Resurrecting the Old School Undead

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

At long last, progress has resumed! Still need to undercoat the last four Heartbreakers, but that shouldn't take long.

 

[Darcstaar]

Go!

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Finally got back to it, Dirty Bone on the rest and wood putty on the bases.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

And some progress on the Evil Little Trees.

First coat of Ebony Flesh on the roots.

Finished applying contour putty to the next one. 

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

The vampires got several coats of Dragon Red and Stone Gray and the bases some Steel Legion Drab. The plan is to bring the Stone Gray up to Pure White and have Isabella's sleeves and inner dress start off in a darker gray with black gloves. Gives me an excuse to play with the new warmer grays anyway. 

[Peithetairos]

I came for the skellies and got treated to an evocative piece of scenery. Love the build and obviously the skeletons.

 

The old school skeleton faces look almost a tad like aliens. Not necessarily bad, I just found it interesting.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Hmm. Undead Invasion...From Space! I'm going to have to file that idea away for later.

The Second Evil Little Tree has an undercoat of Ebony Flesh.

And the Skeletons got bathed in a Black Wash/Flow Improver/Water mix.

 

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Over the weekend there was finally the proper combination of lack of snow/grey overcast day/not raining that I've been waiting for for months! So ref pics were taken at the local cemetery and leaves were gathered for scenery flock.

A small hill between Elmwood Cemetery and Jaycee Pond, showing the kind of dead overgrowth I'm hoping to depict in the mausoleum hillsides.

Tangled roots and in the background, an actual mausoleum.

An older section showing some nice weathering.

A stone from the 1880s showing some nice weathering, and a good ref for the ground flock/leaves/moss. 

Weathering on the side of the mausoleum.

An illegible stone with some interesting coloration.

The cemetery looking SouthWest, the tree like so many others in the area, lost a fight with the wind since I was last here.

From the Westernmost point of the cemetery, where a sudden steep ridge meets Blackberry Creek. Should I ever getting around to making a large board, this will be roughly the location of the hill mausoleum I'm working on.

My harvest of leaves after meeting the blender.

Now to get around to actually painting something....

 

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Applied 50/50 mix of Graveyard and Dirty Bone to half the unit so far.

Before and after example.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Now that I've got the Dirty/Graveyard Bone mix done, I began basing the weapons and armor on the Mirltons.

Blackened Steel with a Shadowed Steel edge on the weapons, and Cursed Gold in select points. I freehanded some filigree on the ax to the right as a way to keep him tied in. Next up will be belts, hide and hair, which these guys have a suprising amount off...

Ref pic for whenever I get back to the Evil Little Trees.

[Dae]

Hope you get back to the Evil Little Trees soon!  

 

I'm just now starting to worry about basing my minis and figuring out what useful materials are out there. I really enjoyed the progress photos you shared of terrain making, and that you are experimenting with different materials. And you now have your leaves! So, show us a few more steps on the trees and scenery?   

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

It took me awhile to get bit by the basing bug, largely because it is a very deep wormhole to fall into. Worth the time and effort, but intimidating in it's way.

After putting down another coat of Ebony Flesh, I did a highlight mix of roughly

1 drop Dark Highlights

1 drop Rainy Gray

1 drop Vallejo German Fieldgrey

2 drops Flow Improver

2 drops water

finding this too light I added 2 more drops of Fieldgrey and had almost enough to finish the tree.

Which brings me rather close to the ref pic although not exactly. The pictures don't really show it, but there is more of a greenish tint going on. 

So I'm thinking the next layer will be a Fieldgrey/Dark Highlights mix to bring the brown back a little. While I love the color of the Vallejo Fieldgrey, in the past I have encountered problems with it going glossy after having Vallejo Matte Sealer applied over it. So after dinner, I'll try my spray sealer on it and see if that plays nicer with it.

While I had the browns out, I applied Ebony Flesh and Dark Highlight over the edges and highest points of the belts and leather straps, working on giving them a distressed appearance. 

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

(A strange little man with the look of a psychotically perky game show host pokes his head out of a heating vent and cries....)

Super Happy Wash Abuse Time!

P3 Armor Wash on metals, thinned down Black Wash on hair belts, and fur, and Agrax Earthshade slathered on the bases. 

I dabbed small amounts of Buckskin Pale on the belts before hitting them with Black Wash to show where chips and cracking had occured. I'm going to go back over with Pure Black and try to add thin lines to break up the bubble look.

The fur was 50/50 Harvest Brown and Woodland Brown with Blonde Hair as a highlight. Sorta somewhat got the faded look I was going for.

Hair was done with the darkest shades of Red and Blonde hair triads then mid tone highlight before Black Wash. The one in the center had the same colors as the fur on flail dude. I wanted to give them a look that suggested barbarian tribesman whose barrows were cracked open for reinforcements. 

[Sharkbelly]

Nice work! I love how much character these old models have.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Yet more wash abuse, this tie Brown Wash thinned to almost a tint applied to the bones and metal bits. 

Also put down a base of Dragon Red onto the shields. Next will be the slow part of another highlight to the bones using Graveyard Bone. Hopefully I can power thru the most of the Mirltons tonight.