Here's a quick shot of a Space Marine I am working on in between commission pieces...He's painted in oils over a couple acrylic washes.

I'm really trying to show this guy as a veteran and wanted to show his armor a bit worn, and battle scared. I started with the mid tone which is yellow ochre and cadmium yellow medium. From there, I blocked in the shadow which is the mid tone plus a touch of brown madder alizarin. For the deepest shadows I used brown madder alizarin with just a touch of mars black. Highlights were the mid tone with titanium white added...

For the battle scars, I just drew in the markings using mars black and then blended the highest highlight tone at the edge to give the scar some depth and "age".

I'm not sure how I'll build up the ground work, but am tinkering with a few ideas...may even try to pull off a bit of vignette. I'd like to have something very unique and different in my display this year...

Everything about done with the exception of the hands. Need to add a little weathering to the knees of the pants and then tighten up some of the shadow lines...on the glide path for having this guy ready for MFCA

Austrian Jager

Here are a couple quick pictures of my latest work in progress; it's a 54mm beaute from Time Machine Miniatures, Austrian Jager (TMP-32). Cast in white metal, this was a snap to clean up and assemble. A little filler at the shoulders, and a few seam lines, but nothing out of the ordinary. This is my first figure from Time Machine Miniatures, and have to admit, I'm quickly becoming a fan.

Painted in my usual technique of oils over acrylics, I tried to vary the shade of the jacket and trousers. Showing a bit more of a faded tone for the jacket. Still working on bringing out the highest of the highlights on the jacket, the deep shadows are in as are the first highlights. I mixed the grey for both the jacket and pants over pulling a tone straight from the tube. I think it adds a bit more "personality" to the figure.

The belts and the rucksack are roughed in with just the deep shadows and first highlights laid in; I'll go back over them in my next painting session.

Trying to have this guy ready for MFCA; more to follow in the coming weeks...

Officer, 16th Lancers

Here's the finished 54mm 16th Lancer figure from Elite. He's painted with oils over Reaper acrylic paints and ready for the display case.

I'll tinker a bit more with the metal shutter; I want to deepen the contrast in a couple places. I'll do that before the Atlanta show this year.

16th Lancer

Here's my latest figure; it's the 16th Lancer, 54mm figure from Elite. Cast in white metal, there's very little clean up; a couple mold lines on the inside of the leg and along the back edge of the sleeve thatwere surprisingly easy to clean up.

He's painted with oils over Reaper acrylic paints; the torso is completed and have just started on the pants and boots...

With the exception of metal button, all other gold lace is painted using a non-metallic metallic method that I adapted from Lou.

He isn't attached yet to the base; I want to get the back of the pants finished. The way he's positioned on the base close to the stone wall doesn't allow for a lot of space to paint.

The stone wall came from my spare parts bin as did the Verlinden gate; the post is craft wood painted with varying shades of sepia, burnt umber and unbleached titanium white. The stone steps are balsa foam painted with Reaper acrylics and washed with a mix of burnt umber and sepia.

U Boot Kommandant

Just finished this guy; he's the Andrea U-Boat Commander Bust. Cast in beige resin, there are a few mold lines to clean up, but nothing too extreme. He's painted with oils over acrylics using the wet on wet technique.

All the gold with the exception of the buttons and silver dolphin pin are painted in non-metallic metallics manner. I used a bit more burnt umber for the base color for the trim along the brim of the hat and for the oak leaves to show a contrast between the gilded thread of those items and the emblems on his chest and top of the hat.

I decided to go with a very pale flesh tone since I thought it would represent life under the water a bit more than my traditional rudy tone. The only thing I did differently with my flesh mix was to add a bit more titanium white than cadmium yellow to the highlight mixture and grey out the basic flesh tone a bit more than usual.

The binoculars are painted in oils and at the wear points, dabbed some grey tones for contrast.

Finished Krasinski today...tremendous figure from Le Cimier are amazing! He's painted with oils over acrylics in my usual method of wet on wet.

This is a commission piece and am hoping I can find this figure for myself...

Krasinski Update

Krasinski is just about finished...all that is left is the lace work at the collar and atop the scarlet facing, his boots, some ground work and the final metallic highlights. There are some buckles I need to address, but I'll wait to do those last since I want to make sure all the oils around them are pretty dried.

I need to touch up the lines and add the highest highlights to the white jacket, but for the most part he's about 85% complete.

I've tried to mix a combination of metallic and nonmetallic effects on this figure to give a little contrast and to make the metallic effects pop a bit more.

Karsinski

He's coming along nicely; I have finished the metal parts today, and started to work on the cartridge belt. I chose to go with a white belt vs. a silver one mostly because there's so much silver on this figure already, I wanted a bit more contrast. I've gone with a cooler tone for the belt so it would contrast against the white of the jacket.

I finished the "weave" of crimson through the sash, and will touch it up before I hand it off to the collector.

I started the white lace embroidery at the collar, turn backs and at the lapel. I haven't decided if I'll use oils or acrylics for the pattern. It's an intriguing pattern and I really have to think through how I'll pull it off free-hand at the 54mm scale...

Krasinski in progress

Here is where I am with my latest; the crimson pants and white parts of the jacket are finished. All is left is to bring out the highest highlights on both the pants and jacket. I've also finished the cartridge belt and need to outline it once I have the facings finished.

For the crimson tone of the pants I mixed alizarin crimson with a touch of viridian. I highlighted with cadmium red light and shaded with alizarin crimson and a touch of purple.

For the white part of the jacket I mixed yellow ochre, mars black and titanium white for the base color. For the shadows I mixed less of the titanium white and for the highlights, mixed titanium white and flake white.

Up next are the gloves and boots...

Here's my latest...I'm working on a tremendous figure from LeCimier; it's a 54mm of Krasinski.

He's painted in the traditional manner of oils over acrylics (he's a commission piece, and haven't gotten to the point where I am comfortable enough with painting a commission piece with the black undercoat...), and using the wet on wet technique. I've finished the pants and have the first shadows and highlights done on the fleshtones. I'll deepen the shading and apply the highest highlights later today to the face. I'm using the non-metallic metallic technique that Lou Masses developed for acrylics, but I've adapted it to oils. I'll use printers ink on a the buttons and some of them metal inserts of the scabbard, but for the most part, I prefer the effect of the non-metallic metallics.

More to follow!

Venetian Archer Part II

Here's the finished archer ready for the trip to Atlanta on Friday...

As I said earlier, this is one of the best figures from the I&E line. I highly recommend it for your gray army.

I used the Reaper range of acrylics on this figure, and am very impressed as well with the smooth finish they provide. Although he's painted with oils over a black acrylic undercoat, the bow, arrows, quiver, and scabbard were painted with oils over a red undercoat from Reaper. I'm very impressed with the Reaper acrylic paints, and have already started to purge my Andrea and Vallejo brands and replace them with Reaper paints.

Venetian Archer

I've started this I&E 75mm Venetian Archer as I am winding down on a commission piece; it's cast in white metal, and is probably the best cast I&E ever produced. Exquisite detail and attention to detail echos throughout this figure, I believe this was sculpted by Randall Patton, but I may be mistaken. Nonetheless, it's an amazing figure.

He's painted using oils over a black acrylic base; the metal helmet and breastplate are simply buffed out from the white metal casting washed with burnt umber and lamp black. I've highlighted with a touch of silver printers ink to a mix of burnt umber and sepia.

The boots have the oil base color applied, which is burnt umber and lamp black for the dark leather, and mars orange and burnt umber for the light leather at the top of the boots. The pants are painted with a mix of cinnabar green and viridian; I shaded with a touch of lamp black to the base color and highlighted using the base plus a touch of cadmium green light and cadmium yellow. The leather jerkin is painted with a mix of burnt umber and lamp black, and then shaded using lamp black and a touch of purple. Highlights are achieved with mars orange and the highest highlights are achieved with a touch of yellow ochre (thanks Bob!) to the mars orange.

He's a work in progress at this stage...

After The Jump

Here's my latest...

This is the 1/16th US Paratrooper from Alpine; it's an amazing canvas and frankly, it's what is making Alpine a leader in the industry. Tremendous sculpting!

For this figure, I tried something completely different, I undercoated in black acrylic instead of the traditional matching acrylic color. I really liked this technique, since it enables me to see the shadows and highlights much more effectively. Not to mention adds a dramatic feel to the figure. He's painted in my traditional manner of "wet on wet", and the only difference is that I added a touch of grey to the base color to compensate for the transparency of the oil paints.

There's still a couple finishing touches to do, like adding just a touch of a mud and dirt along the bottom of the pants, the jacket and at the elbows. I'll go over the figure one last time and he's ready for the display case.

I enjoyed this figure, and for me, doing something a little out of the ordinary helps me to learn and grow.

I can't wait to start my next figure!

Creole Guide

Just finished up this tremendous figure from Thunderbird Historical Miniatures; it’s a slight conversion from the original release. The figure is cast in gray resin and comes in eight pieces. Each piece is cast wonderfully. Clean up is minimal, and there are a few seam lines, and they are so faint that they can be easily missed on each of the arms.

I wanted to make this a more “original” figure, and after reading Mark’s article (www.qtm-magazine.it/guidacreola.htm) I decided to go with a swampier feel to the figure. I cut off the moccasins and replaced them with bare feet from the Historex line, and instead of having the rifle over his right shoulder, I replaced the hand and rifle with a spare hand with a cigarette from the spares box.

He’s painted with artist oils over an acrylic base in my traditional manner of wet on wet.

This is my first figure from Thunderbird Historical Miniatures, and am looking forward to many more….

APG Auction Figure

He's finished!

I put the finishing touches on him this morning and he's ready for the auction block come August. I can not tell you how excited I am for this show and how much this will mean to our project this year and the future of the APG.

He's painted in my traditional manner of oils over acrylics...

I tried to capture the essence of a soldier during the Vicksburg Campaign in 1863. I weathered his pants with a mixture of earth tones and ochre's; I feathered into the blue base color while both were wet.

The blue jacket is a mixture of Indigo and a touch of Prussian Blue; highlights were achieved by adding Misty Blue to the base mix. I shaded with a touch of ivory black and purple to the base mix. The light blue pants were mixed using Cerulean Blue and Misty Blue with just a touch of grey to cut the blue tone. I added Titanium White to the base color for the highlights and for the shadows, added just a touch of Prussian Blue to base color.

11th Indiana

I'm making some progress on my auction figure for this year's APG Project. This is a 100mm Michael Roberts 11th Indiana NCO conversion; I've added a different head and tinkered a touch with his left shoulder just a little bit.

Our Project this year is the conservation and restoration of the Colors of the 5th Alabama Battalion. This flag was captured at Picketts Charge on July 3rd 1863. They came into the possession of Joshua Chamberlain and were returned to Alabama in 1943. Here's our website:

http://www.artistpreservationgroup.com/ for more information on the project and upcoming show.

I'll post a couple more in-progress pictures as well as the final picture for the auction. This figure will be at the Gettysburg Show August 7th - 9th.

When the Mighty Fall

I just finished this 54mm Space Marine figure from Games Workshop. I was really inspired by the 120mm Space Marine SBS that appeared on Cool Mini or not, and I did a little research and decided I was going to break from my traditional Napoleonic figures and try something a little different.

He's painted in my traditional manner of oils over acrylics and if you care to see how he all came together, here is a SBS I did on Timelines Forum.

None Shall Pass...

Just finished this guy last week...

I took an Art Girona figure and pulled a historex head from the spares part box, rotated the arm back and then dropped the shoulder a little in an effort to make him poised for defending an attack. When I saw the stock figure I never imagined it would clean up so nicely.

I was very impressed with the figure; very few mold lines and clean up was a snap. From start to finish, it took me a month to complete.

During MFCA back in 2002, I talked with Adrian Bay and he mentioned that he primes all his figures in black; seven years later, I finally gave it a shot...

This is the first figure I ever primed in black and really like the way it worked out. For me, the black primer helps me to see where the highlights and shadows are at and gives greater depth to the oil paints.

He's painted with acrylics over oils.

1st Regime Prussian Hussar Officer

I started with Verlinden's Prussian Leiberhessen figure for this project. I wanted something a little different with his pose, so I took the right hand and substituted it with one I had in my spares box and moved it just a little forward on the shoulder. I filled the small gap with A&B Putty and then sanded the shoulder down just a little in order to make the arm look a little more natural. My intent with that small modification is to help with the scene that I am going to put him in...

I also found in my spare parts box a 120mm saber in the scabbard and replaced the one that came with the figure. I needed the right hand to be "open" for the vignette he'll be a part of...

I added a plume atop his shako like that worn by the 1st Regiment and attached it with a small brass rod to the metal flange.

So, after the modifications and the black primer, here's what I started with...

The entire figure was primed in black and this is the first time I've painted fleshtones over a black primer. It took a couple extra layers of my flesh undercoat to make me feel comfortable about starting the fleshtones.

My fleshtone mix is pretty basic for this guy; burnt sienna, titanium white, naples yellow and cadmium red. I added a little of red madder for the shadow tone and more titanium white for the highlights.

For the barrel sash, I started off with the darker tones at the bottom and worked my way to lighter tones at the top. The red cords base tone is simply cadmium red medium with a touch of red madder, and the white barrels are titanium white and sepia. I highlighted the red cords with cadmium red light and the whites with flake white.

Here's what the final figure looks like...I talked with Conny and he suggested that I mix my own black instead of using a something right out of the tube, and instead of undercoating with pure black acrylic I mixed some brown into the color for the pelisse and dolman and added a little blue to the mix for the pants.

I pulled these color mixes directly from Conny's CD "How I Paint" Vol I (by the way, these are incredible references!). Here are the mixes:

The pelisse is alizarin crimson + prussian blue + viridian.

The pants is ivory black + indigo

The dolman is ivory black + burnt sienna to get a brown, then that brown with violet + viridian.

For the highlights, I mixed a little bit of titanium white + prussian blue into the base color and gradually built up on them as I went. For the shading, I added a little bit of lamp black to each of the base colors for a deeper richer color.

I still have a couple tweeks to make; he needs dull coating and then I'll bring out the metal highlights. But I'll wait to do that once the entire vignette is done...