What I've Learned about Painting - Part 2

...continued from Part 1

As I mentioned in the first post, these are based on my own learnings and experience.  The list goes on...

People like bullet points.  Here they are:

• Matte medium is my friend - Adding matte medium allows you to maintain the same tone, but with increased transparency or less (but still smooth!) coverage.  Water will also make the paints more transparent, but the pigment becomes really splotchy.  I use it for washes to add transparency, but still encourage the paint to settle in the cracks. 

• Keep a damp brush handy for cleaning up mistakes when they happen.  A little more water in the paint may make the difference between having time to clean up and not.

• Planning makes a big difference in efficiency.  Figure out ahead of time what's getting dry-brushed and do that first.  Lately I'm putting down the first base coat on the whole model, then doing the areas that need dry-brushing.  

• Glazing is used when you want to put down a thin layer of paint, but in thinning it, you don't want it running all over the place and settling in the cracks.  Matte Medium can be used to make glazes, but I've also tried Glazing Medium.  I'm too newbish to tell the difference.

• I'm still trying to speed up my painting so I'm doing a lot of work in batches.  Build some models, prime some models, paint some models.  My speed with the brush isn't getting better, but the overall workflow is. The airbrush helps with that...

• Airbrushes are sweet!  I'm finding the biggest benefit is speed and consistency.  Currently, I use it mostly for undercoating and base-coating.  You can get much, much better coverage than a spray can of paint while never having to worry about applying too much paint and filling in detail.  The downside is that they require some setup and maintenance time and additional equipment.  I could probably write a whole post about things I learned about air-brushing.

• I'm still thinning my paints with a 20-1 water-flow enhancer mix.  I think my brushes are beginning to suffer for it.  The paint wicks up into the ferrule much easier when using the flow enhancer and it's getting harder to remove.  Still, I love the flow enhancer, especially when painting details.  I can use a really light touch and don't have to worry about surface tension sucking a glob of paint off of the brush. 

And because everyone likes pictures:

Rupert Carvolo - WIP

April Circle

I'm a bit late putting these up, but April was a slow painting month.  I'm making up for it in May.  I'm steadily painting models for a Baldur theme list.  To date, I only had two Circle casters painted and table-ready - Kaya and Grayle.  This month I added eKaya and Baldur.  I'm getting a lot of practice painting sticks and stones, which are commonly used in Circle to break them bones. 

Megalith

Otherwise known as  "Kaya the Moonblood" due to her red pants.  Thank my wife for that one.

Kaya, the Moonhunter

I really like painting solos.  Baldur's model is clean and well-defined.  That's something that makes painting easier for me.  I don't enjoy painting models when I can't tell what a thing is.  Is that part of the coat, or is it his undershirt?  Is that surface pants or boot?  I struggle.  Perhaps I should not worry about it and just do what looks sweet.  On second thought, I'm too OCD to go that route.

Baldur, the Stonecleaver

Spoiler:  In May I finish the rest of Baldur's theme force.

Big month of Circle Painting

As mentioned previously, I wanted to field a T4 eKaya list for the March Madness event.  Ultimately, I needed 35 pts painted plus the caster - in one month.  I came close, but ultimately just fell short.  eKaya and Laris didn't get painted in time, so I fell back on a Grayle list that used all but two of the models.  Here's what made it off the table in March.

Shifting Stones

Warpborn Skinwalkers

Pureblood Warpwolf

Gnarlhorn Satyr

Druid Wilder

Druids of Orboros Overseer

Druids of Orboros

Pyre Troll

March Madness!

I went to my first organized event this past weekend at Borderlands in Greenville, SC.  I spent most of March building a list and panting a 50 pt army for it, only to not use that list in the end.  It was great fun and I have nothing but good things to say about the locale, the event, and the players. 

The Locale

A few words about Borderlands.  This is one of the best stores for tabletop games and comics that I've been to.  Half of their retail space was devoted to miniature games, the other half was comics.  They had more Warmachine/Hordes stock than I've seen in one place.  I'm really jealous of the guys that can call this their FLGS.  The Warmachine community seems very active in the area.

The Event

The event was a four-round escalation.  We played games at 15, 25, 35, and 50 points.  The first two were caster kill (second was Kill Box, specifically).  The third was a modified Close Quarters, and the last was Overrun.  The scoring confused me, but more on that later.

From March Madness!

Epic Kaya's - 15, 25, 35, 50 pt escalation theme list

I'm planning to attend my first organized tournament at the end of this month and it's an escalation format. Four rounds, the first two are 15 and 25 points, caster kill objective. The last two rounds are steamroller scenarios at 35 and 50 pts. Each larger list has to include all of the models in the previous list.  A theme list already has some constraints on it and adding the additional escalation parameters really adds another dimension to the list building.  I'm surely not up to the challenge, but I thought I'd write it up anyway.

I'm not taking this too seriously, and have low expectations considering my experience, but at the same time, I want to do my best.  I'm pretty new to the game and I'm still building out my Circle army. eKaya's theme force, compared to other casters, lets me get away with painting the fewest models, and given my time constraint (3 weeks) that's going to be important. I'm pretty much settled on the final 50 pt list, but I may still tweak the progression from 15 to 50 pts.  I want my army to be playable at all point levels, since every match matters in the standings. To start, here's my final list:

50 Pts (Tier 4):

• {00} Kaya the Moonhunter (0 / 3 WB)
  
  • {00} Laris (Companion)
  • {02} Druid Wilder
  • {07} Gnarlhorn Satyr
  • {08} Feral Warpwolf
  • {08} Pureblood Warpwolf
  • {09} Warpwolf Stalker
• {07} Druids of Orboros
  
  • {02} Druid of Orboros Overseer
• {02} Shifting Stones
  
  • {01} Stone Keeper
• {02} Shifting Stones
• {05} Warpborn Skinwalkers (2 grunts)

Learning the Ropes

The Woldwarden is the first construct warbeast for a Baldur themed army I'm building.  I don't know what that list is going to consist of yet, but I know it will have a Woldwarden!  This gnarly guy was a breeze to paint.  I started with a black basecoat and added progressively lighter shades of grey starting with thornwood green and ending with trollblood highlight.  As I'm learning the ropes, I'm following PP's painting guides where-ever I can.  I figure that emulation is the first step of learning to do something new.  Once I've built the skills, then I can afford to branch out and start experimenting.  Until then, I'm sticking with the copy-cat method.

Woldwarden

Dire Troll Mauler

Dire Troll Mauler

This guy turned out better than expected.  I struggled a lot with this shading, and had to repair it a couple times with a wash of trollblood base.  Overall, I'm pleased with him.  The stones on his back were easy.  A basecoat of battlefield brown with a dry-brush of rucksack tan was all they needed.

Dire Troll Mauler

Dire Troll Mauler