Fred's 2014 Painting Diary

[petercooman]

Thanks for the ideas chaps.

The greenstuff seems to have stuck well overnight - it was just whilst using it, that it had the standard property of all sticky things, that they want to stick to you and the tools you are using much more than the thing they are meant to stick too 

Keep your fingertips wet, that always does the trick for me when working with GS

[Hertsblue]

Yes, and the scalpel or whatever you're using to push it about with. Keep dipping it into the water-pot.

[fred.]

Yes, I have been trying to remember to keep applying water - but even that there seems to be a happy medium between too much and too little!

I think one of the reasons I was having problems initial in getting stuff to stick to the bases was that I was transferring water from my fingers to the green stuff and the base.

Anyway its all learning - and I still have no idea how Clib and Phil turn this sticky green blob into figures.

[petercooman]

Anyway its all learning - and I still have no idea how Clib and Phil turn this sticky green blob into figures.

One human sacrifice per month to the puttygods, as far is i heard ...

[Leman]

The water dip is a definite must.

[Hertsblue]

One human sacrifice per month to the puttygods, as far is i heard ...

[nikharwood]

Really like those buildings. One day I'll do a Nik and produce a massive 2mm FPW set up.

Go on - you know it makes sense 

[fred.]

Got the building bases sprayed black over the weekend


But no further with them yet

I've been having a play with painting some fire elementals, I have tried to paint them brighter on the inside, and darker on the outside, to give a fire like glow. I have seen this effect on some smoke markers and it looks good. But with these I'm not so sure.



The ones at the back are the brighter on the inside, style, the ones at the front are some previous ones, with black shadows, red, then yellow on the tips.

I'm not at all sure about the new ones, it might be because I haven't really painted a core of the fire - but I found this a bit difficult to work out with the sculpting of the mini. Perhaps the mouth should be white, with yellow around, then orange further out.

[Leman]

The best one is front left because it has orange in it, a must for fire.

[fred.]

The back row all have a fair bit of orange in them, it's just got lost under the top coats.

I'm not sure about the bright inside idea, might make the back ones more like the front ones

[Leon]

Front left looks better to me, the orange on the tips works nicely.  Orange highlights across the board give it a 'flamey' appearance.

[mollinary]

Leon,

That is a brilliant illustration.  I think I would go for a dry brush of brilliant golden yellow to provide hightights on the bodies and central flames. I think you need to be bold with this sort of thing - subtle doesn't do it! 

Mollinary

[fred.]

That helps, thanks chaps.

I think you are right, mollinary, bold matters - especially with yellow which is usually so rubbish at covering.

I will reverse the colours somewhat on the new ones, and perhaps add some more highlights to the old ones.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Love the way flames look alive.
A touch of white or veryveryveryvery light blue in the heart of the flame is good too...
It adds heart and life, but don't use anthropomorphic personification about inanimate objects, they don't like it!
Is fire inanimate? Don't want to get burned of this one.
Coat? Techno?

Oh...

[fred.]

Love the way flames look alive.
A touch of white or veryveryveryvery light blue in the heart of the flame is good too...

This was what I was trying to do - but the sculpting makes it quite hard to define the centre of the fire

It adds heart and life, but don't use anthropomorphic personification about inanimate objects, they don't like it!
Is fire inanimate?

This is the problem - it has a nose and eyes sculpted, and a mouth to a degree.

I don't think fire can be described as inanimate - but it is certainly not alive.

Don't want to get burned of this one.

Oh...