bloodydrake

great scifi recently would be abadonn's gate book 3 of the expanse series...really enjoyed it. for urban fantasy Warbound book 3 of the grimnoir chronicles was awesome.. series is like an alternate history 1930's steam punky x-men book if all the mutants got their powers from some Great Old One. Jake Sullivans what they call a Heavy..a gravity spiker is the main protagonist along with Fay a young girl thats a well don't want to ruin it.. in fantasy my favorite recent series has to be the daylight war(book three of the demon cycle series) and Jim Butchers Codex Alera..really cool series..

I made some more progress on basecoating the Dain. I used a blend of 2 parts marigold yellow to 1 part mahogany brown for the beard and eyebrows. dusty skin for the basecoat of the fur and tanned skin for the basecoat of the horns. as well i used ultramarine shadow as basecoat color for the cloth pieces. i did most of the base drybrush work trying for a crumbly granite dustly color. I think i'll switch back to working on the steel layering next. with the bones figure primed i don't mind painting it..tho i can tell a difference around the edges of things when painting..its the biggest difference..where with the metal the edges are sharper/deeper i find thinned paint will almost slightly flow to the edge of the metal and stop. Im noticing i can't rely on that effect with the bones to help keep my edges crisp..it could be just less definition..i notice this trying to paint the mustache under the nose especially..not a showstopper but its worth noting bit messy looking but its just roughing out at this point..painting around and under the shield is definitely not easy If i was going to start again id leave the metal shield on the sprew and just use a sculpting tool to pry off the glued in shield arm from the bones dain and paint it separately.

indeed I have really enjoyed working with the Ltpk's ...and the open/group threads..tho i'm a bit of a picture nut at each stage i figure it might help someone along that likes to see each stage as you go...good times :)

thanks again in the open/group ltpk4 wip i linked to an article http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1649 It focused on using acrylic glazes to shade metallics..that's what i was trying to learn from on the armor and axe.. Im glad it worked out well enough to be pleasing..i definitely want to try and continue to work on this technique

Yeah, I was disappointed to realise that when painting onto Bonesium I can't even use a wet palette! The moisture from the sponge/baking paper palette is enough to cause massive beading. i just got around to painting a bones figure and am trying to compare it to a metal version of the same figure. at the same time I applied a coat of reaper brush on primer first that was slightly thinned and I've used the same thinned liner and thinned paint on the metal as well as the bones figure and i haven't had any beading.. I think anyone that uses a wet palette should definitely prime first..those that want to skip priming use a undiluted base coat paint first..i think its an either or situation.

decide to skip second figure from ltpk4 for now and move onto the dain since i really want to compare painting a bones version to a metal version of the same figure. \i glued on the shield so painting both will be comparable experiences. just got them both primed,lined and the base coat of the flesh done. so far the slightly thinned coat of brush on primer seems to be working on the bones figure..tho i need to order some black so i can make some grey ..its very hard to tell the coverage over the bones got the eyes on both done..and the teeth on the lower jaw.. very hard to try and make them the same got all the armour and steel bits basecoated with the ultramarine shadow and walnut brown..not sure if your suppose to do the inner shield with it but figured why not..think i'm gonna basecoat the whole thing before doing the highlighting...just seems like a good idea to me

beautiful Gatorman love the colors..I think I might have to use that scheme for my reptus figures great work!

thx all! and I appriactiate all the feed back in the wip Cash, it helps alot

i think the trending is totally off due to the huge amount that pledged in the first day the daily amount has been declining pretty steadily..we're probably not gonna see unlocks faster then 1 a week soon. the real question to me if the last 24 hrs will have a significant swell or will it be a mild one. I think it will be a mild one since the bulk of the users that pledged late on the last one probably already did. i got a feeling this one will end up around the same as the first one or slightly less but I am a pessimist(well i think i'm a realist..others say i'm a pessimist)

heres my take on a middle aged Bertok from the Ltpk #4 I wanted to try for a more neutral tone then i normally do(which is usually more vivid) as well I tried experimenting with shading metalics with thinned colored wash. Here he is (hope the pics are ok,my main pc's cpu failed and am doing this from my tablet)

thx! hmm I think i'll try to do a glaze with the lonestar leather (its the darkest part of the skirt triad) to bring down the tone in the shaded areas, closest to the belt? maybe that would help. I just noticed in the pic I got some polished silver on the axe handle and the thumb..gonna touch that up as well. thx for the feedback.!

beautifully done and that is a really cool legion color scheme

I ended using the algae secret weapon wash thinned down same as the armour wash and applied some glaze layers to the axe and armour. after that tried using some thinned down layers of honed steel mixed with polished silver..then straight polished silver to try and build up the metallic highlights. the last part I mixed in some pearl white with the polished silver ..that might have been a mistake it made the polished silver abit to white and not as much metallic..but this was all an experiment into with trying to get better with metallic as well as the skin tones..overall Its better then the plain metallic then wash I have tried previously So I think this is done..and its ready for some glosscote unless something stands out that needs more work.

I find that getting use to how to use thinned paints for layering was the hardest thing with these.. Cash helped point out the highlights on bertok needed to be abit more on the top half of the muscle bunch and not so large that it was covering most of the midtone. yours are hard to see. but thats not abad thing..going over the highlights a couple time is better then once but being very stark. .perhaps could you take a pic in front of a neutral colored shirt or paper or something ..might make it easier to see the tones better.

ya the nymph is really tiny and smooth muscle tones..i'm kinda worried about starting that one.. I'd reference some earlier pics in this thread..theres some great ones that will help with her shading for sure.

I went back and applied another highlight layer to the leather straps..they seemed abit flat to me. I then highlighted the pouch and sack, the eyepatch as well as cleaning up the beads of the neck lass and highlighting it and the medallion. after that I tried to bring the tone of the axe handle back up then worked on the grey hair..I think its ok..tho in the back there were a couple spots where paint got into some crevices again and I might have to go back and clean that up.. I found a great article on shading TMM on coolminiornot and wanted to try and practice the concepts on the metal areas. http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1649 I simplified it abit and used secret weapons armor wash with a 1:3 ratio to additional water and then used it like a glaze vs a wash and used the same basic technique we were to use on the skin highlights in this kit but in reverse..starting at the bright areas and pushing the brush to the darker edges.(included a side pic so the shoulder piece shows what i mean better) I did that probably about 6 times and figured Id stop at this point and maybe do some more tomorrow or move to adding in metallic highlights. I do like the tone..but I got a nice aqua wash I could apply abit of to bring back some of the blue tint as well.. ah well here we are..getting very close to finishing this one..

I think for some like me the real problem with the shipping uncertainty is, its a buzz kill. I totally understand the reality of the situation and I know its going to be clearely defined before its over ..but the not knowing how much to set aside is a major buzzkill where the rest of this is just a fun rush. From a practical perspective I've written off cases this time (size and weight)and maybe paint sets due to weight but will have to reweigh 12 bottles and try and see how that factors in. If I'm still obsessing over it by the weekend I'm just gonna stick 80bucks in envelope and pin it over my monitor labeled..SHIPPING IS PAID! QUIT WORRYING ENJOY THE RIDE.

well now I think I've figured out who took my last pack of Big League Chew your a machine Bugs :)

right click "save image as" . just really really stellar, I'd love to see a animated version of it in highres that turns 360 slowly.

I'm guessing whats next is, the Processing plant is about to blow and they gotta get back to the dropship! very nice work..as soon as I saw the last one I couldn't help but whine "Ripppleeyy!"

my lonestar leather is much darker looking then yours..that looks like my tanned leather they might look abit bright compared to the rest of the figures..A dark brown wash (blackened brown or something) I think would help.

looks like the forums are up in time for an update to the wip :) Got a bunch more accomplished today..I highlighted the rest of the lonestar leather sections(wrists and loincloth). After that I worked on all the straps and boots blending from ruddy leather to oiled leather for the hightlights. as well did some highlight work on the rope bumps. then used some ancient gold then new gold to the necklass and the leather strap rivets.

i applied a couple tanned skin highlight glaze layers to the top of areas of the abdomen and shoulders..its a slight change but I think it will do. I then started working on the fur trim..I started doing a few layers of the tanned skin highlight colors then worked up to linen white had some issues with to much paint on the brush running into the crevices so applied a thinned black wash to it and built the linen white back up. I think the last layer might be pushing it to far..but I tend to hold back on them so figured ..why not and see how it goes.. would have been faster to drybrush the fur before doing the skin tho heh. after that worked on the leather straps around the boots..using a blend of the lonestar leather and tanned leather for the midtone up to just tanned leather for the highlights....this one I didnt' lighten the paint for a last highlight..I was afraid it would be to much. slow going painting everything thinned down so much ..but its good practice to find the right blend consistency..

last order I got from reaper broke the 100 dollar magic barrier and @133 dollars.. I got hit with 27dollars in duty fee's..so fellow Canucks I'm not sure if its a flat fee or a percentage..but from faq we should all keep that in mind we're looking at duty + the shipping fee's It is what it is..just people need to temper their expectations this time. Does anyone know how the duty fee is calculated?

ya i was thinking they probably 1.5 inch thick instead of the 1inch ones so two full trays vs three...and larger spacing..