Painting the Figures
The figures have arrived at last. My orders never got to Steve Barber thanks to the Post Office and everything's a month late. Steve fulfilled the order once I'd phoned it through in record time though, so full marks to him.
Above is a shot of all the cavemen and women. Painting them will be the first task, then I'll do all the resin scenery and lastly the animals. I should still get everything done by the end of June if I'm quick. I'm basing the figures on 25mm square bases cut from plasticard, I've gone for squares rather than circles so that I can base the scenery and bigger animals to match. Also, squares fit the board game feel better than circles do.
I spent a couple of days assembling, basing and undercoating everything. Then work on the painting really began. It took me two days to paint the Bear Clan (above); as you can see, they're all done except for finishing the bases off. I'm working on a clan at a time to keep the colours the same. I hope to get two more clans done before the end of the week; it's half term at the moment and I have lots of time but it's back to work on Monday June 5th and things will slow down again.
Well, it's Tuesday June 6th and I've just finished the third Tribe. A little slower than I'd like but there's only one more to go and I've got the rest of the week to complete it. The Bear Clan (brown), Fish Clan (sandy) and the Crow Clan (black) are done, just the Wolf Clan (grey) to do. I'm going to do all the bases at the same time once everyone is finished so that the sea all looks the same. Each Clan is going to have a different coloured base to help distinguish them even more. Here they are so far:
I've kept the painting very simple; partly to keep the painting time down and partly because they're not great figures. They're quite small and a three colour shading system would make them very 'busy' so I've generally kept to two colours.
Here's what I did:
All figures are mounted onto 25mm square plasticard bases (except the boats) and undercoated in black to begin with. The figures in water have the bases built up with Winsor & Newton coarse texture gel for acrylics to give a water effect. I undercoated everything by hand before I began the proper painting. This stage took three evenings and I wasn't rushing.
Next, the actual painting...
Bear clanThe Bear Clan were painted in old Games Workshop Bestial Brown and then inked all over with new Games Workshop Chestnut Wash. They were then drybrushed all over with Foundry 11C Rawhide. The flesh was painted on next, first a coat of Foundry 5A Flesh and then a painted highlight of Foundry 5B Flesh. The inside of any furs and all the straps, quivers etc were painted with Foundry 11C Rawhide again. Any bones or tusks were painted first with Foundry 9B Boneyard and highlighted with Foundry 9C Boneyard. The eye sockets were shaded in with Foundry 6A Dusky Flesh.
Fish ClanThe Fish Clan were painted in Bestial Brown and inked the same as the Bear Clan. They were drybrushed quite heavily with Foundry 10A Base Sand and then lightly with Foundry 10B Base Sand. The flesh was painted the same as before with Foundry flesh colours. this time the inside of the furs and straps etc. were painted in Foundry 10B Base Sand before the bones and tusks were painted in Boneyard as previously. The eyes were shaded with Foundry 6A Dusky Flesh.
Crow ClanThe Crow Clan were left black and drybrushed with Foundry 34C Charcoal Black. Their flesh and eyes were done as prieviously, as were the bones and tusks. Their quivers and straps were painted with Foundry 33A Arctic Grey.
I've
since decided to rename the Crow Clan and they will now be referred to
as the 'Black Bear Clan' because I want to use different dice for them.
Wolf ClanThe Wolf Clan were painted all over in Foundry 34B Charcoal Black and dry-brushed with Foundry 33A Arctic Grey. The flesh was done as normal as were any bones and tusks. The straps etc. were picked out with Foundry 9B Boneyard.
Here is the completed Wolf Clan (minus basing). A week late due to illness but they're finally here.
Now, on to the buildings.........
Painting the Scenery
I decided to paint the tents to match the Clans and then give everyone the same green base. Originally the tents were going to be a uniform brown colour and the figure bases were to be different for each Clan but this increases the painting time too much and the figures for my next project are starting to arrive. It took about a week and a half to actually get these finished.
Here are the tents for each Clan. They have yet to have their green Basetex added but you'll get the idea. As you can see, I've used the same colours as I used on the figures. I picked out the stitching in a lighter colour for the Wolf Clan tents as otherwise they would be 'missing' a colour from their palette because they are the same colour as the rocks on the base. Every other group has a tent colour, the tusk and bone colour, rock colour and (eventually) grass colour. The Wolf Clan tents have a stitching colour in place of the rock colour to keep them consistent with the others.
Burial mounds, Temples, Mammoths and Flint Mines.
Again, everything needs the Basetex adding. The burial mounds and the existing Mammoth bases are painted with the same green that the rest of the bases will be and once the Basetex goes on they will be dry brushed with the highlight green so that it all blends seamlessly together. The Mammoths are currently a little shiny because of the ink wash, this will flatten after varnishing of course.
Here are the tents for each Clan. They have yet to have their green Basetex added but you'll get the idea. As you can see, I've used the same colours as I used on the figures. I picked out the stitching in a lighter colour for the Wolf Clan tents as otherwise they would be 'missing' a colour from their palette because they are the same colour as the rocks on the base. Every other group has a tent colour, the tusk and bone colour, rock colour and (eventually) grass colour. The Wolf Clan tents have a stitching colour in place of the rock colour to keep them consistent with the others.
Burial mounds, Temples, Mammoths and Flint Mines.
Again, everything needs the Basetex adding. The burial mounds and the existing Mammoth bases are painted with the same green that the rest of the bases will be and once the Basetex goes on they will be dry brushed with the highlight green so that it all blends seamlessly together. The Mammoths are currently a little shiny because of the ink wash, this will flatten after varnishing of course.
Finishing up.
Well here we are, on Tuesday July 11th 2006, a month and a half since I started the painting for this project. Everything is finished. I have still to varnish the cavemen which I'll do tomorrow weather permitting but everything else is varnished and done.
The basing wasn't as simple as I'd hoped and took much longer than it should have. Originally I was going to use Dried Earth Basetex and drybrush it sand before adding static grass. This is how I do most of my single figures and I like the effect it gives.
Unfortunately the Dried Earth Basetex shrinks when it dries and leaves cracks that need a second or third application to fill in. I decided this was going to take too much time with so many bases to do all at once and opted instead to use Green Basetex which goes on smooth and doesn't shrink. I knew it would fill the sharp gap between the figures' cast on square bases and my added plasticard ones.
Everything went according to plan until I finished my open pot of Basetex and moved on to my next one. To my horror I found the new Green has the same bad characteristics as the Dried Earth. Much additional basing followed. To make matters worse the colour was different too and the paint I had already used to match the Basetex, on the cast on bases of the Mammoths for instance, no longer matched.
There was nothing I could do about it so there are differences in the bases which is a shame. You can spot the 'new' Basetex because it has a much more lumpier texture as well as being darker.
Oh well
Here are some quick photos of everything done. A proper gallery will be up soon.
All the Cavemen, the 12 deer, the 2 Sabre tooth cats, the Giant Terror Bird (with nest) and the Ral Partha Crocodile. Everything here still needs varnishing.
The water based cavemen, the Shark, the 4 Chiefs and the 2 Temples. All the water based things were matt varnished and then I gloss varnished the water.
The 8 huts, the 12 Berry bushes (4 red, 4 blue and 4 black), the 2 Burial mounds and one of the food stores.
The other 3 Food stores, 4 Warrior tents and the 8 Flint mines.
The 2 Mammoths, the Giant sloth and a volcano from Purbeck Terrain. The different dice for the Caveman Clans are in the background too.
The basing wasn't as simple as I'd hoped and took much longer than it should have. Originally I was going to use Dried Earth Basetex and drybrush it sand before adding static grass. This is how I do most of my single figures and I like the effect it gives.
Unfortunately the Dried Earth Basetex shrinks when it dries and leaves cracks that need a second or third application to fill in. I decided this was going to take too much time with so many bases to do all at once and opted instead to use Green Basetex which goes on smooth and doesn't shrink. I knew it would fill the sharp gap between the figures' cast on square bases and my added plasticard ones.
Everything went according to plan until I finished my open pot of Basetex and moved on to my next one. To my horror I found the new Green has the same bad characteristics as the Dried Earth. Much additional basing followed. To make matters worse the colour was different too and the paint I had already used to match the Basetex, on the cast on bases of the Mammoths for instance, no longer matched.
There was nothing I could do about it so there are differences in the bases which is a shame. You can spot the 'new' Basetex because it has a much more lumpier texture as well as being darker.
Oh well
Here are some quick photos of everything done. A proper gallery will be up soon.
All the Cavemen, the 12 deer, the 2 Sabre tooth cats, the Giant Terror Bird (with nest) and the Ral Partha Crocodile. Everything here still needs varnishing.
The water based cavemen, the Shark, the 4 Chiefs and the 2 Temples. All the water based things were matt varnished and then I gloss varnished the water.
The 8 huts, the 12 Berry bushes (4 red, 4 blue and 4 black), the 2 Burial mounds and one of the food stores.
The other 3 Food stores, 4 Warrior tents and the 8 Flint mines.
The 2 Mammoths, the Giant sloth and a volcano from Purbeck Terrain. The different dice for the Caveman Clans are in the background too.
