At the Gate

As much fun as it is to see an army come come together, it is even more interesting to see it placed on some appropriate terrain!  Somehow, it makes the whole collection have more impact.

I suppose putting them into an actual setting, as opposed to a generic photo backdrop  makes  it more 'believable'... especially when it comes to sci-fi figures like these Gates of Antares Isorians.

I have a number of step by step guides on painting these here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/10/painting-isorians-phase-one.html

Fortunately, the kinds of bases that I made for these Isorians matched the Warp Gate terrain pretty well!

The Gate is a terrain piece that I made for the Painting Pyramid video series, called "Building a Portal".  It is one of 5 terrain videos that were part of the series, over 100 minutes long as it takes you through the building process and even painting it too!

The glow of the weapons really stand out in this environment, which is really fun!

I am hoping to do some new terrain videos soon, since new recording equipment now makes that possible again!  While I will attempt to do some facebook live versions, I will definitely create some new YouTube versions.  These will be made available to the Patreon subscribers that pledge $5 or more.

There are a number of terrain projects under way, and it would be great to share those in video format.  I have pictorial articles on the blog, but I believe folks will get a lot more from the videos.  Here's a link to the page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Drone Wars

Here's something brand new in the Gates of Antares universe... large combat skimmers for the Isorian faction!  These very interesting looking vehicles are new releases from Warlord Games.  This is the Mahran Vesh MV5 Combat Drone.

It is now in the webstore:

https://us-store.warlordgames.com/collections/isorian/products/isorian-mahran-vesh-mv5-combat-drone

 I have painted a fairly large Isorian force already, including a few step by step tutorial articles.  

Here's the first stage of the painting process:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/10/painting-isorians-phase-one.html

Now for stage two:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/10/painting-isorians-phase-two.html

These views from above give you a better sense of how that color placement would work out on a much larger an complex piece.  That is always a major challenge in every army... finding a color scheme that is unique, but also work on infantry and vehicles alike!

On both of these larger Isorian skimmers, it was necessary to alter the purples and oranges across the broader areas.  For instance, the purple can be tinted more blueish on some sections and more reddish in others.

I will be posting another blog post on the transport version of these skimmers, with more information on how to approach a "sci-fi"  army... utilizing much brighter and saturated colors than you might normally consider.

As with the rest of the army, Vallejo Fluorescent green was used for all the glowing areas.  While it is not glow in the dark paint, it has a great deal of transparency thus allowing light to pass through the color and back out again with great efficiency.

You have to mix these colors with 'regular' paints for the most part, they are that transparent!  I have dozens of articles on the blog, and many Facebook live videos that show how such things can be used.  Here's a link to one of them:

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

Line of Fire

I tried to make a number of different sci-fi style bases for the Isorians, using pretty much any material you can think of.  In this case, it was some leftover MDF bits from a wild west terrain piece!

Yes indeed, it was an extra wooden shutter, which also seemed to be a nice vent or something along those lines.

To add an extra touch, I used a sawed off bit of sprue and a few "coins" chopped away from thin polystyrene tubes.  I have a number of sci-fi basing articles on the blog, and I even have a number of basing videos that are helpful!  

This is a preview video (one of 12 basing videos that were part of the Painting Pyramid series.  You can tell that I have a bit of an obsession with basing!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEP1ILxyGcs

Hex Based

Hey folks, it's time to check out another Isorian, and another base made from Happy Seppuku moulds.  I was looking for something fun and unique for these Gates of Antares figures, and this seemed to do the trick.

As I have mentioned in other posts, I had a lot of fun coming up with this color scheme.  The transition of the colors on the figure, along with the object source lighting, were a great change of pace from the vast majority of muted, limited palette figures I paint these days.

Here's a better look at the base.  I will be doing some more specific basing articles on future Gates of Antares posts, so stay tuned!

The Big Bad Bugs

The Isorians have some big critters backing them up in the form of the Tsan Ra Phase Squad.

All the same color choices and techniques were used on these larger figures as the standard Isorian troopers

The base  was created by using scrap MDF wood from a few buildings.

Here's a link to the first of those painting articles.

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/10/painting-isorians-phase-one.html

Attack Mode

Here's another exercise in fluorescent paints, utilizing some sci-fi basing and a Gates of Antares trooper.

He's from the Isorian faction, part of an eight man squad . 

These views show the color transition on the upper body armor.  I wanted the colors on these upper areas to be darker and cooler, to better contrast with the green glow.

The brighter orange tones would have competed too much with my glow.  remember , contrast takes many forms ! 

It's not just lights and darks!

The Guardian

We go back to the future with some Gates of Antares.  This is another Isorian trooper . 

As with the previous figures, fluorescent paints were used to enhance the glowing effect.

I recently posted a multiple step by step article on how to get the object source lighting and the color transition on the armor.

The base was made with sculpey sheets pressed into a Happy Seppuku mould and cut to fit the Warlord plastic base.  I cut around the edges with an exacto knife... and I was able to make a beveled edge quite easily!  Stay tuned for much more!

Painting Isorians: Phase Two

Time to complete the Isorian trooper!  With the Shaded Basecoat phase complete, everything is set up for the glazing stage.  The colors are very simple, a combination of a red glaze color and a brighter yellow glaze.

The red and yellow are mixed together to various degrees, and used in the recess areas.  I even wiped away some of the glaze in places where I wanted the highlight colors to remain.  The inset image shows where darker red glazes were used to enhance the shadow areas.

To make these shadow areas even darker, I added some transparent deep red from Vallejo.  This is one of several 'transparent' colors made by Vallejo.  For example, the Transparent Red is excellent for blood effects!

While it is a very 'dark' color, it does not cover in the way a more opaque version might.  When combined with a bit of the red glaze, you have a fantastic, deep, dark red glaze.

Here's another transparent dark color.  This is one of the Reaper liner paints.  I have all of them... blue, brown, grey, green, etc.  Here I mixed this blue liner with the transparent red to create a very dark brown glaze for the deepest darks on the reddish parts of the figure and even the shell of the weapon.

The fluorescent green is introduced again, this time combined with Reaper clear green.  This is similar to the liner and transparent paints.  It helps give a little more 'body' to the fluorescent green, which is typically very transparent.  While the fluorescent paint is very thick, always keep this in mind!

You can see how the bright green has been toned down a bit... darkened around the edges.  I will go back in with lighter colors to establish the lightest part of the glowing effect.

Using the original bright green, I mix that into the fluorescent paint to get those lighter tones in the glow.  I also add those lighter accents to places where I want the glow to reflect.  This is how a glowing effect is established, since simply having a light color next to a darker shade is not quite enough.

This images shows you the light which is cast on the surfaces around the gun.  You do want to keep in mind where the logical places would be to locate this color, and not overdo it too much!

Now I am going to put in a few mid tones and highlights into the orange sections, taking advantage of all the darker shades that were achieved when I applied the darker glazes.  This works well whenever you have rougher areas when the glazes didn't go on as smoothly as you wanted!

Lighter colors are also being added to the upper sections of the armor plates, using some of the original pink as well as a touch of blueish white.

Now for a few quick images of the finished miniature.  The interplay of the shadows and lights help to form all the shapes of the organic armor plates, and give the weapon a little bit of a glow!

Painting Isorians: Phase One

Let's get things started off with some shaded basecoat!  For those who are not familiar with this concept, I have dozens of articles covering it, as well as many painting videos on USB drives.  Towards the end of this article, I will put a link or two to the main articles on this subject.

As always, I try to keep the colors as simple as possible, which is a major advantage of the shaded basecoat approach.  I will also be using the #8 round craft brushes.  You will see how durable and utilitarian these are!

The entire surface of the figure is covered as rapidly as possible, not worrying about 'lines' or edges.  I want to be able to add the subsequent layers of color while this is still wet, so working fast is a priority.  The bigger brushes also assist in this task.

The "shading" part of the shaded basecoat is done with these worn down #8 round brushes.  Take a look at the shape of the tip shown on the inset image, and how it looks more flat.  This is more like a filbert brush, which is perfect for getting these lighter layers applied rapidly.

Using the textures of the figure itself is very important.  I am trying to touch the lighter colors to the raised surfaces, but not with a drybrushing technique.  This is something I call damp brushing, where the brush still has a decent amount of paint in the bristles.

The brush is held at a very shallow angle to the figure, and it is dragged across the surface gently.  That will leave the lighter layers of paint where you want them, right along those upper edges.

Without cleaning the brush at all, progressively lighter layers are applied by adding more of the bright yellow to the mix.  The brush continues to hold that 'filbert' shape.

The shaded basecoat phase of the lighter parts of the color scheme are almost ready.  Keep in mind that the idea is to block in the lighter colors quickly, and then go back in with subsequent glazes and tinting to get the details in the shadows.

A blueish purple will be added over the top of the dark red of the shoulder armor plates, which will be lightened in a similar manner as the orange.

The main image and the inset show that more rapid fire application of light tones was added with the worn down #8 round brush.

There's a big difference between this figure and the finished one in the background... and this illustrates what the shaded basecoat allows you to do.  It's possible for me to not just darken the colors of the armor, but tint them in any way I need.

For example, I can use a variety of dark reddish glazes on this blue/purple to make it look more like that completed figure.  Instead of using a ton of different colors, and worrying about formulas and color mixes, I can "seek out" the darkness and tone of the colors more easily.

It gets even more fun as I add in the glowing colors, starting with the fluorescent paints.  

The fluorescent paint is very transparent, but it is also very thick.  This is a very unusual consistency for most people.  I added the lighter green color to make this more opaque, and help it flow a little better.  I will tone this down with glazing and tinting just like I will on the rest of the colors.

Stay tuned for part two, where all this glazing and tinting will be covered!

Here's a link to another shaded basecoat article:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/p/using-shaded-basecoat-technique-to.html