bottle cap idea

I think you should consider using the greatest resource for 25-30mm terrain modelers in the known universe ...
[size=18]BOTTLECAPS[/size]!

They are cheap (because we want to mass-produce sci-fi miscelanea, right?), about the right size, identical (more on that l8r), and already come in a decent variety of shapes and colors:

Lo and behold, once you've had a few sodas and hit the tops with a Sharpie, you have a set of identical generic objectives:

Identical. Right. Or ... are they?

This highlights one of the coolest things about using bottlecaps. You can get a bunch of identical pieces, but you can hide differences inside on the bottom. For modelers, this isn't exciting. But for a gamer, the ability to have 4 or 6 hand made and cheap, identical objectives that can be labeled for different game effects is very useful. Sure, you can write on the bottom of any piece of small terrain like that -- but unless you have a slew of spare electonics a la Froggy the Great, this is the best and cheapest way to mix up several objectives and have no one know which is which until you encounter them! Yay!
Still, this is a terrain site and the generic objectives are not really that interesting. So, let's start by looking at how we can arrange them, exploiting the fact that there are several different shapes, but they all are the same size:

OK. So, now we have some variety (actually, a decent amount when you consider permutations and combinations (including orientation)). And they are a little bigger (single caps only come up to about knee height on 28mm minis). And they are still identical. But can't we go a little farther and preserve the good aspects (cheap and identical)?


With a little paint and creativity (ok, and some stir sticks) added, we now have some barrels, cargo pods, containers, equipment looking things, and maybe that last thing on the right in the last picture is a jet engine for a space ship (at least I hope so, 'cause that's how I make 'em). We've kept this pretty cheap, fast, and easy to do. You should be able to mass-produce a whole cargo bay full of this type of stuff for next to nothing (though if you need that many caps, you may either pay in terms of you health or you may have to beg friends for their used bottlecaps. Come on, you're a gamer or a terrainer, people already look at you like that! ) To add to the generic barrels, if you want a few customs (besides that generic one that is marked on the bottom to blow up when a figure moves adjacent to it), here is some customization:

and a little more variety

We also should not forget outdoors and the potential for alien environments our sci fi guys could encounter:

I also want to make some palm trees like this, but I haven't done it yet.
Besides the use of caps alone, they make good piece parts for other pieces of terrain. Like bases for statues:

or mybe even a whole fountain...

OK, so maybe the bottom is the lid from a jar of Nutella. But once you start collecting caps, you will branch out. Trust me. Sooner or later, you will end up with something like this:

Yep alien yoghurt cup walkers!
So, maybe I have convinced you this is cool enough to rate some effort. But the real point is to see these babies in action. So how about a little scenario with some store-bought sci fi terrain and some of these pieces:

I think they can hold their own against the store-bought pieces. And they were a lot cheaper and much more fun to acquire. Let's try again:

Hey look! It's multi-level ajdacent terrain with three levels beyond the ground! That's almost as cool as the Smurf village I made once out of inverted styrofoam drink cups and red plastic bowls! Well, nothing could be as cool as that...
I hope this helps. Fight on, space cadets:

Crates - Futuristic

Crates are often used as part of larger terrain pieces but are also useful on their own. They work well as objective counters or as random cover to fill gaps on a table-top terrain layout. In this fairly quick project Craig 'Nagasaurus' Hardt turns small pieces of scrap wood into futuristic looking crates.

Materials & Tools

1. small wooden blocks
2. matte board
3. PVA/white glue
4. thin cardboard
5. straight pins
6. sand paper
7. utility knife
8. cutting mat
9. pencil or pen
10. metal ruler
11. scissors (optional)
12. pin vice with #70 drill bit
13. wire cutters
14. brushes and paints

Matte board is the thick cardboard used in picture framing (any thick card will work). For the wood it is easiest to use a softer wood such as pine, etc. and make sure to sand them lightly if the surface is rough.

Assembly

Measure each block and note the dimensions for each of the sides and the top (don't worry about the bottom). Using these measurements cut out 5 rectangles with the utility knife (using the metal ruler as a guide) and glue them to the block with the white/PVA glue.
While the glue is drying cut thin 1/8" strips from the thin cardboard with a utility knife or scissors and lay them out as reinforcing bands around the crates. Try different positions to see what you like before gluing them down. Don't worry about measuring the length exactly - just make them longer than you need and then trim the ends to fit.
After the side plates and the bands are finished and the glue has dried mark your rivet positions. Once you're happy with the rivet placement take the pin vice and drill a short hole through the bands and the matt card plates. Don't worry about drilling all the way in - you can "hammer" the pins in a moment.
Next take a collection of straight pins and use the wire cutters to trim them down to about 1/4 of their original length. Do this over a trash bin or the cut ends will fly all over the place (no one likes to step on a pin). Wearing eye protection is also a smart move.
Now that you have a nice pile of "nails" put a small drop of glue in one of the holes and push in the pin as far as you can by hand. Once you feel resistance pick up the piece so you can put the head of the pin on a hard surface (like your cutting mat, not the kitchen counter) and with even pressure press down with your palm on the opposite side from the pin to drive it into the wood. A small hammer would work as well but take care not to whack your project. Repeat as needed to place all the rivets, wiping off excess glue as you go.
For painting I went with a black undercoat (spray paint) and drybrushed with metallic silver paint. The rivets were highlighted with a touch of metallic gold paint.
You don't have to cover each side of the blocks with the matte board but I found that this hid the wood grain and also added a nice "bulkiness" to the crates. Glue on rivets would also work nicely in place of the straight pins. Using pins can be very tedious but I find that the heads look good at this scale and it is hard to beat them for consistency.

Crates - Wooden

Littlemonk tells us: I simply don't have the time to glue each board together to make a wooden crate, so I came up with this simplified version.

Supplies:

1. Small wooden cubes. I found mine at a craft store and they measure 1/2 inch, but either bigger cubes or rectangles would do.
2. Wood strips. I used coffee stirrers from a local coffee shop; they are nice and thin and have a rough texture.
3. Razor saw.
4. Black ink pen.
5. Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue. PVA will do, but I like how fast this dries.
6. Wood stain or various brown washes.

Step 1: Cutting the wood
Cut a coffee stirrer in half lengthwise. Take one half and cut off a piece to the width of the cube. We'll need 8 pieces in all to form the bracing on the sides of the crate.
Take another coffee stirrer but don't cut it lengthwise, just leave it the way it is. Cut this into pieces the width of the cube. These will serve as the top of the crate. How many you need will depend on the dimensions of your blocks and strips/stirrers but I found that I needed 3 strips per cube.

Step 2: Scoring the cube
To make the crate look as if it's made up of lots of boards, score plank lines in the wooden cube using a razor saw. You could use a knife but I found the saw to be safer and more effective.
Find the natural grain of the wood and go with it, not against it. The 'sides' with 'end grain' will act as the top and bottom of the crate. The bottom doesn't need score lines since it will be out of sight. The top will be covered with coffee stirrers. Score the remaining 4 sides. I scored 2 lines per side such that they looked like 3 planks (to match the top). The deeper you can score the lines, the more realistic it will look.
Step 3: Assembly
Now take the small strips and glue 2 to each side. One near the top and one near the bottom. Do this for all 4 sides then glue the larger strips to top to create the lid of crate. Take care not to get any glue on the faces if you will be staining as opposed to painting the crates.
I then used a black ink pen to make little nail indentations. I like the effect of the ink leaking out a little around the 'nail'. Now we're ready to paint!
Step 4: Painting
I used a Minwax "Golden Oak" wood stain pen followed by a brown ink wash called "Chocolate Brown" by Reaper. I thought about using a wood stain, but I thought it would be too messy. I prefer wood stain to paint for actual wood, but you can paint it up any way you prefer! All told, it took no more than 10 minutes per crate.

blood with craft paint

How to paint blood splatters

I was asked the other day how I paint blood splatters. You see it on Pre-Heresy World Eater armies all the time. It's almost a requirement to painting a force in that color scheme. Painting blood can be tricky though. It's one of those things that can be hard to explain, but you just know what looks "right."

Even GW is in on the act, their pic on the right there shows that they've added blood to their artwork as well.

I'm going to show you how I do it and more importantly, the two things I think you should know above all others when it comes to applying this technique in particular.

If you take nothing else from this tutorial, it should be these two things.
1. Less is more.
2. Scale is everything.

Planning out your splatter
You wouldn't think you'd need to plan out your random blood splatter. Nothing could be further from the truth. A well placed blood spatter really draws attention, but not so much as to become the focus. You want emphasis here, not spotlight.

Get a test model and try out some different patterns. See what looks "best" or appropriate. We're talking about both the amount of blood and the actual pattern or design of the splatter. Remember, less is more here. It doesn't take much to show "splatter." It can be a fine line between that and rolling around in the stuff.


Getting the right color red
I'm going to limit myself to human blood here and keep away from Xenos effects. Once you go that route, all bets are off and the sky is the limit. I can't think of any times I've seen it done, but I'm sure it could make for some amazing effects if done well.

I use two paints to get the effect. A dark red (Americana Napa Red) and a bright red (Delta Ceramcoat Bright Red). You could substitute the Americana Napa Red with GW Red Gore if you wanted. It too is somewhat dark and transparent.

The dark is for the dried blood and the bright red is for the stuff that is still wet. Blood, when it splatters, will dry fairly quickly and since most of our "drops" are not that big, they will dry fast. So... most of the effect is done with the dark red.

In certain areas where there is a considerable amount of blood (similar to larger chipped paint battle damage where you go in and add silver over black) I will add the bright red over the dark stuff to show that it's still somewhat wet and has not dried yet.

Application of the "blood"
Hmmm... I bet there are a hundred different ways to do this. Dave G from N++ Wargaming uses this approach to get a nice blood splatter effect.
I start out with an older brush (not a big one though) that I use for drybrushing where the tip is completely destroyed and the bristles are going everywhere. I use this one to lay down the larger areas of blood by dabbing it on the surface where I want the blood to be.

After that, I'll go in with a super detail brush and add a few spots here and there until I get the look and pattern I want on the surface. Remember, less is more here! You don't need tons of blood to be gory.


So let's go back to my one and only example, you can see I have three little main areas in a line (moving at an angle outward opposite the marble striping on the rocks) with a few extra spots around those. I really worked at keeping the scale in mind and not overdoing it too.

It's no accident the three larger areas are somewhat lined up moving outward in the direction they are. That was the planning aspect. I went through about a half dozen different patterns until I found one that fit with the model and its pose.

Getting it right in the end
It comes down to personal preference at the end of the day. It's your army and they should look the way you want them too. Adding blood splatters to a few key models can create an amazing look and feel to a squad. Keep scale and volume in mind and you won't go wrong.

glwoing eyes

This guy is based off of Astorath in the pose. The painting is fairly Codex, but painting it taught me a few things. The first was about highlighting and shading. I'm continuing to work on my process of selective application if you will. A more complete explanation on the process can be found here.

The whole thing comes from that one painting quiz I posted way back when where I was looking into how much detail is needed on a model to get the point across. The colors and process in this case are a refinement of the process I used to paint the Storm Wardens squad last year.

The two big things outside of that were painting the double headed axe with lightning type effects and then making it look like his eyes are glowing.


Painting power weapon effects
I've covered this technique before. The idea is to pick the color of your "lightning" and then pair that up with a wash. A full discussion on the the Space Hulk approach to power weapons can be found in this post. Here I made the lightning purple to tie in with the theme of the army. I really used the purple on this guy as a spot color instead of a main color like it is on the rest of the force.

This way, he's still tied in with the army, but is able to stand out wearing the classic Librarian blue.


I went with two purples for the lightning in this case, a warm one and a cool purple (Vivid Violet by Americana and Lavender by Folk Art respectively).

Step 1
Getting some color added to the background
By taking a base color of P3 Beaten Purple and adding it to the side of the blade, I'm able to give it some life instead of just being black primer. Overall the blade will remain dark, but I was looking to add a little more emphasis to the sides.

Step 2
Adding the lightning to the blade.
I started with the warm purple and added a series of squiggles that originated from under the wings. A quick wash of GW Leviathan Purple followed by repeating the process using the cool purple. Each pass I made, I brought my lightning out a little less. This made the finished lightning appear to be fading away the further it gets from it origination point.

Step 3
Getting just the right look.
I keep repeating the lightning/wash method until I have the look I like. Sometimes you can get it in a couple passes, sometimes it takes a bunch. It all depends on how high of a contrast you want in the end too.


Painting glowing eyes
I've done this once before, but it was on a bigger scale. Unfortunately, a quick search of the FTW Blog rolls did not turn anything up that I could use. So... I'll cover the process a little more in depth here for those looking to try it on their models.

You'll need a super fine tip brush and a steady
hand for sure. I use a Raphael 8404 Size 0 I pick up from Secret Weapon Minis. It's actually the brush I use for the majority of my painting. If you've never picked out all the tiny details on a face, you might want to do a test model or two before sitting down to try this on your prized character model.

That being said, the last part is to make sure you do not obscure detail on the face as you paint. This means you need to prime carefully, basecoat carefully and as you paint, thin your paints so you don't build up paint and loose any detail.

The first time I did this, it was on a Forge World Bloodthirster. This made it much easier to do
since I had a huge area to work in. For this guy, I really had to focus since my work area was considerably smaller.

I started by painting his head the way I normally do. Prime black, basecoat skin color, a couple washes for the shadows followed up with some highlights over that to get the contrast. No exaggeration, I painted it how I would normally do it if I were NOT making his eyes glow.

I went in and added his shaved head and some stubble for his beard too for good measure.

With all of that done, it was time to try to make his eyes glow. Like I said, I'd never done this before and I don't see it done very often to be honest.


I started by taking a light purple (Lavender by Folk Art)and going over his eyeballs and the surrounding area below his brow where the radiant light would be picked up. For a huge discussion on Object Source Lighting, check out this series of posts.

I deliberately pushed the radius of the reflected light in order to draw attention to the fact that his eyes are glowing. While it may not be "correct," you've got to know when to bend the rules slightly for effect.

This was followed by a wash of GW Leviathan Purple for the recessed areas. Then I repeated the first step again, but didn't come out as far as I did on the face as I did the first time. Follow that with another pass of the Leviathan Purple.

Then I added a tiny bit of white to the Lavender and repeated the highlighting again... not going out as far. The final step was to add a bit more white to the purple and hit just the eyes and the immediate skin around them.

Is it 100 percent accurate? Most likely not. I think it's a good representation and there's enough there to convince the viewer of what it is. And if I can convince the viewer, that's really what I'm trying to do.

I have had another reader send me their attempt and we took a look at what he could do to improve the effect on his model.

Overall thoughts on the model
I was worried how this guy would turn out when I started. The glowing eyes thing and the fact that there is not much on him in terms of detail had me concerned. I actually like that he is clean and uncluttered. He has an "old school" feeling to him I think.

I also used this guy to push my contrasts. He's got some real shadows on him and it gives him a very dark and sinister look overall. Makes him look very serious and more real than the other models in the force that are only painted to a tabletop standard.

I'm glad the eyes came out as well as they did, I think it adds a huge amount to the model overall and really makes him unique. The only left for me to do is figure out a nice bit of freehand I can add to his right shoulderpad.

Basics: Line highlighting made simple

Basics: Line highlighting made simple

Line highlighting can be easy if you take a few steps in the beginning and set yourself up for success. Part of it is knowing what to do before you get to the highlighting stage and the other part is taking your time once you get there.

That's not to say it will take you forever to line highlight a model, but as with any aspect of painting, it takes some time to get really nice results. Sure, your bigger models will take longer and if you're sloppy, you'll have to go behind and clean it up. But... the end result is definitely worth it.

So what tools do you need?
Aside from paints, there is one thing you really do need to have. That's a good quality paintbrush with a fine tip. If you find yourself sitting there trying to think if you have any of these in your collection... you don't. And if you think you can use your basecoating brush to do your fine highight work, you can't. You really ought to pick up a better quality brush, take good care of it and use it for this purpose only. Once you have a good one, you know you've got it.

It might seem a bit much, but having a good brush to do this will make it easier. Believe me, trying to do this with an old brush with a bad tip will only cause you more problems than it's worth.

I have my views on what constitutes a good brush and I recommend folks look around and find what works best for them.
Here's the process I went through to find a good brush.

I'm not going to get into paint consistencies other than to say you can thin your paints to the point you feel comfortable working with them. I do it slightly with most of mine. Notice I said most of mine as I have some paints I don't thin at all. It all depends on what color/brand I'm using. This is a personal preference thing.

What thinning really does to your paints is make them flow off the brush and onto the model a bit easier and you don't have to press down as hard on the model with the brush to get the paint onto it. It will take some experimenting on your part to find what paint "consistency" works best for you.


Now what kind of shading should I do?
What do I need to do before I line highlight?
Basically it comes down to getting your model ready. Priming, basecoating and shading. Those are what you need to have done. For me, line highlighting is the final step. In my example here, I've used an Eldar Guardian since he has quite a few armour plates for me to practice on. Once your model is ready, you'll have one of two situations you'll be faced with as you start your line highlighting.

It will depend on how you shaded your model that will determine what you're faced with. Why does this matter? Because ideally we'd like to be able to go behind our work and clean it up as needed to get the best effect. Depending on what you did up to this point, it could be impossible or it could be a piece of cake.


Subtle surface color variations = no "invisible" correcting
If you've covered the surface or section to be line highlighted with a wash or any effect that has darkend the entire surface and created subtle variations in surface color, you'll have a difficult time cleaning up your work.

You won't be able to go back with your basecoat and clean up any mistakes you make while highlighting without seeing your attempts to fix your mistakes. Look at the photo above, on the left, you can see the highlight along the edge and where I made a mistake. On the right, you can see where I tried to fix it with the base color. It ends up looking like a thin highlight with a fat line next to it.


No surface color variations = correcting is possible AND invisible
If you take the previous example and make one of two changes...

1. You keep your wash limited to the recessed areas only
2. You go back over your surface areas with your base color after washing leaving the wash in the recessed areas only

... you'll be able to make corrections as you line highlight your model.

How do you make corrections then?
You make corrections to your line highlighting by going back in with your original basecolor and cleaning up any stray marks or painting along side your highlight in order to make it even thinner and more crisp along the edge. This works if you've kept your shading to the recessed areas only or already went back in and repainted your base color so you're highlighting on a consistent colored surface.

In some cases where you have the subtle variations across a surface and you make a "mistake" while line highlighting, you can erase your mistake if you quickly rinse out your brush, leave a little excess water in it and then try to wipe or scrub away the stray mark. This will work most of the time. Of course it won't work on that one character model you've got a hundred hours into if you're anything like me.

But how do I paint my line highlights in the first place?
When it comes to painting your line highlights, you want to make sure you do a couple of things.


1. Do NOT load the brush up to the very top of the bristles with paint.
I use very little paint on the very tip of the brush and after a few strokes, I rinse out my brush and start over. This keeps the paint from drying in the tip of the brush and making my lines too large.


2. Make sure your strokes go in the correct direction
I always start away from me and pull back towards me. Do not try and push the brush to the left or right or even worse... away from you. You want to be able to apply a consistent pressure (to keep the line the same thickness) and pull it towards you for a smooth line.


3. Hold your brush at the "proper" angle.
This is perhaps the biggest thing. How you hold your brush matters. You want to "pull" your brush along the surface and not stab or poke at the model. We want to be able to apply a slight amount of pressure (like normal) and drag just the tip of the brush along the edge we want to highlight.


4. Don't try to do it all in one pass.
This ties in with the first part. We aren't going to line highlight the whole model in one go. It will take a number of smaller strokes. In the photo above, you can see the starting points for each stroke (the dot) and the direction the highlight is pulled. Remember to hold your brush and the model so that you maintain the correct angle as well!


And here's the armour after some cleanup work
You can see that by repainting the armour plates with the base color (or limiting my washes to the recessed areas only), I can go back in with my original base color and clean up my stray marks. It took a bit longer to do the model like this since I had to apply my wash carefully and then clean up the armour before highlighting, but the look is much more "finished."


Applying the line highlighting effect to other parts of the model
Here you can see the gun has been given the same treatment as the armour. It started as a base of GW Dheneb Stone. I carefully applied a GW Ogryn Flesh wash to the recessed areas only. After that dried, I went back with the base color and cleaned up the weapon. This gave me a nice, clean and consistent surface to apply my line highlights to. I took P3 Menoth White Highlight and went over the prominent edges to define the shape of the weapon.

Even following the tips above, it's going to take some practice to get the feel for line highlighting. You'll get a feel for how much pressure you need to use, how long of a line you can put down in one stroke, where to start each stroke, etc.

And the more you practice, the faster you'll get at it too. The first few times, it's going to add a substantial amount of time to your painting. After a while, it will get faster and it won't add much time at all.

NOTE: Since it was mentioned in the comments, I did a follow-up post that talks about using the side of your brush to line or edge highlight and some of the things to watch out for when trying that technique.

Converting and Painting Reaper Bones

Converting and Painting Reaper Bones

Although mine haven't arrived yet, the Reaper Bones Kickstarter shipments are wending their way across the world into eager hands, some of which have never picked up a paintbrush before. I had another Bones figure on hand to do some converting tests upon, and figured it might be helpful to go through my painting process to offer advice to folks who now have several hundred figures to paint up. Don't worry  new painters! It's not all that hard, it just takes some patience and practice. My tips after the jump.

Tools: Hobby Paints

Getting started on your Bones minis might seem a bit daunting. Paints? Brushes? What to pick? For paint, I prefer Vallejo paints. They come in small dropper bottles, so you can dispense just a single drop of paint if necessary, and they are remarkably smooth and "thin". There are a number of basic sets to get you up and running (for example Vallejo Orcs and Goblins Paint Set, Vallejo High Elves Paint Set, Vallejo Medieval Colors Paint Set ) or you can purchase them individually. I've found that I have more shades of brown than any other color (ranging from deep chocolate browns to khaki and ivory, with a diversions into greenish gray or warm orange red browns) because they are useful for all manner of belts, shoes, scabbards, hair, furs, skin tones, etc.

Games Workshop paints are also popular, but I found the flip top lids lead to the paints drying out after a year or two in some cases. Still, they seem to be lingua franca amongst figure painters, so it's easy to match colors when someone mentions a shade they used.

There are a number of other brands of modeling paints (Reaper, Army Painter, Coat D' Arms, just to mention a few) all of which are fine products. You should get them.

Tools: Craft Paints

Modeling paints can get pricey though, so if you are just starting out don't feel bad about picking up some craft paints. A number of figure painters use craft paints exclusively, and produce very good results with them. They are cheaper, more readily available, and come in just as many shades as hobby paints. Color matching is a bit trickier, and I've found they are thicker and require a bit of water to thin them out before applying. I freely mix both types of paints depending on the effect I'm trying to achieve.

Tool: Paintbrushes

I go through paint brushes frequently. I've tried to go cheap on brushes, and I don't think it's worth it. Steer well clear of "watercolor" brushes (the bristles are too limp to control easily), avoid synthetic brushes if possible. I try to find some natural sable hair brushes. I picked up some Army Painter brushes and have been very pleased with them.

Tools: Spray Paints

Reaper Bones don't require any spray primer, but if you branch out into figures of any other material (metal, plastic, etc.) you'll need a can of spray primer to give some tooth to the figure for the hobby paints to grip. Regardless you'll want a can of matte spray to apply after finishing a figure. The matte spray cuts down on the shine from certain paints and washes, and applies a protective coat to help prevent chipping or flaking to figures that will be handled by greasy pizza fingers on the table.

I use Army Painter Leather Brown Spray Primer for most of my priming, although I'll use a black primer or white for certain effects.  I typically use Testor's Dull Cote for my final overspray of finished models since I can pick it up at local craft and hobby shops.

Converting Reaper Bones

I was happy with my initial tests of painting a Bones figure. For my next test I wanted to see if they could be converted. For this bugbear I wanted to swap out its mornigstar for a spear, remove the spikes from its shield (which were a little over the top for me) and repose the shield arm so it was providing protection to the creature.

First I chopped off the morningstar and shield spike with a hobby kniffe. I also removed the shield to reposition later too. The Bones material is supposed to respond to heat, so I held the figure in boiling water for 45 seconds, bent the shield arm closer to the figure's chest and then held it in ice water for 45 seconds.

I drilled out the bugbear's weapon hand and used a wooden kebab skewer for the spear.

Painting Reaper Bones Bugbear

I usually start by "blocking in" the figure by giving each surface a solid color. I hadn't quite worked out the color scheme for the bugbear, so went about it bit differently this time. I started off blocking in the exposed skin and fur.

Skin blocked in with Vallejo Game Color Plague Brown . The Vallejo paint was a bit thin, but I was pleased with how it took to the Bones material. It almost acted like a wash, seeping into the cracks and crevices of the sculpt, and leaving a tint to the raised areas, naturally shading the figure. I picked up the technique of painting "inside out" from other mini painters. Start with the flesh, then work out (clothing next, followed by boots, belts, straps and packs that are on top of the clothing)

Adding Vallejo Game Color Beasty Brown to the darker fur areas on its head and back. To smooth the transition from the brown fur to lighter skin, I dipped my brush in water, the dipped it in a drop of the paint and applied it to the border between the fur and skin. The thin paint tinted the lighter yellow skin and created a smoother transition between the two.

Mostly blocked in. I chose a warm yellow and brown for the bugbear, and used Vallejo Red Leather and a dark green (a mix of Vallejo Black and light green craft paint) for the various leather armors and cloth items. I wanted the creature's fur and skin to be quite a bit darker than what you see here. The more colorful reds and greens should add some visual interest to the creature, but you can see I've left some of the straps unpainted at this point. I wasn't sure how dark the eventual skin and fur were going to turn out, and I wanted to be sure the straps placed over its skin would contrast.

Next up I added a dark wash. I usually use Games Workshop washes, but I didn't have any in the deep brown shade I was looking for, so I created my own. I put down two drops of Vallejo Game Color Charred Brown on my palette and loaded my paint brush with water. Mixing the two gave a very thin deep brown paint. Brushing it over the brown fur, it worked its way into the deep crevices and tinted the highlights.

I washed all of the exposed skin and fur of the bugbear. Notice how it picked out the details of the creature's face, defined the fingers and toes, etc.

Now that the fur and skin were closer to their final color I picked a light gray for the straps to contrast with the deeper skin color, and finished blocking in the rest of the colors. With a similar wash to the other straps, belts, cloth, and armor, this figure could be considered table ready. I went on to add a few highlights and pick out some details though to finish it off.

The scaled shoulder armor was blocked in with red leather (made from dragon scales maybe?). To highlight them I mix a drop of the Red Leather and a drop of light yellow craft paint. I painted the bottom half of each scale with this lighter shade. Next, I added another drop or two of light yellow to the mix and painted just the edge of each scale. It's a bit fiddly. I used my small detail brush, and hold my breath while I paint the scales. The goal is to get a suggestion of color on each scale, so that at a foot or two of distance the scales "pop".

For metal studs, I painted each black and placed a dot of Vallejo Oily Silver on each one. Teeth were picked out in Vallejo Bone White, tongue in Red Leather, and raised surfaces of the skin (knuckles, the edges of his pecs, thigh muscles, etc.) were given a dab of Vallejo Plague Brown. I wasn't happy with the original shield, so I used the boiling water method to flatten it, then reglued it with super glue into a more traditional position.

I left the base unfinished as I'm planning on creating a unit of these creatures for some mass fantasy battles in the future and will base them all together, but that's a post for another day.

One of the big revelations to me in painting this bugbear up is how well it takes thin paints. The white color of the Bones material allows you to gradually build up colors by applying multiple layers of thinner color. Also, the details on Bones are good, but comparing them to metal versions I think they are a little shallower. I'd be very careful in applying thick paint as it is likely to settle into crevices and obscure detail more easily. Good luck with your own painting! Patience and practice is all it takes :)

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