So, what have I been up to? As I mentioned in my last post I've been struggling with some Gaming ADD and have been flitting between numerous projects not getting too far with any of them before deciding I had to do something else.
First up I bought my first Miniature Mentor video, "Speed Painting: The Art of Tomas David", a very nice download in high def where Mr David (the painter behind Hell Dorado's amazing looking official figures) shows off his speed painting technique, something he calls Zenithal Highlighting.
The video is very good and whilst his method uses a airbrush he also shows you how to achieve the same sort of effect with normal spray cans, an approach I decided to try a variation on on some of my latest purchases.
The basic idea behind the method is that you use your undercoating to define your highlights and shadows on the miniature, then use washes to paint on top, saving you the hassle of shading and highlighting as it's already done for you in the undercoat.
Allow me to demonstrate using some Heresy Blights I'm going to be using in the D&D campaign soon (all spray paints are from Halfords btw):
First up undercoat with black spray, once dry I used a gray spray at a downward angle (45 degreesish to the model) to start the definition of light and shade and whilst this layer is still wet I spayed white straight down onto the top of the miniature until I was happy with the effect (if you wanted an even lighter highlight then you could repeat the last part again when the paint had dried).
Above are the next 3 stages, 1st is 2 washes of the base flesh colour, 2nd is a slightly lighter wash to redefine the highlights a little more and finally the finished look complete. All in all about 2 hours for all 3 to be completely painted, maybe not fast by some people's standards, but for me amazingly quick.
I've added the intermediate stage of gray between the black layer and the white as I prefer a more gradual change from shade to highlight and spraying the white onto the gray whilst it is still wet gives a smoother blend (IMO anyway).
Here are the finished 6 Blights, just awaiting a decision to be made on their basing:
I've also got 2 demons & 6 Gnolls on the go with the same technique, but they've suffered from by ADD the most and still need work to get them finished:
The Horned Demon is also from Heresy whilst the winged fellow and the gnolls are all from Otherworld Miniatures.
I have got one project almost completed, thanks to my friend Rob who asked to play another game of Pulp City this past Tuesday (21st October).
I introduced the game to Rob last month where we ended up playing a 3-way game due to adverse traffic affecting one of the other games that night. We all had fun and Rob was eager to try out the rules again this month so I decided to use that as an excuse to try and get my Worldworks Games terrain sorted out after I realised I nearly had enough to do a 28"x28" board with what I had.
So with a concerted effort I set to work printing, cutting and gluing the few bits I needed to complete the board.
I put together these four ages ago, I just had to add the roof and graffiti to the boarded up store on the far right.
I wanted an alleyway and figured out a simple way of doing it. Bud's Tattoo Parlour has been a store I wanted to do for a while, finally decided to do it for this project.
These are the interiors for the apartment above Bud's and Bud's itself, yes I really am that fussy that I found tattoo magazine covers to print up and put on the table for the punters to read :)
Bud's still needs a little work to finish and I'd like to add a stairway up to the apartment at some point, but as I probably wont need the interiors until I do my All Things Zombie campaign I don't need to worry just yet.
To go with the buildings I also sorted out some street furniture to go with it:
Phonebooth and newspaper vending machine are from Worldworks, the lamp posts are from Fenris Games.
Yellow bin and rubbish pile are from Old Crow (from the Ainsty range), blue and green bins are from Antenociti's Workshop, Planters are from Fenris.
For a look at the board in action, scroll down to the bottom of this post on the Enfield Gamers site to check out the game in progress.
I also managed to get 2 more minis painted for the game, Harrier and Virus, unfortunately the bad run of luck I've been having with varnish lately kicked in again so I haven't been able to take decent pics of them, but here's a shot of them as they are currently:
The wolf is a companion for Charlie's Ranger in the D&D campaign and another sufferer of the bad varnish karma, I've managed to save them I think thanks to some brush on varnish, but all three will need a bit more TLC before I can claim them as finished.
Also on the PC front I have started putting together some markers to represent various resources in the game:
L-R Teleport Homer (courtesy of GW), Sniper Rife (Heresy, Fenris base), 3 Spy Bots (Ground Zero Games), and a Pulse Emitter (again from GW).
On other fronts, I've picked up this from Thomarillion for my park board:
The main statue is magnetised and I was going to do the gargoyles as well, but quite frankly trying to do it was beginning to drive me a little loopy so in the end I just glued them down.
on the WiP front I have this guy:
Who is going to be my second werewolf in my Blood Bowl team (another Otherworld mini).
And these two gentle-um-persons:
Dr. Red and Skyline for Pulp City, both put together, just need their bases doing. Whilst I like the bases they came with, neither really fit in with the rest of my stuff so I'm doing them new ones, I've only just figured out Dr. Red's, so that will take a bit of time, but Skyline's base is just awaiting a bit more greenstuff and I can start painting. Watch this space.
Anyway, I've taken up enough of your time so I'll let you get back to your daily lives again and I'll see you all next time.
Take care
J
