Blood Knights

Here are some finished images of the Flayed Men heavy cavalry that were painted during a few YouTube live sessions.  Here's a link to the first one where I was working in oils:  https://youtu.be/IkrM2b7xl7E

I continued this unit into another session, where I did some work with acrylics, along with the snow and blood effects!  https://youtu.be/3dpSONjJGQw

I had really been looking forward to painting this unit, since they reminded me of cavalry units from other game systems, except that these were all one piece, unbreakable and had far more motion and action to the poses!

I was able to try out a few new things in terms of painting, basing and even the blood effects, trying out some new materials.

I have another one of these units now, and I will set up some more traditional studio style painting videos, similar to the Army Painting series that I have on my Patreon Page.

That will be available, along with the previous 8 series, when you take the $15 monthly pledge.  This also gets you access to all of the other videos, such as the Dark Sword, Basing, Creature Caster, Nocturna, Black Heart and much more!  Here's a link where you can check that out:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Always keep it Shiny!

This latest version of Painting Dark Sword had a few things which were very new, and some things that go back several years to the original Painting Pyramid video series!  

For those of you familiar with the way I have been "Primer Painting" the figures in pre shaded fashion, this will look quite different.  I simply brushed on some Badger Stynlrez primer, using the reddish brown color.

From there, I would work in a more 'classic' Shaded Basecoat fashion.

You can also see the reference images of armor in the corners, which were a very helpful guide through the process.

And here it is... that old traditional Shaded Basecoat!  This  means that instead of doing the initial dark glazes over the pre shaded primer, I brush in some middle and lighter tone values.  These will be hit with the glazes in the next phase...

You can see the image on the left which has those glazes, which are meant to shade and add more tones to that Shaded Basecoat.  The image on the right shows how it has progressed further, with the midtones and other lights added.

From there it was time to have some fun with the basing, and I brought out the Green stuff World leaf cutters! I also used a few of my home made flower tufts.

The finished result!  This was a typical episode of Painting Dark Sword... roughly 2 hours long and chock full of tips and techniques.  I try to do more than show you what I am doing.  The goal is to explain WHY I am doing a certain action or using a certain material.

This episode allowed me to show how to get as many colors as possible into your metals, working in glazes that were not only shading and tinting existing colors, but also lightening them.  Yes, glazes are not always darker.  It is possible to add lighter, softer tones in transparent fashion to smooth out certain areas that are rougher.

Again, many of the principles that are discussed in this video harken back to the original Painting Pyramid series of videos, which featured 53 titles covering dozens of painting techniques, specialty effects, 12 basing videos and even 5 terrain videos!  Several of these are now part of my Patreon Page, and I am building off these once again.

You can see those with the $10 Dark Sword pledge, along with tutorial videos on the Black Heart Models busts.

It is hard to believe, but this is already Episode 11 of the Dark Sword series!  I have covered a host of different painting and basing techniques, color theory, OSL, NMM, and more.  As I mentioned before, the Dark Sword pledge level is just $10 per month, and that means hours of tutorials, since you also are provided with other tutorials during the month which feature very specific techniques or concepts.  Here is a link to the page:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Combo Platter

The latest Painting Dark Sword tutorial is up on the Patreon Page now!  I really love using the Dark Sword figures as subject matter, because they have a lot of fine detail, and always plenty of character.

In this episode, I was trying to show how to combine several techniques that are usually broken out into individual episodes.

This time around, I wanted to show how to combine Object Source Lighting, Freehand and Non Metallic Metals all in one lesson.

I showed how I go about transferring a pattern onto the figure, sketching it out first to get the "muscle memory" and also a sense of what might have to be eliminated or added to make it work.

It is not unusual to have to put several major techniques into one figure, which is something I have to do every day.  The idea is to give you a few easier ways to execute these techniques, so that you feel more able to do so yourself.

I think most tutorials only do this kind of combination on huge figures or busts.  Very seldom do you see 28mm figures get the same treatment!

Well, since 28mm figures are what I use (and my commission buyers), that means doing all those nifty things you see on 75-100mm figures on the "little guys".  It also has to be done in a timely fashion!

None of us has infinite amounts of time to spend on our figures, even though we wish we did.  In this lesson, I show you some ways to do that... and even play around with some home made static grass tufts!  If I can bring in the funds to set up a second recording station, I will be able to make an entire video series on creating those tufts as well!

When you pledge to my Patreon Page, you will get a great deal of content, in the form of one video tutorial after another (the Army Painting pledge is about 15-20 hours of videos each month!).  I try cover all aspects of miniature painting... basing, oils, acrylics, weathering powders... whatever it takes to get the job done.

The special $10 Dark Sword miniatures pledge not only allows you to check out all the Dark Sword tutorials, but all of the other 'general technique' episodes.  These often focus on experiments with new materials or techniques!  That's all right here on the Patreon Page:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

A Little NMM: Unit painting videos

The Age of Sigmar Medusae unit was a fun way to begin the Army Painter video series!  As with each set of tutorial videos, I start out with the basing.

This involves more than just making a batch of bases... I try to go deeper into how to manage time and thereby your choices.  I give examples of how much time is added by adding various extra effects, and if it is worth spending that additional time.

We all have very little of that precious resource to spend on our own armies, so understanding the implications of each choice can mean the difference between getting it done when you need it or never completing it in the first place!

I attempted to show what impact adding things such as Object Source Lighting and Non Metallic Metals can add in a visual sense, but also how that makes each piece potentially take longer.  

Of course, I am also trying to show how to make those extra effects take less time, and where "savings" can be found!

You can check out all three Army Painter series here on the Patreon Page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The GreatJon

This GreatJon figure from the Song of Ice and Fire miniatures game was painted in oils, using mostly the Mig Ammo Oilbrushers.  It was a lot of fun to do various blending of colors, etc. a few hours after the paint had been applied to the figure.

The idea behind the use of oils is to make it easier to work on large batches of figures at the same time, as the figures themselves become the palette!  This will allow me to work my way through an army more quickly, but still get the same kind of subtle color transitions as I might on a single figure.

In fact, this figure was painted at the same time I was working on the Winter Soviet Bolt Action minis.

One of my favorite features of the Song of Ice and Fire minis are the weapons.  These are well cast from a stiffer plastic, which means they are very strong,  and have little to no clean up!  Practically a perfect weapon every time.

I am creating tutorial videos for each of the Stark and Lannister special characters, focusing on the basing and individual aspects of the clothes, faces, etc.  These will become available to the Patrons on the Patreon page:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Army on the March!

It is amazing to realize that the third Army Painting series is completed, and Series 4 is well under way!  As I have mentioned several times, this one in particular was very gratifying, as I am replacing my beloved Easterling Army, which I had to sell off years ago.

Since then, I have been trying to recover as many figures as possible, and rebuild it.

I thought it would be a very good set of tutorial episodes, since it would tackle a number of things people might run into as well... like replacing an army, matching old color schemes and so on.

Another potential benefit would be watching me negotiate several different types of figures at once.  That is, very old metal figures and newer plastics.  Also, working with archers, pikemen, sword wielding champions and special characters.

This was one of several conversions I made for the project, taking one of my very old plastic figures and putting a more recent banner on it.

I even tried to cover painting cavalry figures, so a few of them are shown in the basing and painting process.  Most armies involve figures of radically different types and sizes, unlike single figures.  The vast majority of painting tutorials only show one figure being painted... or sometimes just a portion of 1 figure.

It seemed this left a lot of people out in the cold when it came to approaching an army.  How do you decide on a color scheme, a basing scheme, freehand and other details?  How do you figure out if these desired elements will make the project take 100 years before you get stuck in?

In each series, I make a lot of alterations and course corrections that involve the "currency of time".  It is always in short supply, and I have very little time to work on my own armies.  So, I also need to figure out what is possible in that small amount of time, but maximize the results!

I try to present as many options as possible... and in future series I will be showing how to do the same unit with metallics, in case you are not comfortable doing the Non Metallic technique.

There's a series that was done entirely with oil paints!  Again, the idea is to present you with as many options as I can.

The standard Army Painter pledge is $15.  There is also a $50 version which will get you high resolution copies of all the videos on a USB drive.  You can find that on my Patreon Page here:

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Get to the Point!

I am getting more and more excited about painting the Song of Ice and Fire miniatures the more I work on them!  I have been painting several of the character figures for tutorial videos, and now I am getting ready to film the first Unit Painting video.  This will feature the Lannister Halberds.

The first episode will focus on basing and integrating the movement tray into the basing... similar to this:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/10/ground-attack.html

I have a few tutorial videos on Sky Earth Non Metallic Metals already available through the Patreon Page, but this will be the first time I try it on an entire unit!  

Should you be more interested in seeing how to do this with metallics, never fear, as I will be making another series showing how to do that as well!  There are 2 units of swordsmen in the starter box, so I will be painting one in each style, to maximize options for you.

Filming has started for this new series, and I am very excited!  It is part of the Army Painter pledge level, which is $15.  A series is usually 4-5 episodes, and 10-13 hours of tutorials!

You can check that out on the Patreon Page:

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