Tuesday 28 July 2015

How to.... Paint Stone

Big Papa has started painting his new Age of Sigmar figures, and when posting them on Twitter, there has been quite a lot of interest in how the stone was painted.
 
So here is Big Papa'a guide to painting stone.
 
 
Step 1: Prime the model black. If you are spraying the primer on, check for any areas the spray has missed after the first coat has dried. Use a brush and some black paint to fill in those areas, and let everything dry thoroughly before moving on to the next step.

Step 1
 
 
Step 2: Drybrush your model with a dark brown paint. "Burnt umber" is the artist/craft paint equivalent. I used "Orc Flesh" from the now defunct Leviathan range.

A few notes about your choice of brush here: I like to use a softer bristled brush, which I think provides better coverage, and a less scratchy finish than some of the harsher brushes. Also, in this instance, you can get away with using the same brush for all of the drybrushing stages. You may need to go over the model twice or more to get the final colour, but the mixing of the different paints in the bristles of the brush give what I consider to be a pleasing transitional tone to the highlighting.

Step 2
 
Step 3: Drybrush your model with the equivalent of the old GW foundation paint, "Charadon Granite". I've yet to find a proper non-GW equivalent for this paint, but a mixture of grey, black and muted brown and green paints can make something very similar.

Step 3
 
Step 4: Time to drybrush with a nice mid grey colour. I've used Inscribe "Dark Ghost Flat"

You should be making gentler passes with each successive drybrush, so that the previous colour shows through a bit. I find it helps to hold my brush further up the handle, further away from the bristles for each pass. Maybe that'll work for you too, maybe not. To each, their own.

Step 4
 
Step 5: Okay, this is the last bit of drybrushing. Use a light grey paint to drybrush on the final highlights. I've used "Morning Mist Grey" from Decoart, but any light grey will do. The closest equivalent to the paint I used is probably the old GW "Astronomican Grey" foundation paint (or if your memories stretch even further back, "Fortress Grey").

Step 5
 
Step 6: This is an optional step. I like to get a fine detail brush, and use a bit of the light grey paint to emphasize some of the edges on the model, and provide definition, This is most obvious on the chest of this model.

Step 6
 
Step 7: Use a very fine brush, and some thinned down "Charadon Granite" to carefully draw cracks onto the model.

I find the most effective way to draw these is often to make a series of interconnected 'Y' shapes moving in a diagonal direction. Think of lightning, and you'll not go far wrong. Don't forget to add a couple of small nicks and chips to add a bit of realism, and don't be shy of drawing cracks over raised details, like the hammer detail on the shield.

Step 7
 
Step 8: Underlight' the cracks you have just painted so carefully onto your model. Use a fine brush, and some off-white colour paint (in my case, "Storm Cloud" by Docrafts, but you can always add a bit of white to a light grey paint, or even just use white). I break this rule a lot, for the sake of aesthetics, so don't be afraid to do what looks best to you, but the general rule is to imagine where the light is coming from on your model, and highlight the edge that would be furthest away from it.

For example, we often paint models as if the light is coming from above. So we apply highlights to the top edges of armour/weapons etc. In this case, we're looking to highlight the lower egdes instead.

Step 8
 
Step 9: Your stone effects are now done. Hurrah! I've added an extra picture of the shield on this Liberator, as I thought it may help illustrate the underlighting a bit better than my writing in the last step.

Step 9







 

Sunday 26 July 2015

Hobby Round up Week 30

Another Sunday, another bunch of Hobby Updates;
 
Frazer has continued to work on his modern figures, here are the work in progress and final picture, sans base, of his latest offering.


 
Big Papa continues to work in mysterious ways, first up is a 15mm foot knight, perfect of tiny games of Warhammer or Frostgrave if you are short of table space.

 
Big Papa has also finished his first Age of Sigmar figure, a how to guide on painting the stonework will be on the blog Tuesday.

 
Finally for this week some more Malifaux figures from Chris, this time three Archers


Sunday 19 July 2015

Hobby Round up Week 29

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun! Another week has gone by and so time for another Hobby Update.
 
Frazer has been busy preparing himself for Fighting Season, and has just finished his Australian/New Zealand platoon.
 

Not one to rest on his laurels he has dived feet first into some more moderns.
 
 
Big Papa said he wouldn't get dragged into Age of Sigmar, but low and behold he couldn't escape the grasp of Games Workshop.
Settling on some Sigmarites, he is going for a stone effect on the armour of his new army; below is a work in progress test piece.

 
And finally for this week, Chris has continued work on his Malifaux figures, this time three Samurai, resplendent in gold armour; looks like the Sigmarites influence is appearing everywhere.


Sunday 12 July 2015

Hobby Round up Week 28

It's Sunday again, Wimbledon has finished and the school holidays have either just begun, or almost on us depending on where you live. Welcome to our hobby update!
 
Big Papa has been working in multiple scales; the first few shots are on some 6/10mm scenery he has made, and some self sculpted 10mm 40k figures for scale
 

 
Back to 28mm and some Jungle bases, mounted on 40mm poker chips

 
Big Papa has also been continuing with his Guild Ball players, this time its Ox
 
 
And finally this week for Big Papa, a 28mm Egyptian scenery piece, which is heading to eBay to fund future projects

 
Simon has started his 7th Guild Ball Mason, hopefully soon we'll see a Mortician and Mason contest again on a Wednesday

 
After finishing his Tau army, Elliot has been making some progress on his Malifaux collection. 
 
 
 
 
 
Chris has also been working on some Malifaux, here we have three Monks of the Low River 

 
Chris has also been building some Deadzone scenery, in preparation for a future battle, hopefully in a few Wednesdays time.
 

Tuesday 7 July 2015

Tau Army

You may have wondered why you haven't seen many hobby updates from Elliot recently, well we can finally reveal what he's been up to.
 
Elliot has been working on a new Tau army, and it is now complete, well as complete as any army is these days. It comes in at around 2000 points and looking for an opponent in the near future.
 
 
Pesky Drones

Three Broadside Battle Suits

Path Finders

More Path Finders

An Ethereal

Fire Warriors


More Fire Warriors

Even more Fire Warriors
Devilfish
Hammerhead
Riptide
A Second Riptide

Razorshark Strike Fighter

Kroot

A plethora of Battle Suits

Sunday 5 July 2015

Hobby Round up Week 27

Hello everyone, its time for another update, in a week where the sun has shone and Wimbledon is in full flow.
 
Following on from Big Papas first 15mm Guildball sculpt, here's his second one, another Fisherman, this time Shark. We'll soon be able to play Guildball on the go!
 
 
After the arrival of the Coolminiornot Kickstarter bases, Simon has moved his Malifaux crew off plain bases and onto his new planking ones.

 
Frazer has managed to get some painting time, and has gone back to an old project, namely a Tzeentch Sorcerer on Disc.