Salmondworks Tutorial Blog

This is the first in the series of what I am calling the ‘Four & Five Tutorials’. This goes along with a post that I did earlier. These are tutorials are very mid-range tutorials. Some of the techniques can be pushed further but the intent is to help someone understand some simple ideas to take the basics one step further.

THREE STEP METAL

I used GW Bolt Gun Metal. I painted all of the metal objects on the fig. Bright and shiny.

Now I only use black for a wash on very limited occasions. Metal is one of those. When I painted a mass number of Necrons this is exactly what I did for a technique. I did throw in a drybrush of Iron Oxide for rust. Here the wash is about 35% paint and 65% water. This is something you may have to play with to get it right based on the type of paint you use. I used Ceramacoat.

This next shot I have just started to paint the scope with the wash. Don’t apply to much wash.

Tip: when painting a wash and you relize it is to thick. Just dip your brush in some water and go over the area you just applied the paint to. After you do that you may have too much wash in that one location. You can dry your brush and then use it as a sponge and wick up the extra wash.

This next picture shows the wash just applied. It is still wet. I wanted to show how much to apply. This wash was a tad thick but I was fine with it. Normally they are a little thinner when I do metal washes. Notice the gun and where the uni-pod is supporting it. I have not done the uni-pod yet so you can see the difference.

After all the metal areas are carefully covered with the wash. I have to let them dry. Now this next step I am using GW Chainmail for the highlight. You can just hit the upper most regions if you are painting tons of figs. I added a bit more on these figs. Make sure you thin the highlight paint down before you start.

Here are a couple of photos’s of the figures after the highlight. If you want to spend more time you can do one more stage of the highlight. You can use GW Mithril and up it one more. You can even take use white as the last stage. Each time you would narrow and reduce the amount of paint. But since this is three stage metal here you go. This makes for an easy way to get nice looking table top minis. This is not what I would do if I were to compete in a compitetion. Remember… these are not that advanced. We want fast, easy ways to get table top minis. With practice you will start to see several ways this simple tutorial can be applied. When you vary the thickness of the black wash you will also get different looks.

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Tip: Notice how my paint overlaps areas I have not painted yet. This prevents little white seams between paints.

John Salmond…

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In the past I have been hesitate about throwing painting tutorials out there. Most of the tutorials I see are from top notch painter teaching you how they do their tricks. BTW I think they are absolutely awesome the ones that I have seen. I believe you have to be to a certain level to utilize them fully and get the most out of them. However I have not see tutorials on getting someone who has just started painting (or knows little about the tricks) to get them to a stage where they can use the master class tutorials. Painting is like anything else where you learn in steps. To use some of the master stuff I believe you also need experience/understanding with paint and several techniques in painting. Not just see but understanding what you can do and how you can do it. Anyway…

This is an example of maybe how someone progresses…
First you randomly throw paint on there. My kids are at this stage. Multi-colored rainbow figs.
Second you start to coordinate your colors. Paint chainmail how you have seen it in real life instead of bright red.
Third you start to try and stay within the lines.
Fourth you start to refine your detail and maybe start painting rivets. Minor highlighting begins.
Fifth you start to highlight in some way on a larger scale either through just painting or actually doing washes… maybe a combination of both.
The sixth step and beyond I believe is where you start getting several branch offs. This I believe is where your passion will be the driving factor on how far you will truly progress.

I understand the basic tips are probably out there but usually they still point you towards being a master. What about those who just want nice table top figs? Three basic colors? Now I don’t search the internet much so this may all exist our there in webland.

Most gamers can can get themselves through the first three steps. Is there interest in stages four and five?

The people that I have painted with will often here me say “oh that is really easy”. They probably get sick of it or may even think I am full of crap. I will reveal a secret here. One is that it is truly easy for me and I believe it is easy. The second is, what if I were to say it was really hard, would anyone want to try it or even think they can do it?

Now getting back to the point. Is there interest in stages four and five? The one thing I would not want to do is put together easy methods and they never get used. I have limited time which I can use elsewhere.

I did not address the types of painters either.

Dip and flick painter. That is all they want. These tutorials would be useless to them.

This is as good as I am going to get. I can’t paint. Well I disagree. My mother was an Art teacher for over 25 years and she believed everyone can do art. It just may take some longer to get to the same place. They may have to work harder.

Then there are those with some level of desire to improve but may lack the talent or the means to get there. Some may even think it is to hard for them but they keep trying. They may also have bad techniques which I have found to be a huge element in painting figures.

**** My tutorials would be basic in nature. Intended not to be master class by an means. What they would be intended to do is try to communicate a basic understanding of easy steps to get something to look good. Once understood they are a jumping off point to adding so much more.

My disclaimer: I don’t consider myself a great painter. I believe I need to push myself even harder to where I want to be. I do however believe I know tricks to help beginners out.

I have decided to call these tutorials “Four & Five Tutorials”

Until then… John…

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Here is a Guest Tutorial by The Bugking

I made 2.5” of this in about 30 minutes.

Materials needed:
•   Half Round Plastruct
•   H beam Plastruct
•   Channel Plastruct
•   Square Plastruct
•   Brass Rod
•   Plastic Cement
•   Cyanoacrilate Glue

Tools Needed:
•   Pin vice (Or dremel.  A dremel would knock of 5 minutes any way)
•   Exacto Knife
•   Ruler
•   Wire Cutters

Gather the plastruct needed.

Measure out your vertical member spacing in the Channel and H beam.(I was a bit sloppy.  Use a pen for better effect.  The more accurate you are the better the final result will look.)

Drill out holes on the centers marked.

Glue the half round to the channel so that the legs are down.

Cut your vertical members out of brass rod.  These are approximately 1” long.

Glue the vertical members into the channel piece with CA glue first.  You may find it easier if you do the extreme ends first and then put on the H beam.  Do not apply glue to the H beam until all the vertical members are in place. The CA glue will bond to the rod very quickly.

Cut two end pieces out of the square rod.  Then trim one end down to a blunt point.

Glue the end pieces on.  It is a good idea to test fit them first.  The rails may need to be trimmed.

Trim the vertical members so that they are slightly shorter then the end pieces.

The Bugking

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I sat down to paint tonight and it only lasted for a little while. I got into a funk and now have waisted a couple of hours. I was even planning on staying up late. If I paint now I will just screw stuff up so I have called it quits for tonight. Oh well. Maybe another time.

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For various reasons I created a forum section ‘For Sale or For Trade’. There are people who have been on the forum who would like to trade and sell stuff. I am also one of those people. I thought I would create a section for those who participate on the forum to sell or trade items. So there you go.

Later,

John…

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Simple Obstacle Terrain Tutorial

By: John ‘Scarab’ Salmond

October 28, 2008

This is another installment of terrain I need for my house. I wanted something quick with pillars of rock.

Material: Pink Foam, Foam Cutter, White Glue, Sand, Sand Paper 220 grit, tool to pick at foam (dental tool in this case), static grass, acrylic paint, paint brush

I started off by cutting my pieces out of pink foam with a foam cutter. I decided were I wanted the sloaps to be so I cut them down with the foam cutter to make is so the Figs could stand on the edges. After cutting them I used the sand paper to smooth them out. After the base was complete I gathered other pieces, applied the glue and put them on the base and then started stacking.  After everything was dry I started using the dental tool to pick at the foam until I got the look that I wanted.

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After I finished shaping the foam it was time to apply loose rocks and sand. I wanted to fill some of the cracks with loose rocks. The base of everything also need some loose rocks to show were rocks will naturally fall as nature takes its course. After the rocks were done drying I applied a dark brown as a base coat.

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Once the first coat was dry and touched up any area that I felt needed it. I then dry brushed the entire rock areas with a medium brown, leather color and the a light sand color. I have repeated this process in several other tutorials. Why stray from a proven method I guess.

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The next step was to apply static grass to the pieces. I applied it all over the base and then radomly every where else that had a ledge or anything close until I got the look I wanted. If you have any questions feel free to ask. More than happy to help.

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Fairly simple and easy. Gets the job done.

Later,

John…

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Well I have been entertaining the idea about having on fig painting contest with a terrain twist on the forum. Have a contest open to anyone who has a log in on the forum. Sadly enough the prize will only be for anyone in the USA. Have a contest where you can just paint a fig and win but if you include some terrain to enhance the fig you can obtain more points and win over someone who just painted a fig. It can be a small pieces of terrain, kind of like a small diorama. It could also be a fig on terrain. Part of the contest rules would be showing progress pictures of both and explanations of what you are doing. You could actually win without having the best painted figure. The idea is to have good results but show how you got there. The prize would be a painted figure from me (you would have to provide the fig) of a human sized miniature. If that is not worth it then I guess you don’t enter. Anyway more information is on the forum.

Later,

John…

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I have decided to go ahead and throw the pictures up from the huge battle we had on Saturday. I would like to touch on a few things. We had the Dwarves, Reptus and Nefsokar at 2,000 points each. I was the Nefsokar. The first of the game my first battle came when a giant canary flanked me and then got blasted by my Mage taking four hit points. I then made the mistake of trying to finish it off with my Dust Devil. That was stupid. He died and dirty death and I didn’t have anyone who could finish off the stupid chicken wing. I lost a unit to some lizards and watch two Raptors sit there for several turns getting eaten by bugs next to the lake. My Walking Avatar chick was getting attacked left and right out in the middle of the mix but she lingered on for a while. Thoth was great for me. He did some havoc before biting it. Another great moment is when I hit Kung Pow, Reptus mighty Warlord with my Mage blasting him with multiple hits and then watching him fall to an arrow from the dwarve (stupid ignore tough roll). I did lose Ammat to some pig rider which was a major bummer but, he did take out a bear before dieing. Ammat with a bunch of mummy’s are not to shabby if I must say so myself. After 1:00 am in the morning came we rapped it up. I still had my Warlord and his unit going strong but I feel he was going to take a beating the next turn if we had time. That was a very fun fight I must say. I still hate archers though whether they are snakes or leaf eaters, don’t care which.

You can follow the thread for this here

Here are some pictures from the battle.

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Well I have two buildings that have their bones complete except for the roofs. I have several squares drying. My plan is to make the bones to all of my buildings first. Mass production kind of idea I guess. Then after than I will begin making molds for doors, window and what ever else I dream up. I want a complete city board. No buildings will be attached to the board. I am not going to do like I did on the Menoth board and make roads built into the board.

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The other day we took a drive to a neighboring town to give ourselves a treat. We don’t go to the Burger Bar much any more but man that was good. This place was featured on Drive Inn’s, Diners and Dives on the Food Network. It is not super fancy but it is good and has tons of memories. Now we will have to find another place to venture out and treat ourselves too. Maybe Lucky China in Roy. MMmmm!!!

John…

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