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Monthly Archive May 2018

Painting Philosophy: Anatomy of Basing

PROLOGUE:

Welcome to the fourth installment into the ‘Painting Philosophy’ series, where “I let you in on ‘how’ and especially ‘why’ I do some things in a certain way. In my opinion a proper approach to painting is crucial to maintain healthy and rewarding experience. Final result depends on it in the same way as on techniques, know-how and tools used. Nowadays internet is full of painting tutorials yet it takes some inner understanding of our own capabilities to find what suits us best and fully benefit from all acquired knowledge. That being said – In this series I will reveal what works best for me as a painter. I hope you will find some wisdom in it…”

PAINTING PHILOSOPHY: BASING LIKE A PRO

Today I would like to talk less about painting and more about basing and composition, cause it does not matter how great your paint job is – if you based a miniature poorly it will look off, so there’s that. By ‘basing and composition’ I understand the way a miniature is set up on a base. It’s not enough that a miniature is just mounted on top of a base. In the end base is a display for our miniature and together they create a composition, that should be both stable on the gaming board and tell a little story about the miniature itself…

What is this about?

Basically, every humanoid miniature has a center of gravity. In most cases it is located slightly below the chest and over the pelvis of a miniature. If a miniature is armed with giant gun or standing with hands spread, the center of gravity might shift a little to encompass additional weight. In these cases both gun (big, heavy part) and main body of the miniature are treated as a single ‘body’ and the center of gravity is shifted away from natural position and towards additional part/parts evenly.

How I do it?

The key is to base a miniature so that it’s center of gravity is alligned with the center of the base. It does not have to be exact, but let’s just say the closer the better. In case of more complex miniatures it is possible that aligning shifted center of gravity with center of the base will move main body of the miniature to one side of the base (for example to the back of the base). This is ok for as long as the miniature stays within the invisible lines of the base’s edge and seem to still occupy the top of the base evenly.

Why do this?

To put it simply – because it looks better and adds feeling of ‘physics’ to the composition. As mentioned before a base and miniature are a single composition. This means that the way you mount a miniature on the base will translate into a short story about what is actually going on. Imagine a base to be a visualisation of physics of your miniature. For example:

‘Bakunin Taskmaster charging, using his right pauldron like a battering ram to slam through enemies…’ You can see this guy is heavy and moving forward. This is achieved by shifting center of gravity to the back of miniature, towards extended armed hand and aligning it with center of the base. This guy is moving forward and you can actually see his immediate destination on the base he’s moving over.

Now imagine how stupid it would look like if Bakunin Taskmaster was mounted with his feet at the center of the base instead. You don’t actually have to imagine, cause I will show you. Now this giant of steel, polimer and fiber muscles looks like he lost his footing and is jumping off a cliff as a result. Entire right hand and part of the pauldron is off the base and seem to drag the rest of the miniature along.

EXAMPLES:

Here’s a set of examples I dug in the web and how I see them performed.

EPILOGUE:

You have now finished the fourth Painting Philosophy article. This series is all about sharing forbidden knowledge so if it drove you insane, just stay calm and paint some. You get back to normal once it settles up in your mind. As usual – ‘Please take note that what works for me, might not necessarily work for you – still there are many ways to accomplish certain things – mine is just one of them’. If you find this article helpful – be sure to leave me some feedback. Have a nice hobbying 😉

“Many fall in the face of chaos. But not this one, not today.”

Tutorial: Corregidor Bases

In this Step-by-Step tutorial I would like to take you on a spin with some Micro Art Studio’s Corregidor Bases. Guys from MAS did a fantastic job painting this product, but I have my own way which I would like to share with you. Buckle up and let’s get to it!

I USED:

* Regular Brush,

* Stippling Brush,

* Black,

* Tin Bitz / Warplock Bronze (GW)

* Eshin Grey (GW),

* Strong Tone Ink (AP),

* Gun Metal (AP),

* Shining Silver (AP),

* Scorched Brown (GW),

* Calthan Brown (GW),

* Ryza Rust (GW),

* Lugganath Orange (GW),

* Flayed One Flesh (GW),

 

!  You can achieve similar results using different paints as long as you followTutorial's basics. For example Eshin Grey (GW) might be switched for Panzer Dark Grey (Val).

1  I started by applying a layer of Eshin Grey (GW) to  all raised areas of the base, over Black undercoat. Just a hint that applying two slightly diluted layers goes much faster and produces a similar result.

2  I then moved to the mesh areas and painted them with Warplock Bronze (GW). Once again this paint might be diluted but this time no need to apply two layers - one will suffice.

3  Once Warplock Bronze dried out, I applied a layer of Gun Metal (AP). For best results I did this with regular brush and using a Flatbrush technique following:

Five Layers Technique – Metal  basis

4  Next Shining Silver (AP) came in. I applied one layer over Gun Metal with regular brush, Flatbrushing.

5  I then applied a wet, thick layer of Strong Tone Ink (AP) over entire base. Once it dried out - I applied another, identical layer. (Picture seem grey'ish - in real life this would look more brown and juicy)

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1  Using either a Stippling brush or a well used up large brush I applied stains of Scorched Brown (GW) over all raised areas. Was carefull not to use too much paint.

2  I then drybrushed edges and some large parts of raised areas using Calthan Brown (GW).

3  Next I Stippled some Ryza Rust (GW) on top of previous layer, ensuring to leave some Calthan Brown visible.

4  Same technique, different paint. I stippled Lugganath Orange (GW) on top of Ryza Rust layer, leaving previous layer visible on the sides of the new one.

!  From this layer onward I usually paint over both raised and mesh areas. For the purpose of this Tutorial I left mesh parts clean, but do not be alarmed if you see pictures of my own bases with a less differentiated colour scheme.

5  Flayed one Flesh (GW) followed. This time I Drybrushed over Lugganath Orange layer and then used regular brush to paint thin lines on the edges.

6  Adding a final touch I painted edges smooth Black to add contrast and keep the paint job clean.

That’s it – you have followed me on my short journey from black undercoat to finished Corregidor Bases. Below you will find some examples of finished Corregidor Bases. Each bunch turns out slightly different from the rest. That’s because a slight difference in surface coverage or layer to layer proportion might result in change of how eye can see these bases. Either way – here they are:

Colour Recipes: Shadespire Steelheart’s Champions

Here are some Colour Recipes for Steelheart’s Champions from GALLERY: SHADESPIRE STEELHEART’S CHAMPIONS. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends inbetween, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guidline not a step-by-step.

GOLDEN armour:

Black Undercoat,

Mix Rust metallic (Val) 1:1 Blackk metallic (Val), *

Bright Bronze (Val), *

Mix Bright Bronze (Val) 1:1 Brass Balls (P3),

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),

Mix Brass Balls (P3) 1:1 Shining Silver (AP), l&p

BLUE:

Steel Blue (Val),

Magic Blue (Val),

Mix Magic Blue (Val) 1:1 French Blue (Val), l

Mix Magic Blue (Val) 1:1:1 French Blue (Val), Off White (Val), l&p

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),

Baharroth Blue (GW), l&p

Guilliman Blue (Gw), glaze

Off White (Val), l&p

SCROLLS:

Khaki (Val), *

Bonewhite (Val), *

Mix flayed one Flesh (GW) 1:1 Off White (Val),

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),

Off White (Val), l&p

Hot Orange (Val), gl

Gloss Varnish (Val), p

METAL weapons:

Black Undercoat,

Warplock Bronze (GW),

Gun Metal (AP),

Shining Silver (AP), l&p

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),

Shining Silver (AP), l&p

GREY belts & strips:

Black Undercoat,

Panzer DK. Grey (Val),

Fenrisian Grey (GW), flbr

Pallid Wych Flesh (GW), l&p

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),

Off White (Val), l&p

ORANGE hafts:

Black Undercoat,

Cavalry Brown (Val),

Orange Brown (Val), l&p

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),

Orange Brown (Val), l&p

Lugganath Orange (GW), l&p

Off White (Val), l&p

Hot Orange (Val), gl

BASES:

Medium Sea Grey (Val), *

Light Grey (Val)*,

Pale Grey (Val),*

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),

Off White (Val), l&p

Dirt (Val), bl

Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP), bl

l&p – lines and points,

p – points,

bl – blend,

gl – glaze,

drbr – drybrush,

flbr – flatbrush,

stpl – stippling,

*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)