Skip to main content

July Painting Challenge: Day #12. . .

Little by little, the figures take shape.  Still lots to do though.  Next up?  Shoulder belts and straps.


Another two or three fairly brief session in the painting chair yesterday afternoon and evening (Thursday), working primarily on adding some highlights to coats, breeches, the tips of toes, insteps, and the upper half of the right rear calves on all of the figures.  Areas that would catch the light on a a typical sunny day in this particular pose.  This part of the painting process is, for me at least, slow work as I take care not to get any errant splotches of paint where they should not be.  It's better to minimize later touch-up work whenever possible. 

At the same time, I must make sure to let enough of the darker undercoat show through, in this case a very dark Ral Partha blue, a midnight navy really, to give some depth to everything.  It looks weird up close under the painting lights during the actual painting, but once everything is dry at arm's length, or so -- standard wargaming distance -- the end effect doesn't look too far off the mark. 

The trick here, I have found, is using a rather inexact combination of damp-brushing, washes, and then pure pigment on high areas like shoulders, upper arms, and/or upper backs (where visible).  All of which seems to yield nicer blending rather than cartoonish, stark color pops more worthy of fantasy or sci-fi figures.  It's not really easy to explain, and is something I have sort of stumbled on, in at least a few senses, over the year.  But if everything works right, you end up with a group of figures that each have a very slight, even subtle difference between them though their overall appearance is nevertheless still uniform.  

And of course, a brush with a good point helps immeasurably in the application.

------------

Today is filled with errands of one kind, or another.  These include a haircut for The Young Master, mowing the front and back (if it does not rain), weeding part of a flower bed, and talking to gutter installer this evening after dinner.  Sadly, it will be evening before I can get back to these to wrap up basing highlights and move on to the shoulder belts.  If I'm not too tired from the day.  Summertime is not all fun and games!

-- Stokes

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

Taking Stock Part II: The (As Yet) Unpainted but Planned OOB. . .

  Two companies of Reichsarmee grenadiers painted back in 2017 or 2018.  Minden Austrians of course. A lovely early autumn day here in the grand duchy.  Bright sunshine and a light breeze with cool temperatures will make for some very pleasant late afternoon lawn mowing in a little while.  But first a bit more discussion of painting plans for the future. Last time, I looked back at the various and sundry units, support troops, and civilians that I've managed to paint in the last 17 years as the Grand Duchy of Stollen project has developed.  So today, let's look into the seemingly bottomless Drawer 'o' Lead to my left for a clue to the new direction.  Be forewarned, it's not going to be a quick job getting everything painted and based, but there we are. The following plans are based on the pile of unpainted figures already here.  Any future purchases will be limited to small things that might be needed to fill out the envisioned units (the odd few officers mounted o

Having a "No Day". . .

  F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day."  A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day.  I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  These have stood waiting  untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday a