Once free of meddling
interferences, and with a belly full of Amber Bock, I began painting in
earnest. First up was the base, which I wanted to do in a frosty-icey-snowy
theme.
I started with the area of bare ground. To get a "cold, frosty earth" sort of feel, I mixed some Vallejo Flat Earth with some Vallejo Dark Blue Grey. I drybrushed the highlights on, which were built up by adding small amounts of Vallejo Deck Tan, with white added in for final highlights.
I began the ice shelf with a
basecoat mix of Vallejo Dark Blue Grey and Vallejo Grey Blue. I added
small amounts of white for each layer of highlights. The first layer
covered everything except the deepest cracks in the glacier face. All
subsequent highlights covered increasingly smaller areas toward the top edge
of each "facet," while the flat top areas were painted in long diagonal
lines all running the same direction. Final highlights were done with
pure white, and I finished off by "glazing" the whole surface with about 4
layers of very thin (1 part paint to 10 parts water) white paint, to tie the
layers together and brighten it up.
After the ground and ice were
done, I cleaned it up by painting the rim of the base in what has become my
favorite base-rim color; Vallejo Black Green. When this was all dry, I
gave the ice plates a thick coat of clear nail polish, to make it gleam like
real ice would (at least in real life; the pictures here don't capture the
effect). While that was drying, I painted the tiny heraldic shield
that will be mounted on his left shoulder pad (see below).
To finish off the base, I mixed up some Hudson & Allen Snow, and applied it in large clumps here and there, with some hanging over the front of the large ice shelf. I also dotted some tiny spots with it around the base, to represent small bits of snow blowing across the ice sheet. The Hudson & Allen snow is absolutely fabulous -- you mix the white powder with some water, and use a tiny spatula (I used my Games Workshop sculpting tool) to glop it on your surface, and it forms mounds like real snow would. When it dries, it has a very convincing texture, and even little sparkley bits in it. You can add ink or paint, and it will spread through the snow just like a fluid really would -- if you wanted gore-soaked, or even, say, yellow, snow.
The shield -- a tiny little
thing, so blissfully quick. I began by painting the entire
shield
Vallejo Deck Tan. While this was still wet, I painted a stripe of
Vallejo Ivory across the middle, and then blended it into the Deck Tan on
both sides. I did this all the way around the shield -- front, back,
and sides. I then painted the red stripe on the top with Vallejo
Cadmium Maroon, and painted a grid for the check pattern with the same,
finally filling in alternating squares on the grid. Highlights were
added first with Vallejo Burnt Cadmium Red, to which some Vallejo Red was
added for the next layer. Plain Vallejo Red was the first edge
highlight, and the red was finished off with some small highlights of
Vallejo Flat Red.
The studs were first painted
black, and then painted with -- *gasp!* -- real metallic paints: Vallejo
Gunmetal Grey, Natural Steel, and a final highlight of Games Workshop
Mithril Silver.
Since
our boy Stern is destined to wield a Daemon Hammer, I thought a simple
hammer icon would be ideal for his personal glyph. Finding a suitable
Brettonian transfer, I first gloss-coated the shield to give a nice, smooth
surface for the decal to sit on. After applying the decal and dabbing
up the excess water, I applied some Solvaset Decal Setting Solution, and
left it to dry overnight. On the morrow, I will give the shield a coat
of matte finish to get rid of that gaudy sheen it has now, as well as add
some highlights to the black decal.
Tomorrow's GOT to be the day I get the package -- realizing that Friday night is Graduation for the High School I teach at, I know that day 4 will see ZERO progress, so tomorrow has to be a big painting day!