Orc Pirates Kickstarter

Taking a break from posting my own work, I wanted to share a kickstarter project that I think looks really interesting.  Black Sailors is a range of orc pirate figures that are 54mm scale (though closer to 75mm in size).  The level of detail on this guys is fantastic and each sculpt is really unique with a ton of character.  For those of you familiar with this blog you know that I like working on slightly larger figures (compared to the standard 28mm gaming stuff) so I'm always excited when I can find neat fantasy and sci-fi figures in that scale.  I can tell these will be a blast to paint!  The kickstarter began only a few days ago and is already at almost three times it's original goal.  The project goes until Dec 16 so if you're interested don't wait too long.  As they continue to raise funds they will release more orcs, trolls, and goblins along with sets of optional accessories for each orc.

Below are images of three of the sculpts.  Here is a link to the project.  Check it out to see the other figures, concept art, and painted versions.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fantasyminiatures/black-sailors-pirates-orcs-fantasy-miniatures

WIP - Officer of the Guide Part 2

This project is moving pretty quickly.  I touched up a few mistakes and then started on the gold lace details.  I tried to get a semi-metallic look by mixing the metallic colors with regular matte shades: Necro Gold with Imperial Purple, Dwarven Gold with Chestnut Gold, and Citrine Alchemy with Buckskin Pale.  I used a roughly 1 to 1 ratio for each, however in retrospect I should have used less matte paint.  The Scale75 metallics are a bit thin to begin with so the matte colors mixed in had an even stronger effect.  I'm too far on this one, but next time I'll try something closer to a 3 to 1 mix of metallic to matte.

I used a lot of directional strokes on the lace to create a textured look along the belts, the epaulette, and sword knot.  I still need to add the final couple layers of highlights to the legs but that won't be until he's firmly mounted to the base and I can paint the rest of the pants.  I just needed to do enough of the legs so I could attach his sword hand.

As I mentioned in my last post this figure is 75mm scale, so a bit bigger than the 54's I usually work on.

Edit - Here's a close up image showing the lace detail.  It's a section from the digital photo that's just been cropped but not resized, so it's about as close up as I can get.  You can also see the uniform color reflected on the sword.  I tried to keep it subtle so it's hard to notice in the zoomed out images.

WIP - Officer of the Guide Part 1

I've been jumping around from project to project a lot.  Painting has been an important stress relief lately so when I've hit a roadblock with one projects it's been easier to just jump to another project so I can keep making progress.  I don't want to spend what limited painting time I have banging my head against the wall.  So it's on to another project.  This is a Napoleonic figure of an Officer of the Guide in Egypt from Pegaso Models.  They were with Napoleon during his campaigns in Egypt and were the precursors to the Chasseur de la Guarde.  This figure is 75mm scale (well, closer to 70mm) and I've been wanted to do some more figures in this size.  I do like painting 54mm scale but when you're looking at them in person they don't have the same display impact that larger figures do.  The 75mm scale is big enough that I think it looks great on display but close enough to 54mm that it won't take too much more time to paint.

I'm using the same approach to the green on the coat as I did on the dragoon.  The dark purple (burgundy wine) is used both to darken the green and as the shadow tone for the reds.  The gold lace details will be a bit tricky.  In the past I've just used matte colors but I've seen other people work in metallic paints, so I thought I'd give that a try this time.  It's going to take a bit of experimentation.  I'll most likely mix in some matte paint as well so the finish isn't too metallic.

Murmillo Gladiator 2

I decided to get back to a project I started two months ago, a 75mm Murmillo Gladiator from Alexandros Models.  The skin is still a work in progress but today I decided to put some time in on the helmet.  I started with Scale75's Necro Gold mixed with Reaper's Imperial Purple.  Then I mixed in some Elven Gold and finally Thrash Metal.  After that I applied a few dark brown and dark purple glazes to reinforce some of the shadows.

 

Here's a size comparison for my two gladiator projects.  Just a slight difference is scale...

ACW Confederate Infantry Part 1

Here's something a bit different from my usual subject matter.  I'm working on a confederate civil war figure from Pegaso (54mm).  My dad is a big Civil War buff.  He's been collecting artifacts since he was a kid and has basically converted part of their house into a mini museum.  I've painted a couple ACW figures as gifts for him and this is another one that will end up in his collection.  He actually picked up the kit at a toy soldier show for $5 (not bad considering is retails for almost $50).  My parents come to visit this past week and so he brought it along.  The box art is just okay (I think the lighting/photo is to blame for that) but when I opened it up I realized it's actually a pretty neat little figure.  The figure will be holding an old tattered flag in his left hand, so I'm doing it as an end of the war figure, on the road to Appomattox.  We're coming up on the 150th anniversary of the end of the war, so it's good timing for this project.

Obviously it's pretty early, just base coated his uniform and then worked on the face.  I need to do a little more research before I get too far.  My dad pointed me in the direction of a couple good reference books, hopefully I can track them down.

Here's a close up of the face.  The focus isn't that crisp, but you get the idea.

Arena Rex

The figures from the Arena Rex kickstarter arrived this past week.  I've been looking forward to these for a long time so I put my other projects on hold and started on one of my favorite sculpts from the project, Otho Mentulus.  He's got a ton of detail and it's one of the more historically accurate sculpts.  I've gotten used to working on larger scales, so it's been an adjustment to paint a gaming miniature again.  

For the skin I stuck with my usual mix, Reaper's Mahogany Brown, Chestnut Brown, Rosy Shadow, Fair Skin, and Fair Highlight.  I made a small adjustment in the shadows, instead of going pure Mahogany to pure Chestnut to pure Rosy Shadow, I mixed Rosy Shadow into both browns (about 1 part rosy shadow to 3 parts brown).  You wouldn't normally notice the difference, but in large shadow areas I think it helps.  Because of his pose he's got some large shadow areas like his chest.  As usual, after the regular shading I went back with red and purple glazes to add a little more variation to the skin

The metals are the Scale75 metallic paints.  I've used these on my last few projects and really enjoy working with them.  The bronze is Necro Gold mixed with Reaper's Burgundy Wine, then that into Elven Gold and finally into Thrash Metal.  The iron is Black Metal mixed with Reaper's Pure Black, then that into Heavy Metal and finally Speed Metal.  In both cases I use a matte paint to help darken the shadow areas and reduce the shine from the metallic paints.  The helps keep the shadows dark even when the light hits them.

I used the Burgundy Wine color as my shadow tone for both the red and the blue sections.  I haven't quite decided what I want to do with the feathers, red, blue, or split the difference and go with purple.