painting Bones

[Inarah]

I took a bunch of random Bones to Reapercon to work on over the weekend. They were washed, and then I used brush on primer at the con.  Figured I would get some tabletop quality work done while I was socializing. 

 

Well, if you were there and trying to paint you know that the humidity was bad and paint *was not* drying, so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped.  For example, the wash I used on Duke Gerard took about 45 minutes to dry. On top of that I had crackling on a couple figures. :( 

 

I brought them home, stuck them on washers, and plan to finish them up this week. 

 

 

First up, snakeman warrior.  This is from the first speed paint of the day. We were given 30 minutes.  I always tell myself to stay away from the yellow, because I can't make it work in a speed paint, and then I go and grab the bottle and next thing I know my figure looks like this: 

 

 

I don't normally repaint speed-painted figures but snakey here is getting a full makeover. 

 

 

The rest of Thursday I worked on this pair: 

 

 

Mostly happy with the blacksmith. Need to work on the contrast between Goldar's skin an the leather shoulder armor. 

 

 

Friday I picked up the Thornwarden, and oops, there's that yellow again. 

 

 

 

Also started on Freya (left) and Isabeau but did not get this far with  them until Saturday afternoon:

 

 

 

Finally, Sunday I started on Duke Gerard and got a wash on Aina.  I basecoated Gerard with two purples, a dark one and a lavender color, but they are nearly indistinguishable when dry. I mixed some white and purple to bring up the details so I could see it.  Lot of work left on both of these. 

 

 

[Inarah]

 

I glued the figure onto a washer for some added weight and stability.  Added a little sand to that. Repainted the body of the snake to match some I had done previously. 

 

 

[Inarah]

Here's the finished Mason Thornwarden figure: 

 

 

I felt like the detail was really soft on this guy. It seemed like he had a bracer on one wrist and maybe not on the other, there was something that might have been a ridge... or not. Same with the feet. He sort of almost had boots. And there was something going on in the midsection of his tunic but I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. If you look really hard you can see what might be part of a shoulder strap for the quiver. 

 

I ended up painting in a lot of detail with dark liner or inks. I drew on boots and the wrist guard on the bow hand. (If you've ever shot a bow, you know what I mean) I painted in a shoulder strap.  Repainted the tunic with earth brown and gave it a wash. Debated doing some details on it and the cloak, but the figure didn't seem like the type to be out in fancy clothes. Highlighted the cloak a bit but otherwise left it as it was. 

 

 

I liked painting Isabeau Laroche a lot more. I've had her in metal since she came out, but haven't gotten to her yet, and it was nice to paint her in Bones with no pressure.  I borrowed the HD crimson red (I think) at the con to do her cloak and shield and really like it as a dark red.  Many more of the details come though on this model, though the decoration on the shoulder armor is lost.  Her hair is another area that was lost, there is almost no texture on the top of her head. I put a red ink over the yellow hair, but it had almost nothing to hold on to. I had to paint around her face to define the hairline. 

 

 

 

[Inarah]

Here's Aina with some colors blocked in. PP Walnut as a base for metallics, and MSP Sky Blue for the robe. 

 

 

 

I'm trying to go for a dark look for Duke Gerard, so I went over the armor with a blue ink and it's much closer to what I'm wanting. 

 

 

 

And a little tease for my loyal followers:

 

[Grumpy Cave Bear]

Just a guess: Is it... 20% cooler?

[Inarah]

 

Worked on shading and highlighting to bring up some of the details. Used the Dark Skin triad on the flesh, and it is actually highlighted up to Tanned Shadow.  Tried to paint the face, but he hasn't got much of one, so I'm not putting a lot of effort into it. 

 

The shoulder armor is a blend of browns, PPWalnut and a rust color I can't remember. Out lined with Brown Liner. Really just can't find that perfect warm leathery brown. Highlighted up the fur loincloth, I think I am going to add a brown wash, or some other color to it to make it blend a little more. 

 

Drybrushed the metal plates on his boots and the axe with silver and brass, going for a crude alloy look. It's too shiny, I'll probably put a brown wash on those areas to dirty it up a little. 

 

No idea about the base, yet. It has a coat of olive green which is my starting point for "grass", but I could change it to a more desert or mountain terrain. 

 

 

 

[LittleBluberry]

I'm sorry I missed this thread when you started it.  Yay for getting Bones painted!  I painted Mason Thornwarden and completely agree that I was scratching my head at various times trying to figure out what to paint things.  It would have been better to have a simpler model than the half-detail he seemed to have. 

 

I'm glad to hear that Isabeau is better, I really like her so it would be frustrating if the detail was mushy.  Everything else looks nice, especially the re-paint of the snakeman.  (I'd probably have settled for the speed-paint version, but if you have others it makes sense to make them match.) 

[Inarah]

And here's Aina the Valkyrie in progress:

 

 

I put some Muddy Brown (I think) down on her leather bits, and Brass on the armor and shield. I'm not liking the way the drybrush looks, it's too rough, and IMO pretty crappy looking on this figure, so I'm going to redo it with other metallics for a smoother finish. 

 

After this photo I darkened the blue robe, and put a brown ink on the leather, but was not happy with that either. Lots more work needed all over. 

 

 

[Darkmeer]

Wow... that is a bright blue!  I'm interested to see what the end result is/becomes.