Wet Palette – a hobby tool every or at least a vast majority of pro painters has. A Wet Palette is simply a piece of parchment sitting on a wet sponge that keeps your paints thin and allows you to “save” a certain colour mix to go back to without the necessity to mix the paints anew in hope to achieve same results. In this article I will show you how to make your own Wet Palette.
Picking a right box for the job is very important. For best results it should be hermetic, rather shallow and as wide and long as you prefer. I know a very good painter who uses a Ferrero Rocher box, I preffer to use a more hermetic and smaller Games Workshop Turf box. It suits my needs better, as I don’t use Wet Palette too often. Either way…
Step one:
I measured the insides of my box of choice and cut a piece of kitchen sponge to be approximately 5mm smaller. This is to leave some space for a sponge that might grow a bit once filled with water.
Step two:
Next I cut a piece of baking paper to fit the sponge, again leaving about 5mm space between the edge of the sponge and the paper itself.
Step three:
I filled the “palette” with water until the sponge couldn’t take anymore. The key is to avoid water outside the sponge.
Step four:
I then put a piece of baking paper on top of the sponge and held it in place, so that it took a little bit of water and flattened. That’s actually it – Wet Palette complete and ready for action!
Now I can “save” the paints for later use…
Important tip: You will be switching the piece of baking paper every now and then, but I advise you to occasionally switch the sponge too. Depending on what kind of soft sponge you’ll use it might get smelly after long use. It’s because nowadays kitchen sponges are made out of algae and similar organic material. Just saying 😉
You find this article helpful? Don’t be a stranger and drop me a comment below!
The idea of introducing cars to my Infinity gaming board is one to haunt me for quite some time now. Many times I found myself in a toy store, standing before a toy car shelf and trying to pick a right car to fit Infinity the Game scale and sci-fi theme. Easy to say that all my efforts were futile, thus I postponed the idea time and time again, slowly loosing hope. This state of things changed drastically just few days ago…
I was visiting the post office, when all of a sudden I saw it! The postal worker was playing with an ideal toy car. Wait!? She wasn’t playing at all! That was a PC Mouse! Imagine my shock, when that realization struck me. Shaped like a car, with lights glowing bright, the PC Mouse was just perfect!
Two days later I was in possession of half a dozen PC Mouse cars. This was where “Infinity Cars” Special Project actually started. After a good look at the cars features I figured that apart of awesome futuristic design, the cars had translucent light covers, black mirrored glass, chrom elements plus some of them had battery powered interior glowing lights. These were key features I wanted to transfer onto final form. I started dismantling the cars to pieces…
It didn’t took long, as parts came off pretty easily. Depending on a car type there were either one or two screws that needed handling, other than that I only needed to pull parts gently for them to come apart.
Every piece being separated, I prepared everything for a proper paint job. I didn’t modify the cars too much. Removed “scroll buttons” and glued in some Warhammer 40k bitz to add Sci-fi looks instead, glued left and right buttons firm, removed “the insides” of cable mouses. Didn’t even bother to strip the paint.
Afterwards the cars got undercoated and soon after I applied a paint job with bright, juicy colours. I decided to keep the paint job simple, with no decals, freehands and other stuff that could have spoiled the perfect shape of these futuristic cars bodies. These are scenery pieces after all, too much is not always same as better.
The “Infinity Cars” are nowe done and I cannot wait to use them in the upcoming games of Infinity. I do hope you like the idea of using PC Mouse as an Infinity scenery piece. If you want to grab your own, just look for “PC Mouse Car” at E-bay or google. In the meantime I invite you tocheck out the “Infinity Cars” Gallery… and tell me what you think in the comments below 😉
Cheers!
In this easy, step-by-step tutorial I’m going to show you how to create a Desert Scenery as could be found in “Gallery: Gaslands”.
* I started by cutting foamed PCV (or styrofoam) into basic rocky blocks.
* I then used lighter to gently heat blocks on the sides, avoiding heating up top and bottom surfaces.
* Next, using a hobby knife, I cut bases from 3mm thick plasticard.
* I then glued rocky blocks on top of the bases with basing (PVA) glue. I also glued some blocks on top of one another for the scenery to look more diverse and interresting.
* Next I crumbled a sheet of cork into small pieces and glued them on top of the blocks with basing glue, sanding them before glue dried out to fill the gaps inbetween separate cork pieces.
* I then used plaster (gypsum) to build a gentle transition between bases and blocks.
* A time has come for me to add some detail. Not much, just some texture to bring more life to the wasteland. I cut pieces of plasticard and used toothpicks, MDF leftovers and a toy car to create ragtag barricades and post-apo racing signs.
* Lastly, with a regular brush, I applied basing glue then sanded all the plaster, sides of the bases and some areas around cork pieces on top of the blocks.
Couple of hours later I have painted this stuff and added some tuftsthe end result looks like this:
In this easy, step-by-step tutorial I’m going to show you how to create a Toxic Sludge Base. I designed these bases for Warhammer 40,000 Death Guuard Plague Marines.
**Where I’m from there’s a small paper bag filled with moist absorbsion balls in every shoe box. If you can’t get that, just use some grains or make small balls out of green stuff or modeling clay.
* I started by covering entire base with a layer of basing glue.
* I then put couple of tiny balls onto the base, creating 'buubbles' and let it all dry.
* Once dry, I covered are around the bubbles with another layer of basing glue.
* I let it all dry for about an hour, then undercoated entire base black.
* I then airbrushed a layer of Vallejo Interior Green over entire base.
* Next I airbrushed a layer of Duck Egg Green concentrating on bubbles and surrounding areas.
* Last thing to do was to airbrush two layers of Light Livery Green over entire bases and paint the sides black.
In this easy, step-by-step tutorial I’m going to show you how to create a Lush Base. I designed these bases to fit Infinity the Game Tohaa ‘tactical rocks’ – you can see how it turned out at Infinity TOHAA ‘Witness Me!’ gallery.
* I started by separating Grape mounts from the dried out Grape branch. Being rather soft, their topf have been removed to improove durability and shape.
* I then applied a drop of basing glue onto the base, followed up shortly by another drop - this time super glue.
* Before mixed glue drop was able to dry out I've planted Grape mount on top of it, creating strange looking plant.
* Once glue dried up I've painted the bases following choosen colour scheme (see below). I then added some texture on top of them with Stirland Battlemire texture paint.
* orem ipsum dolor sit amet, Integer commodo tristiqu odio, aliquet ut. Maecenas sed justo imperdiet bibendum. Vivamus nec sapien imperdiet diam. Aliquam erat volutpat. Sed onsectetur suscipit nunc et rutrum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,volutpat. Sed onsectetur suscipit nunc et rutrum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, volutpat.
* Last step was to apply regular tufts. I used some noname tufts in large numbers filling most of the flat areas. Job done.
Black Undercoat,
Stirland Battlemire (GW), texture
Karak Stone (GW), stones & plants
Flayed One Flesh (GW), flatbrush stones & plants
Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP), wash
In this easy, step-by-step tutorial I’m going to show you how to create and paint a Lava Bases. I used these bases for Infinity the Game Combined Army – you can see how it turned out at Infinity COMBINED ARMY ‘Witness Me!’ gallery.
**Where I’m from there’s a small paper bag filled with moist absorbsion balls in every shoe box. If you can’t get that, just use some grains or make small balls out of green stuff or even modeling clay.
* I started by breaking a piece of Cork into smaller bitz.
* I then applied Super Glue over the bases in a random pattern. No need to be precise here.
* Pieces of Cork followed to form 'volcanic rocks' and future spots for the miniatures to be mounted on.
* Once Super Glue dried out I covered entire base with Basing Glue.
* I then dropped tiny balls (shoe moist absorbers) oon top of the Basing Glue, between 'volcanic rocks' to create an effect boiling lava bubbles.
* Next I applied Basing Glue over the bubbles.
* Black Undercoat.
* Mahogany (Val) airbrushed all over the base.
* Gorthror Brown (GW) drybrush over the Rocks.
* Gory Red (Val) airbrushed over Lava.
* Scrofulous Brown (Val) airbrushed over Lava.
* Scrofulous Brown (Val) + White airbrushed over Lava.
* Black spots added around Rocks
* Scrofulous Brown (Val) airbrushed over Black spots.
* Lamenters Yellow (GW) airbrushed over Lava.
* Hot Orange (Val) spots airbrushed over Black spots, White airbrushed over bubbles.
* Scrofulous Brown (Val) + Black, then pure Black glaze applied oved the Rocks.
* Gloss Varnish applied over Lava.
“The Mirrored City of Shadespire is a nightmare plane of illusions and madness, an ever-changing labyrinth of endless stairs, cramped streets and soaring archways. The original city is drained of all colour and life, and for thousands of years, it has rested as a foreboding ruin. Those unfortunate, brave, or foolhardy adventurers that set foot within its walls are drawn through the veil between realms and trapped within the Mirrored City. For such wayward souls, all hope seems lost. Yet there are those who will not accept their fate without a fight.”
Whenever I pick a new title I always crave to have an ultimate gaming set – the same happened with Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire. It started when I’ve finished working on a small Shadespire commission and was instantly drawn into the game. Two days later I was already painting my first warband – the Sepulchral Guard, but it wasn’t enough to quench my hobbystic thirst. I moved to another warband, being Garrek’s Reavers, all the while my hype was kept strong by Shadespire facebook group – full of awesome inspiration. Somewhere in the middle of Garrek’s Reavers paint job I let myself be overwhelmed by hype and decided to go for a Shadespire scenery set. The idea was to keep it as crazy cool as I am capable of. Concept was there – inside my head – all along, fuelled by Shadespire’s background story and insanely sweet art from the rulebook. So, the scenery was to fit the board with a ‘ruined city of sorcery and mysticism’ theme in mind. Most important part: ‘Shadeglass’ – broken, ghostly lit mirrors incorporated to a variety of trinkets, statues, pools, wells etc.
The way I see scenery making is this:
* Prep all necessary reasources.
* Create a baseline shape and base it firmly.
* Apply basic texture.
* Add major features.
* Add detail.
* Polish.
* Paint.
I faced “Shadeglass Scenery” Project following these key points. Started by preparing all the stuff that seemed usable and/or necessary. I like my scenery to be light, durable and painting friendly, so I picked 3mm plasticard to become both bases and baseline shape. Used hot water to bend some pieces, then cut ‘walls’ and hex bases out of the stuff…
Plasticard is very easy to work with. Adding texture all over newly created ‘pieces’ was a matter of using a right tool, rather than sophisticated and time consuming techniques…
With texturized walls and bases I was ready to move to major features – Shadeglass vessels of all sorts and sizes. For this purpose I used perfume cups plundered from my wife’s collection. (At the point when I’m writing this article she already noticed all the missing cups – fortunatelly the scenery is done and we played with it so she’s more like – ‘for the greater good’)…
Throughout about twenty years in the hobby I accumulated a vast collection of bitz, altho untill recently skulls where a rare commodity in the collection – Praise Nagash, Games Workshop released a set of skulls thus rendering them near to unlimited. Skulls backstory aside – I used some bitz to add detail and points of focus to the scenery…
I then used self prepared Hobby Gravel to add more detail and make the scenery pieces look ‘ruined’. Once I was sure that each piece is telling it’s own story – final polish followed and all was ready to get painted…
Painting a ruined city of sorcery and ghosts was an interresting transition between a colour recipe I use for Shadespire warband’s bases and working on a much more bigger scale. I decided to follow my guts – start as usual and then see where it would take me. Somewhere along the way I started adding blends of purple to compliment incomming ghostly green’ish-turquise hume. This turned out to be a bullseye hit, creating an illusion of morbid, colorful lights dancing across the ruins…
The ghostly hume of Shadeglass was a real challenge. I feel very comfortable with toxic green light, but going turquise is moving away from warm colour spectrum – my sphere of comfort. Still a hobbyist gotta do what a hobbyist gotta do – I braved the unknown with a mix of Vallejo’s Jade Green and White.
Broken Shadeglass mirrors – a special feature and main theme of the scenery. Decided to approach this in two different ways. First are the hand painted broken mirrors, adorning walls. I simply airbrushed hard angles with a mix of Jade Green and White using a Scarhandpaing’s bussiness card like a stencil. I then adjusted transitions of particular ‘pieces’ of glass and made them more distinct with sharp white lining. Other vessels were a different story. I cut translucent plastic into shards and tossed them into resin-filled vessels. Some sunk instantly, while others stayed afloat – creating a really nice effect – which unfortunatelly looks much more badass in real life, than in the pictures.
The “Shadeglass Scenery” set is done and it have already seen some Shadespire action. Who knows what will come next if the hype continues? Either way – if you plan to venture into the Mirrored City – be sure to head there throug “SHADEGLASS SCENERY” SPECIAL PROJECT gallery…
In this article I would like to present to you an easy way to prepare and then paint your own Camo Markers for Infinity the Game.
Obviously, the preparation process was pretty simple. Using a ruler, pencil and hobby knife I first drawn and then cut five 25x47mm rectangles made of PCV. I then glued them on top of 25mm round bases. At this point Camo Markers were ready to get painted.
1 First step was to undercoat entire Camo Markers with Vallejo's Desert Tan.
2 Next I used a piece of synthetic hair holder as a stencil and airbrushed Vallejo Light Brown over the Markers.
3 Then I switched to Vallejo Earth and airbrushed it over the markers using a piece of net that I got patatoes in. This net should be easily obtainable in every grocery store and makes for a really cool stencil.
4 I then got back to hair holder stencil and airbrushed a layer of Vallejo Light Grey Green.
5 Next I airbrushed points of Vallejo Dark Flesh.
6 Some wet stippling went next. First I applied clumsy dots of Vallejo German Red Brown, then did the same with Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh. Afterwards I used Pallid Wych Flesh to mark edges of the markers and provide number to distinguish them from one another on the gaming board.
7 Basing came last. I used Games Workshop Agrellan Earth and Agrellan Badland, then drybrushed them with Karak Stone and Flayed One Flesh. Work done.
A hobby gravel – along with sand, gravel is a basing resource that each modeller should be acquainted with. Popular to an extent where some companies tried to brand it. For me, gravel and sand are supplies that I avoid buying in hobby stores. Why spend your money on thingsg that you can acquire yourself, especially when you know what to look for and how to prepare it? I preffer spending my cash on paints and awesome miniatures. Not that I ever went gravel hunting. Just kept in mind that modelling treasures like this might be found unexpectedly and to take advantage of such find if luck favours me…
One of these magic moments happened just few days ago. I was walking my dog, decided to take a new route and visit a small defile left by a construction long time gone. Suddenly I stumbled upon a huge pile of perfect gravel. By ‘perfect’ I mean slim, thin, not too sandy, sturdy pieces. Something ideal for basing. I marked the spot in my memory and got back there, armed with a small container, few hours later. Took ‘the sample’ and upon reaching home, spent few minutes preparing it for later use…
1 First I separated the biggest chunks from the rest of precious gravel. These were a bit sandy so I left them for further cleaning (water and toothbrush will do).
2 I then used a rare strainer to separate medium sized pieces from the smallest ones. Medium sized pieces are perfect for scenic rocks, or more planned surfaces. I like to have these in a separate container, just to pick what I need at a whim.
3 What's left was a pile of small, flat pieces - ideal for standard miniature basing. This is what you usually get, when purchasing a hobby gravel in a store. As you can see, a lot of sand and dirt was filtered alongside gravel. Fortunatelly, nothing that a thick sieve couldn't handle.
Sounds so simple, that you probably ask yourself why have I done a tutorial out of it? I decided to TUT this to show the extreme level of simplicity required to prepare your own gravel. Sure – there is a catch to it: you gotta find some gravel in the first place – still, unless you live at the North pole – one day you will just bump into it. Old construction sites are a good place to start looking. Good hunting.
“In the fictional multiverse of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Modrons are creatures native to the outer plane of Mechanus. Modrons resemble geometric shapes with humanoid limbs and represent a living, physical manifestation of law without regard to good or evil. They follow a strict hierarchy, with each rank reporting to the rank directly above it, and issuing commands to the ones ranking beneath it. For example, a quadrone modron will report to a pentadrone, and command several tridrones.”
This Special Project is a part of the ever growing Thomas’s Peculiar Collection. With new D&D adventure just being released and the Modrons playing an important role in it – Thomas have asked me to prepare a set of Modrons of different shapes and sizes – to fill eventual requirements of his Game Master needs. He then provided some fantastic and imaginative materials to base my work on.
Thomas knew very well how to support his favorite Arcane Artificer for the grand task of creating an entire collection of Modrons. He ordered a variety of awesome hobby (and not entirely hobby) materials that were meant to bolster my own collection of ‘scrap’. With the concept already implanted in my mind and a magnificent drop of loot delivered by a courier – I spent half a day just segregating and preparing bitz and usable stuff for later use.
The project was then put on hold, due to other projects standing in the way (schedules must be met). Fortunatelly it did not took long and about a month later I reignited the spark of the arcane – sat down and started working on the Clockwork Modrons.
First a test subject, and then – upon it being accepted by my master – I worked day and night to bring more such magical creatures into being. Bodies invoked with use of wooden balls and smooth dice of many shapes. Sockets, joints and detail forged with decorative beads. Limbs created with toothpicks, bases cut of plasticard, weapons stolen from the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures… A wast production line was set up on my workbench and I was at the same time the coordinator, concept supervisor and the working force…
Some time passed, before totally exhausted and with fingers covered in a layer of hardened super glue, I reached the goal of creating vessels for souls of the Modrons to occupy. I then put a lot of effort to bolster them against the forces of gravity and potential stress they might suffer during games to come.
For the Modrons to truly come alive I obviously had to do my magic and paint them. The entire process was long and not without challenges. Modrons are mechanical constructs so I decided to go ‘metal’ with a trusted Five Layer Technique: Metal. I then added more and more layers of different effects like rust streaks, smears, patina, splatters of stippled metal and some edges. In this the ‘AK Interactive’ paints became a vital factor. Slowly, steadily the Modrons came alive at my desk.
Finally I’ve reached the goal and reported a success to my master. His bidding done I can now present to you the fruits of my arcane labour in the “CLOCKWORK MODRONS” Special Project gallery…
