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I had another hour or two tonight to paint.

I am at the hard part of the project–of any miniature or model project–the end of the start. I have enough started that the project looks well unfinished, and all the mistakes and misses are apparent. I am just trying to get the base colors on the figures and get through the mass paintings. I spent a good amount of my time painting boots. Not very interesting. This is when it is hard to keep going. There is so much yet to do. So I try to just do something every free night. Like painting all the boots.

I used the dilute paints with the flow enhancer again. I am happy with the look so far.

I made progress on the undead of Heroes, and the characters for Scythe are looking a bit more complete.

Lastly, I did buy some contrast paints a few weeks ago. I have used them on the monkey and the wolf. So far, I am not able to use them to much effect.

That is all for this update.

Tonight I had about an hour to paint. So I tried to finish the bases for the surfs and warriors of Heroes. The pale sand color does not cover over the dark shading. After three coats, it looks good enough to keep.

I also painted the undead characters and got some blue and purple even on the Scythe characters.

To paint, I dilute the paint so that it will allow the white and dark shading show through. I had a bit of trouble with the colors; it would not cover well. I added some flow enhancer directly, and that did not improve the paint. I then add more paint to the mix. I do this by adding a drop near the puddle of paint and let it run in. This allows me to take some undiluted paint if I want on to the brush. This will enable me to select to paint some color instead of washing it on.

I nearly dropped the king undead figure, and when catching him, I hit the paint tray and well it was time to stop and clean-up after that.

Here is my hand next to the figures to show the scale.

The wight figure (white skull head) is almost done. You can see I added more purple to him than the grim reaper next to him.

With the bases done and the main characters showing the look that matches the game, I will move to the mass painting of the surfs next time.

Lastly, I painted a black ring on all the warriors. This is hard to see in the photo as well it is black–it is visible in the first photo.

I had a few minutes to start on the Heroes Undead faction last night.

I first used a few drops of plain old white from Army Painters and added a few drops of water and flow enhancer to make a wash of white.

This paint, as you can see, is almost a wash. I want it to cover the white and leave the black undercoating showing a bit. As this is white, that is a bit hard to do. I mix the flow enhancer with water and put it in a small bottle now (20 to 1 from the instructions–I am more 10 to 1).

I then use the Army Painter’s regimental brush to paint with. This lets me get done faster as the brush covers well and prevents me from trying to do crazy detail and just gets the base on. I will use the larger brush to get the pain on the figure. I did not do the warriors–just simply missed them.

The paint is hard to see on the black and white primed figure.

I then painted the first coat of pale sand on the bases (Vallejo Pale Sand 70.837). I did not mask the surf and warrior bases as they are just too many. I will need more than one coat. As this was also the first time I had used this paint, it was too runny for my tastes, and I ended up dump 1/8 of the paint and finally got something workable. It will take about three coats to the base as the color does not cover black well.

I did then remember to paint the warrior bases. I plan to paint black on the edges for the warriors to make them clearly identifiable. Thus the surfs will be on painted bases, characters will be natural plastic with maybe a name glued on edge, and the warriors with black side on their base.

So just getting started. Have not started on the other figures, D&D and Scythe characters.

Photo by me

With the undercoat on and the white over top spray (sometimes called the zenithal shading for creating a light effect that is directly overhead) on, I now extend the effect by dry-brushing white on the exposed surfaces. I  will use dilute paints later, and this will show the white a bit and thus create highlighting without much effort. The dark areas will likely stay dark. It saves work, and I think it makes the figures “pop.”

Here is the wraith after and before image.

Sorry about the blur, the left side is dry brushed. The right is just zenithal shading.

The trick is to not get too much paint on the brush and to keep brushing when there is almost no paint to bring forward the edges.

I use a brush from Army Painter for this. And I use mostly their paints for figures and even military models. I like the shades of their primary colors.

Here are the Scythe characters and the brush I use.

Two Bones figures I added to my work for this painting run.

And all of the Heroes Undead faction figures. I have seen some excellent Army Painter system for these. I will see how I do with this process and see if I feel like the faction paints fast enough using this and looks good. I picked the Undead as they are simple; they are dead.

Before painting, I made copies of the Heroes Undead faction character cards and play board so I can have something to paint from. I have also printed copies of the art for all the Scythe figures. So I am ready for the painting now that all the masking, prep, and shading is in place.

So next update will be painting colors over my shading.