Rockgut Troggoth Part 10. Making a scenic base for my models.

Like everyone else I’ve been dealing with the changes to daily life made necessary by our efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus. As I have asthma and my partner has a heart condition we’ve been busy getting everything in place to be able to isolate ourselves. That’s been complicated by having to help and support my recently widowed Mum. But we are all in the same boat (even if we are keeping at least two metres apart) so I guess we’ll settle into our new way of life in time.

Life goes on! So it’s time to catch up with my blog posting again! 

The week running up to the Iron Skull Painting competition saw a frenzy of basing activity, partly due to the impending deadline; but mostly due to a burst of energy and enthusiasm. It felt very good to lose myself in my hobby for a few days and even better to see that result is substantial progress.

I usually find painting a base to be a quicker, less intense, sort of painting but the base for this project was not insubstantial and it incorporated a face, albeit a stone face. To get things started I decided to use Zenithal priming. That’s not something I’m overly fond of as I think it’s a rather imprecise way of representing the fall of light on a subject. But in this case it was a great way of quickly establishing the initial placement of highlight and shade areas. Before I did that, however, I took reference photos for the intended lighting and these were enormously helpful in achieving the subtlety and nuance that the priming lacked.

I often use photos for lighting reference and it’s something I recommend in my workshops. I think reference photos should always be used for guidance rather than something you must slavishly copy. The big difference they have made to my painting is that the placement of highlights and shadows on my models is now a matter of informed choice.

I said ‘frenzy’ earlier and so it was because I completed
all the painting for the stone in a single day
after nine hours of solid painting!

I often heavily dry brush my bases but in this case I painted all the stone using a combination of layering, glazes and stippling. This gave me a lot of control over my textures and in a few places the Zenithal priming still shows through, creating a soft speckled texture that works nicely for the stone. My colour palette is the same as I used on the Troggoth’s rocks. This was always a part of my plan and it helps to tie the models in to their environment.

It’s important to remember that all the colours on a base should be considered as a part of an overall colour scheme. My Troggoth and the Goblin both feature a dominant warm red/brown with cooler green/grey shades to contrast and complement. Those same green/grey shades are the dominant colour on my base. However I have still used the same dark brown as a global shade colour on the base as I used on the Troggoth.

These are the colours I used to create the green/grey tone for my rocks.

I’m not going into much detail about how I added the plants to my base because most of it was covered in my earlier post: ‘Adding plant effects to a model. Or, the grass is always greener on the other side of the Troggoth!’

However I will stress that the plants should work within the overall colour palette and contribute to texture contrast, so be mindful when you pick which grass tufts to use! Something I tried out for the first time was clump foliage. It’s a mixture of ground up foam particles and fine fibers and it worked wonders for the overall look of my plants. I found mine in a model railway shop where there was a wide range of colours and sizes.

A few examples of the clump foliage on my base.

The final step was to fix the models to the base and this is where special care should be taken. I’d planned well ahead for this so I was ready when the time came. It’s vital that your models look like they are properly situated in the environment you are creating. They should make proper and appropriate contact with the surface they are standing on. They should also affect and be affected by their immediate environment, for example putting dirt on a model’s feet and footprints on the ground.

The big challenge for this project was to make sure that both models were in full contact with the base. Both the Troggoth and the Goblin have perfectly flat surfaces underneath where they contact their bases. Because I’d decided not to have any plants on the upper surface of the rock base there would be no way of hiding any gaps. This is the reason I mounted the models onto a flat slab of stone. But the surface texture of that stone created a few gaps between the models and the ground surface!

My solution was to fill these gaps with dilute PVA woodworking glue. Surface tension drew this mix into the gaps. Over the course of several applications the gaps were filled and camouflaged. Dilute PVA is great for filling fine gaps on painted models but it’s very important to allow each application to dry thoroughly before applying the next due to shrinkage.

Basing models is something I really enjoy. It can be tricky and has the potential to go wrong. But if you plan ahead and take a little care it can be the finishing touch that brings that something extra to a model.

Rockgut Troggoth Part 9. “Lob it, don’t drop it!”

Rather than writing a great long post I’m going to keep things fairly brief and make this a photo-focused piece.

It’s been a whole year since I actually finished a project! Not that I haven’t been busy since but a combination of workshops, long term projects and life in general has kept me on the go without actually getting to the end of a project. Until now that is because my Troggoth/Goblin project, now titled “Lob it, don’t drop it!” is finished!

If your not already sick to death of seeing my Troggoth here are a few close-up pics showing the detais (and brush marks).

I’m going to talk about how I brought the all elements together and finished the project in my next posting.

But in the mean time I have cause for celebration. I’d been looking forward to the Iron Skull painting competition for some time but, until the end of last week, it was looking like I wouldn’t have anything to bring along. With everything that happened at the start of the year my thoughts were not on painting or competitions.

Then when my Troggoth project came together, in what I can only describe as a super productive painting frenzy (again more on that next time), I suddenly found myself with an entry. Not that that prevented my usual pre-show nerves and jitters but they were rewarded with a major success!

The Iron Skull Trophy for 'Best in Show'

Gold Trophy for Scene/Duel/Diorama

I’m so very pleased and proud that my Troggoth won gold in it’s category Scene/Duel/Diorama. Then, to make an already great day even better, it went on to win Best in Show!

Rockgut Troggoth (and Zarbag the Goblin) – Part 8.

It feels very good to get back to some painting after the upheaval of Dad’s death and funeral. I’d like to say that everything is back to normal but of course nothing will be quite the same again and it will take time to figure out what the new normal is.

Together at last! Testing the composition
for the Troggoth & Zarbag.

I left Zarbag just as his paint job began to come together but also as I came across my first problem: my palette of colours for Zarbag was the same as for my Troggoth. This made good sense as they are going on the same base and exist in the same environment. The difference is in the proportions of those colours. On my Troggoth the reds, greens and grey/blacks are secondary colours to the flesh tones but on Zarbag they are dominant. The highlight and shade colours are common to both minis.

The problem occurred with the red. On the Troggoth I used P3 Skorne Red in the flesh tones and it brings a lot of warmth and life to an otherwise cool and desaturated palette. Skorne Red is a great shade but the formulation has a soft shine when dry. This was fine on my Troggoth but on Zarbag’s robes it looked horrible! First of all it was too shiny for fabric but even worse the shine meant that it was difficult to see the blending while I was painting. This resulted in a slightly patchy and uneven finish.

The solution came in the form of AK Interactive Ultra Matte Varnish. So far this stuff has worked like magic for me! One thinly applied coat and the surface takes on a beautifully even ultra matt finish. I was then able to retouch my painting on the hood using Scale Colour paints to refine the highlights and shading to my satisfaction.

The red hood before and after the matte varnish.

The hands and feet were fiddly but otherwise straightforward as I was working with the same flesh tones that I’d used on the face. Although Zarbag’s flesh looks, naturally enough, predominantly green, the shadows are a warm red/brown. This gives added depth and nuance to his flesh but it also helps to tie him together with the Troggoth. In addition I’ve glazed some subtle blue tones onto the yellow/green flesh. This helps to create a range of warm and cool greens.

The colours used for Zarbag's flesh tones.

The other main area of note is Zarbag’s sickle, which deserved special attention. I decided to use true metallics for the blade, as the shine of the metal would create an interesting material contrast with the other surfaces. In addition, the verdigris effects I planned to use look especially good against true metallics. I painted the blade with a warm coppery gold and then worked up to a yellow gold mid-tone and then to a cooler silvery gold highlight. I then used some Citadel Colour Contrast Paints to glaze over the blade. The Contrast Paints tied everything together and softened the shine.

The metallics used on Zarbag's sickle.

The verdigris is the fun bit! Using a very dilute blue/green, I applied blobs and spots of colour to the blade. Before that was fully dry I removed the paint with a clean wet brush. This will leave stains and tide marks where the edges of the paint started to dry. I repeated this process several times with varying blue/green shades. I then glazed over the verdigris with a dark green to soften the effect.

I repeated a similar process with dark brown on Zarbag’s red robes to create some unpleasant looking stains which were further enhanced with the addition of some brown texture paint. This was created with a mix of paint, chinchilla sand and matt varnish.

Zarbag is such a small mini that I’ve been able to finish him with in a few days. All together I painted him in about a week although that’s been split up and spread out over time.

With Zarbag done I could then turn my attention to the base but, before I started painting, I had to get the back and side surfaces flush and seamless. Although not complicated it was a frustrating task. I’d used a mixture of materials to build the base including plaster, plastic, MDF and Milliput. The varying degrees of hardness meant that even when sanded flush the boundaries between the different materials could be seen and felt. The solution was to prime the base and then gently wet sand the seams - multiple times! A seamless surface can be created this way but it’s frustrating because I had to keep checking my work in different lighting to be sure I was successful.

With the base as well finished as I am ever going to get it (there is no such thing as perfection) it was time to test fit my models onto it. This would be the first time I’d been able to put the two models together in the context they are intended for. With a little fiddling the composition came together exactly as I wanted. This is a great relief as it means I can move on to painting the base with a degree of confidence that the overall project will come together well!

Rockgut Troggoth – Part 7. The Troggoth is done so it's time to start my Goblin.

This is the time of the year when I often think about endings and beginnings which, as it happens, is not an inappropriate attitude for my Troggoth project. I’d wanted to finish the Troggoth before Christmas and, having established a productive painting routine, I was able to achieve my goal!

Most of the work was involved in painting the second hand and this went more quickly, if not more easily, than the first. Having established my approach the first time around it was a matter of making the hands match, but with just a little variation so as to look more natural.

After the hands there were a number of small details to finish. Most these were rocks and leather straps and I had to force myself to slow down and paint them carefully. As a model nears completion I feel a strong urge to hurry up and get the job done. It’s important to resist this urge as it’s all too easy to spoil good work. This is also the time to take a good long look at the model as a whole and decide if any of the earlier work needs to be adjusted in the context of the overall scheme.

In the case of my Troggoth I decided to change the colour of a couple of the stone amulets he is wearing. I wanted to use just a little more green on the model to contrast with the overall red/brown warm tone. In addition to that the extra green, along with the moss and grass on his back, will tie the model in with the environment I’m setting him in.

With the Troggoth done I’ve turned my attention to the Goblin. I’d been unable to find a miniature in the exact pose I wanted! To be honest I hadn’t really expected to so I’d settled on the notion of converting a miniature. This would help me to tell the story I was creating. After searching through the range of Games Workshop’s Goblins I decided upon Zarbag from Zarbag’s Gitz. His pose had the potential to be converted with the minimum of fuss into what I wanted. The crucial change was to swap the hand carrying the lantern for one pointing.

I’d decided upon what hand to use as soon as I had the idea to have my Goblin pointing. I was already familiar with the pointing hand on the Poxbringer, Herald of Nurgle and this seemed perfect. Or so I thought until the hand turned out to be much larger than the one it was replacing. There was also the matter of it only having three fingers as opposed to the four on the Goblin’s hand.

My solution involved reducing the size of the hand with a lot of cutting and scraping, and swapping the hand holding the weapon for the other hand from the Poxbringer. Fiddly work for sure but it’s always worth the effort.

I’d also decided to remove the cauldron hanging on Zarbag’s weapon. This was an unnecessary detail for my concept and it’s removal allowed me to have Zarbag raising his weapon off the ground in a more active pose that felt more appropriate for his new context.

I don’t often base coat all my colours as a first stage but, as the model is so small, I decided to do so this time. This seemed the most straightforward way to go about things and it also helped me to visualize my overall colour composition. With the base colours down I can set about working the separate areas up to a finished state. I don’t anticipate this model taking me all that much time to paint, although experience adds a note of caution to that statement. The Goblin consists of four main colour blocks: the flesh, the hood, the robes and the weapon. I will paint the Goblin using colours from the same palette as the Troggoth to tie the models together!

Rockgut Troggoth – Part 5. Now with added goblin!

October was quite a month, beginning with my Troggoth workshop in Nottingham and finishing, back in Nottingham, with the Golden Demon Winners’ Day. But the most significant thing by far was my partner Mark’s return to hospital mid month! This was for a planned procedure to, hopefully, sort out the last lingering issues from last year’s illness. I’m happy to say everything went very well and Mark made a swift recovery. We are now looking forward to getting our life back to normal after a difficult sixteen months.

Not surprisingly I haven’t got a huge amount of painting done recently. This is not to say that there hasn’t been any progress because I’ve finally been able to put my sub-assemblies together and it’s great to be able to work on the model as a whole! Most significantly I’ve been able to resolve my ideas for the overall project.

I get a great deal of pleasure from painting a mini to the best of my ability, and I’m happy with this aspect of things; but I felt there was something missing. I need to do more than an out-of-the-box paintjob if I want a viable competition piece. In order for the model to be up to competition standard the Troggoth needs some element of story telling to give it a context.

Often this would involve conversion work but in this case I’d constructed the mini exactly as I wanted it, so my narrative will develop from the basing. This will be done, in part, from the creation of an appropriate environment but I am also going to include an extra mini, to interact with the Troggoth.

The environment was something I’ve already given a lot of thought to. This project is inspired by my 1988 Troll and, like him, the Troggoth will be perched atop a pile of rocks. The difference is that in this case the rocks will comprise of the rubble and broken statuary of an ancient ruin. I’ve made this using a combination of plastic scenery pieces and plaster. The plaster elements were first cast as simple blocks and then smashed with a dirty great hammer, which seems quite appropriate for the Age of Sigmar. I then refined the plaster rocks with some carved details.

The rock elements were pinned and glued together onto a plinth using Superglue. Once the glue had set I filled the gaps and built up a ground surface using Milliput. The addition of a little garden soil, sprinkled onto Superglue, creates a great texture for the ground. The tricky part is making the back and sides of the plinth blend seamlessly with the additional materials. This involves a lot of careful sanding and filling to create a smooth surface. Although a fiddly process it’s well worth the time and effort because sloppy base work will seriously undermine a painted model.

The element of an additional miniature is the biggest change to my original concept but it’s also the most important. The Troggoth looks great on his own but, with a pose that puts him in the middle of the action, I felt that I could tell a more complete story if I gave him a reason to be hurling his boulder. One way to do this would be to show the Troggoth’s intended target and turn the piece into a duel, but that didn’t spark my interest.

The idea that appeals to me is to show the great lumbering Troggoth getting his orders from a diminutive goblin, who is pointing emphatically at some unseen (by the viewer) target. As well as giving a context to the Troggoth it introduces a touch of humour. The story feels appropriate for its protagonists with the goblin making use of the large, and stupid, Troggoth’s strength for it’s own sneaky purposes.

Putting the final composition together will take a lot of care but, even after the roughest of test fittings, I’m getting a good feeling about the new direction for this project.