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While working on my latest commission, I had to find out how to make lava for the model’s base.

Introduction

I already did several lava bases. So in order to avoid boredom I had to come up with a new idea or end up with boring and uninspired results.

So I returned to browsing the internet for photos of lava:

Now this is something I haven’t done before! 😀

What we need to make lava

How to make lava that is boiling and splashing? We will need:

sheet of plastic (I used a thick plastic sleeve)
scissors
source of heat (I used a candle)
filler putty (I used a modeling putty for plastic models)
Vallejo Water Effect
hygroscopic balls (you will find them in a new wallet or handbag, where they’re supposed to absorb moisture)
Maskol
foam
airbrush (you can do without it, but I used mine)
paintbrush
paints: white, black, Vallejo MC 952 Lemon Yellow, Vallejo Ink Skin Wash, Winsor & Newton Orange Ink, Vallejo MA Mahogany, Reaper Red Brick 09001, and saturated red of your choice.
retarder (because regular Vallejo paints tend to clog my airbrush)

So how to make lava like that?

I pulled, stretched and bent stripes of plastic over fire:

I made a test application of the lava surface on a sheet of metal. The consistence of my putty made it a suitable material to imitate lava:

I ruffled the fresh putty with a toothpick and added the splashes I formed from plastic:

When the putty was dry, I finished the rest of my lava base with Vallejo Water Effect. Its thickness is similar to that of mayonaise, so it feels perfect for the task. If you want to make finer splashes of lava than mine, you can apply some water effect on a piece of thin wire:

Painting lava

I left the base to dry overnight and in the morning I started with priming the base. Then I used my airbrush to apply several layers of paint to build up colors of lava:

I checked if it fits to the scenic base:

I could see I was going in the right direction. Now I only needed more contrast, so I returned to painting.

I highlighted the hottest parts once more with Vallejo MC 952 Lemon Yellow. Once more I applied Winsor&Newton Orange to increase saturation. I glazed some parts with my red. And then with the side of a paintbrush I painted cooled cracks with Reaper Red Brick 09001 and black:

Finished lava base

Finishing touches were done later, when the model for which the base was made was ready. Now you should know how to make lava splashes for your minis and see the finished thing here:

I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. If you have any hints or tips, feel free to let me know about them or discuss this technique in the comments below.

— Ańa

Miniatures Step-by-step, Painting, Tutorials

Painting Malifaux Seamus the Mad Hatter – Tutorial

April 5, 2012 p1per 2 Comments

This will be a little walkthrough / tutorial on how I painted my Malifaux Seamus the Mad Hatter from Wyrd Miniatures. This Mad Hatter tutorial is also the first one I ever wrote. 😉

Seamus the Mad Hatter – tutorial

For priming I used a combination of black and white primer.

Generally I use a basecoat color, 3-4 shadows and 3-4 highlights for one part/detail. So I end up with a total of 7-9 colors which I use to create the transition from the deepest shadow to the brightest highlight.

Paint mixing ratios

All my paint ratios in this Mad Hatter tutorial represent my drop count (I have all my GW paints refilled in empty Vallejo-like dropper bottles which makes it easier for me when mixing colors) – for example:

GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 (3:1)
3 drops GW Tallarn Flesh : 1 drop VMC Dark Flesh #019
GW = Games Workshop / Citadel
VMC = Vallejo Model Colour

Dilution

Dilution of my paints is about 50% paint to 50% water for glazing (highlights and shadows) and my basecoat is a little bit thicker so about 70% paint to 30% water.

Ok, let’s get started with painting the Malifaux Seamus the Mad Hatter miniature. 🙂

1. Face, eyes and skin:

It’s good for all the readers of my Seamus the Mad Hatter tutorial to know that I always start with the head/face of a mini and then move to the next part. I only paint one part at a time and pretty much finish it before I move to the next one. For the skin I used GW Tallarn Flesh as a basecoat color and applied 2-3 thin layers until I had nice even coverage.

Basecoat: GW Tallarn Flesh

[inset side=right]I always start with the head/face of a mini and then move to the next part. I only paint one part at a time and pretty much finish it before I move to the next one.[/inset]

After the skin was basecoated I painted the eyes:

First I painted the eye-socket white.
Next I thinned down some VMC Black #169 (about 20% paint : 80% water) and used it to outline the eye-socket by letting the paint flow into the recesses by itself.
Usually I mess up the white eye-socket a bit or my outline will end up being to intense/thick. Therefore I carefully repaint the eye-socket white and correct the black outline a bit.
Next I painted black dots for the pupils with a less diluted paint (70-80% paint : 30-20% water).

Once the eyes were done I switched back to his skin and started with the shadows.

I applied the first shadow always moving the brush towards the deepest parts which will later receive the darkest color and using many layers always leaving a bit of the previous brush stroke untouched to build up the first shadow. Then I applied the second and third shadow also leaving a bit of the previous shadow untouched to build a transition towards the darkest shadow. Colors I used for the shadows:

Shadow I: GW Tallarn Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (6:1)
Shadow II: GW Tallarn Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (3:1)
Shadow III: GW Tallarn Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (1:1)

The last shadow color (Shadow IV) was used for the deepest recesses like his mouth and facial wrinkles.

Shadow IV: GW Scorched Brown

Then I started painting highlights. It’s pretty much the same as with shadows – moving the brush towards the highest parts which will receive most of the light, always leaving a bit of the previous highlight untouched to build a transition from the basecoat to my last highlight. The method presented here, in this Mad Hatter tutorial, is the one I usually use. Colors used for the highlights:

Highlight I: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 (3:1)
Highlight II: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 (1:1)
Highlight III: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 : GW Skull White (1:1:2)

I used the last highlight (Highlight IV) only for a few bright-spots.

Highlight IV: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 : GW Skull White (1:1:4)

2. Hair:

I basecoated his hair with the following mix:

Basecoat: GW Shadow Grey : VMC Black #169 (2:1)

Then highlighted it getting brighter towards the outside with the following colors:

Highlight I: GW Codex Grey (1:1 water)
Highlight II: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (2:1:3 water)

3. Coat, tuxedo and hat

I did some preshading and highlighting here that’s not something I usually do it sometimes just happens. 😉

After this was done I messed around with mix-ratios until I was satisfied with the colors and came out with the following mixes:

Highlight IV: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:9) + some GW Skull White
Highlight III: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:9)
Highlight II: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:6)
Highlight I: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:3)
Basecoat: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise (2:1)
Shadow I: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : VMC Black #169 (2:1:1)
Shadow II: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : VMC Black #169 (2:1:2)
Shadow III: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : VMC Black #169 (2:1:3)

I painted highlights and shadows like described in the face part always moving the brush towards the deepest shadows and brightest highlights, using many thin layers and slowly building up the color.

The last highlight (Highlight IV) was only used on the upper parts as a last “popping” highlight like on the folds on his arm or his collar.

4. Belt-thing on his hat

Highlight III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:3)
Highlight II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:2)
Highlight I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:1)
Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown
Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Black #169 (3:1)
Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Black #169 (3:2)

5. Pants

I paint every part as described above (first I apply the basecoat with 2-3 layers and then paint the shadows and highlights) so for the next few parts of my Mad Hatter tutorial I will only post the colors I used. 🙂

Highlight III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (2:1:3)
Highlight II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (2:1:2)
Highlight I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (2:1:1)
Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth (2:1)
Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:1)
Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:2)
Shadow III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:3)

6. Weapon – wood

Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh (2:1)
Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:1)
Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:2)
Shadow III: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:3)

7. NMM

Some of you may be checking this Mad Hatter tutorial in search for my NMM recipe. When I painted the NMM parts like his blade I tried to to push the highlights up to pure white and the shadows to a dark almost black tone. The colors I used for the silver NMM parts were:

Silver NMM

Highlight IV: GW Skull White (pure)
Highlight III: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (1:3)
Highlight II: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (1:2)
Highlight I: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (1:1)
Basecoat: GW Codex Grey
Shadow I: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (3:1)
Shadow II: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (2:1)
Shadow III: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (2:2)
Shadow IV: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (2:3)

To increase the last shadow a bit on the silver NMM parts I used some very diluted black (like a wash it was mostly “black water”) and carefully glazed this mix at the very end (bottom) of the last shadow.

Gold NMM

All Gold NMM parts were painted with the following colors:

Highlight III: GW Skull White (pure)
Highlight II: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Skull White (1:1:3)
Highlight I: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Skull White (1:1:1)
Basecoat: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown (1:1)
Shadow I: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Scorched Brown (1:1:1)
Shadow II: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Scorched Brown (1:1:2)
Shadow III: GW Scorched Brown (pure)
Shadow IV: GW Scorched Brown : VMC Black #169 (2:1)

When painting small details like the gold NMM stuff on his bag or the belt buckle on his hat I usually don’t use the complete range of mixes. I basecoat the area as usual, use the first shadow/highlight but then I leave the second mix out and jump to the third shadow/highlight.

For large surfaces it’s the same procedure as with the other parts.

8. Bag & accessories

The NMM parts were painted with the colors described above in an earlier part of this Mad Hatter tutorial and for the bag I used the following mixes:

Glaze: VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (80% water) — only glazed over the highlights to get a bit of a yellow in there
Highlight III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:3)
Highlight II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:2)
Highlight I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:1)
Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown
Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Scorched Brown (2:1)
Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Scorched Brown (2:2)
Shadow III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Scorched Brown (2:3)

Ok that’s pretty much it. I hope you enjoyed reading this little walkthrough and found something interesting.

Done!

And here are some final pictures of the miniature. If you recreated the steps presented in my Seamus the Mad Hatter tutorial, you should achieve similar results:

— P1per

Painting, Tutorials

NMM gold made fast and easy

February 25, 2012 JerzyK 2 Comments

Following Mahon‘s suggestion I decided to write my first miniature painting tutorial on Chest of Colors website. It is a tutorial about painting NMM gold my way – fast and pleasant.

Contrast is the most important thing in NMM technique.

This technique is intended for using mainly on tabletop quality figures, but with more layers (I used just 7-8 here, including base color and a wash) it can look quite well even on display miniatures.

I will show my technique on terminator librarian shoulder pad. It is hard for me to give precise proportions, as I use mostly my intuition while mixing the colors.

NMM gold – JerzyK’s way

I start with base color (pic. 1) by mixing yellow with little brown and blue, ending in dirty yellow – it is just the way it should be 😉

Then I make wash color by adding more brown to the mix and diluting it to dirty water consistency and apply it to the surface (pic. 2) – it helps to mark various hollows on the surface, which are afterwards emphasized with more precise application of another layer, which is basically wash color with addition of a little black.

The next step is cleaning everyting a little bit with basic color (pic. 3) – washes can sometimes leave messy areas.

I add a little white and blue to the basic color and focus on areas which would collect more light (pic. 4).

From this step I will be creating more and more contrast, which is the most important thing in NMM technique. Another layer of lighter color (more white and blue) is applied within the limits of the first highlight (pic. 5).

Finaly I use almost white highlight with pure white blicks on highest places (pic. 6).

Sometimes before the last step (white and almost-white highlights) I apply blue or green strongly diluted layer if overall color is too yellow.

You can easily evolve my techniqe to get better results, but even now with just a few layers and little time you can achieve effect which look well on gaming miniatures (pic. 7).

And here is another example of a miniature painted in a similar way:

Happy painting!
— JerzyK

Bases, Converting & Sculpting, Tutorials

Build me a tree! – Tutorial

December 9, 2011 Rzymek Leave a comment

This time: Build me a… tree worthy of Lorien! That’s right we’re going to help mother nature make a treetop house ELVENSTYLE! So if you are interested in a How To Build A Tree tutorial – read on:

Components

a piece of a branch…a piece of wood that generally resembles a tree.
a plate of plastic or hard cardboard as a base
a lot “wavy cardboard” (You know, most boxes are made of it)
lots of sand
lots of PVC glue.
at least 1 pack of green stuff
water effect
something that will look like clumps of leaves. I used special modelmaker’s dyed moss.
some plasticard for the actual platforms for the tree house and the pavement.
Some static grass, stones, few pieces of natural branches of trees.
Super glue
some wire/small iron rods

Tree trunk

So starting the fun of Godlike nature construction. We have to have a tree trunk: make a general idea how the tree house is to look like. I decided on a fixed size of the base and I wanted to add a pond to my tree house. So first you make the base. Use strong cardboard and glue a plate of plasticard to it with super glue. The base MUST be strong as we are about to connect the main trunk.

You have it already? Nice! So let’s get down to the actual tree. If you found yourself a satisfactory piece of wood in the forest and planned the general way the diorama is to look like, cut the branch so that it is more or less flat on one end. Place it on the base and make a hole underneath. Than simply nail the branch through the base so that they stick together. I’ve put like 7 nails and poured some superglue around to make sure it’s not going to come apart.

Surrounding terrain

Now we have a stable base lets start building the terrain. I decided to go easy and started to glue flat pieces of the wavy cardboard. Shaping them as I went so that they would make up the general form of the terrain.

As I went higher and higher I added plates of plasticard so that I could have a cobblestone path and a sort of a by-the-pond boulevard. As mentioned I also started making the banks of the pond. I placed the “stones” on the path using superglue to keep them connected to the cardboard.

Once the general shape of the ground level is done, we start the messy part. This involves a lot of sand so make sure you have some kind of a box. To make the terrain look real we will glue the sand to the wavy cardboard with PVC glue. Pour the glue on a side of “ground” parts and simply throw some sand over the glue. It will stick to the glue and after 2-3 layers you should see a nice round hill.

Make sure that it doesn’t stick to the parts that should be sand-free like things that should be a stoned path.

Branches and roots

Notice that the photographs show some other things which we’ve been doing while the PVC was drying. For one you can see more “branches”. This is done so that the actual tree would look like an actual creation of nature’s product of boredom so we’d expect there would be roots and more branches. We connect those by drilling some holes in the main trunk and in the new branches’ bases. We simply glue the previously prepared pieces of natural shaped branches to our tree. you have to drill both the trunk and the new branch and put an iron rod inside to keep the connection strong and stable! you may use some extra green stuff while gluing them together so it will look smoother.

Remember not to glue the new branches before you finish with the staircase and platforms. Just drill and try the new branches so that the general look of the tree will be satisfactory, than go with the construction of the stairs. It will be much easier this way and after you’re done with the stairs and platforms glue the extra branches to the trunk.

Stairs and platforms

Also you may notice the new side bars added to the pond. This is plasticard that will be black and will be the borders of the pond that are not part of the diorama and are considered open waters. Also we started building the platforms and the road itself. The idea is that the paved path will go around the diorama and eventually change into a stairwell of the tree house.

Now you might notice the stairs are going up the trunk. This is done by making small pieces of plasticard. Cut a few strips of plasticard so that they will be of similar width and that you can cut the stairs-steps one at a time and that all will be roughly the same shape. Than make small, but deep cuts in the trunk and glue the steps in. Try to go up the trunk so that this will look somewhat coherent … you can see the cuts on the photo…I used a small modelmakers’ saw to do this. As we go up you might want to start thinking about the platforms themselves. you can see my first platform on the photo below.

Cut any shape you want and attach the platform in the same manner you did with the stair-steps. However, in this case there might be a fairly obvious need to use additional support like a branch and some adapters below the platform level.

Try not to glue the platforms to the trunk and keep them as separate elements. This will make it easier to build them and to construct the whole diorama. The last thing I did in this part was to glue the platforms in after all the painting and gluing of everything else.

Balustrades

This will help the platforms to be stable and will look better. Once you built the stairs and the platforms you might want to add extra edges to the stairs. This rim will add to the overall construction look and will make you believe it’s made by true craftsman and not an overanxious woodcutter who never got to work for IKEA. The photo also shows some important parts on the platforms. A banister, balustrade or a rail around the platforms will add reality to your creation and will look more natural for a high construction structure. I made this using the iron wire and some plasticard. The best way to do this is to simply shape the wire like the area you want to have a banister around. Than make the plasticard pylons and simply make a hole in each and slip them along the wire. Make a small cut in the platform and glue the whole thing together.

Assembly

Now that we’re done with the platforms the hard part is over. Take the platforms out and glue the previously prepared branches to the trunk. If you want even more branches simply drill some extra holes, put an iron rod in them and form a branch from green stuff. Don’t worry about the actual shape because we’re going to cover them with leaves later on.

Painting

Already done with the branches and platforms, are you? Ok… let’s get down to painting. I took the basic black spray available in any construction market/DIY supermarket. Be generous with the spray as the sand will need at least a few layers. Now I went to paint the platforms and stairs. First I painted them with Citadel‘s Bleached Bone , than gave it 2 layers of Citadel‘s Thraka Green wash. In the end I want for two layers of 75%/25% Skull White and Vallejo glaze medium. This last part was airbrushed.

The same treatment was given to all platforms, but the moveable ones were done separately.

Now with the wood itself:

First I gave all the tree parts a drybrush with Citadel‘s Scorched Earth, than a drybrush of Citadel‘s Graveyard Earth and a drybrush of Citadel‘s Bleached Bone. Than a watered down layer of Citadel‘s Devlan Mud wash, a similar one of Citadel‘s Thraka Green wash and again Devlan Mud wash. If you want you can give it a final wash of Thraka Green again and/or light drybrush of Bleached Bone again.

The ground itself was painted with 3 layers of drybrush (Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown, Bleached Bone). The area which was supposed to be underwater parts was given a wash of Thraka Green to give it a muddy/foresty kind of look once the water effect will be applied.

Leaves and final touches

Done? Ok… time to make our tree a proper summer/fall tree: I used special modelmaker’s moss to mimic the leaves on the branches. This can be bought in most proper model shops. I simply used strong PVC glue to glue those to the branches in large mixed clumps and than added some super glue into the insides of those clumps to make the connections stronger.

Now the only thing left is the grass on the ground and the water effect. Some PVC glues are better for watter effect than the actual Citadel‘s water effect itself. Pour this into the prepared ‘pond’ and voila!

See us in Lorien!

You can invite the Ringbearer and his friends once Ian McKellen has ‘fallen into darkness’ in Moria.

— Rzymek

Bases, Tutorials

How to make movement trays for your units – Tutorial

November 18, 2011 Rzymek 3 Comments

So here’s a simple tutorial on how to make movement trays. It’s the most basic way to make a tray for both normal and magnetic bases for minis, but it can add a lot to the visual impact the miniatures make.

What we need to make a movement tray

a plate of thin steel (less than a milimiter will do but as long as you can cut it with scissors it’s fine)
a few pieces of balsa wood
some sand
super glue / PVC glue(any gloue for wood will do)
paints and some static grass

How to make movement trays

Cutting the movement tray

First: Let’s cut us a base for our tray! You must decide what kind of a tray you need. For example 3 ranks of 10 Games Workshop normal infantry is 10x20mm of width and 3×20 in depth. This will be the space inside the tray so it’s better to make it a little bit bigger.

For the mentioned example: 10x20mm is 200mm width and 60 mm depth. I usually add 15 to 20mm for to both length and width so that there will be more space in the tray and the unit will not be pushed tightly together. This is important for some units of minis can’t be placed in base to base for a number of reasons.

Also there must be some extra space for the side bars. Once you’ve decided how big must the base be, draw it on the piece of steel and cut it with scissors.

Making sides for our movement tray

Now we have our base for the tray. Cut the balsa wood so that you will have pairs of side bars. You might want to make 4 sides or 3 and leave the back of the tray open. I usually make 4 so the unit will not fall out while being moved. Glue them to the steel with the super glue. Hold it while the glue dries and make sure the side bars go well with the edges of the steel plate.

Adding texture

So here we have something that looks like a movement tray. Let’s make it presentable. Take the PVC glue and put it on the outer sides of the sidebars leaving the interior side and the underside (obviously) of the tray clean of glue. Once you applied the glue to one side of the tray throw some sand onto the tray’s side. The glue will catch the sand. Try to remove any sand that sticks to the bottom or the internal part of the tray. Try to do one side at a time.

Let the tray dry off again and one more time CHECK IF THERE IS NO EXCESS SAND INSIDE THE TRAY! CLEAN IT WITH A KNIFE (or some other tool) while the glue is still wet.

Painting the movement tray

Once the tray is dry paint it black with a base coat of black spray and now drybrush the sides of the tray with the colours of choice (for a typical summer tray I use Scorched Earth, Bestial Brown and Bleached Bone of the Games Workshop Citadel paints.)