Finished, last for the year. Monsieur Villars Marshall of France

Had to finish this before the end of the year and snuck him in just in time. Yes eyes, I have conceded to ebay requirements (you know what I mean) its bad enough that it has a shot of dull coat, oh how I hear the heathens voice approval. Most of the  doings are in the WIP's but ask if you want to know how I bodgied this or that, now for some Coopers Pale Ale. Roll on smooch o'clock.

 HAPPY NEW YEAR

thanks for looking
Dave

WIP 7YW French

I have found a few Front Rank Frenchies lying around and started painting them for a bit of muck around while waiting for other minis to dry. I found 8 figs so there must be a regiment in the offering, when the next FR order goes out I'll pick up some new recruits to make up an 18 fig battalion. I have been playing around with different greys for undercoating and highlighting so all 8 are going to be looking slightly different from one another, but it doesn't hurt to seek different approaches for painting your troops you never know what you might stumble upon....

Bit different to my usual French coat colour but quite acceptable I think, I have toned down the stockings a bit as I usually paint them white. Should make a reasonable ebay battalion when finished. Below is my regular French colour scheme (and miniature) with a cream white over a light grey base with white gaiters

Thanks for looking
Dave

Wacko! Ta Santa........

I don't know if Mrs Santa's sister isn't clean or not (love that film), but I'm pretty sure she is angling for a leg over. It's not often I like to go, or indeed have a reason to go showing off my Xmas goodies but this year is an exception.

all shiny and new and everything

Now I have to find the airbrush, brush off the cobwebs and see if it still works. Ta Mrs Santa.

thanks for looking
Dave

Message From the Paint Desk - Merry Xmas

It's rolling around again peeps. Commissions are finished and posted and as I'm tinkering with some of my projects which were delayed either by real life or imagined it is time to take stock ..............   OK now that's out of the way what has happened.

tinkering with my own projects

Tried out a new brand of paint (bought a job lot), Reaper they seem to be working out ok so far.
Opened my box of Citadel washes after 9 months, they seem to be ok too but I have only tried one colour! Clarence from Quindia studios to blame for that.
Realized what a shit load of paints I now have, to be fair to me *clears throat* a goodly a mount of the Citadel paints I inherited, true, with purchases of mini's off of ebay (surprisingly, although mostly dried out they did respond to resuscitation).
Tried some different styles of painting, transitioning colours with wet blending and transparency/filters as used in display painting and the white undercoat with washes and glazes producing a sort of water colour effect being my favourite. DC of unfashionably shiny to blame for that.
Got myself organized enough to try out different style of painting. Im to blame for that.

surrounded by paints

Tried painting metal effect with normal paints or nmm, it wasn't so hard try it.
Started doing commission work, haven't painted a single historical piece!
Painted my first ever goblin, dwarve, orc and 40 K vehicle
Painted my first ever Warhammer figure, see above.
Bought my first ever Warhammer figure, 2nd hand off of ebay
Mouthed off as if I know what I'm talking about.
Tried out diabetes and deceptively high blood pressure and got to visit a Neurosurgeon with loss of all feeling with my right hand (caused by high sugar level).
Worked out Plano tackle boxes have a size of box to fit any size paint pot, they are available just about anywhere, even Egypt!
And I had heaps of fun doing it all, and of course reading all your blogs and comments.

Which blog stood out for me? There are so many good ones and your all so talented but there is one that always made me shake my head with an "oh no what now ".  It would have to Cap'n Richard with his ACW (and other stuff) madness. There are so many good ones.........

Well the blurb part of this post is at an end and I'll leave you with a pictorial list of Works In Progress which I hope to finish over the next three weeks while I enjoy the season and a bit of fishing.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Fellow Bloggers

Chasseur from Eureka Miniatures

 Sorceress from Dark Sword

 French Marshall from Front rank

 5mm WSS infantry from Baccus painted as a test for prospective commission, I don't think he liked 'em never heard back :-p

 Mort du Roi from Figone (king of the dead)

thanks for looking 

Dave

Monsieur Tallard Marshall of France

At last the long suffering Marshall Tallard is dull coated (eww), based and ready to seek glory, hoorah! Painting details can be found in the WIP posts.

thanks for looking
Dave

Chasseur Update

Personal projects are moving slowly if at all some days but there has been some progress on the chasseur.

Now back to painting, clients are waiting dont you know......

thanks for looking
Dave

Chasseur a Cheval Revolutionary Army

 The WSS Marshalls are taking a little break while I mull over the basing, in the meantime Ive been busying myself with some commissions (more goblins and a 40K thingummy bob) and a couple of Napoleonic pieces for myself which come from a diorama set piece. Small problems with uniform details had held up this project, now resolved, so some pig energy has been diverted into this direction.

Bit bright with the photos but you get the general idea, figure from Eureka Miniatures tell Nic I sent you and he's bound to be nice to one of us.

 Fear not goblinites and thingummy bob users your pieces will get done before Santa wipes his nose on your duvet.

thanks for looking
Dave

Your thoughts on paint brands, a paint is a paint of course of course

Hello Mr Ed here....... what paints do you use?

At risk of posting highly flammable topic I want to gauge the general consensus regarding paint quality nowadays, what has prompted this post? .....well my dissapointment with some brands (or particular colours within a range) of paints in recent years, am I alone, what do you think?

Most of you probably have a selection of brands as I do and maybe like me you may have multiple generations of a particular brand. It is claimed, rightly or wrongly, that certain brands suit particular styles of painting so perhaps you may have an opinion regarding suitability of brands based on this assumption. There is a lot of hearsay and Chinese whispers within the hobby regarding formulations of paint brands which promotes speculation on their quality and usefulness, I'm really more interested in personal experiences not the "I was talking to someone who new a bloke that was mates with a guy that worked for........"

I'm interested in hearing/reading what your thoughts are regardless of your experience, style and what you paint for (table top, display etc) if I can decode a general trend I will try to write up your combined thoughts as an publishable article.



Let me provide a bit of background as to my own paint collection. No matter what the age if the paint is still viable and behaves as it did when I first purchased it I still own it, this makes my paint collection look a little like a museum, I have no shame. Big old glass jars, tiny 80's Humbrol white plastic pots and tinned enamels, every type of citadel pot, Ral Partha/AD&D fat screw tops etc. Of course many more have been tossed than survived the years as the climate isn't kind to paints that haven't been carefully watched what was liquid last week might well be hard as rock the next. As far as style goes, well to be honest, for many years it has revolved around painting 15mm historical armies (lots of figures) so layered dry brushing was the most effective way for me to produce good results on small miniatures in quantity although generals or personality figures would get thorough treatment with carefully layered highlights and shading. The last year 18 months has seen me move to 25-32mm with an eye to eventually painting display miniatures mostly utilizing dry layering and if I'm feeling bold or confident I use the transparency (well diluted) style. Surprisingly enough it is the transperency style and a very old Humbrol acrylic which started me thinking, I found I was having enormous trouble getting the right result with GW and Reaper (both new pots) paints and as a last resort went to an old Humbrol, in good condition and close to the right shade, success. No plasticky (it's a word) finish, no shiny shiny. no breaking down of previous layers, no chalkiness, in short other than slightly courser pigments a nice even matt finish. Now no doubt some of you may be thinking "hey Paint Pig you like a shiny finish to your miniatures" too true, but not half way through the paint job. The plastic shiny finish some brands leave make it very difficult to add subsequent washes or layers and quickly lead you down a slippery slope.

To avoid overly long comments you may send your thoughts via email and I will post them in entirety or relevant sections on the blog. Please dont use this as an opportunity to overtly diss a particular brand, constructive useful criticism or praise works best.

thanks for reading

Dave

Return of the WSS French Marshalls

Yes an actual rooly trooly painting post!

Getting back to where I left off some months ago with my French Marshalls and the NMM and TMM attempts (geez those initials look totally wank).  Basically nmm is using normal non metallic paint to simulate metal like the amazing Hussar Bob (check him out, google it!) and tmm uses metallic paints to simulate metal, "derrrr" I hear you scream, that's fair. OK for me it means using different shades/colours of metallic paint (and in my case inks) to give shade, highlight and mid tones to the metal parts of the figurine.  I'll say more about the processes of both these techniques and how I coped or not in a later post, suffice to say I'm really glad I had a crack at them.

A bit off work has been done on the figures at last and the metallic painted lace is finished the figure has been sealed with lacquer and the final 'fiddly bits' are moving into place, most noticeably with this figure is the amount of mane and rein that needed to be trimmed off of the mount to fit the rider. All that aside progress has been made, so here a few photos of work to date, the quality is not to my best standard, it appears the lacquer I used was pretty well full gloss instead of my normal satin and all that extra shiny played havoc with the camera's perjerba sensors and grommit flange stabilizers!

Thanks for looking
Dave

Ahoy there my meaty merlot swilling matey's Painting DVDs

To be honest this is a naval and wine free post so the title is slightly irrelevant. Having completed settling in the family elder into her new abode, modding it to suit her requirements, holding garage sales and generally wasting my time around the Bunderburg area with fishing rod in hand ;-) I return to the land of the painted lead. Not that I have been totally absent, completing two commissions in the interval on my days when I have been back in Brisbane looking after matters at home. I have also had the chance to watch a couple of painting DVDs all the way through, something I struggle to do with just about any DVD, whilst up north away from the brushes. Now I'm not saying I sat down and watched a 3 DVD set in one sitting but I did watch them more or less without distraction over consecutive days.

So, having now watched theses miniature painting DVDs more or less in their entirety without massive periods of time elapsing between sittings I find myself better placed to appreciate the approach of the painters and their techniques and evaluate the benefits. I suppose I should mention the title of the DVDs in question instead of rambling on, in no particular order they are ....... "Hot Lead" a 3 DVD set which covers all the basics through to some advanced techniques in detailed fashion and at a relatively even pace. The second is "Painting with JBT" a two DVD set which covers the basics in a fairly sparse way but covers more advanced techniques and ideas in much more detail and matter of fact delivery.

Now I'm not going to go into a detailed critique of these titles here and now but I will pad out a little about each DVD set in an upcoming post. I will say that I feel I got my moneys worth with both sets even though they covered information and techniques I already utilize in my painting. Till next time.

thanks guys
Dave

Looking out for No. 1

Yes once again The Paint Pig blog has gone into stop start mode, and once again my apologies. This time there will be none of that "poor bugger me", I have been looking out for a much more important person than moi, my Nana!

Nana had decided her house and garden was to much for her (I agree) and has spent most of this year badgering local authorities about moving into the towns seniors village, unbeknown to me, I don't know how she overcame the bureaucracy and paper work of the local council however she succeeded and got a position, pretty sharp going. The last three weeks have been spent driving up to her house (350 Km away) and moving her into her new seniors village flat, coming home for a couple of days to check on things and driving back up and continuing the move. I'm amazed at how much stuff (useful or not) she has accumulated and a house full of stuff does not fit in a one bedroom unit even if it is large and roomy, to cut a long story down to size some things had to go, we managed to get her shifted without too many heated debates although I'm doubly amazed at how Mrs Paint Pig and my ol' Gran managed to cram so many car loads of stuff into the unit, I swear the doors and windows should have been bulging under the strain but it is all hidden away somewhere?  I'm going to try and get hold of a stray cat next time I'm visiting Nan and give it a swing......... The units are pretty smart  with a double bedroom, large lounge dining area, kitchen, laundry, garden etc. I'm putting my name down for one!

On a slightly different subject, I took my old laptop with me for some entertainment at night and have once again become a slave to civ 4, so much so I'm now compelled to go and purchase civ 5.  This franchise has been a real time stealer for me right from the get go, I don't doubt that I will be playing civ 20 when I move into a retirement village!


regards
dave

War of Spanish Succession- Marshalls of France II update

With the coat and saddlery completed I worked on cleaning the slops by going back over with white primer, not something I usually do but I'm finding myself becoming a little fussier and it does make life easier down the track.

 

 

I decided to to undercoat the gold portions of the figure with a buff tone, to see how that works, making sure it went into the depressions and no white was left behind.

First touches with the gold paint and a small amount of washing, immediately it was clear the base coat should have been a little darker although the idea of using a base coat for the gold was the right thing to do.

Glints have been picked out in a mix of pearl white and polished gold and picked out to add very small points of light (loop of cuff lace, button. button lace on coat).  They certainly make taking photo's a glarey business!

Couple more to wrap up, hair has moved along and some more mid tone has been added to the gold

Thanks for looking

Dave

War of Spanish Succession- Marshals of France II

Work has slowed a bit on Monsieur Villars as some GW night goblins have fronted for a commission job (more on that next week). Work has progressed however and the main elements are starting to take shape. This time I have found a charming oil on canvas to work from with our man leading the storming of the works at Dedain, the uniform will be modelled on the outfit Villars is wearing in this painting.

Once again I'm using the new set of reaper paints and trying to get a feel for the different shades of red, working on one that I like and I think will work with the shading and high lighting.

Once relatively happy with my pallet of red and blues I have started work on the coat, saddle cloth and pistol covers. Not great photos I'm afraid, the tend to be a bit hit and miss.

 

Don't forget when browsing to click on the pic's for big-ness

I was not totally happy with the shade of read and have gone back to an old favourite and have given the coat a glaze or two of Humbrol acrylic red (the old one), shading was achieved by adding a little mid blue to the red and high lights by adding a very small quantity of pale yellow.

The palette so far, the base coat red is not shown the red here is the old style Humbrol acrylic red used to glaze the coat, the orange is the final highlight tone, small amounts of yellow was added in stages and applied to the coat. The shades of violet are the base coat blue mixed with red and used to shade the red coat and blue horse blanket and pistol covers this keeps the range tight and the colours relative to one another. Light blue is mixed in stages with the base coat blue for  blue mid tones and high lights. Did that make sense?

For your interest and just for a laugh here are the brushes I have been using for these French Marshall figures.  Both would have been purchased back in 99 to 01 for princely sums of $2 to $3 from the local news agent! Does anyone remember Premier Art equipment? I think the synthetic is starting to hook at the tip so it wont be long before it joins the utility brushes.

The paint on the handle has flaked and chipped off years ago

Poor old thing, the tip is starting to hook, not much paint accumulation in the ferrel, so it has been kept relatively clean.

Of course back in those days I didn't know what kolinsky sable was, I just bought the brushes with the tips I wanted, didn't understand the black'un was quality, well news agent quality!

Regards

Dave