July Painting Challenge: Day #8. . .

Here is where we are with the painting project challenge to myself for July. Neckstocks have been trimmed in -- much easier now than trying to add later -- as have the basic colors for the breeches, which will get highlights later. I did the same for the waistcoats and went ahead and applied the highlight in most instances as well as one of the leather aprons for one of the two drummers. So far, so good, but no rest for the wicked.

Lots of time in the painting chair the last few days, 30 minutes here, 90 minutes there, and so forth. Just about halfway done blocking in all of the main colors. You can see that I have already begun adding the highlights on the waistcoats of a few figures. FYI, the old GW Vomit Brown makes a great yellowish-brown base for the later Citadel Golden Yellow highlight on top.

Amazingly, that little bottle of GW paint -- Vomit Brown -- has lasted since since the fall of 2006. One of the very few left from that time, so I'd better hurry up with the facings and turnbacks for the Hessenstein half of the battalion. I added several drops of Liquitex FLow Aid yesterday before closing the bottle again just to be sure it remains solvent long enough to finish the yellows, a color about as difficult to highlight convincingly as white.

In the meantime, basic dark green and yellow facings, dark brown musket stocks/drums, and blue coats are next. The dark blue will nicely cover and coloring outside the lines with the previously mentioned colors and also help neaten up everything. At some point in all of this, I'll address the mounted offer's saddlecloth and oil-based horse coat before moving onto smaller details for the entire battalion.

Highlights for everything after that, and then I'll wrap up with tiny things like mustaches, hair and queues, belt buckles and the dreaded metal buttons. The inevitable touch-ups will come last of all before glossing and attaching the figures to their permanent Litko bases. So, no time to sit back and put up my feet. A lot remains to accomplish during the remaining 23 days of July!

No doubt about it though. Steady and visible painting progress like the kind already apparent is definitely a mental shot in the arm for the ol' painting mojo when it comes to getting 'em done. I wish it were more possible to to sustain this kind of pace during the academic year though, say between September, a month or so into the autumn semester, and May. A lot more would get painted and faster too. Heck, there might even be time for a few more games than is usually available.

-- Stokes

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

Martin said…

Hi Stokes,

Looking good, Stokes! (As usual!) Keep chipping away at 'em when time, chance, and circumstance allow. Your slow but steady progress is very encouraging to others, like me, that need to break out the ol' brushes and start in as well. Keep up the good work, and thanks for posing it! Perhaps a review and parade of your collection could be arranged before year's end? Can a (GASP!) game be far behind?!

All The Best,

Martin

11:32 AM

Independentwargamesgroup said…

Stokes,
Ive been experimenting with the new GW contrasts paints/inks. I think you might find them very handy.Especially one called 'skeleton horde' which is used to wash over cream or white. It gives a good finish for white uniforms.I have also been using a burnt umber one for horses using a deep yellow base coat. Again very effective.

11:58 AM

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog