OneBoot's Bones 1 Kickstarter Figures WIP (picture heavy)

[OneBoot]

Hey all,
 
Now that I've got my Kickstarter Bones, I decided to start a separate WIP thread to help motivate and inspire me, as well as share my discovery process, flubs, thoughts, mistakes, and accidental successes with everyone.
 
I'm brand new to this whole painting miniatures business, so any and all comments and advice are most welcome! I'll try to be as detailed as I was with my first (and so far, only) mini WIP, since a lot of people seemed to appreciate that; however, with roughly 250 minis to paint, I may not have the time to be as thorough. 
 
Unless noted otherwise, all paints used are Reaper Master Series paints, and all minis will be Bones figures from the first Reaper Bones Kickstarter. For the record, my pledge included a single Vampire box and one There Be Dragons add-on. The rest of my pledge was paints and a figure case.
 
I look forward to learning and growing along with the rest of you talented people!
 
Index of WIP figures:
77015 Bugbear Warrior (non-KS)
77016 Rats (scattered across many posts, but this is the beginning)
77195 Mr. Bones (started here), finished here in my WIP thread; also 74021 1" Square Skull Bases, his base (non-Kickstarter metal)
77018 Skeleton Archer (1) (Group WIP)
77018 Skeleton Archer (2) (Group WIP)
77164 Elliwyn Heatherlark, Gnome Bard (conversion)
80013 Nova Corp: Female
77136 Well of Chaos
77149 Damien, Hellborn Wizard
77040 Satheras, Male Warlock
77116 Colossal Skeleton
77016 Rats (single figure) (modified) and  74021 1" Square Skull Bases, its base (non-Kickstarter metal)
77039 Janan, Female Dragon Slayer
77001 Skeletal Spearmen (5 of them)
77017 Skeletal Swordsman (4 of them)
77017 Skeletal Swordsman (1 of them, separate project from the one listed above)
77149 Damien, Hellborn Wizard (conversion) (different project from the one mentioned above)
77073 Freja Fangbreaker
77034 Male High Wizard (separate thread)
77162 Yephima, Female Cloud Giant (separate thread)
 
NOTE: Since I tend to have multiple minis in progress at a time, most of these do not have consecutive posts. The link will take you to the beginning of when I started working on each one, though.
 
Huzzah!
--OneBoot :D

Edited June 13, 2016 by OneBoot

[buglips*the*goblin]

Why not start/join some group WIP threads? Nothing wrong with doing it this way, but for the objectives you've outlined that might suit better. That's also why I suspended my Bones request thread. (people can still use it, but requested minis will be done in Group WIPs instead of that thread)

 

We're all going to soon start plowing though these, and the more participants we can round up the better! From my experience on the Ogre thread, it's definitely my preferred route for making WIPs. The exchange of information, along with all the different interpretations you see along the way, makes them extremely valuable sources. I'd be honored to join you in some paintslinging, and I will be painting all of my KS Bones.

[OneBoot]

After cutting my figurative teeth on the Bugbear (not exactly the easiest mini to start with, heh), I decided to go with something simpler for my next project. Much simpler. I decided to start with the rats, zombies and skeletons to help me cement some of the more basic techniques, such as drybrushing, highlighting, and washes.

 

Rats were first, since you don't get much simpler than that. I cut them all off of their sprues, which left a largish bump of extra plastic on the bottom of each one. I decided to try filing them off, since I'd had good luck with removing flashing that way. It took me all of 60 seconds to realize that wasn't really a winner idea. So I hunted around and found that I had a thin break-away blade box cutter that would work as a stand-in for an Xacto knife for now.

 

 

The Bonesium was fairly easy to cut. Not as easy as I was expecting, but I managed to remove the bumps without a) mutilating the mini, or b) mutilating my thumb. The result wasn't super smooth, but my goal was just to make them sit flat on the table, so I'm not bothered by it. If I really felt like it, I could take a file to all 12 bases, but...eh, they're just for tabletop, I'm not going to bother.

 

 

Next, I had to decide what colors to use. Having gotten used to a limited color palette, suddenly having 24 more colors to choose from was a bit overwhelming. I lined up all the possible rat color options I could think of to help me decide. And yes, Imperial Purple is in there, I'll tell you why later.

 

 

 

I also pulled out the two washes that came with one of the paint kits, and red to use for mouths and maybe some eyes.

 

 

So...this actually didn't help as much as I was hoping. While I was staring at this small wall of paint, it occurred to me: I have 12 rats. There are 12 colors of paint in front of me. Why not use ALL THE COLORS??

 

So, that's my plan for now. I'm going to paint each rat a different color, making this a sort of crash course in learning how to paint with MSP, as well as how to do highlighting/shadows on drastically different colors. It'll be a fun learning experience, and will keep me from getting bored of the same one or two colors.

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

[OneBoot]

Ooo, that's a wonderful idea, actually, and will ultimately be more fun than plowing through all by myself. My only concern is that my posts tend to be kind of picture heavy, not to mention long, and I don't want to overwhelm the thread with my stuff.

 

The only group threads I could find were for the L2PKs and the gigantic minis like Kali. Is there one just for Vampire boxes? If not, I'd be happy to turn this into an open thread if I can figure out how to change the title of the thread.

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

[buglips*the*goblin]

You can go either way, it's your choice. Check my stickied post "Let's Paint Reaper Bones" for SKU numbers. If one isn't listed, then it's free to make a Group WIP out of. (If you don't know the SKU, label it best you can and I'll find it when I make the link).

 

If you want to do it this way, which is also totally cool, then I can add it to a new link area I made for additional WIPs done for Bones.

 

I'm just trying to organize stuff so nobody gets lost making useful WIPs for these, because the KS added a ton of SKUs. If you're going to go through the trouble, you ought to at least be seen.

 

Detail and pictures is fine for Group WIPs. The Ogre one was an experiment before we knew how much it could handle, so the rules laid out in that don't apply. It's just like a regular WIP, go nuts. At the time we didn't know how it would turn out.

 

Edit: For Vampire boxes, and the KS, group WIPs will work best if done per SKU. If an open thread for "Vampire" was made, it'd probably turn into random chaos quickly with so many minis in it.

 

So you could do "rats" or "goblins" or "77178 Fire Giant Warrior" or "77196 Familiars II". Breaking it up into smaller SKU chunks is wayyyyyy easier, and better able to keep focused on those specific minis. People interested in that specific mini can join in, and then we have a thread where people can go and see 20 different way to paint the Cyber-Ape. That's the plan.

Edited June 27, 2013 by buglips*the*goblin

[buglips*the*goblin]

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to stifle anybody - I'm working to try and organize stuff so that 3, or 4, or 10 years down the road people who come along fresh and new can easily find a thread devoted to what they're looking to paint. And, for people making the WIPs, that also helps ensure your work will be among the listed things seen by those future people - where an individual thead may get lost.

 

ETA: Since you've started in on the rats, we could convert this to a Rat Group Thread if you want. PM one of the mods to change the name to "Open/Group 77016 Rats or Vampire Rats" or something, and I'll add it in as a rat thread if you want to do it that way.

Edited June 27, 2013 by buglips*the*goblin

[OneBoot]

Edit: For Vampire boxes, and the KS, group WIPs will work best if done per SKU. If an open thread for "Vampire" was made, it'd probably turn into random chaos quickly with so many minis in it.

 

So you could do "rats" or "goblins" or "77178 Fire Giant Warrior" or "77196 Familiars II". Breaking it up into smaller SKU chunks is wayyyyyy easier, and better able to keep focused on those specific minis. People interested in that specific mini can join in, and then we have a thread where people can go and see 20 different way to paint the Cyber-Ape. That's the plan.

 

Ah, okay, the method to your madness is becoming clear now. I think what I'll do is muddle through a few of the easy ones on my own, then start/join an open WIP for specific minis. I didn't really think about it, but you're right that a "Vampire box open group WIP" would rapidly devolve into chaos, and probably summon Cthulhu for good measure.

 

Thanks for going the extra mile in organizing the threads into one cohesive location! I imagine it's akin to herding cats, and will become even more so as more people get their pledges and start WIP of their own. Not to mention you'll have your hands full painting your own box of goodies!

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

Edited June 27, 2013 by OneBoot

[buglips*the*goblin]

I'm happy to add it into the miscellaneous Bones WIPs if you want. I'm cool either way, just laying out the options.

[OneBoot]

@buglips - I'd be honored to join the ranks of miscellaneous Bones WIP! :D

 

Sorry, not much painting yesterday and today; I've been helping my husband go over his master's thesis with a fine-tooth comb before his thesis defense next week, and 50 pages of nuclear engineering material has done a number on both my brain and my eyesight.

 

But, I did get the basecoats down for all 12 of my little rats, so I'll do a quick post about that. :)

 

Because they're so little, sticking them onto the top of a craft paint bottle didn't really work. So, I used my bottle of sealer instead. They were still a tiny bit wobbly, but it wasn't bad. Here's my purple one, which I'm painting purple because my character in the Pathfinder campaign I'm in right now has a cloak that can turn me into a rat for a certain amount of time per day. Her hair's purple. I couldn't resist.

 

 

It was interesting to see the differences between each of the colors. Most of them I had to do 2 coats to get complete coverage, but the walnut brown and black I didn't, they went on so nice and smooth with great coverage the first time. My Muddy Brown, though, was more like Muddy Water, it's so thin, and my Pure White is nearly as bad. I used a cheap synthetic brush, which I'm glad I did, because basecoating in bulk like this was kinda rough on it, and it's already getting a teensy bit fuzzy at the end.

 

Here's half of them painted up, I'm being careful to keep each of them by the right paint bottle to help with taking notes during the painting process. You may notice that I was having a little fun with my dragons in the background; I'm getting ideas for a diorama involving the shadow dragon, fire dragon, and Seoni.

 

 

I found it very interesting how all the little details seem to just pop into existence with even a thin coat of paint. Here's a side by side comparison of one basecoated in white, and one unpainted, just to demonstrate (the one on the left of the picture is the painted one):

 

 

I keep thinking I'm not doing something quite right, like I should have done some sort of lining, or painted the faces, paws and tails different basecoat colors first, or something. I think part of the problem was that I was misunderstanding the differences between brown/blacklining, basecoating and priming, but I think I have them sorted out now. Also not sure what color(s) I'm going to do the bases as, so I'll do those before I do any more on the rats themselves, but I'm thinking lighter bases for the darker rats, and darker ones for the lighter ones. Anyways, here's where I'm up to at this point:

 

 

Next, I'll be painting bases and playing around with the two washes I have. And maybe experimenting with making my own. I think I can just add some Glass and Tile Medium to straight MSP to do that, but I must do more research....

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

Edited June 28, 2013 by OneBoot

[Tom T]

Thanks for sharing this OneBoot!

 

I'd suggest doing a base coat on their bases before you get too far along. (Okay, okay, I admit that I'm really bad about messing up figures when I paint them first then try to paint their bases! That doesn't seem to be that big a problem for lots of other folks so I Really Hope your mileage varies!)

[AnneO'Leary]

When I paint horses, I use the base coat on the entire figure. Even with a black horse. I then work slowly up to the off white that I'm looking for. I do the same thing when painting Dark Sword mice, rabbits, cats, etc.

 

You are having loads of fun and there are so many talented painters here who will be able to give you more detailed advice than I can as I'm still a novice myself.

[OneBoot]

It's funny, but after doing so well on my first mini, I'm actually really nervous about how these rats are going to turn out. Silly, I know, but I guess a part of me still subscribes to the "good dress rehearsal, bad performance" mentality that I picked up in drama and band. There's more truth to that than you'd think, cuz a good dress rehearsal generally means people get too comfortable or cocky and make dumb mistakes. We'll see how things go.

 

I consulted with my husband about whether to do all the same color, or different colors, on the bases. He suggested I try making them look like different kinds of urban areas that rats might be found. I liked that idea, so I decided on brick, cobblestone, and sewers.

 

I did brick first, just because it was the first one that occurred to me. On the first one I did, the white one, I was at least somewhat careful about staying out of the lines that I plan on making cement later. Not only was I not entirely successful, but I realized that I was going to have to go back over them with white anyways, so the other three I just painted straight.

 

For the color, I mixed 3 drops of Blood Red with 1 drop of Dusky Skin. The result was a little too pinkish for my liking, so another drop of Blood Red brought it back to the shade I wanted. The writing on the side of the base sucked up a fair amount of my paint, so I ended up having to mix up two more batches before I was done.

 

 

I'm glad that I'm doing this WIP, since it wasn't until I stopped to take pictures that I realized there was a spot of ground between their bodies and tails that I had completely missed on all four of them! So I patched that up really quick, and when I was painting the white one, because the lines were still uncovered, I noticed that there's a "cement" line that should be there that was never molded. I'll need to remember to account for that when I finalize the bases.

 

 

Lastly, because I wanted a way to differentiate between them after they're all done for the purposes of my painting notebook, I numbered each rat 1-12 and painted the appropriate numbers on the bottoms of the brick base ones, after painting the bottoms of the bases because I think it looks nicer that way. :)

 

 

I'm not happy with how the "1" turned out, but the more I tried to fix it, the worse it got, so I just left it as-is. My handwriting is quite messy, so honestly it's not bad compared to how I usually write. I'm happy with how the others turned out, though.

 

And that's all I can do for tonight, my eyes are getting too tired. I really should invest in a magnification device of some kind, the details on these teeny little guys are gonna be murder otherwise. :/

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

Edited June 30, 2013 by OneBoot

[DLMyst]

I like seeing finished minis, but I much rather see the process of how it was painted. I'm really enjoying how much detail you're sharing with us.

I'd skip the freehand mortar line between the tail and body, to me it would look like a line painted on the bricks instead of an actual mortar line. But on the other hand, it might drive me nuts to not even try.

[Cassu]

So many cute rats! *squeee*

[AnneO'Leary]

I know what you mean about performance fear after a good rehearsal. It used to happen to me when I first started playing out. A good rehearsal meant that according to the law of averages, my next performance would not be as good. But after 30 years of playing drums, I don't have that problem. As a new painter I'm having those same fears all over again. Based on my experience with music, I know that if I keep painting, one day these fears will abate.

 

Sometimes it helps me to see someone paint rather than read a verbal description. Have you been to Dr. Fausts Painting Clinic on YouTube? His principals are very similar to what people here teach. Here's a basic one on Inks and Washes that could apply to these rats

 

 

There's also one on drybrushing on his site. I subscribe to his channel and go there often.

Edited June 29, 2013 by AnneO'Leary