[GGS CONTEST 2] The final result

And so, after 6 months of paintjob, I've finally finished my diorama Zed Is Dead for the Gangeekstyle contest.

It's the most elaborate and complete work I've ever done, and I'm quite sure that it would never finish such a big project without a contest to motivate myself.
I'm very satisfied with the result, it's exactly what I had in mind when I've started it 6 months ago. Of course, some details are not perfect, the ground and the shadows would be more neat. There is also some mistake on the characters painting.
I'm very curious and anxious to read the opinion of the judges.

Now, enjoy.  

[Zombicide] Survivors proxy

Here my complete team of survivors for Zombicide. All the minis comes from Hasslefree and has been very fun to paint.
I can't wait to receive other ones for Hasslefree to add new survivors proxy to my box games.

[Reaper Pathfinder] GGS painting contest- project finished

I'm quite busy in this period, unfortunatly not for painting but for professional reason.

But I've found the time to finish Valeros for the GGS painting contest. I'm quite happy with the final result, less about the quality of the picture. In fact it has been the most difficult part of the project because I have not good equipment to do picture. I've spent 3 days just to shoot my mini and find the better position as possible.
I've tried different lightning sources, even the natural light. But at the end I've decided to take the pictures made with a light box I've improvised at the last moment.
Hope you'll enjoy my work on Valeros.
You can see larger pics on my gallery on coolmini:

[Zombicide] Hasslefree Oakley - Ash vs Zombies

Ash: Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun

I needed a little break from the painting contest so I've decided to continue with my zombicide survivors. This time I've worked on Oakley from Hasselfree miniature.
A figure clearly inspired by Ash Campbell from Evil Dead movies.
Great sculpture and very good casting as usual with Hasselfree. He was so easy and pleasant to paint that I've finished him in less of 4 hours.
As I want to use him for the character of Troy, I've choosen the axe for the right hand. I coudln't resist to put anyway the chainsaw on the base just to reinforce the badass attitude of the mini.
Usually I don't like to put gore effect on my miniatures but in this case, it was a question of coherence. It was also a way to link the color of the chainsaw with the rest of the mini.
Enjoy.

[Zombicide] Hasslefree Franck Cisco - Dirty Brad

Uh uh. I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

I have a confession to make: I love Clint Eastwood. I've growth with his film, specially the westerns. But my favorite character remains Dirty Harry. The old good 70's badass cop who distribute justice with his gun. Useless to specify that I am enthusiastic to play with his zombicide version, Brad... and of course paint the Kev's version Franck Cisco.

About the hasselfree mini: very nice sculpting and casting as usual. Maybe Franck is a little more massive than the Young Clint but the lineaments of the face are very accurate.

In fact, my aim is to focus on the paintjob of the face because it's the feature of the miniature which allows to identify the character (excluding the 44 magnum of course).
I've used this image of Clint as reference:

Analysing the Clint's face, the main lineage are:
Long and narrow front
Deep orbit with strong eyebrow and smal eyes.
Narrow nose with strong lines near the cheekbones
Straigh lips
deep cheek.

So basically, in term of paintjob I've simply tried to increase the shades where the lineages are deeper (the sides of the front, the eyes,  around the nose and under the cheekbones, the lips). I didn't paint the eyes because it was useless for this scale and the shades already gives a good idea of the lineage.


Here the step by step of the face painting all the references are Warcolours:

Step 1: base layer with Flesh 3 applied very diluated in 3 different layers. (on the image below the color is darker than irl,  you have a better idea of the color on the step 2)

 Step 2: first shading with Flesh 4 to create a sketch of the face. Mainly on the side of the front, under the cheeks and and around the nose.

Step 3: first highlights with Flesh 2.

Step 4: Emphasize the lines of the face with Brown 4. I'm focus on the eyes, the mouth and around the nose.I've also started to painted the hair and the eyebrow to have a better idea of the overall aspect.



Step 4: Last touches with glazes of blue 4 + black on the low part of the face and glazes of red 1+ flesh 2 on the check, the nose and the lips.

Here the result at tabletop distance:



 Nothing special with the rest of the paintjob, the clothes have been painted with the usual base/shades/higlights techniques. I've mixed a little bit of Brown 4 with Warm grey 4 for the color of the suit.

 



[Zombicide] Hasslefree Cobra - Smith the Snake.

This week-end I had some fun with Cobra from Hasslefree miniature.
I've bough this mini as proxy for zombicide survivor Smith. Now, if you've growth during the 80's and you're a kind of nerd as I am, I'm pretty sure that you've catched the inspiration from Carpenter's Escape from New York. 



So my goal was clearly to reproduce the best as possible Snake Plissken. To be honnest, the mini gave me some troubles:
_ the scuplture is very nice but the mini is sold in three differents parts (the body, the left arm and the right arm holding the machine gun).

In fact, it's impossible to paint the mini once assembled because the machine gun covers the chest and part of the face. That's mean if you want to do a decent paintjob you have to paint the right arm separately... I hate to work like that because you cannot fix the gap with green stuff and so have the risk to find some imperfection once your paintjob is done. Actually, I've found a gap on the right shoulder when I've assembled the two parts. Dammit!

_ I've struggled a lot also with the color scheme. Because excepting the 80's zebra trousers, everything on the mini should be black, gun, belt, shirt, gloves, boots, knee protection...a hell of black!.
If you paint yourself you've understood the issue. Not only black is difficult to paint but it's also a pain to create contrast between the different elements of the same color.
So I had to use different techniques for each black parts to simulate different type of textures.
Black metal for the gun and the protection on tibias.
Extreme white highlights with black armor washes for the leather on the boots, the gloves and the belt.
Soft grey highlights for the quilted knee protection and the fabric of the shirt.
It's not very visible on the final pics but I've achieved to obtain a different rendering of black for each part. ouf!

No, Cobra wasn't a so easy painting as I though, but the I'm happy with the result. He looks like Snake, good point.   


Bob Hauk: We'd make one hell of a team, Snake!
Snake Plissken: The name's Plissken!

[Zombicide] Survivors saison 1 - The Team

And here we are, my team is complete and ready for my next gaming session.
It has been a fun project, I like very much this minis. I can't wait to paint other survivors....very soon because I have some Hasselfree miniatures waiting to be painted. 

[Zombicide] Survivors saison 1 - Wanda the Waitress

And finally the last survivor of the saison 1: Wanda the waitress.
As for Doug, it has been a rush session to finish her in time.


I've choosen a blue-green for the main color  the most similar as possible than the original plastic color.
I have to say that it remembers more the ospital  medic shirt than a waitress uniform but at least I'm sure than the players will recognize her easily on the gameboard.
For the skin, I paint the base with Skin 4 which is very pinky. Perfect for Wanda, I wanted a fresh and healtly aspect, this color base is perfect for the purpose. I've also added glazes of pure red on the cheek to increase the effect.
I've made the blonde hair with Ochre 2, wash of brown 4 and extreme highlight with a touch of White in the Ochre 2.



Ok, my survivors are painted, now the last step before my gaming session: 2 layers of matt varnish for everybody and some finishing on the base.

[Zombicide] Survivors saison 1 - Doug the Salaryman

A short update of the the Zombicide project with Doug alias Micheal Douglas in Falling Down.
It has been a very quick painting in his case. I've finished him in one shot, so my apologies but I didn't pick any photo of the wip.
The fact is that I have a gaming session this friday, that's why I need to rush a little bit my survivor painting. The last one (Wanda) is already on the fire.


Just some word about Doug. The blue is the main color of the mini. I've included it in the flesh, the  base color of the shirt is painted with blue grey, same for the hair and I've also use some glazes of dark blue on the trousers.
As for Ned, I've choosen to fill the glasses with some green stuff to paint the lens instead of the eyes. (because it's quicker and easier).
And here we are:

[Zombicide] Survivors saison 1- Josh the Thug

Here we are again with my survivors.
Today, I show you my work on Josh the thug probably inspirated by the charcter of Jesse Pinkman of Breaking bad.
I like very much the sculpture of this mini. Simple and badass with a good face expression.
The orange is the dominant color I've choosen for the game purpose.

All the acrylics are Warcolours range.
The skin has been painted with a base of flesh 3 which is quite bronzed, then shaded with transparent brown (an orange brown) and highlighted with flesh 2. I've also added glazes of red under the eyes just to give him a touch of junky look.
The tattoos on the arms has been designed with a mix of marine 3 and flesh 3.
The blonde hair are painted with ocher 3, ocher 1 and a wash of transparent brown.

 Now the orange sweat shirt. I've choosen Orange 2 for the base layer, shadded with a touch of blue 3 to the base color and then used transparent brown for the extreme shading.
I didn't overdo with the highlight (just a touch of Yellow 3 with Orange 2) because I wanted to maintain a matt aspect on the sweat shirt and keep my overall color much orange as possible.
For the logo on the sweat, I've tried to do some auto promotion but I'm not sure it's readable. It's not a big deal, the blue contrasts well and the effect is what I wanted.



The blue jean instead has been painted with a base of Marine 1. Then I've started with higlight using pure White  in drybrush to create the jean texture. Then I've placed the shades with a wash of Marine 5 and then Marine 5 + black.
I came back again with a very light drybrush of white just to replace the textures and then finish with some glazes of transparent brown to make the jean dirtier (even if it's not visible on the pics).



The last details for the guns and the knife, nothing special. Everything has been with the usual black metal, silver and wash Black armor from secret weapon. And here the results:



[Zombicide] Survivors saison 1 - Goth Amy

Little by little my survivors team goes on.
This week I've finished Amy the goth girl inspired by the character of Abby Sciuto in NCIS.
As for the previous survivor I have followed the mini plastic color for the sheme. So violet this time.
This time I've taken some pics of the wip just to share with you some of the process.

Talking about goth look, I had to paint the skin with very pale hue trying to not give an unreal aspect. As usual I've used warcolours acrylic.
So I've started with a base of flesh 2 (similar to elf flesh) with first shades in flesh 5 wich is a kind of purple dark flesh. I didn't want to use any kind of brown or red because it would create an healthy aspect I wanted to avoid. Instead I've added some blue to increase the shading and flesh 1 (pale flesh) and white for the highlight. 

 



As you notice, at this stage I've painted the legs like the other parts without considering the stockings.
For the face I've put some glazes of purple concentring on the eyes and the cheek to simulate the make up and increase the general hue I wanted for the mini.

The upper part of the lips have been pre shaded before during the skin process and simply painted in red with very thin layer. Just a dot of white on the lower part to create some glossy effect and it's done.

I've hesitated to paint the hair directly with a base of purple but then I though that the effect would be probably too cartoon/anime. I wanted to maintain some coherence with the other survivors so I've choosen dark hair with strong reflects of purple. Technically, I've put a base of black with strong highlights in pure white and then applied several layers of purple glazes to give the colors.

For the stockings I've placed first the shape of the holes and then applied the glazes of purple (avoiding the holes of course).

It works very well to create the transparancy of the stocking and let apparent the shades and light painted before on the legs. I put 6 layers of glazes to obtain the right colors.

The shirt has been painted starting by a base of blue grey which is quite light and then highlighted until the pure white. The blue hue is also useful in this case to obtain a cold white and maintain the coherence with the purple hue I wanted for Amy.

The rest of the miniature has been painted mainly with base of black. I've lighted the skirt with purple just to brake a little all the black areas.
I had to paint also the hands with black to cover an ugly casting defect but it was not a big deal as some gloves computed well with the gothic look.
The metal parts (the Katana and the guns) has been painted with black metal and silver and then washed with black armor (Secret weapon wash).

  

It's a pity that the soft plastic used for this mini creates this defect on the katana form. I will try to correct it in a second time with a hair dryer, but to be honnest I'm afraid to make the things even worst.

[Zombicide] Survivors saison 1 - Crazy Ned

Finally I come back with the zombicide miniatures which are absolutly funnier to paint than X-Wing starships.
This time I've Painted Ned. Usually zombicide minis are inspirated by some movie or TV characters. I don't kow the Ned's reference but for my concern I keep my idea to paint him for game purpose so with a clear colors scheme to help the identification on the table.


Ned's mini is red so I keep this color as reference. Of course the choice of green for the trousers was logic for the colors contrast but also because Ned is the type of guy who wears some military camo clothes.

Talking about camo, I've tried some techniques found on the web, applying simple camo pattern on top on the base layer and then directly painting the extreme shading on the whole surface just to define the volume. It actually works very well on this scale. No need to become cray painting light and shades on each camo pattern. The visual effect works as well.

For the face I've decided to fill the eyes with green stuff to paint directly the glasses. First because I'm too lazy to paint the eyes behing the glasses, second because I though Ned would be coolier with sun glasses. Meanwhile I'v choosen a paler skin tone than Phil to give him a most mature look. It computes well also with the idea of a crazy survivor living in some bunker.
At the beginning I was thinking to paint his hair in grey but finally I prefer to paint with an orange brown desaturated just to keep the overall colors around the idea of red.



Fast and easy painting anyway, very relaxing. For now, my survivors have been painted in 5 hours max. I would be able to finish the team for the next session with my friends.