Work in progress here. Long progress, if we can call it that. Test painted a few of these in 2009 and went no further at the time. I've been inspired by Harry Pearson's excellent new Parum Pugna ancients blog to go back and finish this set of Scholtz (Berliner Zinnfiguren) flats. They're a unit of 17 castings, 8 each in two ranks as shown plus an officer.
Sets of flats seem to come in three varieties: great engravings not particuarly suited to make a wargames unit of, lesser engravings but a good wargames unit, and a set that combines both virtues. I'd put these solidly in the second category. As historical Numidians go they have some quirks, but for a Tony Bath inspired light cavalry unit, just the ticket.
At any rate, I'm nearly halfway through now, compromising somewhat on the painting style to speed things up. I'm gloss coating and plan to base them, any suggestions on the frontage per figure ?
Cpl Trim
ReplyDeleteBeautiful inspiring stuff!
Cheers
Pd
Thanks, Peter. If I can paint at least 4 a week, should be done before too long.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Steve
Stunning.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mark. They're actually fairly simple figures to paint. Well, maybe except for the leopard skins. ;-)
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Steve
What a remarkable job! I have some Berliner figures (British infantry, 1812) sitting on my table that I hardly dare start. Could you post some tips on flat painting for those of us with only fully round experience?
ReplyDeleteAlFront,
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for the kind words.
I think the main thing to keep in mind about flats is this: don't be intimidated by them. They should be fun to paint, and you won't enjoy it if you start out trying to measure up against contest-worthy connoisseur shading jobs.
I'd advise just painting them in the style you're comfortable with. Any competent wargames painter can do better than the old factory paint jobs and that's a readily obtainable goal to begin with.
Good luck !
Steve
Thanks for this, and your reply to Jeff below. Right ho! I have no excuse now, so off to the painting/dining table I must go... I still think your stuff is first rate!
DeleteSteve -
ReplyDeleteThose figures look beautiful (as does the rest of the work on your site). I looked at a number of your posts to see if I could locate information on what paints you use, primers, varnish, etc. and I didn't see anything like that. Perhaps I missed it, but I am sure that I am not alone in that I would love to see what your process is. Would you consider doing a step-by-step post? Or, at the very least, speak to the items and or products that you use?
From one artist to another, I have to tell you that you do have a great eye for color. The stylized ships that head your blog have beautifully imagined waves and the color on the smoke stacks is sublime. Your choice of color and placement are modern, yet skillfully evoke a nostalgia for a bygone era. I love them!
Thank you for sharing your work with us.
- Jeff
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThat's most kind of you, very nice to read it coming from an expert painter.
Regarding your question, I paint with acrylics. Mostly Vallejo and increasingly so over the years as the Ral Partha, Reaper & Citadel jars have gradually been been too diluted with repeated water restoration or just dried up. I also use some artists acrylics in tubes but minimally. At the moment, I use Army Painter spray primer. It's kind of light green, not perfect but dries fast with a nice thin coat, I just undercoat the areas which I want to pop (red, etc.) with another layer of white. My painting desk is chaos (although I know where things are), I don't dare show it.
As for a stop-by-step tutorial, I avoid them.. Perhaps it's backlash from a certain forum I belong to which has a Workbench section. You know the sort of thing, "And today I applied a bit more shading to the blanket roll." Good god, man - just get on with it !
My way works for me, but I won't bore people with the process. It's enough that it pleases me and I'm gratified when it also pleases others.
Best regards,
Steve