Old Grenadier Goblin Giant

This is an old kit one of my customers had us do. It is from Grenadier Miniatures from way back in the day. An all metal kit, it weighs in at about 4 pounds of lead just for the giant.

I had to assemble the giant and the platform separately, painting them, then finish the assembly. The goblins were also left off until the end then painted and attached.

Fit was okay, probably helped with my use of JB weld for an adhesive/ filler. The platform didn't line up quite right, so I added some spacers to make it a bit more level.

There were several bits and goblins missing from the kit so I added some more modern bits from GW's goblins. This helps tie the model in with the customer's newer stuff.

The base is a piece of MDF, Grit and texture were added, along with some cast stones. Everything was sealed, then painted. Finally I added flock, static grasses, and clumps. 

TSR, Grenadier and GW LotR Minis

So, as promised in a previous post, here is the lot of TSR, Grenadier and Games Workshop Lord of the Rings minis that I was working on for an order.  This isn't so much a tutorial about how to paint each of these figures, as that would take forever, in so much as a series of photos with contemplations.  If you really want to know what colors I used, you could always ask and I'll tell you. 

I started by showing you how I painted the Red Dragon in the previous post.  Here's another shot of him:

 But, I also had a few Lord of the Rings characters to do.  At first I didn't know they were part of the same order; Bob must have snuck them in there on me:

The Fellowship of the Ring box set, plus Bilbo.

Merry, Frodo, Bilbo

Pippin, Sam, Gimli

 During this painting process, I was seriously wishing I had picked up that book from a few years back where they published the screen shots from LotR.  It was a beautiful book, the info and pictures were great, but at the time I couldn't justify the price.  Well, now I can justify the price. 

Aragorn, Legolas

 Most of the colors chosen are from the GW box art, some of it is from online pictures of movie stills, and some of it is my own because I didn't want the figures to appear too dingy and dirty. 

Boromir, Gandalf

 Then, there were the TSR miniatures:

Bazz Draconians

 Apparently there are little to no descriptions of what Bazz draconians look like and I honestly don't have the time to re-read the book series to see how they are described, so I went with these colors.  A number of other painters used similar colors (so we must be like-minded, scary thought really) and there were a few pieces of cover art that used greenish olive colors too.

Tika and Goldmoon

 When researching images for Tika and Goldmoon I came across some weird-ass images of fan art and people in costumes.  Please do me a favor and google Goldmoon, you'll see a hilarious image come up of someone wearing a shiny, gold jumpsuit and glasses, with a huge, gold, moon in the background.  You'll see what I mean when you get there.  Make sure you acquire some brain-bleach before viewing. 

 I'm not happy with the sculpting of their faces on Tika and Goldmoon, they are rather flat and manish.  Otherwise, these are some nice, classic figures and I can't complain too much.

I don't get too uppity about the sculpting of figures.  I look at it this way, these are the predecessors, the parents, of the modern figures.  Sure, the modern figures are more detailed and in most ways ten times better.  But, you've got to look at the technology being used today to create these new figures, they didn't have that in 1983.  You have to appreciate these older figures for their charm and nostalgia, for what they are, and admire them. 

Tode and Verminnard

 Verminnard is hilarious. I never recall thinking, back when I was a kid, that his outfit was S&M, but now I really see it.  I like the figure because it reminds me of my childhood reading the TSR series and my husband and I can bond on what we thought the characters looked like; we frequently disagree.

Drizzt

 This has got to be my favorite, if only because I had the hots for Drizzt when I was like 14.  This old skool Crystal Shard Drizzt really takes me back.  Again, don't google Drizzt unless you want to see some strange fan art of him naked and making out with Artemis.  There isn't enough bleach in the universe to undo what I've recently seen.  Oh what I do for my painting.  And to think, I was too lazy to go up into the attic to get the Crystal Shard book so I could look at the lousy cover art.  I really should have done that.  Really.

druid, Sturm Brightblade and radom ninja

 As you'll see here with the druid and throughout, I chose to add a little detail to the clothing here and there.  I feel that adding simple designs to rougher figures can really enhance them.

fighter, cleric, and druidess

 For the druidess I wanted her clothing to appear diaphanous and sheer.  There is just the hint of skin at her breast and thigh.  Later, Bob went back over her clothing with a varnish to make it shimmer a little but yet not appear slick like silk or satin.

cleric and two mages

 Again, you'll see with the cleric and mage at the center that I added designs to liven up their cloaks.  Since the cleric had a Ankh in her hand I decided to go with the deity Isis.  The mage with her staff of the moon and sphere just made me think celestial so I gave her a simple cloak of stars.

three mages

 With these three mages I patterned up their cloaks or shirts accordingly.  The mage on the left I went with glowing alchemical symbols (they are random) and made his sphere and staff one resembling fire.  As for the elder mage on the right, his robe was simple enough (flat enough) to give it a robe of eyes.  In the center, that mage just needed a patterned shirt.

I usually choose to give clothing patterns only because it suits the figure.  I don't try to force a pattern on to something.  Sometimes there are cloaks/robes that are too furled/rumpled to do much with and it would take me forever to get a pattern onto it.  And then the pattern would be obscured.  When a cloak is flat enough, that's when I like to give it a pattern or huge design.

Well, that's it for this order.  Like I said, if you really want to know what colors I used for a particular figure, just message or post to this and I'll be happy to tell you.  For now I've got to go, I've got some gardening to do and a TON of Cthulhu figures to do for an order.  Right now I'm working on some Mi-go and Ghouls.  I bet you can't wait to see them.

Later,
Allison Chicka

Grenadier Red Dragon

Soooo...nope, haven't finished posting about the GW Spider or even the final photos for the two versions of the Wendigo, but here I am posting about a red dragon and the paint job.

Sorry for my inconsistency, I've been busy.  For a while I was doing a long-term substitute position at a local school, then I had to get ready for the HMGS East, Cold Wars convention.  Bob and I were busting out butts to get ready for that con and now we're busting our butts to get orders done that should have been done prior to Cold Wars.  Aargh!  It's nice to be busy, don't get me wrong, but that leaves little time for other things, like blogging.

This Grenadier Red Dragon is part of a larger order of miscellaneous TSR AD&D miniatures.  Frankly, those minis are pretty cool and I'm excited to see if I can put a spiffy paint job on such, how to say it politely, roughly sculpted minis.  I'll make sure I post those TSR miniatures as a whole when I get them all finished.  Unfortunately I didn't have the time and luxury of taking photos as I was working through the steps, sorry.

My inspiration for this red dragon is from the AD&D cover art:

Body Scales

Here you can see how the Yellow Orange is most noticeable nearest the belly scales.  It is also on the hindquarters, shoulders and spine to give it a flame-like glow.

First, I base coated the dragon with Vallejo Red except for the belly scales and the wings.  I did the wings last because I knew I'd be bumping and handling them during the painting process and obviously the belly is done in an entirely different color.

Second, I dry brushed on a coat of Cel-Vinyl Red, making sure that some of the darker Vallejo Red was still showing beneath the round scales.

Next, I lightly dry brushed on Cel-Vinyl Vermillion.  I didn't want to cover up the Red entirely, but the Vermillion really makes things pop.  You'll notice that the difference between the Red and Vermillion is very subtle, if you feel like omitting the above Cel-Vinyl Red step, so be it.

Lastly, I dry brushed on, with a very gentle hand, Cel-Vinyl Yellow Orange.  Again, this is to make things glow and pop.  In most cases I only got close to the belly scales and a little on the higher points like the shoulders or top of the back scales.

Belly Scales

This part is easy because it uses only two colors.

When you dry brush, the Ochre 11 will only end up on the edges of the belly scales.

First, paint on Cel-Vinyl Ochre.

Second, dry brush on Cel-Vinyl Ochre 11.

Done.

Wings

I wanted the wings to be a little lighter than the body because I want them to appear translucent or thin and leathery like the membrane on flying lizards.  Since one can't (or at least I can't) make them appear truly translucent making them lighter is the best way I know how.  However, I kept the bone areas of the wings darker like the rest of the body.

First, paint the membranes of the wings with Cel-Vinyl Red.

Second, paint the bone areas with Vallejo Red.

Next, dry brush the bone areas with Cel-Vinyl Red.

Notice how the Yellow Orange is really only pronounced on the scalloped edges of the wings.

Then, dry brush the entire wing with Cel-Vinyl Vermillion.  Make sure on the membranes that you apply a heavier hand when dry brushing at the scalloped end of the wings (on both sides) to make it appear thinner.

Finally, dry brush, very lightly, the Cel-Vinyl Yellow Orange.  You can do this all over, even on the bone parts but make sure that you hit the scalloped ends of the membrane to emphasize the thinness. 

Claws

This is pretty much the way I do all claws or horns.  I have some other variations, most take more steps.  This is a quick one with pretty good results. I do this for teeth a lot of the time, too.

First, paint the claws and horns Reaper Stained Ivory.

Second, using a very small brush like a 10/0 or 18/0, apply strokes of Reaper Creamy Ivory that begin at the pointed end of the claw and end sharply at the base.

Then, apply white in the same manner as the Creamy Ivory only this time do so in a smaller fashion so that really only the tip of the claw is pure white. 

Finally, after it has dried, using a small brush apply GW Devlan Mud wash to the base of the horn/claw right near the flesh.

Eyes

They are simply GW Burnished Gold with a black pupil.  I also used a little GW Badab Black wash around the eye in the socket to make it stand out.  You could paint the eye and socket with black prior to applying the Gold, I do that frequently.

Tongue

First, paint the tongue with Reaper Antique Rose.
Then, paint only on the ridge points, Reaper Porcelain Rose.

And, well, that's it for the dragon!

Red Dragon Shrine

There is also that odd dragon shrine kinda thingy.  Bob has a Tiamat mini and it has the same shrine.  I never knew what to do with it but this time I decided to give it some color instead of leaving it strictly gray stone.  Looking at the sides of the shrine it has these odd cobra designs so I went with an Egyptian feel by painting them in instead of leaving them carvings.  Personally I think it adds some punch to an otherwise dull piece.  Additionally there are the incised letters/symbols on the front and back and the words Red Dragon on the base.  I suppose I could have used "green stuff" to fill in the words Red Dragon but Bob simply suggested that I fill the incised letters with gold.

First, paint the entire piece with Reaper Shadowed Stone.

Second, dry brush it with Reaper Stone Gray.

Third, dry brush lightly with Reaper Weathered Stone.

Fourth, using a small detail brush paint the cobra design with Vallejo Red and Cel-Vinyl Vermillion.  Also paint the 'tail' of the cobra on the base with Vallejo Red. 

Fifth, paint the belly of the cobra design with Cel-Vinyl Ochre.

Lastly, paint the teeth/fangs white and the eyes gold.



The Tail of the Cobra on the base:
To make belly scales on the tail of the cobra, use black to paint a long rectangle that starts at the base of the cobra belly design and curves into the base.  Using a detail brush paint smaller rectangles of ochre onto the rectangle of black.  Leave slivers of black between each ochre rectangles, this gives the impression of belly scales without too much effort.  The ochre rectangles were also highlighted by painting a dash of ochre 11 onto them.

Then, to mimic scales, make small dots of Vermillion near the belly scales, and dots of Cel-Vinyl Red further away.  You could add the Yellow-Orange nearest the belly scales but I thought that would be over-kill.

Well, that's all it takes for this piece and the shrine.  Enjoy!