Zac gets a bit excited

[Zac]

Greetings all.

Since first getting in to Malifaux I've been very impressed by the models Wyrd have produced, and the new concepts for the 2.0 models get me possibly as excited as I have ever been about a set of plastic figures (which is quite a bit). Combining the amazing models with the fresh take on gaming with cards has made me excited enough to make Malifaux my primary system, so I've been busy with all sorts of prejects to make this a reality.

Some of you will have seen some of these pictures before, so I apologise for that. I am from now on going to consolidate all of my projects into this one thread, but before I show off anything new, here are some of the old:

Winter crew by zachos2, on Flickr

My winter crew, for use in and around Christmas time. I have some more December models to paint, but I don't have the motivation for them until winter. I'm quite particular about that. Things I liked about making this crew are having a go at sculpting my own bases, making snow and ice effects and experimenting using different shades of the same colour on the one model to tie it together while providing differentiation. This is something that will appear a lot in my models from now on.

I then got my hands on some plastic riflemen, but the shorter days made for difficult painting so I switched to my next project: a gaming board to play on:

Board1 by zachos2, on Flickr

Board 3 by zachos2, on Flickr

Camp by zachos2, on Flickr

I wanted the board to be as modular as possible, while not costing too much. Most of it is made of old packaging and other stuff I had lying around. The black areas at each end are there to keep your cards and anything else you need space for without wanting it on a table. First time out someone immediately put a drink down there, so I added the cork coasters. I've learnt a lot making this board, and am continueing to learn more.

Things I like: the lack of funds has made making things an interesting puzzle. I like having lots of modularity to it, and the card areas at the end are amazing. They will feature in every board I make from now on. I also had a bit of fun sculpting the little campfire above.

Things I learnt: when painting a board always make sure you have enough paint for everything of one thing at once. You can see the different colours I ended up using. Future boards will be completely consturcted and painting will happen all at once.

Well guys, you will notice some riflemen in the background there, but as mentioned before, I wasn't happy with the paintjobs I did on them in low light conditions. I've recently repainted them, and so they'll get some photos up soon, along with another side project I have been working on to really help me get in the Malifaux mindset.

More soon!

[Zac]

Well old pictures have never been a way to get replies, but fear not all. While the first post was of the old, this is most definitely of the new:

like I said, I first painted my guild riflemen in January after work, which meant lots of artificial light, as I left home in the dark, and got back in the dark. The result was I was very happy with the blending, until Saturday, when I was actually able to see them properly

[aside]It's a testament to the awesomeness of the riflemen models that even with my low light paint job, they still managed to get two of my mates interested in Malifaux.[/aside]

Anyway, here is how the riflemen looked in January:

Pond by zachos2, on Flickr

Having decided that my next crew should most definitely be guild, I then redid the paintjob recently, along with painting up a guild pathfinder, and this is how they look now:

Guild crew by zachos2, on Flickr

I hope you agree the new paintjob is better, I'm certainly a lot happier with it.

Things I learnt while doing these:

Always try and paint in natural light. If you want to paint in winter, do it at the weekend, and get all the chores done during the week. I have also had daylight bulbs recommended to me, so that's something else I'll be considering.

Have a clear plan on how you are going to paint the models. It's very important to me that my crews have a strong theme. The guild crew will be a mixture of different greys and browns, with a strong red as the accent colour. I've really enjoyed getting into colour theory with this, and planning out my blends as much as possible. Because the accent colour is red, I've used a green-brown base on pretty much all of these models, as well as using green-blue washes to tie the colours together. The exception to this has been the leather which has used a red-brown base and red washes. I think this has worked really well to give good contrast to the different areas of the models while tying them all together strongly.

Sitting on my workbench at the moment: The Relic hunters box set, and somthing quite leathery.

All the best.

Zac

[edonil]

Daylight bulbs are awesome, can't recommend them enough.

I really like the new color scheme, those models look wonderful, especially how that grey came out.

[Zac]

@Edonil: Thanks for the kind words. I've only heard good things about daylight bulbs, so it looks like that will definitely be the way forward next winter.

I have a Maliday tomorrow, making a new board at a mates house all day, followed by running an intro game in the evening. It'll be McCabe vs Rasputina, which of course means I'll need to finish painting McCabe. Well, not anymore, for he is now painted (which means more photos):

McCabe Mounted 2 by zachos2, on Flickr

McCabe Mounted 1 by zachos2, on Flickr

And of course in order to actually use McCabe you need to paint two models:

McCabe Foot 2 by zachos2, on Flickr

McCabe Foot 1 by zachos2, on Flickr

Or would that be three models:

Luna by zachos2, on Flickr

Then for completeness:

McCabe and Luna by zachos2, on Flickr

I'm really happy with how these turned out (minus the couple of things I always notice in photos, such as mounted McCabes messy right shoulder). I wanted to make them very close to the official images of them, but also make sure they were mine, and went well with the rest of the crew, which is why McCabes cravatte has taken on the red of the rest of the crew, and Luna looks less like a demon-dog.

Things I've learned: Having done some commision work recently I've been thinking quite a lot about the correct order to paint areas of a model. Sometimes it's obvious: If there is a lot of metallics then I'll usually do them first as they can get very messy. For models like Rasputina with large blocks of the same colour, that's also a pretty obvious start point. For McCabe , however he has lots of different coloured areas of a similar size, so I decided to go for another approach: Painting from the inside out. The basic premise of this is to paint the areas of the model in the order they would get dressed. This worked really well, as it meant I was able to avoid having to go past raised bits to get to recesses, and for the most part avoided repainting already finished areas.

Another thing I wthought was necessary was adding more of a red colour to McCabe. His model doesn't allow much in the way of red to be added without looking too garish, so I decided to add more red tones to his leather. This had the added benefit of differentiating his leather areas from that of his horse.

Thanks for stopping by. Sorry for the long posts. If you've only looked at the pictures I don't blame you.

Next up will be assembling the rest of the crew, and the other project (almost finished now). I say next, but it's likely there will be a post about scenery and tomorrows game before then.

All the best.

Zac

[Joooohan]

Malifaux is a fantastic game full of great and very different models most of which are fun to paint. I myself have had a hard time wanting to paint some of my guild models due to the fact that they are a little less color options. I like the leather on your models and the basing is nice. I also find that the first sets of plastics have less detail in the way of drapery. I have found that really strong highlights somewhat help deal with that problem. I would like to see another layer of highlights on McCabes shirt. That is more to do with the model but that is really my only complaint.

Good job getting more people into the best table top miniatures game. Good tables always help. I know you said resources for this were stuff around the house so well done on that too, make terrain and clean up. Only real suggestion on the terrain front would be more blocking terrain. Some smallish buildings perhaps.

Overall very nice looking models and keep em coming like I'm sure you will

[Zac]

@Joooohan: Yes, the shirt is a tough one. I'm trying to avoid using pure white or pure black in anything at the moment, and so went up to an almost-white grey, then put a blue wash over it all (very watered down). I might go back with a couple more washes in the folds rather than highlight it up anymore: give the same effect without making it that unreal brightness I was going for with my Christmas models. More blocking terrain is definitely on the cards: I'm thinking of fences, rocky outcrops and piles of barrels to start.

Day one of our table building was a great success, so here it is in pictures:

The Foam gets carved based on our plans:

photo 1-1 by zachos2, on Flickr

Having been stuck to 1x1 mdf boards, the walls are then textured with a knife and a dremel:

photo 2 by zachos2, on Flickr

The boards are checked so that they fit together:

photo 2-1 by zachos2, on Flickr

The corridors are looking good:

photo 1 by zachos2, on Flickr

And the board fits together really nicely:

photo 3-1 by zachos2, on Flickr

We then painted the rock faces with white filler, and then the floors with a black mix of different sands, glue and paint, but got too excited to take a photo of that stage.

Next we sprayed everything black:

photo 3 by zachos2, on Flickr

Before doing lighter sprays of two different browns to get some colour on. The whole board is now at the same stage and looks like this:

photo 4 by zachos2, on Flickr

Tomorrow is our details and playtest day. Things like mounds of unsorted rubble, pit props, stalagmites and torch brackets all happen tomorrow, plus Rasputina will take on the Guild in a search for more soulstones.

Pictures will be forthcoming, but do let me know what you think!

[Argentbadger]

That's going to an amazing board to play on. I look forward to seeing some in-game photos.

McCabe looks great. I like the way you've painted Luna, it's a model with such a lot of character.

[Zac]

Thanks AB. Your wish is my pleasure:

Yesterday was a great day with mates. We played xwing, magic the gathering and went into the mines in Malifaux. McCabe was leading a Guild crew to go and deal with Rasputina who was searching for soulstones.

The Riflemen dealt well with the Gamin, but Rasputina took all three out in short order.

McCabe rushed in and got rid of her (my damage prevention was a black joker, making her bite the dust).

Then the Golem came crashing round the corner, trading blows with McCabe until the flip made us run out of turns.

The game ended in a draw, with McCabe achieving the Strategy (Slaughter), and Rasputina completing her scheme (kill all the guardsmen). McCabe failed to kill the Golem which was his Scheme (kill protege). A very fun game with massively cinematic moments. We worked out what else the board needs while playing, so next time we meet we will get some more work done on that.

All the best.

Zac

[Pagan Wolfe]

Wow, came in late on this one but there is some fantastic work here. Great stuff!

[Zac]

@PW: Thanks for the encouragement. We're hoping to get more work done on the board this weekend, but I'm not sure exactly how exciting it will be: It's mostly making stuff fit better, and filling gaps this weekend.

However, more exciting is our new project: a guild themed custon fate deck. Head on over here for more info:

Cover by zachos2, on Flickr

Edited July 13, 2013 by Zac

[Zac]

WIP by zachos2, on Flickr

Is the next stage of the crew. Coming along OK, although painting light grey is just as tough as painting white, especially on cloth. I'll see what he looks like tomorrow in better light.

C&C welcome. Don't forget to visit the custom fate deck to see more finished artwork.

[Zac]

The white was good enough (hooray). Now onto the red:

Wip2 by zachos2, on Flickr

Sorry about the quality of photos. I'm taking these as I go along, so the phone is the easiest way to do that.

C&C welcome as always.

Zac

[Webmonkey]

it's coming along well I think.

[Viruk]

Whie and red work really well on this one, great job

[EmperorsChump]

Great looking crews and excellent board!

Edited July 14, 2013 by EmperorsChump

[theJudge]

What's your flesh recipe mate? It's really nice on sidir.

[Zac]

@Webmonkey: Thanks chap. I'm really enjoying these models. So much awesome in tiny bits of plastic.

@Viruk: That means a lot mate. Thanks for the encouragement.

@Emperors Chump: Thanks for the complement. I'm already looking back at my first board and thinking it needs to be updated. I always find once I've done something I need to redo the stuff I did first.

What's your flesh recipe mate? It's really nice on sidir.

So you've noticed it's changed have you? I was trying something new with Sidir, as I wasn't 100% on my previous recipe. I'll do a step by step on one of the wastrels when I paint them up.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Zac

[Wings]

That's looking really nice. You're making me want to paint one too.

And I second the need for your skin recipe.

[Zac]

Sorry about that Wings, completely missed your reply. Thanks for the complement, I've just finished him, and he was great fun. A quick late night photo in bad light:

Sidir fin by zachos2, on Flickr

Expect better pictures tomorrow, and at some point my supersimpleskin technique.

[Zac]

Well here's a better picture of Sidir:

Sidir fin by zachos2, on Flickr

Flesh Recipe:

First a few words on method. I always do one area at a time, and plan out the progression I'm going to make. This keeps everything tidy and easy to pack away, as well as just being good practice generally. I tend to line up my paints I'm going to use from left to right going from dark to light, as that is how I think of the progression:

With most colours I only use three different shades, and a wash to help blend the colours together. For my flesh this time I'm using Bugman's glow, Cadian Fleshtone and Dheneb Stone. I try to avoid using white as much as possible in my recipes. If the colour needs a very light high tone I'll mix in some Dheneb Stone if it's a warm colour or Ulthuan Grey if it's a cold colour. For this healthy skin I'm using Reikland fleshshade for my ink.

Having undercoated the model in black and given it a light white spray to pick out the features, I then do several thin coats of Bugman's Glow. Really get it into the cracks and don't worry if you go on any other parts. You'll be painting over them later anyway. I then paint the wash into the recesses and leave to dry.

A word on palettes. I use MTG promo cards as my palettes as it means I can throw them away after each use and don't have to bother washing them.

This image shows how I blend. First put a blob of water onto the palette and mix in your darkest colour. Now about an inch away add another blob and mix in your second darkest (Bugman's Glow and Cadian Fleshtone in this case). Now take your brush and drag the lighter into the darker and begin swirling it around. This will give you a range of mid tones at your fingertips and will allow you to blend quickly and easily without having to dip back into the pots.

Having leyered in two midtones and pure Cadian Fleshtone, taking care to only attack areas where light would hit, I then gave all of the flesh areas a watered down Reikland Fleshade to better tie the colours together. Apply it all over, but use your brush to move most of the pigment to the areas where shadows would naturally be.

After the wash has dried, two final very sparing highlights of Cadian Fleshshade and Cadian Fleshshade mixed with a dot of Dheneb stone are added to extreme places such as the cheekbones, chin, nose and knuckles. Finally Reikland fleshshade is added sparingly to the recesses and the flesh is finished.

Hope this is helpful to someone. I use the painting concepts here across the board for all of my colours: Very rarely will I use more than three colours and a wash when painting.

C&C welcome. All the best.

Zac

[bowchikawowers]

Hey, very impressive! I usually have a hissy fit when I see a color scheme that relies so heavily on black, since I feel it's overused and usually a little Boring. Also very difficult to do well. However, I think you've pulled it off quite nicely. You even managed to make the black look dusty! WEll done. I also really like your boards, clever to put a coaster and non playing surface in there. That was the biggest problem I noticed with the table I played on, nowhere to put anything!

That being said, I think it would be good for you as a painter to explore other colors and get familiar with shading and highlighting and employing some color theory.

[0777218]

Nice model, I like the color scheme on Sidir.

Thanks for the tutorial, its always nice to have a peek in others painting strategies.

GL

[durek]

McCabe's crew colour choices are very nicely done. As mentioned I really like the colours of Sadir.

[Viruk]

Sidir looks great, you managed to use different shades of white without making the model seem dull. Top-notch paintjob, congrats!

[Zac]

@0777218: Thanks dude. First tutorial I've ever written, I hope it comes across OK.

@Durek: Cheers. Like I said, most of the guild will use red to a certain extent. I'm enjoying finding ways of fitting it in in small amounts so that it doesn't overpower the models. I'm keen that my guild should look like they're from a western, and I hope that's coming across.

@Viruk: Thanks. I was worried Sidir would look out of place being so white amongst the other members of the crew. I think he ties in well enough with the red though. The larger base helps to bring more brown to the model as well.

Hey, very impressive! I usually have a hissy fit when I see a color scheme that relies so heavily on black, since I feel it's overused and usually a little Boring. Also very difficult to do well. However, I think you've pulled it off quite nicely. You even managed to make the black look dusty! WEll done. I also really like your boards, clever to put a coaster and non playing surface in there. That was the biggest problem I noticed with the table I played on, nowhere to put anything!

That being said, I think it would be good for you as a painter to explore other colors and get familiar with shading and highlighting and employing some color theory.

I'm not sure I made it clear in what I wrote, as I said above it's my first tutorial, but the model shown is not finished at all. The flesh is the first thing I painted after undercoating and the rest is just left the black/white of the undercoat. One of the tasks I've set myself this time around is in fact to use as little black and white as possible beyond the undercoat. Even my riflemen on page one are a mixture of different very dark greys and browns.