Tuesday 20 May 2014

Parchment titles


Hello Folks!


A quick tutorial for you, this time on painting quick and effective parchment effects for your base titles or other parchment elements!

This one I did on a WIP of Grimm Burlocksson, the mad dwarf engineer.


Here's how I went about it:

Firstly I created the actual title using lead paper as I described a while ago in this tutorial.

Secondly, after having primed the parchment in white using my airbrush I applied several layers of Steel Legion Drab mixed with a little bit of VGC carbonised brown (VGC G45). This I diluted approximately 1 part paint to 2 parts water and applied in several criss-crossing coats until I obtained a more or less homogeneous base. For this effect it is not important to have a homogeneous starter base, but it is important that none of the undercoat is visible before going to the next step.

after the base coat is ready: you can see it is not perfectly homogeneous, but no undercoat is visible

Next I used VMC 927, a colour close to GW bronzed flesh. This I diluted quite heavily, approximately 1 part paint to 6 parts water. With this diluted paint I created random blotches of colour, using a paintbrush with a fairly large reservoir and by passing several times over the same areas. This is not an exact science and the more random your blotches are: the better!

The finished blotches, it looks a bit like a camouflage layout in fact...

Next I grabbed some blister foam, tore a few bits off:


And used them to press little dots of the same flesh tone as before. Here I pass randomly over the whole surface regardless of the colour underneath. You need to slightly dilute your paint for this as well, otherwise your little dots will have a deep texture, and that you do not want! If you are not getting little dots but big blotches: press your paint loaded blister foam onto some kitchen roll as if preparing for a dry brush pass.


I repeat this process with a mix of VMC 927 and Skull White (approx. 50/50), here also I slightly diluted my paint: only a little drop into the mix just to help smoothen the deposits. Here as well if necessary rub your blister foam off on some kitchen roll before dabbing away!
Finally I tidied up the edges and creases using the same colours and mixes but thinned down sufficiently to be applied with a normal paintbrush:

The final light blotches and edge highlights, I also washed over the whole parchment with a wash of Steel Legion Drab
Finally I applied a heavily diluted was of Steel Legion Drab over the whole parchment. The dilution was approximately 1 part paint to 10 parts water.

All that remains to do now is to clean up around the parchment, but that will be done when I have finished painting the other details of the base (like the cog wheels...)

I hope this little tutorial will be of help to you! Try it out and let me know how it worked for you, OR better still: e-mail me some pics' of your works using these tips and tricks! (tinypeoplestudio@gmail.com)

Keep on dosing up on your pigments!

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Level Up!: Calebs' Basing Session 1.0

Today was an interesting day as I held my first "basing" oriented private tuition session! Up until now all my students have wanted either sculpting or (mainly) painting oriented tuition, So thanks Caleb for having given me the possibility to do something new as well!

Caleb wanted to create some simple yet effective bases for his Skaven army, and a powerful evocative base for a Warmachines Lord Exhumator Scaverous. When he arrived all these were mounted on their simple plastic bases; when he left... well you'll see at the end of this little article! The painting of these bases, and possibly others, will be for a future session.


Skaven Army

The aim was to help Caleb create an interesting yet simple base design that he could easily replicate over his entire army. The other major factor was that his entire army is already glued to its bases, so we needed something that could easily be built up around the models rather than have him pull an unimaginable quantity of ratmen off their bases. So a few pictures to show what Caleb learnt today!:

Quick and easy ruts and wheel marks!


Texturing off rough, muddy/swampy terrain

Serious concentration: thy name is Caleb!

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best! Here: the use of glue on grass tufts

And finally: real earth!!

The Lord Scaverous

Caleb wanted something to really enhance the pose of this hefty and imposing model. After a bit of brainstorming he went for a ruined paved floor that seemed to be rising up above the level of the ground.
Here I introduced him to the really useful stuff you can find in your everyday arts and crafts store (and your garden funnily enough), the art of texturing milliput to blend it into the surrounding textures, and above all the key concepts involved in the conceptualisation of a base before even getting your putty and glue out.

The great advantage here was that the Scaverous could be removed from his base, so we were able to have a completely free hand in building the base.

So more pictures!:

Poor sleepy Scaverous... Caleb will soon have you back on your feet!

A small selection of the array of basing materials I spread out for Calebs' selection. He went for the grey tiles mainly.

And here he is hard at work with his selection!

Although it is not very clear: here Caleb discovers the joys of salvaging cut-off pieces and texturing milliput.
His concentration is still just as visible!

Hard at work with more piles of stuff for his own pleasure!

And the final base, including the use of real earth!

The same, from above (the "X"s mark the rough position of the models feet so as to be sure NOT to flock there before fixing the model to the base.)

Well that made for a fun couple of hours! I enjoyed it immensely, thank you Caleb for having been a patient student! I'm really looking forward to seeing these painted, as I am looking forward to seeing your future and now improved basing projects!

Happy man at the end of the session contemplating his handiwork!

Keep on enjoying your hobby people!

If you want to improve your basing abilities, or any other aspect of your Hobby, then get in touch!:
tinypeoplestudio@gmail.com
I'll be more than happy to do all I can to help you get more out of your Hobby!