Dale has been asking me, and I have been putting him off for far too long, to provide a painting tutorial post for the blog. I decided when I started this latest batch of figures, which happened to be the Saxon slingers (skirmishers), I would do just that. I took several photos from "naked" to completed in an attempt to show the stages of painting for the figures that I do. One of the things that can sap folks' morale when they are sitting down to do figures like this for the first time is that honestly, the figures do not look very good until you have finished painting them. This is especially true until the eyes go on. So what I am hoping to show is that up until the end, my figures don't look all that great. The beauty of any crafted figures in my opinion cannot be fully appreciated until they are finished, and therefore, they sort of look pretty bad until the entire paint job is done.
So here we go ...
First picture - no paint. I've finished gluing all the parts on at this point. This is the first time I have tried to do paper slings. I usually use twine, but I wanted to try the paper because I think given how the paper reacts with the white glue, even when being glued to a tile spacer "hand" it will stick better to the figure than the twine has in the past.
Next step is to prime them. I brush on a very dark brown color called "Soft Black" by Americana. It looks quite "black" in this photo but it really is a very dark umber brown color in real life. I do two coats of paint for the priming stage so that the color is nice and rich with no "thin spots."
I pretty much follow the same method I use for metal or plastic miniatures when I paint these as well in that the flesh goes on next. I paint the hands and also the heads whatever flesh tone I want to use for the figure. I paint the entire head because it is easier to paint the hair on top of the flesh color than to try and paint the hair on and then meet the flesh tone up to the edge of the hair. Also, I always have to touch up a bit with the Soft Black afterwards as I've painted the hands too large or got some of the flesh tone from the head onto the clothing. I do two coats of flesh tone for this step. If you don't, the dark under color really causes the paint to look "blotchy" and at least for my style, clean, crisp lines are essential ... no blotchy.
Next up, eyes, hair, and shoes/boots. I do the Soft Black as the first color for the hair regardless of the shade of hair, and then on top of that I paint whatever shades of brown I want to use, leaving a little of the Soft Black visible on the edges to create depth. For the eyes, I paint a black oval and then after that dries I paint white dots on each side (just one coat of each color). I do NOT paint the pupil as in the past when I've tried to do this I just mess it up. Be careful to pay attention to where the figure is "looking" as that will determine how much white on each side of the eye you will want to paint. For example, if the figure is looking to its left, for each eye you would want small white dots in the left part of the eye (from the figure's point of view) and large white dots (or longer really is the better way to say it) in the right part of the eye. This gives the impression that the figure is looking to its left because very little of the white part of the eye is visible in the left part of the eye, but a lot of the white part of the eye is visible in the right part of the eye. Also try and leave some of the black from the eye uncovered around the edges to create depth. The shoes/boots I always just use one coat of a medium brown color and paint the tile spacer feet in a way that looks like they are wearing low boots.
I typically do the pants next. The tricky thing with them is to create a crease around the groin where the legs bend at the hip, and also some "space" between the legs. In both cases I just leave the Soft Black visible to create the space between the legs or the folds in the pants, and paint a single coat of whatever color I want to use for the pants allowing those lines of dark brown to show through. You can't really see the pants very well in this picture, but here it is.
After the pants drie I do the tunics and hoods if the figure is wearing one. For the tunics I leave a "band" of Soft Black to not be covered around the middle as this will serve as the basis for the belt. I also try and paint the arms and other parts of the tunic to mimic folds by leaving some of the Soft Black visible with the tunic color on each side of the line. I just paint one coat of the tunic color. Same is true for the hoods as well.
Finally come the belts, buckles, and slings. I usually use a brown or a dark blue (for a black belt) and just paint a line representing the belt around each figure (one coat), trying to allow some of the Soft Black to not be covered at the edge of the belt to create a shadow effect. The buckle is just a dot of light gray (one coat). The slings are painted similarly to the clothing, allowing lines of the Soft Black to not be painted over to create folds and shadows (one coat for the sling color).
All that's left is the base. I do two coats of fairly dark green (I believe it is called Pine something by Americana). After those coats dry, I do blotches of lighter green to finish off the grass, and darker tan for the base dirt color with a light tan on top for highlights.
And this next picture is how they will likely appear on the actual gaming table in more of a skirmish line/formation.
I timed myself and the entire painting process, not counting drying time, from the first coat of Soft Black primer to the last lighter green blotch was a little over 2 hours. If these were metal miniatures or plastic ones with the flash already removed, to paint and base 8 figures of the same scale (roughly 28mm) priming them with three colors for everything (a la the Foundry Painting System which although I do not use their paints, I use their style/approach to painting miniatures) would take me more like 8 hours. In fairness, the build takes me longer than it takes to remove the flash, but not 6 hours longer, and there is nothing fun to me about removing flash. The builds, though, are sometimes sort of fun unless I cut my finger with the craft blade or poke the drill bit into my hand or finger.
Funny, because I was just about to email you again. I don't know if you noticed, but I tried painting the blobs on my Wau bases in the style of yours.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the figures being sort of ugly until the end. Because I use a lot of dimensional paint with smaller scale figures, my figures are often wood primed black with shiny plastic white or brown (or both) blobs on the figure, along with plastic and wood bits and bobs.
Interesting that you use Americana for the primer. Given the "glossy" nature of turned wood (especially spheres, like those heads), I find that craft paints have an issue sticking and covering at this point. I use either white or black gesso, depending upon the color scheme I am going to paint.
For the flesh, I have used a darker flesh mixed with white gesso. It is much flatter in shine, has great coverage, and gives the figure a grittier, color absorbing surface. But, I don't always do that.
Great use of the milk bottle shape. The figures look great.
And now I will stop bugging you! :)
ReplyDeleteI did notice your Wau bases. Of course I really liked them .
ReplyDeleteMany of the craft paints do have a hard time giving a good coat over some of the wood finishes, but in my experience Americana is an exception. I still have to do two coats, but after the second coat, the finish doesn't look shiny and the coverage seems to be okay. I also do not water down the paint at all (maybe just a little with some of the thicker ones) and I think this probably helps to get better coverage and avoid some of the problems with the paint sticking to the glossy wood surface. I noticed that being a problem with some of the Ceramcoat paints (I used to use just that brand but they started changing their mixes and they were getting too thin), and I found it will all of the really inexpensive craft paint (like Apple Barrel, Folk Art, etc.). But Americana is my new favorite, their mixes are a lot thicker and seem to cover better if they are not watered down too much. But like I said, I do have to do two coats with the undercoat color, the "base" base color (the darker green), and the flesh tones unless they are particularly dark. A gesso mix like you do would certainly help as well. I've used it for some large terrain pieces, but never on individual figures before.