Buglips' Bones Thread (Formerly Known as 77005 Ogre)

So you might remember that a while ago when I was doing my part for the Ogre group WIP I ran into some troubles with my Bones Ogre and abandoned him. Then later, when I got my first big order of Bones, I experimented with a quick painting style to give them colour that went . . . well, rather horrid if we're honest.

At which point I simply took the easy way out and declared all my Bones will remain forever unpainted!

I lied.

That was an unacceptable solution for me, and I knew I had to try another experiment to see if there's a way to be quick, yet decent. I decided that I'd pursue the simplistic approach of my second Bones attempt and marry it to some blacklining and rudimentary highlighting. I theorized that if instead of going for "good looking" I instead went for "looks like it at least belongs on the table" then I could use multiple shortcuts, be none too particular about details for close inspection, and yet still get a result that at least resembles the better-painted character minis who share board space.

And that, to best evaluate results, I should try the pain in the butt Ogre again. As my original Ogre with warped base is gone (I sacrificed him to test Bones structural integrity), I took one of the multiples I bought in subsequent orders.

And here he is, next to my Ogre WIP metal dude for comparison. The Bones job took 1/6th the time of the metal job (on the right) - a most acceptable time savings.

That's quick enough to make painting my Bones worthwhile, good enough to blend in on the board, and fun enough (since I'm less particular about close-up details) to make me want to do more.

I did not use any primer this round, I just washed him and put the basecoat on undiluted. And I will totally back up Reaper's "ready to paint" claim. It was a zillion times easier than when I did it with primer as the first coat. I had no problems at all with this guy.

Also, none of my new Ogres have warped bases. As a result, I've decided that any Bones that can stand up on its own gets painted, and any with freaky warped bases gets weeded out and put in an "unfit for service" tin. So far that's only been two: my first Ogre, and a kobold. That's less than 1 in 50 so far, which is an acceptable attrition rate (a little better than I get with metal, actually).

Edited August 26, 2013 by buglips*the*goblin

CashWiley · January 4, 2013

Traitor to the metal! DIIIIEEEE!!!

(j/k, looks like a great fast paint!)

buglips*the*goblin · January 4, 2013

I'll always love metal best, but I'm really taking a shine to these plastic dudes. With this new method, it practically guarantees I'll be moving something off the table daily even while pursuing regular projects. While this fiddly, surly Ogre took a bit of time most of the other Bones should be way quicker. It ought to average out nicely.

Thrym · January 4, 2013

Care to outline your new fast paint for Bones process a little more specifically? I'm sure your adoring fans want to know.

*blink blink*

Pahleease?

Sanael · January 4, 2013

Wow, that is a nice job. I'm always interested in learning new fast techniques, so I'll echo Thrym on this one!

Also, to be clear: you're saying the one on the right is the metal one, yes? I am consistently amazed at how much detail holds up in the transition to plastic on the Bones.

buglips*the*goblin · January 4, 2013

Sure, Thrym. Actually, I meant to do that in the OP but it got a bit wordy.

What I did this time was blacklining first. I didn't paint him all black, just the lining. I globbed it on undiluted and made nice, thick lines. These served as "cheat lines", and since I wasn't concerned about details it allowed me to be a bit sloppy. Even if I painted over the line here and there, enough "busy-ness" would remain to retain the effect.

After this, I applied basecoats undiluted. I started with the darkest color, either straight from the bottle or mixed. Then once these were applied, I made a highlight color that was at least 2 steps removed (essentially eliminating midtone), mixed this with my usual basecoat dilution ratio, and then applied it rapidly without thinking about it. It wasn't drybrushing, but it was second cousin to it. Instead of careful layering or planning, I just sort of let my lizard brain take over - going more for the "suggestion" of highlighting with purpose than actually doing it.

ETA: All highlighted/shaded areas are only 2-step, darkest and lightest.

It turned out better than I expected, and as this was the prototype I bet I could do a second Ogre with the same method in half the time again. The key for this method is that it's illusory - up close they won't stand scrutiny but from normal distance they blend in well. The basic highlight/blackline technique I use is still present, just much more unrefined. Actually, my "old school" method lends itself quite well to Bones minis.

There was also no prep work done for mold line removal. That's antithetical to my "quick, low prep" objective. Most times it probably won't matter much, the "layering" is robust enough to act as a visual disruption from intended distance.

ETA 2: Also, you'll notice that I left many small details (his earring, fingernails, etc) unpainted. The gem has no detail, it's just a blob of night sky over gold. I wouldn't do that on a metal, since there's usually only one of those done - but when this Ogre is with his nine ugly buddies the minor details will be wholly inconsequential, and every fiddly bit of work I can save will eventually add up to enough time to paint a whole other Bones mini.

ETA 3: Also, the entire Bones mini was painted using a very cheap 5/0 synthetic I stole from my friend's worktable. I didn't want to risk my Kolinskys for the experiment. The 5/0 is pretty scarred from the ordeal, though. I may need to get a batch of them for future Bones work.

Edited January 4, 2013 by buglips*the*goblin

Adrift · January 4, 2013

Also, to be clear: you're saying the one on the right is the metal one, yes? I am consistently amazed at how much detail holds up in the transition to plastic on the Bones.

Agreed. I think the pictures of the white plastic don't come out as well as the white primed metal versions, and people assume that loads of details are being lost and it just isn't true.

I think that Reaper should consider giving their Bones figures a matte gray quick prime for pictures; after all they prime the metal versions white! It might help makes the features pop more so that people can really visualize the quality better.

ObsidianCrane · January 4, 2013

To be honest if you painted the nails and other little details on the Bones Ogre I think the gap in quality would be even smaller.

smokingwreckage · January 4, 2013

At first glance I couldn't tell which was the "good" one. I could on closer inspection, but it's not glaringly obvious. On the table this is gonna be A-OK. And I just logged on due to mould line questions from my first batch of bones. If no prep is good enough for goblins then it's good enough for smoking piles of twisted, ruined metal.

I figure though that a sloppy wash would bring out the mould lines, which is sad, I intended to mix a wash from Future. Any experiences with that?

Last Knight · January 4, 2013

I'm glad you came back around to painting 'dem Bones. ::):

I want to bust out in another chorus of "Buglips won't you wash them Bones (hallelujah!)," but the truth is he looks pretty damned good, and if you've got the time down to an acceptable level, that's about all that matters.

buglips*the*goblin · January 4, 2013

At first glance I couldn't tell which was the "good" one. I could on closer inspection, but it's not glaringly obvious. On the table this is gonna be A-OK. And I just logged on due to mould line questions from my first batch of bones. If no prep is good enough for goblins then it's good enough for smoking piles of twisted, ruined metal.

I figure though that a sloppy wash would bring out the mould lines, which is sad, I intended to mix a wash from Future. Any experiences with that?

Washes don't play well with the mold lines, that's part of where I ran into trouble with my second Bones paint attempt, and why this new technique is 100% washless. Better for this method to use the rough highlights to break up the line and hide it.

As well, this technique helps me deal with the occassional Bones mini flaw. My last batch of Orc Spearmen had badly misaligned legs and cavernous gaps along the mold line as a result. My zombies had more flash than a polaroid.

But the new ones have none of this. So this seems pretty rare, and while the zombies were correctable the orcs weren't. If I was painting to higher quality, that would represent a serious issue - but with this method I can just camouflage it and move on. Now all I have to worry about is the ultra-rare warped base, and so I don't have to keep hassling Reaper about odd mutant minis. With so few unusable errors present it's just less hassle to eat the low attrition numbers.

I can do this, in part, because the above Ogre will eventually fill out a unit of twenty. Kobolds and Goblins should top out at 80 each. With the sheer volume I intend to produce, painting any better than this is impossible and nobody's going to notice if orc #74 has funny looking legs.

So mold lines and errors may be a bigger issue for people intending to paint them as mini minis and not just game bits.

Also, here's a 6-pack of rats:

Pingo · January 5, 2013

Ooh, very nice, and such a quick job too.

I had to laugh. Buglips, you have re-invented Impressionism as a painting style ... for minis!

(To be fair, it might be German Expressionism. But still.)

Nice job.

ObsidianCrane · January 5, 2013

Truth is I think I like the Bones Ogre in that photo more, I'm sure in person the DHL Ogre looks better, but in the picture its the Bones Ogre. I think that's why I want the nails painted.

The rats look great as well.

buglips*the*goblin · January 5, 2013

Truth is I think I like the Bones Ogre in that photo more, I'm sure in person the DHL Ogre looks better, but in the picture its the Bones Ogre. I think that's why I want the nails painted.

The rats look great as well.

You know, I like the Bones Ogre more, too. I think it's the colour selection, maybe?

It's difficult to avoid the temptation to do the little details, but I restrain myself with the knowledge that every second saved is precious if it doesn't badly compromise the whole piece and can get me up to an average production of 2 minis per day or better. Even if I don't meet that lofty goal (although presently I'm exceeding it), coming close to it will give me close on 800 Bones ready for action within a year and a half. That trumps fingernails and earrings. ::P:

Here's a ghost that would have taken less than 5 minutes if I didn't have to wait for paint to dry:

Edited January 5, 2013 by buglips*the*goblin

buglips*the*goblin · January 5, 2013

Ooh, very nice, and such a quick job too.

I had to laugh. Buglips, you have re-invented Impressionism as a painting style ... for minis!

(To be fair, it might be German Expressionism. But still.)

Nice job.

Bonet? ::P:

Here's the Bones knight, who I have named Sir Guy of Dudea. He's a pretty good illustration of what I'm going for here, because you can see in this pic that the blue highlights are rough in the extreme:

But that zoomed out a bit we start to see he actually doesn't look so horrible in action:

I have to say that I wasn't sure this would work out, or that I'd have any fun after the first one or two minis. But I can't stop painting these things! Literally! If my poor synthetic brush wasn't soaking right now in trauma care I'd be painting my kobolds. This is exactly what I wanted from Bones, it's everything I hoped it could be. Quick, easy, looks okay, and affordable hordes. Bones are frankly the most brilliant development in miniatures since people discovered you could use greenstuff as a sculpting medium.

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