[Reaper Pathfinder] GGS painting contest- WIP on base 2

Yesterday, I've proceed with the base for Valeros.
First, I've added some elements to fill the space and make the environment more interesting.
The small flocking between the slabs has been fixed with a mix of PVA glue and water. Actually, I haven't pigment to create the dust so I use this kind of flocking instead.
In this phase I've also placed the mini to have a clear overview.
As Valeros is tintled toward the right of viewer, I've placed a piece of wood on the opposite direction to create a triangle. It's a tip I've learned from the diorama makers, the triangle lead the viewer toward the focus point of the scene which is Valeros'face.


Now, my idea for the scene was to use the front of the base to place the shadows of the foes. Because I want to create the idea of the ambush but I cannot place other minis due to the rules of the contest.

So I've made an experiment: as I always use pre-shading techniques for the priming of my bases, I though It could be a good idea to integrate directly this shadows during this step.
I've created a mask representing the foes and place it in front of Valeros.



Then I proceed with the priming of the base following the pre shading techniques:

_ first step, I spray the base in black without the miniature and without the mask to be sure that all the areas are fully primed.
_ second step, I place the miniature and the mask and now use the white colorspray to place the lights. I spray the white only in one direction directly in front of the base. My intent is to place naturally the shadows thanks to the mask and the mini which should let the area behind in black. 
Here the result.

It doesn't work. Actually I have a zone of shades in the front of the base and also on the wall behind Valeros but I didn't succeed to create a clear definition of the shadows.  I think it's due to the distance I spray the white, too far away from the mask to create the effect. I suppose It's the kind of job I should do at short distance with an airbrush.

Ok, it was an experiment, not a big deal because anyway I'm happy with the general lightning of the scene.  I will define the shadows with my brush during the painting process.
Ok, I think I've done with the building of the base. Now it's time to play with the colors.

[Reaper Pathfinder] GGS painting contest- concept and WIP on base

I've decided to let my survivors appart and focus on the painting of my warrior for the GGS contest also because the deadline is in september and there is a lot of work to do.
The mini is full of details and will be quite complicated to paint and I have also an idea for the base which will require also some working hours to be finished.


Let's talk about the project.
The miniature of B.Jackson is more than dynamic, actually it's dramatic. This is the feature I prefer and the reason of my choice for this contest. The subject is "present a hero in a  mediavel fantasy environment".  Valeros really seems to fight for his life (or maybe for someone else), not only the position but also the expression intend the idea of a desperate battle.
Originally I bough the mini with the idea to do a diorama with some foes but I cannot take this idea for this contest because I must present a stand alone figure on a smal base (max 10 cm2).



  So I've decided to take the idea of a last ressort battle but without other minis creating the idea of the foes ambushing Valeros throw the atmosphere of the base.
I've choosen a dungeon for the environment (yep, ultra classic choice...but, hey, it's still Pathfinder), slab ground, a wall of brick behind Valleros to increase the sense of the ambush and some features like old abandoned weapons.... and an other detail but I don't want to spoil anything. Let's say it's going to be experimental (at least for me).

I will build and paint the base before the miniature because I want to be sure that everything match with the idea. The other painters of the contest are far away better than me technically speaking so I have to bet on the base to do the difference.

The fundation is mainly made with cork. It's a material easy to use and perfect to simulate the stones.
I use putty filler to create the texture. The slabs on the ground are made with eggs shell covered with the putty. The wood parts are balsa.

[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 Proxy - Hasselfree miniatures

As anticipated, I've bough some Hasselfree miniatures in order to paint some survivors proxy for Zombicide.

Hasselfree has a very interesting selection of modern adventurers including zombie hunters perfect for Zombicide. Not only the scale matches perfectly with the original miniatures but the sculpture of Kev are simply incredible, the quality of the stamp is very good and the prices honnest.
The only problem for the game purpose are the material as the minis are in metal which means more damageable for the paintjob during the game session.
That's why I had to prepare them carefully to avoid any kind of problem. Super glue, Green stuff, pinning and also a first layer of Vallejo surface primer before the black and white priming just to consolidate the base before starting the painting process.

And here the selection of survivors I've choosen (from right to left):





Franck Cisco alias Clint Eastwood as Detective Callahan. The Zombicide version is Brad.

The Kev's version is a little more massive than the original Callahan but with a correct paintjob I think it's possible to make him slimer.

Cobra alias Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken. Zombicide version is Smith.

The Hasselfree mini is even more badass than the original. The only issue for my concern is the right arm which holds the machine gun because it covers big part of the chest and the face of the mini. In fact, as you can see, I've decided to paint the different parts separated in order to facilitate the painting of the face.

Oakley alias Ash Cambpell from Evil Dead. Troy is the zombicide version.

The Badassmeter of this mini is at top level. Note that Hasselfree proposes two options for the right hand. The axe (first Evil Dead version) and the Chainsaw like in Army of Darkness and in the newest telefilm Ash vs Evil Dead. Actually it has been a big moment of dilemma for me because the Chainsaw is clearly the feature of the character but as I want to use him for a proxy of Troy, I've decided to get the axe like in the zombicide illustration.

The last one is Bubba who is of course the King Elvis. Actually, Elvis doesn't have a zombicide version (what a pity) but I've fallen in love of the mini and the idea to play an old and fatty Presley zombie hunter with guitar and handgun was too  magnetic. So I've created my own zombicide version just for the fun.



I'm quite sure my friends will be happy to play with this new survivors, I can't wait to kill some zombies with them.