yetischool Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) I'm finally deep into my PuppetWars painting project. Like most of my projects, I thought this would be pretty easy, but quickly ended up with well over 50 puppets. Here's the work so far. First up was Bette Noir. I don't know why I chose her, but I learned with her that these models are small enough that painting black doesn't really work, so instead I'm using Citadel Charadon Granite for most dark fabrics. Next up is a Gunslinger. Had to paint him up as I love this puppet in the game. Finally, I've decided on their bases, so this is what they'll look like all finished. Of course, I'm always looking for comments, so let me know. I also have more posts and more details on my own blog http://www.yetischool.blogspot.com so check out the page. Thanks All. More to follow! -yetischool Edited December 9, 2011 by yetischool update Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurphyfella Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Yea the Puppets just pop up out of everywhere. Loving the puppets so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stockingcpl Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Awesome! Keep posting updates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osoi Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Looking good yetischool, just realised I now have the same problem as you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirigakurenoHaku Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 They look good! As far as suggestions go, though, paint Candy next (if you have her); she is clearly superior to all of the other puppets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Big Baws Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 I like the basing, how did you make it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Wolver Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 would love to know how you achieved the white and the muted red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetischool Posted December 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2011 Thank you all for your comments and questions! @Captain: I'm trying to keep the color schemes here as simple as I can. The lighter tones on the Gunslinger and Bette were done with Vallejo's Heavy Warmgrey. This was washed with Devlan Mud and they highlighted back up. The Gunslinger's pinker skin is simply Dwarf Flesh with the same shading. The whites on the Gunslingers pants are just GW Kommando Khaki. @DBB: I've been working to get a good process down for the bases and I think I've found it. As I finish more puppets, I've decided on an easy scheme for their bases which works just as I'd like. You can find more details on my blog at www.yetischool.blogspot.com, but here are the broad strokes. Step 1: I decided to use a large Balsa strip for all these bases. This makes the process cheap and easy to complete several bases in one go. Once the glue has dried, I cut the bases out of the strip and sand them flush with the edge of the base. Step 2: To make the appearance of individual planks, I used a piece styrene stamped into a hardwood floor pattern. I picked pretty large planks, as I wanted the puppets to retain their small feeling. With my sculpting tool, I transferred the styrene pattern onto the balsa wood, taking care to make sure the planks stayed parallel with the grain on the balsa. This is the result. Step 3: After the pattern has been made, I go back over the base with my sculpting tool and hobby knife to really make the divisions between the planks stand out. This will also help to keep the planks looking separated after they’ve been painted. Step 4: Again with the sculpting tool, I carve the perpendicular lines into the balsa to give the effect of ends of boards. Because I’m going against the grain in this step, the grooves will be messier, but this works well as we’re trying to create the look of worn and weathered flooring. Step 5: I added some more detail to the base with my hobby knife. I added nail holes and chips and breaks in the board. Step 6: Rather than painting the wood, I’m letting the grain do what it wants by staining the base with inks and washes. In this case, I simply used several layers of Sepia wash, but I’m experimenting with other colors. Inks work as well, but will give a more vibrant, wet looking color. I've also like the look of GW Scorched Earth cut with water into a wash. Devlan mud, however, the usual go to wash, proved a bit washed out and boring for a floor. Like I said, I go into a bit more detail at my blog, so check there if you're interested. As usual comments are welcome. More to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissus Posted December 9, 2011 Report Share Posted December 9, 2011 Looks great. I like your method for the bases. I saw a similar tutorial using sheet styrene but I think the balsa wood would be much easier and faster to work with. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tauwolf Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Great stuff!!! Can't wait to see more of these. Nice base tutorial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omenbringer Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Liking what I am seeing so far (absolutely love Chardon Granite by the way, it has become one of my go to colors lately). The bases are nicely done. Bete and the Convict Gunslinger are done very well, guessing you play Seamus a bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Big Baws Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Thank you all for your comments and questions! @Captain: I'm trying to keep the color schemes here as simple as I can. The lighter tones on the Gunslinger and Bette were done with Vallejo's Heavy Warmgrey. This was washed with Devlan Mud and they highlighted back up. The Gunslinger's pinker skin is simply Dwarf Flesh with the same shading. The whites on the Gunslingers pants are just GW Kommando Khaki. @DBB: I've been working to get a good process down for the bases and I think I've found it. As I finish more puppets, I've decided on an easy scheme for their bases which works just as I'd like. You can find more details on my blog at www.yetischool.blogspot.com, but here are the broad strokes. Step 1: I decided to use a large Balsa strip for all these bases. This makes the process cheap and easy to complete several bases in one go. Once the glue has dried, I cut the bases out of the strip and sand them flush with the edge of the base. Step 2: To make the appearance of individual planks, I used a piece styrene stamped into a hardwood floor pattern. I picked pretty large planks, as I wanted the puppets to retain their small feeling. With my sculpting tool, I transferred the styrene pattern onto the balsa wood, taking care to make sure the planks stayed parallel with the grain on the balsa. This is the result. Step 3: After the pattern has been made, I go back over the base with my sculpting tool and hobby knife to really make the divisions between the planks stand out. This will also help to keep the planks looking separated after they’ve been painted. Step 4: Again with the sculpting tool, I carve the perpendicular lines into the balsa to give the effect of ends of boards. Because I’m going against the grain in this step, the grooves will be messier, but this works well as we’re trying to create the look of worn and weathered flooring. Step 5: I added some more detail to the base with my hobby knife. I added nail holes and chips and breaks in the board. Step 6: Rather than painting the wood, I’m letting the grain do what it wants by staining the base with inks and washes. In this case, I simply used several layers of Sepia wash, but I’m experimenting with other colors. Inks work as well, but will give a more vibrant, wet looking color. I've also like the look of GW Scorched Earth cut with water into a wash. Devlan mud, however, the usual go to wash, proved a bit washed out and boring for a floor. Like I said, I go into a bit more detail at my blog, so check there if you're interested. As usual comments are welcome. More to come! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetischool Posted December 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 (edited) Thanks for your comments everyone! I have updates. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been experimenting with my Puppet War bases to finalize the technique I’m going to be using from here on out. The resulting look above is exactly what I wanted to achieve with their bases; a dramatic ‘game-piece’ look and a good looking finish that matches both the style in which I’m painting the puppets and the board on which they will play. I have some more details on my blog, but here are the broad strokes of where I am. The process has remained unchanged from my last post. Rather than actually painting the wood bases, I wanted to let the grain of the Balsa wood do all the hard work for me, which meant sticking to a scheme of staining the wood either with inks or washes. Right off the bat there are a couple things I noticed with this technique that are worth pointing out. Rather than actually painting the wood bases, I wanted to let the grain of the Balsa wood do all the hard work for me, which meant sticking to a scheme of staining the wood either with inks or washes. Right off the bat there are a couple things I noticed with this technique that are worth pointing out. Enough of that though. Here are the results: The first set of bases was finished simply with a Sepia Wash. I used 2 coats on these bases, but you can use more or less for richer or lighter tones on the wood. Next up I decided to try a darker tone, mixing Sepia Wash with a very thinned down Scorched Earth. As I said before, it is important to thin the paint almost to a wash as anything thicker will cover the natural grain in the wood. This made for a very rich dark wood tone. I don’t think I’ll use this on too many puppets, but it is a good color for brighter puppets or certain color schemes. On this base, I went with a much warmer light wash which I achieved by mixing Sepia Wash with Yellow Ink. Again, this is a good way to add some variety to the bases and matches the color scheme of the models and board very well. The last combination I tried was a mix of Sepia Wash with a touch of Red Wash. Again, this helped add some variety to what will eventually become a large number of Puppet bases. So there they are. All that is left now is to build about 60 more bases and get those puppets done. More to follow. As always, I'd love to hear your comments and criticism. And be sure to check out my full blog at www.yetischool.blogspot.com for more regular updates. -Nick Edited December 29, 2011 by yetischool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetischool Posted January 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) Here's a novel thing for a blog about painting: I actually managed to sit down and do some painting! It feels good, but a little strange. Anyway, here's the update. These models continue to be fun to paint and I the game is a blast. Despite my puppet count sitting somewhere in the 80s now (I'm gonna sell some of them) I still look at the project as something I can accomplish quickly. Delusion, you say? Well maybe. But I like how simple these puppets are to paint, while still being detailed enough that I can get some good practice on a variety of techniques. The Ronin is first up. As you can see, I've decided not to go through with Non-Metallic Metals on the puppets. There are some models that require more attention and will look better with NMM, but by and large, I am going to save this for my Malifaux stuff. The reality is that, between washes and all the new techniques I've been workig on, metallics are much easier to work with and will allow me to finish the models much faster. That said, here is the latest work I've done with NMM on the Witchling Stalker. I'm starting to get the hang of the technique and the large knife and chain on this model were great practice. This guy was just plain fun and I'm glad I have another one waiting for me. Next on the list is LadyJ. This was actually the first puppet I started painting, but I set her aside when one of her legs broke. After playing in the P-wars tournament at Gencon where I frantically glued models into their bases, some of the models were damaged when I went back to clean the models and mount them on their painting bases. I fixed this easily enough by removing her entire right leg up to the pant and replacing it with a brass rod. I did the same with Pokey Vik and they both seem to be holding together well. The Cherub was a nice break in thi group of mostly drap colors. His wings are simply undercoated white, with dark bits based in Charadon Granite. The quill of each feather is picked out in dark brown and the whole thing gets a Devlan Mud (Umber wash in Vallejo-speak). Just a small highlight picks out the detail and he's done. Finally, there's the Razorspine Rattler. I went with my tried and true technique for rusty metal here. In Vallejo colors, I start with a basecoat of dark flesh and washed it with Umber just to pick out the details. From there, I stippled Dark Flesh, then Parasite Brown, Fiery Orange and finally picked out some edges in Boltgun Metal. I'll be using the brassy color on is jaw for Malifaux and its pretty easy to achieve. I basecoated GW Tin Bitz (is that not around anymore?) washed black, highlighted Tin Bitz, then Tin Bitz mixed with Gold (the darker one). In the next couple of days, I'll be completing another three puppets, my first Piglet, Pandora and the Guild Hound. Once complete, I'll be over 10% complete with the puppets. Long way to go... That's it for now. I'd love any comments. Thanks for taking a look and make sure you check out my blow at www.yetischool.blogspot.com for more posts More to come. Edited January 11, 2012 by yetischool added post title Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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