Bailey03's WIP

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

So how do you go about weathering a piece like this? What would you use and how would you use it?

 

[Meph]

Scoop up a hand full of mud, step ten paces away from the table, turn and throw in one swift motion.
Approach while adjusting monocle and admire your work.

 

[Bailey03]

Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out. I'd start with some mud on the boots. I can use pigments and make sort of a paste to make it look caked on. Then use some dry pigments to make his pants and perhaps coat a bit dirty. If I want to go further, maybe take a wash but do little dots with it to look like stains on his shirt. Maybe some old bloodstains on his pants. Some planning, some experimentation, and just decided how much is enough. I like the clean look but he's in campaign gear so unless it's his first day on the job I should probably dirty him up a bit.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Okay. Specifically, to make his jacket look just a bit dusty, would you just apply the pigment dry?

 

[Bailey03]

Yup. I'll sort of dab them on and then use a somewhat stiff brush to wipe them off. That will leave some of the color behind without being too much. Take a look at the polish lancer in my gallery. That's what I did on him. I'll use a couple different brown shades, not just the same one and slowly build up the dirt. Just be careful with dark colors over light ones, they can be pretty strong. Black pigment is real strong, it will really discolor what you put it on.

For the muddy shoes I'll mix the brown with matte medium and try to get a paste-like consistency.

 

[Demihuman]

Hmm I bet some blood would go nice with the yellow.

 

[Bailey03]

I thought maybe I could wrap this guy up before the deadline for the 5th Dimension's contest, but no luck. No second entry for me.

I think I've finished up the weathering on this guy. It was a three part process. The first was the mud on his boots and a little on the bottom of the coat. As I said earlier, this was done by making a paste out of dry pigments and matte medium. Then I moved on to some wash consistency paint to add some blood stains and other discolorations. Not too much with those, just a bit. Lastly I went in with the dry pigments to add some dirt and dust to his clothing and equipment. I focused a bit more on the knees and elbows. I tried to get a realistic look without going overboard. I may knock it back a bit in places. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow.
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[Demihuman]

Looks great. It must be hard to go in and muss up all your wonderful painting, but to me it really ties in his expression and his slightly florid skin tone. He looks like he had a long day. Love to see a tiny patch of pristine bright green sod on the base.

 

[dennis.]

I'm with Demi, just don't know how you can have the vision to know that weathering a masterwork will make a masterpiece. It's all up to you on the take back choice but imho the right elbow is too evident (at least in the pic, irl could be different). Finish and store in a vacuum flask, next year is only 365 or so days away and you have 1 entry done!

 

[Bailey03]

Oh yeah, having spent almost a month on this figure going in to mess him up is terrifying. That's one of the reasons I start small and work up. A little mud on the boots? No big deal. After that it gets a bit tougher. At least with the dry pigments you can wipe a lot of them off if you're not happy. Of course, if you were to use a darker pigment on white, like your astronauts, Demi, even wiping it off would still leave a lot of color behind. In that case I'd start with light brown and grey, then build up to darker colors depending on how things looked.

Practice on space marines or fantasy infantry or whatever non-display stuff you've got on the table. Once you sort of know how it will turn out then you can try it on the display figures. Still, even with some experience I still start my weathering by saying "dear god, don't let me screw this up!"

Dennis, I'll take a closer look at the elbow. I kind of liked the stronger weathering there but I'll give it some more thought.

 

[Digganob]

Again your work befuddled my mind. It's just so dam good my friend.

 

[KruleBear]

I keep looking at this and for some reason the pants come off as brand new. I don't know if it is the cream color, smoothness or what, but that is the only thing that has been tweaking my brain on this on. Everything else is superb.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Digganob!

Krule, well the pants are definitely dirty. Take a look at a before and after weathering comparison. Perhaps it's just that the pigment application is too uniform. After I add the sword I was going to do a little more weathering to get it in line with the rest of the figure. Perhaps I'll add some more obvious variation to the trousers.

View attachment 30814

 

[dennis.]

Stumped Some comparison, take back comments, you've got the grits on this one

 

[Milosh]

This guy is so good. When you go back with more weathering, maybe use a different color so the variation is more obvious.

 

[Bailey03]

Thanks, Dennis and Milosh. I changed up the shades of pigment on the pants and finished adding the last couple pieces to the figure. Here are a couple slightly larger pictures. Not much more to do besides the base. I'll hopefully have this one finished up in a couple days.

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[AndyG]

Super paintwork on that mini the weathering is just right I'm very impressed. I must admit I'm getting more and more tempted to paint historical.

 

[Gandalf the Grey]

Incredibly lifelike, superb work.

 

[KruleBear]

Perfect. Now I am happy! (like that matters. Lol. )

 

[dennis.]

Did u make the deadline? Fantastic work...plinth? or maybe on the pillow beside u in bed