Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

Still quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red.

They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the years that these are supposed to be good brushes for our hobby, and many painters/wargamers swear by them.

I've sworn at them this last week or so.

Very quietly of course. But the cloud of blue language still hangs in the air down here in Zum Stollenkeller. Grrrrr.

Well, for the time being then, it looks like I'll stick with my long-time acrylic Winsor & Newton 'Cotman' brushes and simply continue switching 'em out when the paints go after a unit or two. One can never have too many worn out brushes for base-coating and other assorted tasks that don't require a more precise application of color.

Ok, today is Sunday. Following breakfast with the soon to be 16-year old Young Master (October 27th) -- and after some Google Slide revision for tomorrow's hybrid course meetings -- I hope to return to the painting table for some more brushwork. Tackling the hair, queues, and mustaches today. Or that's the plan at any rate. Onward and upward, eh?

-- Stokes

Comments

Fitz-Badger said…

Two tricky things for miniature painting - finding good red paints and finding good brushes that keep a point!

2:51 PM

Anonymous said…

Try the Tamiya 870…. Series brushes. They are very cheap and wear but keep a point.

12:44 AM

The Good Soldier Svjek said…

Getting a good brush is a problem nowadays, I've never had success with acrylic brushes I'm afraid.

2:05 AM

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

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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