My first crew = The Outcasts

[Viktoria x 2]

I was so in love with painting this crew. I think they came out a lot better than I originally planned... putting them together was enough to make the baby Jesus cry. But once they were assembled, the painting went a lot more quickly. They're still my favorite crew to play with. 

THERE'S NOTHING THAT CAN'T BE FIXED WITH MORE SWORDS...

 

 

 

Comments and such are always welcome...

[BabyFreak6]

Awesome work! 

[doctorlucky]

love the vibrant colors!

[parich]

Really good looking crew.  I feel like you usually see Outcasts done with each member of the crew being totally dissimilar from the others, but I like the unified color scheme you have here.  It's a true mercenary team!  The flowers in the grass on the bases are also amazing.  Well done!

[Kotep]

That's an absolutely fantastic job! How long did it take you?

[zFiend]

Really good colors and I think the flower bases are amazing and fits the crew really well.

[quiche]

Now that is a coloursc heme that pops! Love how the scheme incorporates the base colour too.

[nagash13]

please share with me the source of your awesome basing materials. i needs flowers in my grass

[Viktoria x 2]

Thanks, all.

Overall, it took me about two weeks to finish this crew, although at least three days of that was assembly, and I rarely sit for longer than an hour at a time. So in the end, maybe about 13-15 hours? 

 

I had thought about painting each one separately with its own color scheme, but I'm glad I decided not to. I think they look much better as a cohesive unit.

[daddy4count]

great looking crew!  I really dig the color choices

[monkeyboy30672]

Wow!! I admit, I am totally a sucker for vibrant, eye-popping color schemes, even though mine never quite make it that far... heh... VERY well done! And only 13-15 hours??? I think I put that much into Teddy... Damn, I paint too slow.

[nagash13]

question, I have this set on the sprues still. which models do i need to paint in sub assemblies to prevent hair ripping frustration like i'm currently suffering with onehand McBuzzsaw in the McMourning boxet set. i really wish i had not put his arms on prior to paint now.

[Viktoria x 2]

Honestly, I didn't subassembly any of these models. I probably would have, but they were such an UNHOLY NIGHTMARE to assemble that I decided against it. As it turned out, I didn't need to. The only one I would suggest, if you're really committed to subassembling, is Taelor. There is one spot on her pants that's kind of hard to get to because her arms are in the way. But beyond that, everyone paints up just fine with no subassemblies. 

[Viktoria x 2]

New and Improved! With a Tutorial!

 

Since some of you seem interested in how to achieve the bright tones that I got on these models, I thought I'd do a tutorial. It's pic-heavy, of course, but I wanted to step-by-step it. Note that this entire model, start to finish, took me about three hours, which includes stopping at every stage to take a picture. It's not a complicated or time-consuming process at all. I promise. 

 

I wanted to add Hans to this crew, but I'm pretty anal about my visual themes, and the real Hans model just will not do. After shopping around a little, I came across this Infinity sniper that works much better for me. So she is my new Hans. I think I'm going to call her Melanie. 

 

Melanie the sniper, adding to my Viks crew. 

 

So, to begin...

 

Primer white. Always when you're trying to get brights. White = bright. Lots of models look great with a black undercoat, but if you're going to do something like yellow, you want a white primer. 

 

STEP ONE

Basecoat the flesh with your base tone. Here, I'm using Delta Ceramcoat Flesh.

 

STEP TWO:

Wash the flesh with ink. I have a "special ink" I use that is made up of 1/2 Games Workshop Ogryn Flesh, 1/4 Tamiya Clear, and 1/4 Liquitex Burnt Sienna Ink. I splash it on pretty liberally. 

 

 

STEP THREE:

Go back and lay the original base tone back on, leaving some of the shade. 

 

 

STEP FOUR: 

Add a little Delta Ceramcoat Santa's Flesh, and highlight the skin on the high spots.

 

STEP FIVE:

Mix a little white into the Santa's Flesh. Any old white will do; I use Privateer Press's Morrow White.  Hit the very high highlights of the skin, like the tip of the nose, under the belly button, and high points on the arms. 

[Viktoria x 2]

STEP SIX:

I always figure out what is the darkest color I'm using that will suck the most if it gets on something that's already done. I call that color THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS. In this case, the DoW is blue. So I start with that one. Here, I'm using Vallejo Game Color's Dark Blue.

 

STEP SEVEN:

Wash that down with GW's Asurmen Blue

 

STEP EIGHT:

Lay a little of the original dark blue as a lowlight, then mix a little Delta Ceramcoat Ocean Blue in and use that for a highlight. With blue, you want to leave a lot of that shaded tone in the dark areas, like next to the straps and the insides of her legs. 

 

STEP NINE: 

Basecoat the leather parts, since brown is the next DoW. Here I'm using one of my favorite paints: Vallejo Red Leather. It's the perfect leather color, I think. 

 

STEP TEN: 

Wash that leather down with my magic flesh wash (mix given above). 

[Viktoria x 2]

STEP ELEVEN:

Go back and lay a little of the Red Leather as a lowlight, then add a little Morrow White and highlight the edges. 

 

STEP TWELVE:

Basecoat the wooden gunstocks with GW Mournfang Brown.

 

STEP THIRTEEN:

Wash the gunstocks with GW Devlan Mud.

 

STEP FOURTEEN: 

Lowlight the gunstocks with Mournfang Brown, then add a little Morrow White and highlight the edges.

 

STEP FIFTEEN:

Now that all of the really destructive colors are out of the way, we can turn to the yellow. I basecoat in GW's Averland Sunset. Most yellows made by most companies are garbage, but Averland Sunset gives the best coverage of the miniature companies' yellows, I think. 

[Viktoria x 2]

STEP SIXTEEN:

Wash the yellow down with GW's Gryphonne Sepia. (You could use Seraphim Sepia, too, but it's a little less orangey, and I don't like it as much.)

 

STEP SEVENTEEN:

Here's the real secret to good yellow: You can't use miniature paint. They all kind of suck, where yellow is concerned. You're going to have to spring for real artist's acrylic. It has better color and better coverage. I use DaVinci Artist Cadmium Yellow. That's my lowlight color. 

 

STEP EIGHTEEN:

Highlight that with a little of the Cadmium Yellow mixed with a bit of Morrow White. Hit the edges. 

 

STEP NINETEEN:

I basecoated the hair in Red Leather.  

 

STEP TWENTY:

Wash the hair with my magic flesh wash. 

[Viktoria x 2]

STEP TWENTY ONE:

Mix a little Cadmium Yellow into the Red Leather, and use that as a highlight. Gives you a nice ginger without it getting too orangey. 

 

STEP TWENTY TWO:

I did the straps of the goggles in yellow (same process as above) and the lenses and hair ties in blue (same process as above). 

 

STEP TWENTY THREE:

The only thing added here are a couple of tiny dots of white on the goggle lenses. 

 

STEP TWENTY FOUR:

Home stretch now. Basecoat all of your metal parts in black. I use Privateer Press Thamar Black.

 

STEP TWENTY FIVE:

Brush the metals with GW Ironbreaker. Here I'm doing what I call in my head a "wetbrush." It's like drybrushing, with a little bit more paint on the brush. 

[Viktoria x 2]

STEP TWENTY SIX:

Highlight the metals with GW Mithril Silver (You can use Runefang here, if you don't have Mithril. Kind of doesn't matter.)

 

STEP TWENTY SEVEN: 

Wash the metals with GW Nuln Oil (this one, you should really use Nuln Oil. It's a great metal wash.)

 

STEP TWENTY EIGHT:

Here's the real secret to my paint style: I like blacklining. Lots of people don't, because it makes the model look "less realistic." But I don't want my Malifaux models to look "realistic." I want them to be a little comic booky and a little anime. It's what attracted me to Malifaux in the first place. So I blackline the crap out of my models.

 

These are the tech pens I use. They're fairly cheap - like $5-$7 each. I have a brown .005, a black .005 and a black .01. 

 

 

STEP TWENTY NINE: 

Blackline the crap out of your model. Anywhere the edge of something meets the edge of something else, I blackline. I also added a dot of red to the gun to represent a laser sight, and some blue on the gun scope for a lens. 

 

STEP THIRTY: 

Transfer the model to its real base. I also brushed a little white glue on the back side of the cloak and sprinkled it with static grass and flowers, because that's how Melanie the Sniper hides in the grass to blow holes in Resurrectionists. 

 

Back side of the model:

 

 

And that's it. Here's Melanie joining the Viktorias and some of the other members of her new crew:

 

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and I hope it helps you develop bright schemes of your own. Make those details pop!

Questions, comments and such are always welcome. Cheers!