Enjoying Painting Once Again. . .

Not much to look at so far, and I've violated my "Fleshtone First" step, but I am very pleased with the Charcoal Gray highlight on the black areas.  Not too much, but just enough difference from the straight black.

A wee bit of painting progress the last week or so on the first platoon of eight privates, a few drummers, and a couple of officers. This time around, I am playing with the order in which I do things and trying to resist the urge to apply too much highlight color to the blacks, blues, and reds.   

On that note, I've found a very nice dark 'Charcoal Gray' acrylic that seems to provide just the perfect highlight for black leather and cloth of various kinds.  Less silvery than the Zinc used in the past.  See what you think. 

On the technical end of things, I've been using larger #4 round brushes for much of the painting so far.  Another one with a not so good point and a new one with a very good point where more precision is called for.  

Anyone else find that the longer you paint figures, the less very tiny brushes have been necessary?  The last few years, much of my brushwork has been done with #4 and #6 rounds with #1, #2, or #3 rounds used for very small details like buttons or decorations on the chests of mounted officers.  

Of course, it could just be that I'm painting nominally 30mm figures now instead of the true 15s of years gone by, but even so. 

When I was a young, callow figure painter 40 or so years ago, I thought that teeny-tiny brushes were the thing.  And, of course, that meant that painting even a single figure took forever.  But it need not be that way!

The figures are, of course, slated to become the Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg Infantry.  

If I am not too worn out after a day putting down new mulch, trimming missed spots around several beds, and taking care of a few other things outside for The Grand Duchess, I'll get back to these this (Sunday) evening and take care of the red neck stocks and fleshtone before possibly moving on to the facings and turn-backs.

-- Stokes