Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 6

The base is coming along brick by brick.  Makes me wish I'd picked a simpler setting for him but too late now!

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 5

I finally had the time to sit back down and finish off the Dragoon's left boot.  Here's a quick close up of the finished boots next to the sketched in ones.  In case you missed my last post, the tutorial on how I did them has been posted here.

That means the figure is essentially finished.  The only thing to add to him is the sword (which he'll be holding in his left had).  The bottom of the scabbard will be resting on the ground while the handle will be in his hand, so I wanted to wait until he was ready to go on the base before I permanently attached it.  That will actually be a bit tricky.  I've got to get the attachment right at both ends.  Then there are the straps which will go around his leg and attach where they disappear beneath his coat.  I'll have to bend and adjust these so they look right.  If I'm not careful, it'll be easy to scratch up the existing paint job on the figure.  It's all stuff I should be able to handle, but it will need to be done with some care.

In the meantime, I need to paint that base.  I started on that the other day.  I gave the gate a dark base coat (it will be wrought iron) and then applied several different shades of grey as base coats for the stones in the column.  I plan to make this using light grey/white stones, but I want to have some variation in there.  Right now it's a bit extreme, but as I continue to paint and highlight each one, I think the end result will look subtler.  So far I've just painted a few, but I need to keep moving along if I want to get this done in time for the SCAHMS show!

New Tutorials

I've got several new tutorials up on FigureMentors.  Here's a list in case you're interested in checking them out:

Painting a Shiny Black (with Matte Paints)
The most recent work looking at how I did the black sections on the Dragoon and the hair on the Fallen Angel

Step by Step Painting of a 54mm Saxon Warrior
This is an older project, but I only recently got around to writing it up.

Knight of the Holy Sepulchre
A summary of my work on this.  Not a true step by step, but still an in-depth look at the project.

A Reference on Crusading Knights
Not a true tutorial, but a good summary reference for anyone interested in painting crusaders.

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 4

Taking advantage of the painting time and getting as much done on the Dragoon as I can.  I cleaned up the gold lace/cord and did the rest of the cords and epaulets.  This was done with Burgundy Wine, Muddy Brown, Palomino Gold, Buckskin Pale, Linen White, and Pure White.  I then took care of some small details (the last of the horse hair on the top of his helmet and the medal on his chest) and then I turned my attention to the boots.  Like the horse hair, I wanted a shiny black look for the boots.  I'm putting together a detailed tutorial which will be posted over on FigureMentors (though I'll share the announcement/link here as soon as it's up).  In the meantime, here's a quick look at how I painted them.  As you'll notice, I only completed one of the two boots.  The blending is a time consuming process, so I find it easier to just focus on one at a time.  I'll hopefully take care of the other boot later this week.

First, I began with a sketch of where I want the highlights

Then I start the slowly blend them back down into the black.  I start with the lightest shades and gradually get darker and darker.  Here's a look at that partially done.  The image on the right has been blended from Vampiric Shadow (an off white) to Dark Elf Highlight and then to Dark Elf Skin.

From there the blending continues, going from Dark Elf Skin to Dark Elf Shadow.  A little Pure Black was used in some shadows, but most of what appears to be black is just the Dark Elf Shadow.

Finally, I went back in with some Vampiric Highlight and then Pure White to add some extra pop to the reflection points.  You can see the comparison below between the previous blend (on the left) and the one with the brighter reflections on the right.  I also made a few tweaks so some of the blends (like on the top of the foot) while I was at it.

I've written up a much more thorough discussion of how I did these and how I approach shiny black in general.  I hope to get it posted in the next few days, so check back for an update with the link!

Now that you've seen the boots, here's the rest of him.  Just a little more to do on him and then it will be time to tackle that base.