BloodFather's Axis of Chaos
- Thread starter BloodFather of Kharnath
- Start date
Gandalf the Grey
New member
BloodFather of Kharnath
Active member
Interesting. Thanks for showing this to me, may be worth some experimentation.
BloodFather of Kharnath
Active member
My Long Absence
I've got to apologize to all my die-hard fans (haha). I've been away from the minis for quite awhile. But I promise you, it is not wasted time. I've just fallen in love with oils, and I forgot that I am actually kind of skilled at drawing. I haven't drawn anything for, oh maybe 25 years, so I am surprising myself with my own proficiency. The learning curve is actually painting oil over this. But the same thing applies in 2d art as miniature painting-putting values in the right place, painting shapes to reflect shadow and highlight, using chiascuro, pushing the contrast. One technique supports the other, regardless of the medium.
I am currently working on two projects, but eventually I'll get more complicated and do more complex fantasy scenes along the lines of Vallejo or Bonner. But for now, it's portraiture, and I am currently painting a picture of my wife's recently deceased and much adored Grandmother. It's a black and white from 1957, and I think the monochrome painting will support my growth. This is an 11"x14" canvas.
My next project is a picture of one of my sisters when she was 1-2 years old. She is wearing a dress with angel wings, seated with a doll in her hand. This will be full color and 24"x32", so quite large
My process is the old Flemish technique. It involves several layers glazed over each other. I'll list the steps:
1. Draw the scene/portrait with a soft pencil or charcoal. Include some basic values. Go over this drawing with India ink or another similar waterproof pigment. Do not heavily shade anything, just a few hash lines here and there to identify values and shadow shapes. Let dry.
2. Imprimatura. Tone the canvas. You want it to ultimately be slightly lighter than your mid tone. I take burnt umber and mix with yellow ochre normally. Thin with turp and a touch of linseed oil. After you've spread it across the canvas, and it appears choppy and uneven and full of brush marks, wipe away excess with a lint-free rag. Let dry. Don't forget to use colors that dry quickly here. The addition of Damar varnish or some alkyds can help speed drying time.
3. Umber underpainting. Now you are going to take burnt umber and treat it like a water color. You are going to place very basic values with you umber, putting it on thickest in the deepest shadows, then feather out into lighter shadows and the mid tone. The the imprimatura layer be the mid tone here for the most part, and leave highlighted areas alone. This layer is like water color in that the paint is diluted heavily with turp and the paint is most thinned out in the weakest shadow areas.
4. Grisaille. Make a full range of monochrome values. Some choose a neutral gray, other go with a greenish or bluish tint. The former tended to be used by the Dutch masters, while the latter was practiced by the Italians. Lamp Black paint tends to be bluish when mixed with white. I usually go neutral, with burnt umber mixed equally with lamp black, then more and more white added. Make a range of 7 tones from darkest to lightest. It is best to have a black and white photo of your painting so you can hold your paint up to the photo to match it. Thin with turp and linseed oil. Let dry after painting in full detail. Exaggerate the area of highlights.
5. Now start your layers of color. Carefully glaze each layer onto your painting, using wet on wet blending where appropriate. Go thin in the shadows and thick in the light area. Use your tonal map from the grisaille layer as a guide. You are painting the same thing but in color now. Let each layer fully dry before the next is applied.
Thats it. Six months to a year later you can varnish it.
I feel like oils is giving me more confidence with my mini painting. I now feel like I can look at a color or tone on a picture or example and duplicate the look. I also truly understand what James Wappel means by his shaded basecoat texhnique now. He gets it from the Flemish Technique, more or less. Very cool.
If anyone needs advice or help with introducing themselves to oils, I am glad to help. Pictures to follow this week and next.
I've got to apologize to all my die-hard fans (haha). I've been away from the minis for quite awhile. But I promise you, it is not wasted time. I've just fallen in love with oils, and I forgot that I am actually kind of skilled at drawing. I haven't drawn anything for, oh maybe 25 years, so I am surprising myself with my own proficiency. The learning curve is actually painting oil over this. But the same thing applies in 2d art as miniature painting-putting values in the right place, painting shapes to reflect shadow and highlight, using chiascuro, pushing the contrast. One technique supports the other, regardless of the medium.
I am currently working on two projects, but eventually I'll get more complicated and do more complex fantasy scenes along the lines of Vallejo or Bonner. But for now, it's portraiture, and I am currently painting a picture of my wife's recently deceased and much adored Grandmother. It's a black and white from 1957, and I think the monochrome painting will support my growth. This is an 11"x14" canvas.
My next project is a picture of one of my sisters when she was 1-2 years old. She is wearing a dress with angel wings, seated with a doll in her hand. This will be full color and 24"x32", so quite large
My process is the old Flemish technique. It involves several layers glazed over each other. I'll list the steps:
1. Draw the scene/portrait with a soft pencil or charcoal. Include some basic values. Go over this drawing with India ink or another similar waterproof pigment. Do not heavily shade anything, just a few hash lines here and there to identify values and shadow shapes. Let dry.
2. Imprimatura. Tone the canvas. You want it to ultimately be slightly lighter than your mid tone. I take burnt umber and mix with yellow ochre normally. Thin with turp and a touch of linseed oil. After you've spread it across the canvas, and it appears choppy and uneven and full of brush marks, wipe away excess with a lint-free rag. Let dry. Don't forget to use colors that dry quickly here. The addition of Damar varnish or some alkyds can help speed drying time.
3. Umber underpainting. Now you are going to take burnt umber and treat it like a water color. You are going to place very basic values with you umber, putting it on thickest in the deepest shadows, then feather out into lighter shadows and the mid tone. The the imprimatura layer be the mid tone here for the most part, and leave highlighted areas alone. This layer is like water color in that the paint is diluted heavily with turp and the paint is most thinned out in the weakest shadow areas.
4. Grisaille. Make a full range of monochrome values. Some choose a neutral gray, other go with a greenish or bluish tint. The former tended to be used by the Dutch masters, while the latter was practiced by the Italians. Lamp Black paint tends to be bluish when mixed with white. I usually go neutral, with burnt umber mixed equally with lamp black, then more and more white added. Make a range of 7 tones from darkest to lightest. It is best to have a black and white photo of your painting so you can hold your paint up to the photo to match it. Thin with turp and linseed oil. Let dry after painting in full detail. Exaggerate the area of highlights.
5. Now start your layers of color. Carefully glaze each layer onto your painting, using wet on wet blending where appropriate. Go thin in the shadows and thick in the light area. Use your tonal map from the grisaille layer as a guide. You are painting the same thing but in color now. Let each layer fully dry before the next is applied.
Thats it. Six months to a year later you can varnish it.
I feel like oils is giving me more confidence with my mini painting. I now feel like I can look at a color or tone on a picture or example and duplicate the look. I also truly understand what James Wappel means by his shaded basecoat texhnique now. He gets it from the Flemish Technique, more or less. Very cool.
If anyone needs advice or help with introducing themselves to oils, I am glad to help. Pictures to follow this week and next.
Gandalf the Grey
New member
Fascinating stuff Ben, you seem to be finding your niche. The subjects you have chosen seem
very poignant, I'm sure you will do them justice. I hope not to the detriment of your miniatures. I have to ask, how's the flower knight ?
very poignant, I'm sure you will do them justice. I hope not to the detriment of your miniatures. I have to ask, how's the flower knight ?
Ickthorne
New member
Mr. BloodFather, glad to see you back again. I know what you're talking about, I went through the same thing back in the 90's. Dropped it all by the end of the decade. In all seriousness I used the same technique when I painted my Nurgle standard bearer. http://www.coolminiornot.com/228412 I used a slightly different color scheme for my under painting, but the end results are pretty much the same.
drew out the shape with a pencil
under painted with an avocado base (old Poly S paint) think white with a greenish tint
mixed Avocado and umber for shading
Glaze with yellow/brown Rotring Inks.
Wow almost 25 years later and I still remember the process and paints used, now if I could just make money off of these memories I could buy a reaper mini, as that's about all I could afford.
drew out the shape with a pencil
under painted with an avocado base (old Poly S paint) think white with a greenish tint
mixed Avocado and umber for shading
Glaze with yellow/brown Rotring Inks.
Wow almost 25 years later and I still remember the process and paints used, now if I could just make money off of these memories I could buy a reaper mini, as that's about all I could afford.
Demihuman
Active member
Pictures, pictures, damn it man PICTURES!!!
sort it now
This is fascinating! I have been kicking around a 2D idea too.
BloodFather of Kharnath
Active member
Pictures, pictures, damn it man PICTURES!!!
sort it now
Ppffft!!!! You mean I actually have to put my $$$ where my mouth is?
Ok. Up until this point, much of my oil painting has been simple exercises to get the feel for mixing pigments, consistency, light fastness, smooth or thickness of different paints, and basically for me learning not to "over-blend." This comes
from all my time with acrylics, I think, and I just needed to learn that oils will blend on their own with little brush manipulation. Anyway, point being I have pics on the previous page of some of those exercises, but now I begin the real thing. Here is a pic of my pencil drawing, and I've just started to ink over the major areas. Next? Today I'll do the imprimatura layer.
BloodFather of Kharnath
Active member
What is the plan brother?
BloodFather of Kharnath
Active member
I just have to say that SB is pretty darn cool. Is it done with oils? Anyone know any mini artists that do banners or other freehand work with oils?
BloodFather of Kharnath
Active member
Sitting on my work table. It's in such a lovely state I don't wanna ruin it with a clumsy freehand, but I suppose one must proceed at some point, right? Hmm...I think I'll work on it between layers of my oil painting. Honestly it has been rough to find the time to do any painting at all. Between the move and getting settled, I just received a very, very large check from Uncle Sam so I've been doing a ton of shopping lately. Poor me!!! I know...
Maybe it's time to get an airbrush? Or maybe I should spend the $200 on the guy below? I don't know, I've got too much to paint right now so I really can't justify buying anything new as far as figures. Maybe just the airbrush and some Scalecolour, yeah? One can also go broke fast spending money on Michael Harding and Vasari oil paints. It is $100 for a 35ml tube of Afghan Lapis Lazuli, the stuff that makes natural ultramarine blue. Get out of town!
Ickthorne
New member
Sorry I'm getting back to you late on this. The banner I did at the time was all done in Acrylics and Inks. I haven't done any oils in a long, long time. In fact the last time I did any oils was when I was painting the banner. I just did it, like I said in Acrylics. I was in an Oil painting class at that time and decided I would use those techniques to do the banner. Anyways keep at it, you'll master those paints. (or they'll master you)
ArchArad
New member
Hi BloodFather. I just stumbled across this thread and thought I'd add my two cents.
I've never been brave or patient enough to try oil paints. I love the quality of colour and effects that can be achieved with them (on canvas as well as miniatures), but the slow drying time does rather put me off. I might be just a little bit impatient.
As for your comment about not being able to justify buying more figures: blasphemy! The Chrononaut looks like a beautiful figure.
I hope that you continue to enjoy your painting (be it 2D or 3D) and that you won't forget to take pictures so that we can see.
I've never been brave or patient enough to try oil paints. I love the quality of colour and effects that can be achieved with them (on canvas as well as miniatures), but the slow drying time does rather put me off. I might be just a little bit impatient.
As for your comment about not being able to justify buying more figures: blasphemy! The Chrononaut looks like a beautiful figure.
I hope that you continue to enjoy your painting (be it 2D or 3D) and that you won't forget to take pictures so that we can see.
BloodFather of Kharnath
Active member
Hey all,
Scroll up the page and you will see a long, explanatory explanation for my absence from painting. What sucks a donkey is that months have passed since then and I have not made any headway! I still feel like from sundown to sun up I am so darn busy. I just took a trip halfway across America, and now today I am going to New Orleans for a few days. Additionally, I am a full time student again and I do a ton of reading and writing for my international studies program (start law school in 8 months!).
But the urge is with my every day. I really just need to get the new painting station in order and suck it up. I will endeavor to do this upon my return. Maybe I will start a new WIP thread...idk I just need to get back at it. Painting is like a therapy to me, and I have had a ton of post traumatic stress. I appreciate any ecouragement or motivation anyone has to offer. Cheers!!
Ben
8====D~~~~
Scroll up the page and you will see a long, explanatory explanation for my absence from painting. What sucks a donkey is that months have passed since then and I have not made any headway! I still feel like from sundown to sun up I am so darn busy. I just took a trip halfway across America, and now today I am going to New Orleans for a few days. Additionally, I am a full time student again and I do a ton of reading and writing for my international studies program (start law school in 8 months!).
But the urge is with my every day. I really just need to get the new painting station in order and suck it up. I will endeavor to do this upon my return. Maybe I will start a new WIP thread...idk I just need to get back at it. Painting is like a therapy to me, and I have had a ton of post traumatic stress. I appreciate any ecouragement or motivation anyone has to offer. Cheers!!
Ben
8====D~~~~
