bases for me. Finished up on a bunch of projects-Flames of War Tanks and an artillery placement, 28mm Perry Miniature Koreans, and Scale Creep 15mm ACW both the USA and CSA.  Found that these small projects are a breeze and that I really have my system down pat.

I finally got over most of the lighting and camera issues after months of constant setbacks.  This happens when you move a lot and this is my third move within a year and a half. It sucks I know. But I roll with the piunches. When I get lemon, I make lemonade. Lol… 

I am realizing that no matter which matte sealer I use they leave a sheen. I must get the Testors brand and cover my first coats with a bit of the Testor’s matte which is really matte.

The Koreans I found to be a bit of a challenge no drama though. They have so much clothing on and the Perry’s really do this stuff in a historically accurate way-no garments are left out at all. SO I really had to follow it around the figures and also figure out which bow went with which garment. Does this happen to other painters or am I the only idiot. I should have taken the less is more approach but I found myself wanting to paint up a storm for these.  I really had no references other than what I know and have seen of the Samurai. This gave me ideas but I am not really sure how historically accurate these are.

Also, I need to finish up 6 Samurai so I will post these up in a couple of days. I am looking forward to Cold Wars which is around the corner. I need to secure my plane tickets before they are too high. Sooner is better. I am not really looking forward to getting on the plane but I may be employed as of the 15th first time since 2004 and may not have a choice. I may have to be back bright and early monday morning for work. I Can’t believe I just said that. Lol…Take a look at this weeks pictures.:

Sat there, scratched my head.  Not really all that many resources for painting these, I thought. Not really that many pictures. How are they different from the Huron, Iroquois or the Apaches? Who the hell are the Seminoles, really? They are from Florida. Cool, I know Florida. Hell, I lived in Florida.  . I have painted these in the past and played it rather safe. I have always had success selling  Indians so I had my last batch and I decided to take a go at them rather than just leave them in a box and unpainted forever.

These are 28mm Old Glory sculpts. The belts seem to always get mixed up on the ride from the back of the soldier to the front of the soldier and they have, at other times the ability to disappear altogether. This is the start of a somewhat challenging experience for a painter. Where are those damn belts? Where did they go? They have to be here somewhere? The weapons are sometimes malformed from one model to another so what looks like one brand of musket on one figure ends up looking like something somewhat different on another. But honestly I promised myself I wouldn’t rag on the gamer friendly and very affordable miniatures. These, BTW, come in bags of $30 and are close to a $1 a piece so can you really complain? Maybe…Lol…

Going back to the project- I then began  researching the history of the Seminole tribe.  There was a 1st and 2nd Seminole war but not really to much attention paid to it unfortunately. Painting, that show on the net, seem rather limited especially since I am looking to find out how the Seminoles dressed. I found a cultural site that describes some of the patterns but didn’t really show me pictures and then the sites that had pictures always had just one picture and that was of a leader. Now my common sense tells me that not all warriors dressed as extravagantly as their leader so that left me in the dark. I continued to Google and after a lot of sifting I found a couple of pictures of which I would base my painting on. I used a variety of colors-violets, oranges, and powder blues. The headdress is red and the feathers black and white while the equipment could be of almost any color.

I based all of them on one inch bases and did some brown gel paste, later i dry-brushed it with three successive colors from darker to lighter and finally I added static grass, and some different grass tufts. Finally I dry- brushed all the vegetation with orange and then yellow.  I have added some pictures so you can see for yourself how they turned out.

British in Africa

Just recently, if you look on the Flames of War site, you will see that they have published a DAK and 8thArmy painting guide which is quite good I must say. No complaints here. Shows you step by step how to proceed. With this, I was inspire to dust off an 8thArmy platoon withlorries and put it into a picture. I have noticed that picture are one of my best critics. Although, I have accepted that I am not perfect and I will always find fault with my painting because that is the way I am, I have also gotten close to what I deem acceptable in terms of picture and painting quality. Mind you, only acceptable because I have  a long way to go. I would say I will be at my peak in about 10 years. I hope, Lol…Anyway, here is a picture of my 8thArmy and I have noticed that the more I paint the set, I think this is my third time now, I get more familiar withthe figures, uniforms, equipment and sculpt in general which makes my painting faster and more detailed. I have been painting desert war for about 4 to 5 years now I would say. That doesn’t mean these are quick and easy. With every new model that I place on my painting table, I discover that I need to learn it to really make it the way I would like to see it. Also, most of my painting has been focused on 28mm, these are 15mm and that is a whole different mind set. When I tackle a 15 as opposed to a 28mm, I immediately go to lighten the colors a bit. Not really afraid with the choice. I feel that you want the 15mm to really jump out at you. So if it is a light uniform I make it two or three shades lighter. Here is a picture of the 8th Army, heroes of the desert war in North Afrika. Camera is your best friend. I had some early lighting issues but after manipulating two lamps to keep shades to a minimum I was able to produce something which I liked enough to publish. When I first captured the  8th Army, I noticed some aspects of the models I wanted to tweak. On of which was that I needed to add a lighter highlight to the ground and touch up the grass tufts by adding some orange and yellow. I also, look at the figures and touched up anything that I had lit go like a small spot on a shoe and so on. This sometimes happenswhen you have attached the models to the base at the end when they are painted already. I have done this but  I  have found that if I try to paint them this way I have trouble getting the brush to certain places. Then I went to basing individually which is really the best but this is very time consuming. It is fine for a figure or two but painting 30-40 figures it will really slow you down. I have recently been gluing to sticks. It works. I out between 3 and 4 on a stick depending on how much detail is on the uniform. Well, here is the picture. Enjoy!

Battlefront's 8th Army

Nazi Zombies Rebel Minis 15mm

If you follow my site, you will see that this is my second shot at these. As they are in 15mm, and the first time I have painted these, I had to take my first attemptas a bit of a proto.  Granted I paint primarily in 28mm. I started out doing lots of 1-72 miniatures and that was long ago. I do have some of the chops required. Granted I am not a master at these but I try. That being said, I would like to tell you how I came about this look for the second attempt. Firstly,I noticed that under standard room light, like what you get at cons, the figures seemed dark and dull.  I decided to try a second batch and make them lighter so I added off-white to all the colors-uniform, helmet, dead flesh and so on. I then watered the wash so as to not kill the brighter colors as had happened in my first attempt.  Anyway, my son Benny, 8  saw them in the last stage as they were being based.  He mentioned how they would look better with blood on them like in the movie “Dead Snow.”  I tried it and went with the look. Also, camera/lighting issues plagued my initial batch of pictures.  I needed to address those. I had a card error issue but quickly replaced it and resolved that problem as well.

Go here for a bigger shot- http://www.displacedminiatures.com/Combatpainter/image/1339/30225/