Flame and Ash

I have been very lucky to have had the chance to work on some of the nifty demons from Creature Caster!  When I saw this guy, I knew that I had to try my internal "Balrog" effect on it!

Here's a Facebook Live session where I was working on him:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10213076676925683/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

This was one more example of how handy the Vallejo Fluorescent paints can be!  There is an extra intensity to them which you just don't find in any orange or yellow paint.

I extended the base a little bit once I placed it on the wooden plaque, using a few chunks of sculpey for additional rocks, and a few Secret Weapon skulls to continue the pile.

The Lord of Slaughter is only one of several amazing figures:

https://www.creaturecaster.com/collections/complete-catalog/products/lord-of-slaughter

I will be doing a number of other demons, trying out new techniques and mediums.  In addition, I am creating multi episode painting videos for each of these beasts!  For example, the video for the Lord of Slaughter has episodes which cover the wings, the head and weapons, the torso and finally the base.

Since each miniature comes in pretty defined parts along those lines, it made it much easier to paint those elements separately.  By doing so, it meant that I could get more or the finer details on camera.

Also, making them individual episodes means it is easier to locate the section which you may want to see again, and not have to search through several hours of video!

I will have versions available to the Patreon Patrons once we return from GenCon, where I am going to be painting some of these in the Badger Airbrush booth!  Come and see me there.

Here's a link to the Patreon Page, where the latest new video link was sent to the $5 subscribers earlier today:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

It Ain't Easy Being Blue...

Some folks might remember the Army of the Dead figures that I painted years ago that used the Vallejo fluorescent paints... in that case it was the green color.

The idea was to make them ethereal, semi glowing but also rusted and corroded.  You can see those in the Army of the dead section of the blog:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/04/army-of-dead.html

For this unit, the colors were required to be blueish in nature.  So, after an initial primer painting with the Stynlrez primers, I did a few washes of the blue fluorescent paint over that pre shading.

It is important to note that the paint is very very thick, but it is also extremely transparent.  Such is the nature of the paint.  You will have to thin it a lot.

I then started to mix in some lighter colors with that fluorescent blue, creating more lighter areas.

Once I had that worked up to the lightest level, I would be able to start making the glazes of corroded colors over the top.  It is a much easier approach.

Much of this will be darkened down and tinted with darker blues, greys and especially the weathering paints.  This is why I went lighter than the final result... giving me more 'space' to work with

Using a few of the Secret Weapon weathering paints, I started to make random glazes into mostly recessed areas, but not exclusively.  The idea is to leave some parts of the glowing areas come through.

Shield surfaces, hair and boots are not a bad spot to have more of the corrosion and earth tones.

For the areas of rust, a handy rust color was glazed into crevices...

Brown liner was used to glaze in some of the deepest warm darks.  Once again, I had to remember not to get too crazy with all the warm colors, since shading things a darker blue is also part of the plan!

You can see that gradually more details emerge as I define the deepest darks.

By creating the middle tone and deeper bluish glazes, things like the cloaks take on more shape.

I will post more images of the finished versions so you can see how this all worked out!   Painting groups of figures like this is something that I have been trying to do in hangouts, so that people can get a better idea of how all that is approached.

I'm hoping to be able to do more of that in the Facebook live sessions, and possibly in the future Patreon videos, once I get those worked out.

Any contributions to the Patreon page definitely help to make that a bit easier!

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

On Fire!

Here's some finished images of the Reaper Fire Elemental painted with the Vallejo fluorescent paints.  This link takes you to the facebook live session in which he was painted:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10210069480067641/?type=2&theater

There's nothing quite like the fluorescent paints.  When they are mixed with the Reaper clear paints, or the MSP colors, you can really get some nice results.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322505474869?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I will keep on painting these glowing figures using the various fluorescent paints, so stay tuned!