Valpas's WIP: Weathertop 2015-07-07

valpas · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:05 am

I have been vary lazy to update my blog and decided to try a WIP thread here instead. Without further ado, here is what I did yesterday:

I started painting Bilbo, Thorin, Balin and Dwalin for the painting challenge. I decided to try batch-painting heroes, which is something I have never done before. I'm currently just marking where the colours go with simple flat colour basecoats.

-- Pasi

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:52 am

I really do envy people who can paint so neatly at even the earliest WIP stage.
I have been thinking about batch painting heroes too... the only issue being finding all the variations of any given figure somewhere in all drawers I store them in - some are still in boxes, some are still in the blisters unassembled! Bilbo looks as if he is well on the way to being finished (I know, lots of tones, shades, details and highlights).

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:07 pm

Seems a nice idea Valpas. I will be interested to see how you manage once the detail work starts.
Dorthonion - I don't recall any of your work in a while, are we to see anything ?

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:12 pm

Batch painting heroes is the same as batch painting your standard infantry models the only difference is when you have the larger areas done such as clothing, skin etc you need to switch to the individual models for the finer detail work as with most heroes theres lots of this to do. Its best to switch to the individual at this stage or risk missing small parts of the model that really make a paint job. Looking good so far Pasi. I really envy painters who can work from a white basecoat.

JamesR · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:50 pm

I would agree with DMS on the white basecoat. The only time I've done well with that is painting fire.

They are looking good so far, eager to see them progress

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:54 pm

JamesR wrote:

The only time I've done well with that is painting fire.

Exactly the same here. I even started from black to paint Saruman the white lol. Sorry Pasi hijacking your thread a little here.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 1:01 pm

@Gandlaf the Grey
It will be the summer at the earliest before I can do anything other than assemble minis and even that is at a slow pace - let's just say that between work, seeking a new career (because my work sucks) and serious medical reasons affecting myself and one other family member, time and space are not available. I am an untalented and slow painter, so there really would not be anything remarkable to see really.

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 1:10 pm

Dorthonion wrote:

@Gandlaf the Grey
It will be the summer at the earliest before I can do anything other than assemble minis and even that is at a slow pace - let's just say that between work, seeking a new career (because my work sucks) and serious medical reasons affecting myself and one other family member, time and space are not available. I am an untalented and slow painter, so there really would not be anything remarkable to see really.

Hey, that's not fair! I hear your backlog is really quite remarkable! :lol:

Not that I can talk much, I tallied up my Isengard and I have some 160+ models for them of which around 30 are painted.

Valpas, these are looking really nice so far!

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2014 6:39 pm

Lord Hurin wrote:

Dorthonion wrote:

@Gandlaf the Grey
It will be the summer at the earliest before I can do anything other than assemble minis and even that is at a slow pace - let's just say that between work, seeking a new career (because my work sucks) and serious medical reasons affecting myself and one other family member, time and space are not available. I am an untalented and slow painter, so there really would not be anything remarkable to see really.

Hey, that's not fair! I hear your backlog is really quite remarkable! :lol:

Not that I can talk much, I tallied up my Isengard and I have some 160+ models for them of which around 30 are painted.

Valpas, these are looking really nice so far!

I agree and it deserves an explanation.
I have completed nearly 600 figures but mainly they were only done to a table top standard. I had a year off but the last year I have been concentrating on dioramas and improving my skills. My Bag End took 4 months and had only three figures on it and previous to that I did a Mumak diorama.
It is perhaps my lack of time which has lengthened the process as I'm married with children (one of which is a new edition) have a full-time job, try to play golf to single figure standard and everything else that comes with family life.
So my pointer to Dortonion was a question and not an accusation. Which reminds me,
Dorthonion - I hope your health issues sort themselves very soon mate and long may your wit and repartee enlighten this site.

valpas · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:53 am

Thanks for the encouragement and interest, guys! Here is some progress from yesterday. Bilbo's flats (is that a word in this context?) are complete and Dwalin needs just a few more details basecoated. I expected more progress from a Sunday afternoon but got some unexpected guests so painting had to wait.

About the hero batch painting thing: my idea is to first paint all the colours as flats on them, and then when I start shading and highlighting I can paint several parts from different miniatures at the same time. For example Bilbo's and Balin's coats are both same colour, so I can shade and highlight four miniatures with the same colours at the same time instead of opening cans and mixing colours separately. Of course the small details will still be individual, but let's see how this method works.

That undercoat is actually not white but grey. It's Vallejo's USN Light Ghost Grey primer, which I have applied with a spray gun. It's a bit more comfortable to work from than pure white. I really like Vallejo's surface primers. They can be sprayed or brushed on and provide a very good surface for painting.

-- Pasi

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:00 am

The plan for painting seems a good one and I see no reason why it shouldn't work.
I'm a converted Vallejo fan too, the primer is excellent as well as the paints. They apply better and the colour range is far superior.

valpas · **Posted:** Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:53 pm

OK, the tedious part is done and everything has a nice basecoat and the bases are also done. I added some textured paint as small waves and foam.

Now the fun begins! Next step is shading, so the next time you see these guys they will be a lot darker.

-- Pasi

JamesR · **Posted:** Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:57 pm

Looking forward to seeing the progress

valpas · **Posted:** Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:08 pm

I didn't finish the dwarf navy in time for the painting challenge. The barrels are still unfinished; my hand said "no more" after today's long painting session.

Luckily it lasted until finishing the foot versions of the guys:

The hero batch painting system worked quite well until highlight phase. There was simply no shortcut through that. Basecoating and shading several different models at once took a lot less time than painting each miniature individually and was the only way I could paint eight hero miniatures in a month.

-- Pasi

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Fri Feb 28, 2014 11:01 pm

I didn't much care for the barrel in bonds set but I have to admit that these look great. Nice paint scheme with lovely highlighting to set them off.

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:03 am

I concur with Gandlaf, I was never sold on the barrels set but these are looking great so far. Can't wait to see them finished.

Erunion · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:54 am

Love these guys, Pasi. I'm definitely going to have to pick up this set!

Hodush · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 5:55 am

Nice work! Strangely, i am liking the blue rims on the barrels bases. It makes sense of course but would be quite difficult to get to the right tone I think

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:15 am

The blue rims on the barrels set works well. Great painting as usual Pasi.

valpas · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:43 am

Thanks guys! I finished painting the barrel dwarves today, but I want to apply a shiny varnish on the water and some parts of the barrels to make them look wet. The initial matt varnish is still drying so that and the photos will have to wait for next week.

The blue rim is just trusty old Regal Blue. Just to make them match my Dreadfleet models.

I painted some textured paint as waves and foam, drybrushed them with lighter blues, washed the whole base with a dark green wash and finally drybrushed the tops of the waves white.

-- Pasi

Valpas's WIP: Weathertop 2015-07-07

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