Unfinished business!

Horticulus Slimux – Part 6

I suspect that every miniature painter has a few unfinished projects that sit neglected on their desk or in a cabinet. It’s a frustrating situation but one that’s all too easy to fall into. One such project for me was Horticulus Slimux and I was shocked to realise that I last worked on him in March 2018! I can’t even remember exactly why I put the project on hold, though I suspect that I was chasing deadlines on other projects. I’d painted Horticulus Slimux to a standard I was very happy with but the project stalled with his giant snail, Mulch. Other projects took precedence and after finishing my Daemon Tank I was suffering from an overdose of Nurgle themed painting. So Horticulus remained forgotten at the back of my miniatures cabinet.

Forgotten by me that is until a couple of weeks ago when he came up in conversation at the Hammerhead painting competition. The upshot of this was that Horticulus was taken out of the cabinet and re-considered. I think he’s too good a piece to remain neglected and unfinished but the snail is a problem. Considering my current commitments and the potential time it would take me to paint Mulch, I decided to let go of that idea and come up with something else that would finish the project to my satisfaction. I could see two options. First I could find a new, smaller and quicker to paint mount for Horticulus. Second I could base him up as a single miniature. 

 

 

I quickly decided on the second option but that’s not without it’s challenges. He is, of course, designed to fit onto Mulch and sculpted in a sitting pose, so I would have to find a way of accommodating this pose on the new base. Horticulus was still going to have to be sat on something, but what? My first thought was to sit him on a severed head. I’ve no idea where this idea came from but it didn’t seem an appropriate setting for Nurgle’s gardener. So what about having him sat on a rock, taking a rest, in the garden surrounded by a profusion of plant life?

With this idea as a starting point, I began to think about the specifics. The timescale was a major factor to consider. I wanted this to be a relatively quick project so I set myself two rules. I would finish the model in time to take it to Salute this year and I would only use materials and parts I already had. This gave me six weeks to work on finishing Horticulus which felt like a good amount of time to get the job done without rushing things. Next up was a thorough rummage through my modeling supplies and bits boxes. This provided both parts and inspiration. 

I had quite a few mushrooms of various sizes left over from old projects and these were perfect for my purposes. In addition a couple of tentacles and some skulls (of course!) would help to populate the terrain. The best find was the head of a fallen statue from the Dominion of Sigmar:Timeworn Ruins terrain. I quickly discovered that Horticulus Slimux could sit on this with very little work to make him fit perfectly! This meant he would be sitting on both a rock and a severed head combining my ideas into one.

 

 

Luckily I had one plinth of the correct size left after I’d use all my others for the Corsairs. The stone head required a little modification before being fixed to the plinth. Then I used a combination of cork, plaster fragments and Stirland Battlemire to build up the terrain around it.

To keep a cohesive feeling, I used the same pallet of colors to paint the base as I’d used on Horticulus Slimux. Thankfully I’d made a note of these colors on an earlier blog post and so was able to fish them out. Once again I’d be using Black Leather from Scale Colour as a universal shadow color. This has a warm pinkish hue that contrasts with the greens and harmonises with the reds. Indeed with the base painted the finished composition has an overall subtle red/green colour contrast. The dominant red area is on the mushrooms but there is also quite a lot of it worked into Horticulus Slimux’s skin tones. This is especially true of the shadows which are very warm with the highlights being cooler in contrast. I used a similar warm/cool contrast on the stone head but with desaturated/grayer hues.

Horticulus Slimux is quite fantastical enough on his own so I decided against taking a highly fantastical approach to the plants. Mushrooms, plants that grow on decay, seem especially appropriate and work well with the Nurgle theme. These would be supplemented with an assortment of grasses, moss, mould and lichen. I used a narrow range of green hues to keep a coherent feeling while relying on texture contrasts to add visual interest. The three large red caped mushrooms are resin and from Blacksmith miniatures. Their large size brings a small touch of the fantastical to the basing. All the other mushrooms were sculpted by myself out of green stuff.

Fixing Horticulus onto the base was very straightforward. He fitted into place well and balanced perfectly, so I was able to attach him directly with epoxy glue - and no need for pinning. However there were a few small gaps underneath him as his backside did not conform exactly to the contours of the statue. I filled in this space with a ‘cushion’ of moss and mould. Like many other Nurgle miniatures, Horticulus has an open belly with his guts hanging out. There was a gap between the guts and the statue that, although not catastrophic, bothered me. Instead of filling this gap with more moss I decided to extend the guts with green stuff. This filled the gap in an appropriately gruesome manner.

 

 

The final touch was to make a label for the plinth. Partly to finish off the composition but also to hide a blemish on the front of the plinth. Putting Horticulus Slimus’s name on the label felt a bit obvious so I opted for his job title ‘The Grand Cultivator’ instead. After resurrecting my long neglected graphic design skills to style the typography, I experimented with different colours. I then used the method described HERE to make the label.

 

 

It’s a shame that I didn’t get to finish Horticulus mounted on Mulch as originally intended. However, I now have a completed model that I’m very happy with and that’s miles better than having him unfinished in the back of the cabinet! And of course, I still have Mulch who could easily become the focus of a future project.

Finishing Horticulus Slimux was an enjoyable process with a satisfying result and six weeks turned out to be more than enough time. So the only thing remaining is to take him to the Salute Painting Competition. This will be my first Salute since 2019 and I’m experiencing an interesting mix of anticipation and nerves so fingers crossed for a good outcome!

 

 

Basing the Kastelan Robot… oops I did it again!

 

 

The Kastelan Robot was painted as a demonstration model for my new weathering workshop. As such I hadn’t planned on basing the model. However, as the project progressed the model was turning out very nicely and it seemed like a wasted opportunity not to put it onto a base. So I began to consider my options and in the end I came down to just two:

1. Fix the model onto a plain plastic gaming base, possibly with some minimal terrain detail. This basic option would serve the models function as a demonstration piece; or,
2. Build up a more elaborate base to create an environment and narrative for the model. This would have the added advantage of turning the model into a potential competition piece.

Let’s be honest option two was always going to win out as that’s what I always end up doing. But I did seriously consider option one.

I think it’s best practice to consider your basing options right at the start of a project. That way your ideas for the environment and narrative can play a part in the development of the overall scheme. However, though not perfect, it is possible to paint a model and then think up a base for it.

The model had been painted to demonstrate weathering so I wanted to continue with this approach and feature some heavily weathered architectural elements on the base. I decided to build the majority of my base using Games Workshop’s Sector Imperialis Administratum kit.

My starting point was one of the broken columns and I built out from this using a selection of other ruinous elements. I wanted to have the Kastelan Robot framed by a combination of broken arches and windows. By using one of GW’s own kits I would also be setting my Robot in an apropriate environment.

Instead of using a plain gaming base I chose one of the Sector Mechanicus bases and then built a raised floor above this to give the base some extra depth. The entire base was then finished off with some dirt and rubble.

I was quite pleased with the resulting base. But please take note of my use of the word ‘quite’. I had a few doubts about the overall proportions and composition of my base. This is in no small part down to the base being something of an afterthought to the painted model. However, I went ahead and began painting.

As usual I painted my base using the same palette of colours as the model but switched around the proportions of those colours. For example, I used a base/shade colour of Rhinox Hide but switched around the green and off white so that, on the base, the green was a dominant colour while the off white would only feature on the scattered skulls.

Painting was off to an OK start but my nagging doubts were now in full flow! Something about the base just felt wrong to me. It was time to stop work and think very carefully. If you are a long time follower of this blog you’ve probably guessed exactly where this is all going because we now get to the ‘oops I did it again’ bit.

The overall composition was too busy, obscured the Robot from several angles and was in danger of overpowering the model. In addition the design looked slightly clumsy and inelegant. I also felt that my decision to use pre-made building elements was a bit lazy and had influenced my design choices too much.

My solution was to start over again. This time I would construct a far simpler base that was less reliant on the Sector Imperialis Administratum kit. Construction began in the same way as the first base with a column. But the new base would not feature any of the wall or window elements. Instead I used plaster and Milliput to build a surface of broken slabs and rubble. I used a few bits of window frame from the building as further wreckage that, along with the column, would frame the Robot.

Straight away I was much happier with this more streamlined approach and, once I began painting, I found a whole new energy and enthusiasm for the project.

After painting the base, I pinned my Kastelan onto it and began work on the finishing touches. These consisted of the inevitable skulls and grass tufts but also some barbed wire to help give the base the feel of a warzone. The very last thing was the addition of some fine dirt and rubble around the feet and some subtle brown washes on the green slabs.

So once again I went over the top with my basing plans and then had to rein my ideas in. This doesn’t bother me too much because I think it’s preferable to tone down an OTT design than it is to have to go the other way.

The finished base feels like the same sort of environment that I tried to create with my first attempt; but it’s now done more simply and I think it’s more effective for it!

At the start of this post I mentioned my new weathering workshop. Sadly the current situation with Covid-19 means that I’ve had to cancel all of my workshop dates this year. I thought very hard about this but with the best will in the world, and as I have asthma, there is no way I could deliver a workshop to the standard I expect while keeping socially distanced.

Hopefully we can all get back to meeting at workshops and competitions some time next year but, in the meantime, let’s keep safe and keep painting!

 

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 (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!

Adding plant effects to a model. Or, the grass is always greener on the other side of the Troggoth!

Now that the paint job on my Troggoth is progressing I’ve been able to implement something I’ve had planned from the start. That’s the addition of grass, moss and lichen to the rocks on the Troggoth’s back. I consider these sorts of additions to be ‘special effects’ and, done successfully, they can add extra layers of texture, detail and interest to a painted mini. The addition of plant effects to my Troggoth will also help to tie him in more closely with the environment and narrative I’m going to create on the base.

There were a couple of factors I had to take into consideration and the most important by far was scale. It’s all too easy to blow the scale of an effect by making it too big. This applies to drips and splashes as well as it does to vegetation and, if such additions are too big, they will look unrealistic and cartoony at best! As a rough guide I tend to make these effects half as small again as I think they will need to be. This usually works out about right but, if you feel you are going too small, remember it’s easier to add more later on than it is to remove it and start again.

The second factor is specific to adding plant effects to a model. Over the years I’ve decided that my plant effects look better if I combined several different types. This is based on observation as you nearly always find a mixture of plants growing together. Even a simple area of grass can contain a wide variety of species. On a miniature this approach will result in a more realistic effect creating a varied texture that adds a lot of interest!

Grass

In the case of my Troggoth I wanted the plants to look like they were growing in the cracks between the rocks on his back. The first step was to use grass tufts. However, grass tufts can often look a bit too dense when used straight out of the pack. What’s more even the smallest of the tufts were far too big for my purposes because I most definitely did not want to create a heavy mane of foliage.

I always pick through grass tufts removing any lose or oddly angled fibres to thin them out a little. In addition I usually cut my grass tufts down to the required size. These steps will create a more natural, less regular, appearance. A surgical scalpel was perfect for this as it enabled precision and control. There is no getting away from the fact that this sort of work is extremely fiddly but I think it’s well worth the effort!

The resulting micro tufts often comprise of only a few fibres but they are perfectly in-scale for use on the Troggoth’s back. To apply them I pick each tuft up using needle nosed tweezers and carefully dip the rooted end into Vallejo Matt Varnish. I then position them onto the model where the matt varnish will hold them into place. Do not leave the model unattended because the surface tension of the adhesive can sometimes pull such small items out of position. If this happens nudge the tufts back into position using the tip of a clean dry paintbrush.

I’ve found that Vallejo Matt Varnish is an excellent adhesive for fixing small, lightweight, elements onto a model. Once dry it has a clear matt finish that effectively disappears on a painted surface. Just as importantly, if things go wrong, the varnish can be removed, before it dries, with a clean damp paintbrush leaving no visible traces. I’ve used Vallejo Matt Varnish to fix grass tufts, laser cut leaves, cotton wool tufts and microbeads onto my models.

You can further enhance the natural appearance of grass tufts by adding individual stems made from old paintbrush bristles. This gives the effect of different varieties growing together and creates a more varied grass texture with different lengths. My preferred source for the bristles is an old natural bristle paintbrush. The ends of the worn bristles are tapered and sometimes split making them ideal for use as grass stems.

The bristles can be painted, stained or left natural depending on the look you want to create. I trim the bristles to length and then dip the root end into matt varnish. That end is then inserted down into the grass tuft creating the effect of a longer coarser stem growing up through the tuft. This is something I nearly always do when I’m using grass tufts.

Moss and Lichen

I think the grass looks good on my Troggoth but the addition of a little moss and lichen would greatly enhance it! The first part of this process was done using tiny wisps of sponge. These were picked off a piece of synthetic sponge using my tweezers and then torn into even smaller pieces. I did say this was fiddly!

The resulting wisps are VERY small but have a convincing plant texture. The next step is to paint them green and I did this by dabbing them with a paintbrush. Do not dunk the sponge wisps into your paint. You need all over coverage but must avoid saturating the sponge and filling in the cells. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly before moving on to the next step.

Once again I used the matt varnish as an adhesive. In this case I applied a small dot of varnish to the model and then fixed the sponge to that. As with the grass tufts, keep an eye on it as it dries.

The third type of plant texture is made using chinchilla sand. I made up a mix of the chinchilla sand, green paint and matt varnish. The varnish makes the mix bond together once dry and stops it crumbling off the model. This was applied, with a brush, into the crevices on the Troggoth’s back. Remember my warning about keeping effects in scale and only apply a tiny amount at a time. When I use this mix I am often quite literally pushing it around one grain at a time. Now that’s REALLY what I call fiddly, but it makes a difference!

Muddy Roots

I’ve also added grass, moss and lichen to the rock the Troggoth is holding. I want it to look as if it has just been picked up off the ground. To further enhance this effect I’ve added roots and soil to the underside of the rock. The roots are taken from some bamboo growing in my, overgrown, garden. I stuck the roots on to the rock with PVA glue because this has a stronger bond than the varnish.

When the PVA was dry I add my 'soil' mix of chinchilla sand, Scalecolour brown leather and a couple of drops of Valleyo Matt Varnish. The chinchilla sand is my current choice for making a fine texture paste. It has many similar qualities to baking soda not least its’ ability to absorb colour. So far it has proved to be more stable than baking soda so I’m beginning to use it more extensively. Only time will tell if it remains stable in the long term but it’s a risk I’m ready to take.

Once the soil mix was dry I glazed some dilute brown leather into the surrounding areas to blend the edges a little. I then added a few dollops of the soil mix to the roots to make them look as if they had just been pulled up.

For the time being I’m very happy with how the plant effects have worked out on my Troggoth. Once he is based up I may add a little more to him but I need to get an idea of the overall composition before I make a final decision.

At this point I want to say that in my view using ‘special effects’ on a miniature should be approached with some consideration and caution. Special effects can enhance a miniature by contrasting with the painted surfaces. They should only be used when and if their addition is appropriate to the miniature and not simply because they look ‘cool’.

Special effects will not make a weak paintjob better but, if used unsuccessfully, they could ruin a good paintjob. Having said that the successful use of these effects can bring a painted miniature up to a new level of technical skill and greatly enhance its atmosphere and narrative!