The Gang's a coming!

Yep, Bob.  I reckon by tonight we'll be done with the gang plus one!

I'll post pics after I get back from working away this weekend.

Getting there with the gang.

It has taken so long to do this gang I've decided to do a bit of a bonus figure...

Countdown to VaultCon 2011 Part 17

I think we're all done now!

I did "green stuff" a bandage to the Ogre's arm as I just was not happy with the join from way back when.  I think it looks much better as a bleeding bandage than a bleeding mess.

The pictures aren't the best, hopefully they'll look better in real life at the weekend.  (I'd love to hear your comments good or bad, (I'm pretty thick skinned).

VAULTCON HERE WE COME!  www.vaultcon.co.uk

Orc Referee

Troll

Ogre

Human Coach

Countdown to VaultCon 2011 Part 16

I've spent a few hours thinking about the rest of the Human's coat. (It sounds daft but it works for me).  After running through the different colours I decided that the rest of the coat should be reddish with further detailing on the collar. (Which a painted white first and then painted the thin black lines as before).
Here he is all done:

I painted on a thinned "Mechrite Red" onto the man coat then painted a thin black line to separate the checks from the red.
I added some green to the base colour to darken it up in the folds, (look at your colour wheel!), before blending/hilighting with "Bloody Red"
After the collar was checked up I used a Sepia Wash to add further shadows at various points.

The flash on the camera has made some nasty reflections.  (Hopefully I'll get a chance tomorrow for the unveiling...)

Countdown to VaultCon 2011 Part 15

Onto the checks.
The Human Coach is a nice figure but I felt that there had to be some pattern added to that coat!
Previously I had painted a very light grey and then painted some faint checks with a very thinned black. Well, now it's time to colour them in.  I've no idea what coach will end up with this figure so trying to decide colours is pretty tricky. (I was going to just do two rows of black and white but thought this may be too "Orcy" so I added a third row and opted for a red/blue/green which hopefully will fit in with most team's colours).

I planned the colours and then painted them in threes.  I've done checks before and got cocky with them by steaming ahead only to find I should've put a blue in a red square. I now take my time.  In fact this is the only figure I'm working on so I don't get confused.

Countdown to VaultCon 2011 Part 14

The gonks are starting to shape up.  It's easier to paint them than write about them for sure!

Eyes.
Eyes are important and it's worth spending a bit of time on them.  I often start at the eyes before painting anything else.  (I've also stripped gonks back to bare metal if I've not been happy with them - this is obviously a whole lot easier if the rest of the model is just primed rather than complete).

I start off with a black background and then carefully paint a "Dead White" eye shape making sure to leave a small amount of black showing around the edge.  Then once dry, I'll add a bit of colour to finish with a black pupil.  (As you can imagine, a small brush is used for this!) If the eye is big like on the troll's then I might add a tiny white dot as well to look like light reflecting.

The Troll has got yellow eyes, (for a change as red is normally my troll eye colour).  Once the white was painted on I painted two or three thin coats of yellow to get a good shade.

I think the yellow eyes look quite cool.

The Orc had red eyes. Again I started with a black background and then painted two white dots.  These were painted "Bloody Red" and each given a pin prick of white.  With Orcs I like to keep it simple and tend to have a lot of black in the socket to make the red really stand out.

There's a smell of burning.

It seems that the machine has been left on again...

Countdown to VaultCon 2011 Part 13

The next part of the basing process is to add a further two highlights which are dry brushed onto the raised sanded areas.
Firstly it's Leather Brown all over and then Bleached Bone to a lesser degree.  This paint dries almost instantly.

TGM TOP TIP:
I'll always use three, (or more), highlights for basing as this is one of the most important areas of the whole gonk.  The eye is always drawn to the "bases and faces" - a cliche but it's true so it's worth making an effort.

Next, just take a moment to make sure there are no over zealous brush marks from the dry brushing processes. (Mind you, sometimes these can look great especially on a muddy BloodBowl player).
Then comes the grass.  I like to use different textures of flock and static grass but a rule to remember is:

Less is more!

Grass does not grow so thickly that the earth is not seen below.  If you were to simply use PVA glue and grass all over it'll look like a 28mm figure.  If you think about the base colours and textures then you are completing a work of art. (Remember you've spent a long time painting this - Part 13 already -  so don't take a shortcut now!).

I've dabbed on some patches of PVA and used one colour of flock then shaken the model and blown away the excess. (Make sure the wife doesn't catch you!). I'll repeat this process with another colour flock or static grass for a contrast.

Lastly, I'll add a white chalk line by dragging the liberally covered brush in one direcetion making sure that the brush is not pushed into the recesses.  (I want some of the grass/earth not to be covered).

Countdown to VaultCon 2011 Part 12

The basing.

With most of the actual painting done, it's now time to add the basing.

I've simply, (with care), splodged on PVA glue, (my favourite glue), to the base of the model.

This would normally dry overnight but as my house is so hot, the bases are ready to paint within half an hour!


The first stage is to liberally paint on a thinned dark colour, like black or "Beasty Brown" in this case making sure the paint sinks to all the low points below and in between the sand granules. This does take a longer time to dry...

Countdown to VaultCon 2011 Part 11

Well into it now.

Less than two weeks' to go...

OK.  The Troll.  He's had a splash of colour to half his shorts.  This is "Bloody Red" highlighted with orange.

The Ogre has had all the leather highlighted with "Leather Brown" and a small touch of the same colour to the shoulder spike.  (This could be made of metal but I decided it would be better as a horn).

 

That's all I had time to do tonight as the In-Laws are about...