Painting Project – [WM] High Paladin Dartan Vilmon – Part 1
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
I’m getting ready to paint up one of my character solos for my growing Protectorate of Menoth WARMACHINE army. I thought you might like to see how I do it and follow along.
1st thing you need to understand about me, I’m not a fast painter. While I can understand someone who wants to just make something quick and easy to paint, I have a tendency more towards making every mini I paint push my skills. This means they often take a lot of time. Of course it also means I like to try speed-boosting tips to see if I can speed it up some. In the end, I have an army full of models I’m happy to display and they really make the game more enjoyable for both sides in a game, in my experience.
For this project, I’ve already green stuffed Vilmon into his base and primed him and his extra bits. Since several of the pieces fit together very tightly and I’d like to paint in those tight areas since they’re still visible, I opted for painting prior to full assembly. To keep the primer off the areas I’ll need to be gluing later, I used little bits of blue-tac to cover the joints. Once primed we have this:
I’ve been learning how to use Vallejo paints lately and have quite enjoyed the results they’ve been allowing me to readily achieve. What I like is how they’re already thinner and easily thinned further, making blending a snap. Plus the bottles have built-in droppers making it super easy to get repeatable paint mixes. And the paints themselves build up a nice even color when all is said and done. I don’t have all the colors I’d like just yet, so I’m still mixing in some citadel paints now and then, as well as using a couple of their ink washes (chestnut in particular). For mixing the paints I use a set of ceramic tiles for palettes (a little hot water soak is all it takes to clean off even week-old dried paint) and a couple larger citadel brushes to do the actual mixing work.
You’ll also note that everything is on a big paper sheet. I got a set of old dot-matrix paper that I use to cover my painting table. Makes cleanup a snap and gives a good surface to wipe the excess from a drybrush prep on. Any cheap paper can work just as well though. I also have a thin plastic kitchen cutting board underneath the paper. That little addition really saves the table when I get the hobby knife out to clean and build models.
I also keep a lot of brushes handy. 2 or 3 of the most used sizes so I can rotate them as I’m painting. This lets the brushes rest, dry, and condition a little, which helps them keep a point better when you go back to use them next time.
menoth painting vilmon warmachine
