Arcane Basing

The very first Army Painting series was an interesting phase in my journey of creating miniature painting tutorials.  This is the moment where I had to decide what sort of format I would use, and just how I would demonstrate my approach to painting units.  Ultimately I chose to do them in five 2 hour episodes.

As many of you already know, I really love basing, so I figured that it would be a good idea to begin with basing!  Here's an example of one of those episodes:  https://youtu.be/fj2dJEQ3x_c

With the basing complete, I shift to the color test figure.  This is where I decide what kind of effects I want to do on the figures.  I discuss the "Currency of Time", where I keep track of how much time a given effect takes, and how that might effect the overall time of the project.

For example, the champion figure needed a lot of decisions.  Should the "familiar" be glowing... and if it is, should it be a different color.  Ultimately I decided to make it the same color as the magical runes on the bases, since that seemed to make the most sense.

Even choosing which figure goes on which base can have a large impact on your choices.  Since the snake parts of the figure didn't see as detailed or interesting, I definitely wanted to have the glowing effects.  That gave me some options for creating more dimension in areas that did not quite have the cleanest textures.

Where the figure should be placed on the base was also discussed.  These views show you how much of the fantastic design can appear if you place the figure in the right spot.

There was some Non Metallic metals included in the series too.  This is another aspect of the videos, and that is to include as many different techniques as possible.  However, I try to make these less "scary", and treat them like any other effect, like snow bases, freehand, etc.

Pulling together all these different techniques in a cohesive manner is what makes the difference between a nicely painted unit and a pretty amazing one.  I try to tie in all these individual techniques into other stand alone episodes also available on the Patreon Page.  That includes the Dark Sword series, which is now on Episode 13!  These take things like OSL, color theory, etc, and focus them onto just one miniature.

All of those additional tutorials can be seen if you sign up for the $15 Army Painter monthly pledge.  This includes an average of 13-20 hours of tutorials each month!

The Army Painting pledge level is available on the Patreon Page, and Series 8 is well under way!  You can check that out here: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Glow and Reflections! Unit painting videos

Creating the Unit Painting videos for the Patreon Page was definitely one of the most interesting tutorial projects that I have done.  While the typical one off painting tutorials are always fun, these new videos allow me to dive into some aspects that I really love!

In particular, all of the planning that goes into every stage of army building.  I have already discussed the basing videos that begin each series, but now I wanted to talk about that middle area, where I do the Shaded Basecoat phase.

This is critical to everything that I paint, but even more so on multiple figures.  It occurred to me that such a process has never been filmed on a mass basis before.  It was a technique that I developed years ago for painting my armies to an award winning standard, and that has continued to evolve over the years as I have moved into new genres and mediums.

The first series covered fantasy miniatures in 'standard' acrylic paints, but Series 2 has covered painting units with oil paints.

I will continue to cover different genres and game systems.  Series 3 will show how I paint my Lord of the Rings Easterlings, utilizing my glazing techniques with the Reaper Clear and Liner paints.  That will discuss NMM in even more detail, and freehand designs as well.

You can get access to all of the Army Painter series, along with other content, on the Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Paint Like a Champion! Army Painting Series 1 complete!

With Army Painting Series 2 about to be posted to the Patreon Page, it is time to check out some images of figures painted during the very first five episode unit painting guide.

It all began, as it should, with an episode on Basing Techniques and how to approach a unit.  I used the Dark Runes texture roller from Green Stuff World, and I went through the process of creating bases that would suit the "footprint" of the figures which would be painted.

All 5 of these episodes (about 11.5 hours of content!) are available on the Patreon page at the $15 level.  You can check that out here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The second episode is an in depth guide on how to paint one of the figures as a "color test" figure, and how to use that step to make decisions for the rest of your unit/army.  That is, how complex do you want the color scheme to be, and will it match your basing, etc.

From there, I demonstrate how to do my normal painting techniques such as Shaded Basecoat and Glazing... but in a format which I have never filmed before!  While I have a number of 'pictoral' step by step blog posts on unit painting, doing several figures at once live on camera was really interesting!

I think that it might be the best way to show why I developed these approaches in the first place, since the still images really don't show the speed and simplification involved.

The last episode focuses on the unit champion, and some crucial decisions about the familiar (make it glowing, and if so should it also be green, etc.)

As I am painting, I try to emphasize the thought process as much as possible, since knowing 'why' is actually more important than knowing 'how'.  That is certainly how I felt all through my Art School days.

I will be posting the first episode of Series 2 later tonight, which will take you through a historical army, and using the Mig Ammo Oilbrushers.  To view the Army Painter series, the basic pledge is $15.  Should you want a "hard copy" high resolution version on a USB drive, I have that available for a $50 pledge.  For those who are interested in having one or more of the miniatures painted in the series, I do have a pledge level for that at the $100 level.

More images from Series one coming soon!!  Join the painting madness and step inside the workshop with me...

Painting Units: The Painting Pyramid Returns

It is time to announce something new for the Patreon Page!  

After much discussion and research, I thought it might be interesting to profile unit painting on the page, and how I go about that.

It will even go into the basing aspect, showing how I choose a base theme to accentuate the figures, and the colors that I have chosen for them.  Since there are some very nice units available from the Age of Sigmar and 40k systems coming out, I thought that boxes such as these would be ideal.

I wanted to feature a different type of 'army' each month, and create instructional videos in the old Painting Pyramid style!  These would be done in at least 3-4 parts, and even be available in "hard copy" form on USB drives in high resolution, just like the original Painting Pyramid versions.

I am also trying to tie in these new unit painting videos with some of the existing content from the Painting Pyramid, such as my Painting Dark Elf skin tones and Drow skin tones.  Each of those episodes is 100 minutes long, and takes you through my process of painting those two types of skin color.

The Dark Elf skin tone episode links will be sent to the $5 patrons later today, and then the Drow episode later this month.  I am also adding some new pledges at the $10, $15, $20 and $25 levels for people that offer more bonus videos, and even private skype chats and hangouts.

For higher level pledges, you will be able to get sets of bases that I created that month in the basing videos, as well as the miniatures themselves (not a raffle... you just get the figure!).

In a few days I will get the new pledge levels on the page.  There are so many new things that are planned, it is taking a while to make sure that everything is worded clearly.  For those that are already pledging at those levels, you don't have to worry, since I already know :-)

In addition to this new Unit Painting approach, I will be adding Creature Caster monsters to the video sets as well!  During the original Painting Pyramid series, I used a few of the Utraforge figures, which were predecessors of Creature Caster.  I look forward to creating brand new videos based on those wonderful monster figures!

Here's a link to the page, and remember that a pledge of just $5 can get you a lot of video content!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The Old Timer

The previous ancient Dark Elf posting determined that these figures are indeed over 20 years old.  While it is very challenging to apply current techniques to something long since out of print, that is very interesting!

It definitely breathes new life into them, and forces you to adapt techniques that are normally used on something that it finely sculpted and cast.  The amount of detail and precision on a typical figure of today is astonishing by comparison.

These figures were also never intended for things like NMM, so finding those vital areas of reflected light and color are more difficult.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322790748414?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

An old time Classic

This ancient Hydra is quite old, in more ways than one.

Not only is this a long out of print figure, but I hadn't touched it in several years.  It's interesting how much you learn in that intervening time!  Among all the principles I had learned since then, the notion of having lots of subtle color variations (even in something with a similar value scale),  can make a boring surface texture wise far more interesting! 

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322469680626?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

While this seems like one shade of grey from a distance, there are many tints to it.  I used a variety of greens, pinks and purples to achieve that variety.

I even used some slight glazes of burnt sienna in deeper crevices and around the protruding scales.

The view from above shows another new element added since the last time I touched it.  Using the new grass tufts and Green Stuff World texture rollers provided the vines and the rest of the base with much more texture.

The shield with the dragon eye was another fun element to add!

Using the Reaper clear red combined with the realistic water effects also enhance the slimy look of the teeth and tongues :-)

So, I hope you have enjoyed seeing this blast from the past!  I often work on very old figures, and it can be very satisfying to see these ancient pieces treated with "modern" paint jobs and techniques!

Part Two: The Draahk are coming

The second post of the Draahk riders begins!

This image is one of my favorite angles.  It shows the action and dynamics of the pose, and shows off the sleek lines of the Draahk.

As I mentioned in Part One, the variety in these poses will benefit greatly from the "multibasing" system used in Kings of War.  I like to call it open basing... or even diorama basing. :-)

Fortunately, it seems that battle standards still have a place in Kings of War, so this one should be quite useful!

Allies are also a big part of Kings of War, so it's possible just to add this kind of unit to your army if it already has the "evil" tag.

I just noticed that the shields on these are quite similar to the Asharah figure.  It gives me a very good idea of what the size and scale of these will be.

A champion figure is also handy for KoW, as that figure marks the center point of your unit, and that is the mark from which you do all of your rotations and line of sight.

I'm sure that there will also be weapon and head swaps as well, as was done with many of the troop kits in the first campaign, and with the sci-fi Blood Vestals.

Speaking of units... facing this should be a bit impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!

But wait, there's still more.  I have a few more posts of amazing Raging Heroes figures coming.  Stay tuned!

Part one: The Draahk are coming

The creature feature continues from Raging Heroes!  These amazing beasts are the Draahk, and they are just as fearsome as the Stingray riders.

This is a very interesting Musician!  I think a lot of enemy units will not be enticed by the sound of that instrument to remain and fight. :-)

No unit is complete without a Battle Standard!

Finding just the right color scheme for these incredible minis will be just as challenging as the Stingrays...

While the Draahk are rooted on the ground, they are no less dynamic than the Stingray riders.

Here's another angle on the musician.

As I mentioned in previous posts, these figures will benefit greatly from the multibasing style of Kings of War.  No struggling to rank up heavy cavalry with swords and shields poking out at all angles.  Now I can spread them out a bit, and even allow the viewer to get a look at the sides of the figures too!

That aspect is even more important when you factor in how active these poses are.

Once I read through the KoW rulebook and the army lists, I can get  better sense of what to do with these.  Given the way breaking works in that system, I am not sure I want to make large units of these.

With the way my luck is, one wound will break them!  Again, this will still depend on what I see in the unit listings.

This concludes part one.  More images to follow in part two, including a nice group shot of all six riders together!!