An aside from painting stuff today...
After my mammoth post on Saturday, I settled down to a bit of a read. My other half had toddled off to Birmingham for a wedding dress fitting thingy, leaving me 'home alone'. So I went to the bookshelf and found a dusty little paperback that I'd picked up from Amazon last year: 'The Shining Company' by Rosemary Sutcliff. Yes, it's a book designed for folk from 10 years old, but, by golly, it's one of the best 'Arthurian' books you'll ever find! Detailing the last stand of the people of Gododdin at the Battle of Catraeth (Catterick) around 600AD, it's a story of coming of age through the horror of war and the valour, yet futility of battle. Ok, you have to excuse the stereotype Saxons with horsetail banners and huge axes and the artistic license of warriors wearing face-covering mail masks, but once you've got past that, it's bloody fab. Beg, buy, borrow, steal a copy...errr...ok, don't steal, but you know what I mean!
Which reminds me, if you want a CRACKING Arthur story, also check out Sutcliff's 'Sword at Sunset' which is her attempt at the story of the Romano-British Arthur, for grown ups, this time! It really is a belter of a book, with all the ingredients (again, excuse the generic barbarians, but I honestly can't recommend it highly enough! Both Sutcliff books are available on Amazon as I type (in fact, have just ordered two more that I last read when I was about 12, but can still remember as being the dog's dangly bits, so to speak, so have ordered second-hand copies to re-read when painting has driven me bonkers!)
Am currently reading 'The White Phantom', second in an Arthurian series by Patrick McCormack. It's bloody great! The first book, 'The Last Companion' is superb as well. They tell the story of Bedwyr, last of Arthur's Companion cavalry, 10 years after the disaster at Camlann. With a cracking plot of vengeance, ancient chalices, etc, with tantalising glimpses of Arthur's life told in flashback, if you like the period, for Heaven's sake read these books! The warfare is small-scale and very realistic (i.e. tactics, weapon-handling, etc). Very good indeed and providing serious inspiration as I battle to complete the first 1500pts of my various Arthurian armies...
Talking of which, back to the paintbrush...sigh........
Monday, 14 May 2007
Saturday, 12 May 2007
Using the Foundry 3-Colour Paint System
This is how I paint my rank and file models. The example figure is a West Wind Arthurian Romano-Britsh Spearman with a Foundry round shield and a Gripping Beast spear, mounted on a 20mm Games Workshop (GW) base. He's undercoated with GW black spray paint. I always use that!
I always use the Foundry shade, mid-tone and light in that order on rank & file models. Characters occasionally get additional highlights. Games Workshop colours are occasionally added. In the notes below, assume Foundry unless you see GW mentioned! Oh, by the way, apologies for the variation in background tone! It's because this chap was painted in with 7 others over a few days and some painting took place in the evenings, some in daylight...
I always use the same system. I start with mail armour if there is any as I drybrush that. None on this model so that's easy!! Then it's the flesh. I basecoat with the Foundry shade tone. I try to be fairly neat as it means less tidying up later. I aim for a reasonable coverage, but patchy isn't a disaster as we'll be building up the colour with the highlight shades. After the basecoat is dry, I add a little GW Brown Ink into the eye sockets...no painting eyes for me, matey!! (Actually, I used to, but you can't see 'em on the table top so I no longer bother!)
Then it's the mid-tone and light, onto the raised areas of nose, cheeks, chin, etc, followed by GW Tanned Flesh applied to the bottom lip.
Then it's the trousers. Peaty Brown on this model, but I use a variety of browns in a unit of these chaps. Same as with flesh-use the three tones, each highlight successively smaller on the raised areas or where the folds might be if they aren't sculpted! That's a good tip actually, even if the sculptor hasn't sculpted folds in cloth, painting a few in with the highlight shade works well. Oh, while we are talking cloth, when painting cloaks and other large flat areas, really REALLY good painters do a technique called 'wet blending' where they blur the edges between highlights with a wet brush. Looks bloody great, but is a pain in the ass to do and I actually prefer the hard lines on the table top as you can see'em clearer. However, blending is GREAT for photos of characters, etc and lots of fantasy figure painters do it. Anyway, I digress.. Trousers...
Next, the tunic. See above for the 'how to'. You'll note that I've painted folds onto this. The colour is Storm Green. I always use muted colours for 'Dark Age' models for the simple reason that there were no colour-fast dyes back in those days and they'd be using natural plant and mineral dyes which would quickly fade.
This chap also has an undertunic which I've painted Madder Red as it's a nice complimentary contrast with the Storm Green tunic.
Next, the leather - boots, straps, belts, etc. I use two colour schems for this. On this model, it's Bay Brown, but a cool alternative is a basecoat of GW Scorched Brown, highlighted with GW Dark Flesh and finally GW Vermin Brown. I often use that for characters as it's more 'shiny'.
Next, the rear of the shield. I paint it as planks of wood (some are sculpted like that but not this Foundry shield) using GW Scorched Brown as a base with fine lines of GW Bestial Brown as a woodgrain highlight. At this point I usually paint any buckles, etc using GW Shining Gold.
After that, it's the shield. I am using 3 colours (white, black and red) in this army for shields so the army 'ties together' visually. This shield is done in a 'Roman' style using black and white 'rays'. The white is GW Bubonic Brown, highlighted with GW Bleached Bone and GW Skull White, as that gives a lovely 'off-white' colour. The black is simply Charcoal Black mid tone and light straight onto the GW undercoat. The highlight strokes can be fairly free-form..no need to be too neat! For flat tone shields, I paint round the boss rather than lines radiating as I have here, but it's the same principle..fairly bold and brave strokes.
Next, the iron. I paint the shield boss and spearhead or sword blade. I use GW Boltgun metal as the base for this, highlighted with GW Chainmail and Mithril Silver, although I don't use the final highhlight on the spearpoint. I then give the shield boss (and helmet if he's wearing one) a wash of GW Black Ink (diluted 60% water) just to tie the colours together and to accentuate the moulding of details (rivets, etc.)
Next, it's the hair. I tend to put on the shade tone as a basecoat and drybrush (VERY CAREFULLY!!) the highlight shades. I use a wide variety of browns in a unit, but this is Bay Brown. If a model has a moustache and beard, I paint the basecoat on and then brush very fine lines of the light only to give the imporession of hair. It looks effective!!
After that, it's the spearshaft, which is done with a basecoat of GW Snakebite Leather and highlighted with flicks of GW Bubonic Brown. You could use Spearshaft Brown for this. I don't because, before I started using Foundry colours, I painted an entire Late Roman army using GW colours and did their spears with the method used here. I want the models to be interchangeable, so...
Then I base it by gluing on GW fine base sand and when the glue is dry, wash it with neat GW Brown Ink. When that's dry I drybrush GW Bleached Bone over it and tidy up the base edge with GW Chaos Black.
Then, stick on a few clumps of static grass and we're done!
I always use the Foundry shade, mid-tone and light in that order on rank & file models. Characters occasionally get additional highlights. Games Workshop colours are occasionally added. In the notes below, assume Foundry unless you see GW mentioned! Oh, by the way, apologies for the variation in background tone! It's because this chap was painted in with 7 others over a few days and some painting took place in the evenings, some in daylight...
I always use the same system. I start with mail armour if there is any as I drybrush that. None on this model so that's easy!! Then it's the flesh. I basecoat with the Foundry shade tone. I try to be fairly neat as it means less tidying up later. I aim for a reasonable coverage, but patchy isn't a disaster as we'll be building up the colour with the highlight shades. After the basecoat is dry, I add a little GW Brown Ink into the eye sockets...no painting eyes for me, matey!! (Actually, I used to, but you can't see 'em on the table top so I no longer bother!)
Then it's the mid-tone and light, onto the raised areas of nose, cheeks, chin, etc, followed by GW Tanned Flesh applied to the bottom lip.
Then it's the trousers. Peaty Brown on this model, but I use a variety of browns in a unit of these chaps. Same as with flesh-use the three tones, each highlight successively smaller on the raised areas or where the folds might be if they aren't sculpted! That's a good tip actually, even if the sculptor hasn't sculpted folds in cloth, painting a few in with the highlight shade works well. Oh, while we are talking cloth, when painting cloaks and other large flat areas, really REALLY good painters do a technique called 'wet blending' where they blur the edges between highlights with a wet brush. Looks bloody great, but is a pain in the ass to do and I actually prefer the hard lines on the table top as you can see'em clearer. However, blending is GREAT for photos of characters, etc and lots of fantasy figure painters do it. Anyway, I digress.. Trousers...
Next, the tunic. See above for the 'how to'. You'll note that I've painted folds onto this. The colour is Storm Green. I always use muted colours for 'Dark Age' models for the simple reason that there were no colour-fast dyes back in those days and they'd be using natural plant and mineral dyes which would quickly fade.
This chap also has an undertunic which I've painted Madder Red as it's a nice complimentary contrast with the Storm Green tunic.
Next, the leather - boots, straps, belts, etc. I use two colour schems for this. On this model, it's Bay Brown, but a cool alternative is a basecoat of GW Scorched Brown, highlighted with GW Dark Flesh and finally GW Vermin Brown. I often use that for characters as it's more 'shiny'.
Next, the rear of the shield. I paint it as planks of wood (some are sculpted like that but not this Foundry shield) using GW Scorched Brown as a base with fine lines of GW Bestial Brown as a woodgrain highlight. At this point I usually paint any buckles, etc using GW Shining Gold.
After that, it's the shield. I am using 3 colours (white, black and red) in this army for shields so the army 'ties together' visually. This shield is done in a 'Roman' style using black and white 'rays'. The white is GW Bubonic Brown, highlighted with GW Bleached Bone and GW Skull White, as that gives a lovely 'off-white' colour. The black is simply Charcoal Black mid tone and light straight onto the GW undercoat. The highlight strokes can be fairly free-form..no need to be too neat! For flat tone shields, I paint round the boss rather than lines radiating as I have here, but it's the same principle..fairly bold and brave strokes.
Next, the iron. I paint the shield boss and spearhead or sword blade. I use GW Boltgun metal as the base for this, highlighted with GW Chainmail and Mithril Silver, although I don't use the final highhlight on the spearpoint. I then give the shield boss (and helmet if he's wearing one) a wash of GW Black Ink (diluted 60% water) just to tie the colours together and to accentuate the moulding of details (rivets, etc.)
Next, it's the hair. I tend to put on the shade tone as a basecoat and drybrush (VERY CAREFULLY!!) the highlight shades. I use a wide variety of browns in a unit, but this is Bay Brown. If a model has a moustache and beard, I paint the basecoat on and then brush very fine lines of the light only to give the imporession of hair. It looks effective!!
After that, it's the spearshaft, which is done with a basecoat of GW Snakebite Leather and highlighted with flicks of GW Bubonic Brown. You could use Spearshaft Brown for this. I don't because, before I started using Foundry colours, I painted an entire Late Roman army using GW colours and did their spears with the method used here. I want the models to be interchangeable, so...
Then I base it by gluing on GW fine base sand and when the glue is dry, wash it with neat GW Brown Ink. When that's dry I drybrush GW Bleached Bone over it and tidy up the base edge with GW Chaos Black.
Then, stick on a few clumps of static grass and we're done!
So, there we are! How to paint a British/Welsh Arthurian spearman in my style. Unashamedly based on Kev Dallimore's (et al) style, but done in my own way.
One day I'll do a similar article about horses...the bane of my painting life!!!
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
My God! I've made it at last!!!
It's true you know! I discovered yesterday that the great Dave Woodward of figure painting and blog fame, has put a link to my blog on his own blog and referred to my stuff as 'eye candy'. Cheers Dave!! Glad you like my humble efforts! Dave's blog is here: http://paintermeister.blogspot.com/
In that particular post, he also talks about West Wind models and as I've painted a few I thought I'd share my views on them. I think that they are very nice models. Well sculpted and neatly cast, with good, dynamic poses. The separate heads are a God-send as the variety is so much enhanced. I still think that Soapy's new stuff for Gripping Beast has the edge in foot figures for the Arthur period, but West Wind's Romano-British cavalry do it for me. The riders are superb, especially if you combine the best heads from the Romano-British cavalry head pack with the least barbaric looking heads from the helmeted Saxon head pack. They then look superb and very much suit the later 6th/7th century Northern British kingdoms (Rheged and Strathclyde, Gododdin etc) as the poses are dynamic and are pretty much all 'overarm javelin throwing' which is bang on for that later period. Sadly, the horses are brilliantly sculpted, but too big! I've solved it by mounting them on a variety of Foundry, Arizan and Gripping Beast horses and that works well. Sadly, you'll have to wait a while for pics, because I can't start them until I've got a full 1500pts painted up and I've painted a dismounted Teulu (bodyguard unit, for the uninitiated.) I may paint up one as a taster if you are very very lucky (and if I get bored painting yet more bl**dy spearmen!!) Also, West Wind do some lovely vignette packs, with the 'burning a druid at the stake' being my current pick of the bunch. Seriously, if you are building either a Romano-British or Saxon army, check these guys out as the figures do mix well with other classic ranges out there!
However, you should also check out Musketeer miniatures Saxons, as they are the BEST Saxon models so far (still waiting for the new Gripping Beast of course, but in the meantime...) http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/
In that particular post, he also talks about West Wind models and as I've painted a few I thought I'd share my views on them. I think that they are very nice models. Well sculpted and neatly cast, with good, dynamic poses. The separate heads are a God-send as the variety is so much enhanced. I still think that Soapy's new stuff for Gripping Beast has the edge in foot figures for the Arthur period, but West Wind's Romano-British cavalry do it for me. The riders are superb, especially if you combine the best heads from the Romano-British cavalry head pack with the least barbaric looking heads from the helmeted Saxon head pack. They then look superb and very much suit the later 6th/7th century Northern British kingdoms (Rheged and Strathclyde, Gododdin etc) as the poses are dynamic and are pretty much all 'overarm javelin throwing' which is bang on for that later period. Sadly, the horses are brilliantly sculpted, but too big! I've solved it by mounting them on a variety of Foundry, Arizan and Gripping Beast horses and that works well. Sadly, you'll have to wait a while for pics, because I can't start them until I've got a full 1500pts painted up and I've painted a dismounted Teulu (bodyguard unit, for the uninitiated.) I may paint up one as a taster if you are very very lucky (and if I get bored painting yet more bl**dy spearmen!!) Also, West Wind do some lovely vignette packs, with the 'burning a druid at the stake' being my current pick of the bunch. Seriously, if you are building either a Romano-British or Saxon army, check these guys out as the figures do mix well with other classic ranges out there!
However, you should also check out Musketeer miniatures Saxons, as they are the BEST Saxon models so far (still waiting for the new Gripping Beast of course, but in the meantime...) http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
A Few Old Pics...
Thought I'd pop these on here just for those of you who haven't seen 'em elsewhere. Some luvverly Arthurian cavalry and a nice shot of two character models in an impromptu duel.. One of those happy photographic incidents where it all came together!!
Anyway, enjoy!! Foundry 3-colour guide to come by the end of next weekend...
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Thank God the bank holiday is coming
Have just started the next 8 models for my Arthurian British army. Hopefully the long weekend will see me break the back of them...What you'll get after I've finished them is my step by step guide to the Foundry 3 colour system, with one model used as an example at each stage of the process. Remember, I'm not Kev Dallimore, I just use my version of his style and I am painting an army for the wargames table, so the model you'll see is rank and file not a character.
Watch this space over the next few days...
Watch this space over the next few days...
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Gaming Table
I've just made a new gaming table for WAB. It consists of 4 sheets of 3 x 2 foot MDF. I glued on lots of patio sand in patches (with neat PVA) then when dry, painted the whole lot with dark brown wall emulsion. Once dry, I drybrushed (using a Games Workshop tank brush) the sand with 2 lighter shades of emulsion using tester pots... Then I sealed the lot with diluted PVA, 1PVA : 5 water.
The next step was to dilute PVA 50:50 and stick on LOTs of Hoch Static Grass. Once the excess had been removed, I varnished them with two coats of Plastikote Satin polyurethane varnish...Et voila...
New Stuff-West Wind models.
Well, it's Wednesday and I've got some painting done!! Six more chaps finished since Sunday evening. Here are some of them, West Wind's new Romano-British infantry. I have added Foundry and First Corps round shields from my bitz box to make them look less Roman and they've got Gripping Beast spears. They are lovely to paint and they blend well with the GB models in my army. However, the dynamic poses make them a little hard to rank up, so be careful when basing...
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