Because there are so many different areas, I’m not going to do my usual schitck and list all colours used – instead I might draw out the candles, as they don’t follow the studio scheme.

Candles

• Menoth White Highlight base coat
• Glaze of Sulfuric Yellow (6 Mixing Medium : 1 Sulfuric Yellow : 1 Water)
• Secondary glaze for the “brightest” spots.
• Highlight back to Menoth White Highlight

I don’t much else to say, I’m completely exhausted from painting this guy. I think I took almost as much time getting the candles just right, as I spent on a Boneswarm. I hope the client is happy.

They are wonderfully evocative models – very reminiscent of classical paintings of the underworld. If you ever get to see one of these models in the “flesh”, take a good look at it – because I swear the “lead” skeleton is pushing the others down to get at the target first.

I’ve never really settled on a technique for painting bone – often how I paint it depends on how I feel at the time. And these models reflect that uncertainty. With the first one, I definitely wanted to try for a dirty / sun beaten feel, while the second I wanted to get something closer to the studio scheme – which to me feels more like a bleached bone. Still, the final scheme felt fairly “ho hum”, so I’ve attempted to add a purple-ish glow to the eye sockets of the skulls.

Boneswarm #1

• Primed White
• Washed with Gryphonne Sepia (Citadel)
• Washed with Umbral Umber
• Drybrush of ‘Jack Bone
• Drybrush of Menoth White Highlight

Boneswarm #2

• Primed White
• Washed with a mix of Gryphonne Sepia (Citadel) and Armour Wash
• Drybrush of Menoth White Highlight
• Drybrush of Morrow White

Viktor is the first model from my third commission. Painted for a local Minion player, the brief was to use the studio scheme (or close to it), with a preference to match Cygnar more than Minions so that he would be at home in either army. The other elements of the commission are Maelok the Dreadbound and 2 Boneswarms.

This is a fun model, with a surprising amount of detail (i.e. the last 20% of the model took 80% of the time). The majority is plate armour, but there are brooches, bow, books, quiver and glasses. Here’s the breakdown of the palette:

Armour

• Basecoat of Black Primer
• Heavy Drybrush of Pig Iron
• Drybrush of Chainmail (Citadel)
• Drybrush of Mithril Silver (Citadel)

Coat

• Basecoat of Cygnar Base Blue
• Shade with Cygnar Base Blue + Exile Blue
• Highlight with Cygnar Base Blue + Cygnar Blue Highlight
• Edges with pure Cygnar Blue Highlight

Leather

• Basecoat with Bootstrap Leather
• Shade with Devlan Mud
• Highlight with Bootstrap Leather
• Highlight with Bootstrap Leather + Rucksack Tan

Skin

• Basecoat with Midlund Flesh
• Shade with Midlund Flesh + Skorne Red / Midlund Flesh + Battle Dress Green
• Highlight with Midlund Flesh + Ryn Flesh

Dead Monster

• Hair – Gnarls Green
• Skin – Wurm Green
• Wash with Green Ink
• Drybrush with Wurm Green

Base

• Basecoat with Battlefield Brown
• Drybrush of Menoth White Base
• Drybrush of Menoth White Highlight
• Drybrush of Morrow White

It was going to be close though. I still had 2 Forsaken to paint for my first client before the same tournament – and I would lose 3 days as he had to borrow the models back. Still, I rationed out my time to ensure that I would have plenty of time, and with a week to go, I’m pretty happy that I’ve gotten both commissions finished (shots of the Forsaken were posted on Twitter).

After talking with the client, and taking some shots of his Fennblades, I knew I had to paint Madrak with darkish armour, grey/blue albino skin and use red as the base for the tartan (I refuse to attempt proper tartans, my hand is not that steady). In a lot of ways, the model was similar to the Fell Caller I painted up as a present earlier in the year. Chatting with the client, I decided to go with a red trim for the armour, just to bring out some variation from all that metal. Unfortunately, after basing the cloth there was FAR TOO MUCH RED. Something had to go. On the plus side, by drybrushing the red trim with gold – I could get a really nice effect that kept close to the original concept, but (I feel) added more punch.

I am also really happy with how the flesh came out (recipe below) – I’ve attempted albino skin before, and it came out looking very … poorly. Taking inspiration from the concept art, I floated the idea of making it more “ashen”. I think the overall effect, while not true albinoism, is rather striking.

Now, on to the good stuff.

Armour

• Basecoat of Black Primer
• Heavy Drybrush of Pig Iron
• Drybrush of Chainmail (Citadel)
• Drybrush of Mithril Silver (Citadel)
• Runes were done with Arcane Blue

Dark Leather

• Basecoat of Battlefield Brown
• Shade of Battlefield Brown + Cygnar Blue Base
• Highlight of Battlefield Brown + Rucksack Tan

Cloth

• Basecoat of Khador Red
• Shade of Khador Red + Sanguine Base
• Shade of Sanguine Base (limited to the darkest regions)
• Highlight of Khador Red + Khador Red Highlight

Flesh

• Basecoat of Underbelly Blue
• Wash of Bastion Grey + Mixing Medium + Water
• Mix of Underbelly Blue + Previous Wash
• Bring back to Underbelly Blue
• Highlight with Underbelly Blue + Menoth White Highlight
• Highlight extremities with pure Menoth White Highlight
• Shade of Battlefield Brown + Cygnar Blue Base
• Highlight of Battlefield Brown + Rucksack Tan

Kriel Stone

• Basecoat of Bastion Grey
• Drybrush of Menoth White Highlight + Trollblood Highlight
• Drybrush of Menoth White Highlight
• Shade with glaze of Greatcoat Grey
• Shade with glaze of Bastion Grey

Comment, suggestions and questions are welcomed.

Being who I am, I like to keep clients within the loop when it comes to doing work. To that end, I maintained a stream of Work-in-Progress shots via my Twitter account, SMS’d the occasional image when I needed more immediate feedback/comment, and kept up a fairly steady chatter as to how I was progressing and what my plans were for the following days.

Fortunate that I did so too, because the client indicated that they wanted to “borrow back” the models for an event this coming weekend! Losing up to 3 or 4 days of painting time would have seriously hampered my ability to deliver, if I hadn’t already been ahead of where I planned to be. As things turned out, I was able to push through last night and finish the Swordsmen ahead of a delivery to the client on Friday so they can mark front arcs and field over the weekend.

So, what worked? Flesh, light leather and cloth were all given a heavy wash of Devlun Mud. This meant I could lay down all the base-coat colours in one hit, then effectively dip the miniature in one step – rather than having to wash/paint each colour individually. Finding the Golden Olive was also a win, as I believe it was the original colour used. Also, the models are quite simple (for the most part) which made laying down paint very easy, and very rapid.

What didn’t work? I never did apply a wash/dark brown base-coat to the bases. At the time, I wasn’t sure how far from the original bases I was heading, so I’m going to see them Swordsmen in situ and do an eyeball comparison. If my bases are out, I’ll attempt to fix them.

What surprised me? Washing. I’ve used it before, but never to this extent. Over Dec 2011, and these models I’ve really appreciated the amount of detail you can draw out of the model using a wash. The only negative I have at the moment is that Citadel washes, when applied heavily, stain the base colour and dry with much less detail then how they look when applied. It could be in my application though, or I may have to dilute them to get better results.

For those following along at home, here are the colours that I used for each component of the models.

Armour

• Basecoat of Black Primer
• Heavy Drybrush of Pig Iron
• Drybrush of Chainmail (Citadel)
• Drybrush of Mithril Silver (Citadel)

Light Leather

• Basecoat of Rucksack Tan
• Devlun Mud (Citadel) wash

Dark Leather

• Basecoat of Battlefield Brown
• Shade of Battlefield Brown + Cygnar Blue Base
• Highlight of Battlefield Brown + Rucksack Tan

Cloth

• Basecoat of Golden Olive (VMC) – I actually went and looked for a close match to the client’s colour rather than try to mix
• Devlun Mud (Citadel) wash
• Highlight with Golden Olive (VMC)
• Highight with Golden Olive + Sulfuric Yellow

Flesh

• Basecoat with Frostbite
• Devlun Mud (Citadel) wash
• Highlight with Frostbite + Devlun Mud
• Highlight with Frostbite

Base

• Basecoat of Black Primer
• Drybrush of Hammerfall Khaki
• Drybrush of Trollblood Highlight (stippled for variation in rock colour)
• Drybrush of Menoth White Base
• Army Painter Jungle Tufts

Feedback and suggestions are welcomed – leave a comment!

Straight away I see two major challenges for me.

1. To paint 14 models in under 20 days – I’m not a particularly quick painter.
2. To paint close to someone else’s scheme, not knowing exactly the techniques or colours used.

A couple of smaller challenges also exist:

1. All of the models have already been assembled – I usually pin my models to a cork for painting and apply to the base afterwards, and with everything attached – getting into some of the places may be difficult.
2. Some of the models did not have gravel on their bases. I’ve had to guestimate based off what gravel I have at hand.

Here are a couple of shots of James’ existing models – giving you an idea of the scheme.

For me, the best way to attack this is to break down the major areas and then guess the colours likely used.

• Armour – This is dark and silvery, so I’m going to look at a drybrush of Pig Iron with a heavy Armour Wash, using a silver/platinum to pick out highlights
• Leather – Looks to be a fairly standard leather build, limited to boots and bracers, so Bootstrap Leather with a Devlun Mud wash seems to work.
• Cloth – This will be the trickiest for me – in some of the photos it looks almost Olive, but from seeing it in person it has a brighter feel to it. This (to me) is also the signature colour for the army, so I need to get it right. Fortunately, there is very little cloth on the Swordsmen, so that may work in my favour. I’m going to have to do some test swatches and see how close I can get with the paints I have. Over the top looks to be a dark brown wash – so first pick would be Devlun Mud.
• Flesh – Pale, with a slight blue tinge. I’m going to try Frostbite with a dark wash – not Devlun Mud, maybe Badab Black mixed with Umbral Umber.
• Base / Rocks – looks to be a neutral grey over a dark brown (almost black) basecoat.

Looking back over the models I have seen appear to have been layered by hand, rather than using a wash. Given my time constraints, I may not have that luxury. Will have to see how I am travelling.

Now for the breakdown of how I (at the moment) intent to achieve this:

1. Metallics (drybrushing is messy)
2. Bases (drybrushing is still messy, but at least I’ll only have to touch up feet)
3. Flesh
4. Cloth + Leather

I think I’m going to do all the models at once, rather than one at a time – at least for the Metallics and probably for the other base colours. I may not feel like I’m getting a lot achieved on a daily basis but it will mean that the unit is painted consistently across the entire 12 models. It also means that if I fail to reach my goal, the unit will still be 60% to 70% painted at a minimum.

I’ll leave the Forsaken for another night.

To wind up this post – here is a shot of everything before undercoating – see if you can pick the bonus model and those with my bases…