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WIP My First 40mm French Form Trident Designs

Discussion in 'vBench (Works in Progress)' started by MarquisMini, Feb 15, 2013.

  1. MarquisMini A Fixture

    Country:
    Argentina
    Hello folks,
    here's some progress pics of my first 40mm French fusilier from Trident Designs ,i am planning to paint a batallion of the Soissonois Regiment marching to take battle positions towards Yorktown.
    I still have to study the terrain and accurate positions of each French unit,but i am planning to have the Saintonge regiment,Royal Deux -Ponts, and some other regiments that participated at yorktown.
    For now only the coat has been applied some lights,the rest of the figure just basecoat.
    Bes tregards

    Attached Files:

    ChaosCossack, Edorta, marco55 and 6 others like this.
  2. taffjones Active Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Looks fantastic mate, especially for the quality of painting on such a small model. Looking forward to seeing more if your other French lads too.
  3. Don Johnson Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Daniel, this comes under the "painter's style" heading, but I've found that priming with black, and working "up", from dark to light, is an effective approach with smaller figures, like these 40mm Trident AWI figures. Natural light will not provide sufficient shadowing alone - I think we have to "force" the shadows and highlights a bit to get the same effects as with larger figures. Your post said you have just laid down the first layer of base colors. A light dark wash, at this point, might bring out much of the marvelous detail the sculptor has provided.
    On the other hand, these are your figures, and you have already demonstrated your abilities with your brushes. I'm looking forward to whatever you do next with these figures!
  4. MarquisMini A Fixture

    Country:
    Argentina
    Thanks Taff!.
    I will post more pics next week , i want to plan this diorama with time and detail.
    Best regards
  5. MarquisMini A Fixture

    Country:
    Argentina
    Don, i always appreciate your input and advice, forgive my ignorance but i need some help on this.
    I heard about priming in black, but it will make any difference when you apply the basecote?, in theory the base color is a solid mix of 1:1, i normally apply two coats to make sure the part is completelly covered, hence my question: if i prime the fig in black,should i go for a more "weak" base mix"?,like instead of a mix 1:1 should i go for a mx of 1:3?
    and then build the lights to the point that the last light is an almost pure color?
    I have not apply the shadows to the white coat yet,i was waiting to apply the shades then apply my last light to see the overall effect, but i want to learn other techniques and i am glad if you advice me on that,this is new for me.
    Best regards and hope to hear from you soon ! (y)
  6. Don Johnson Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Daniel, let me see if I can explain myself a little better. Again, this is all about the process - there are many ways to achieve a pleasing result. Your "journey" with the color white is a perfect example. It is less about "right" or "wrong", and more about "how".
    Priming smaller figures in black serves one major purpose for me - the deepest shadows are already in place. In many cases, very little of the black is visible at the end - seam lines on coats or pants, around buttons and cuffs, and so forth. I use Vallejo and Andrea acrylic paints, and a water mixture that has a couple drops of dishwashing liquid in it.
    If I'm painting a British red coat, I start with Vallejo Black Red [859/035], and cover everything except seam lines, under pocket flaps, etc. Then I will use successively lighter shades [Burnt Cad. Red 814/034; Carmine 908/030; Flat Red 957/031], always doing a 50-50 mix when I introduce a new color, and paint less and less of the figure, until I am using Vallejo Scarlet [817/026] for the highest highlights, like the tops of creases that would catch the sun at noon on a clear day. In this way, I feel I have better control over the contrast between each shadow and its corresponding highlight. The undersides of sleeves are maybe one shade "up" from the first coat of Black Red. The tops of the sleeves may have three or four shades layered on, to get to the highlight I want.
    In a similar manner, my whites are really a series of greys and tans. I sort and store my paints according to my perception of "warm" or brownish greys, and "cool" or blueish greys. (I think I own a bottle of White, but I can't remember the last time I used it, and it is probably rock-hard by now!) To paint the pants of your French fusilier, I would start with one of the dark greys [Black Grey 862/168 or German Grey 995/167] and paint almost everything. I would progress to Neutral Grey [992/160], Dark Sea Grey [991/159], Stone Grey [884/104], until the highlights in Deck Tan [986/110]. For a dress uniform, I might start with Neutral, and end with Ivory [918/005].
    I'm guessing this reads as a laborious, time-consuming process, but I assure you - it takes longer to type it than it does to do it! I'm using very small amounts of paint - 2 drops for the darkest grey or red, then 1 drop of the others, and I'm painting smaller and smaller areas with each step. I mix between colors on my palette to get my blending and transitions as smooth as possible. I've learned to stop before I've gone "too light", and switch to another part of the figure - I can always go back, after the paint has dried, and add a highlight or two. Many acrylic paints will dry slightly lighter than the wet color you see on the palette, and the amount of water used will also impact the color slightly. I also look at the figure under different light sources, as I get close to the end, to see how it looks. If the contrasts are unpleasing, I'll wash the coat or pants with a mid-range shade, and adjust from there.
    My first figures were painted with PollyS acrylic paints, basically blocking in the main colors, and only occasionally trying to use shadows or highlights. Then I fell in with a great group of painters, and they encouraged me to switch to oils. I learned about color theory, mixing you own colors, blending, and shadows/highlights. When Vallejos became available, I used them for undercoating. But I saw the amazing results the so-called "Spanish Painters" were getting with the acrylics, and I wanted to learn that method, too. My early attempts were trash. I just didn't understand. I was about to give up when I discovered the AWI 28mm figures from Foundry (sculpted by the Perry twins), and read about the prime-black-paint-up methods that gamers were using to paint these figures. I tried this method, and for some reason it made sense. I've painted both small and large (75mm and busts) with this method, adjusted a bit for faces and metallics, for the past several years now, and I'm very comfortable with it.
    I hope my explanation will be of some use to you.
    Most importantly, this is not to say that one method is "better" than another. You have achieved enviable results with your painting, and I admire your effort (and courage!) to display your WIP images so that we may share your process with you. You have an obvious passion for 18th Century French troops, and it shows in your work. Thank you for sharing that passion with us! Don
  7. Don Johnson Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    One last thing - you have inspired me to finally learn how to post images of my work on this forum. If others can learn, why can't I? Stay tuned . . .
  8. MarquisMini A Fixture

    Country:
    Argentina
    Don, i am really thankful for you to take the time to explain me and certainly will work on this,i am always open to learn stuff and improve my techniques.
    I can only tell you that i kinda suck at taking pics but glad that you don't think that :D.
    And please post pics of your work!, thanks again.
    Have a great weekend.
  9. ChaosCossack A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Don has give a great tutorial Daniel. Wargame painters use the black undercoat to be able to "batch paint" quickly and give the small scale figs some definition viewed at a distance and in large groups. Rather than the labourious process of shading, you paint the base colour just shy of the edge of the section leaving a thin line of black at the edge then highlighting to give the impression of depth. Check out GamesWorkshop "Eavy Metal Painting Tutorials, they use this method except with Cidadel paints.
    For me, doing Napoleonics and SYW 28s, I found with black undercoat, the colours were a little more dull than with white undercoat. Therefore I used white, did the base colour and highlights then washed the shades in using super diluted shade colour or inks/Cidadel washes (if the colour was right). Occassionally I'd use Badab Black wash to bring out some definition where two similar colours are side by side.
    Of course since joining here I've learned so much, I'd like to dig out some of my old 28s and have a go at them again.
    La Sarre + Languedoc.jpg
    Look forward to seeing where you go with these little guys

    Colin
    marco55 likes this.
  10. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Colin, is that Auvergne regiment? They look very nice.

    Roger.
  11. ChaosCossack A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    La Sarre (on left with red waistcoats) and Languedoc (on the right). Thanx Roger, did them up about 10 years ago for gaming. With what I've learned here, I was thinking of stripping them down and doing up a "firing line" diorama, as I don't really game. Have more in marching pose... perhaps another diorama.

    Colin
    billyturnip likes this.
  12. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    I did quite a few 28mm figs. myself quite a few years ago. My son & I found some simple rules and had a lot of fun with them. He's grown up now and lost interest and I'm still into model soldiers. :D

    Roger.
    ChaosCossack likes this.
  13. ChaosCossack A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Exact same story here (y)
    billyturnip likes this.
  14. MarquisMini A Fixture

    Country:
    Argentina
    Yes, great tutorial and i think i will learn a lot form this.
    This is my first 40mm and really i am using this trooper to experiment what will work for me in terms of speeding up the process of having them ready at a good pace with good results and not spend years in painting armies!.
    I am not into wargaming, this is for diorama display and i am really excited i am jumping into a large armies,now i can have many regiments and recreate a whole scene.
    thank you guys for your advice and cheerful words.
    Regards
    Don Johnson and ChaosCossack like this.
  15. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Is your wife to be aware of this yet Daniel? :D
    ChaosCossack likes this.
  16. MarquisMini A Fixture

    Country:
    Argentina
    hehe,it's well kept secret! :cool:
    billyturnip likes this.

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