The glow itself was done by blending the bright green into a mix of that green and the color of whatever it was on top of. So for the front of the tabard I mixed that brown with the green and blended that up to pure green at the edge. It was a somewhat simple process from a technical standpoint but took forever as I tried to make the glow look right.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Mercenary
• Mini Name: Gorman di Wulf, Rogue Alchemist
• Painted: 2006

In order to have the army that was being given away look coherent, another local was building and painting all of the bases. He did the deck work and painting on the base seen here.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Mercenaries
• Mini Name: Captain Bartolo Montador
• Painted: 2008

I had always wanted to have this miniture leaping off of something when I based it, but when I originally began looking at basing here I realized there was a problem. Normally Eiryss's feet are meant to attach directly to the base. Because of this the cape was sculpted with a flat bottom at foot level where it to would rest on the base. So before I could attach this to the base, I had to file down the large flat attachment area on the cloak and resculpt the bottom portion of it. A relatively simple step, but it without it the cape would have look far more awkward.

I decided to do this miniature in a scheme that's far different than the dark green studio paint job. As a mercenary she's not actually a part of my army, but I wanted her to look similar enough to my other figures that she looks like she belongs. So I decided her cloak - her most predominant feature - would be off-white to match up with my army color selection. I used a mix of Delta Ceramcoat's Parchment and Quaker Gray to create the base color, then highlighted and shaded from there. The end result is close enough to look nice next to my army, but have just enough different about it to set her apart.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Mercenary
• Mini Name: Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios
• Painted: 2006

 

Coming up with a color scheme for Aiyana and Holt proved difficult. I started with Holt - I knew I wanted to do a black overcoat but needed a highlight color and wound up picking the off white. But what I didn't want was for the models to be just black and white so I needed an accent color. My fiancee suggested the Delta Ceramcoat Victorian Teal that I had on my paint rack. Although I was skeptical, I've learned to at least give her color suggestions a try and once again she was right - the color fit in very well.

Once that was settled I began the task of wet blending Aiyana's cloak. I used Victorian Teal and Dark Victorial Teal for my mid tones, mixing in black for the deepest shadows and a little Satin Cream for the highest highlights. It was a tedious task but I'm very happy with the results. Once that was done it was just a matter of blending the black, doing the edging in Chainmail, and adding the finishing details.

Other than Aiyana's cloak, I think my favorite part of these figures is Holt's face. I tried to get a little cleft chin look going that came out nicely. It's a little detail that just makes the model pop that much more.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Mercenaries
• Mini Name: Lady Aiyana and Master Holt
• Painted: 2008

I used the Piper to experiment with muted colors a bit, mixing a gray in with my greens and blues for the jacket and trousers. I think the end result turned out well. It definitely would have looked more garish if I hadn't muted the colors as much.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Mercenaries
• Mini Name: Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
• Painted: 2006

The coat is a mix of P3 Idrian Flesh and some RMS Driftwood Brown. I used the same Driftwood Brown on his pants but the shadows are obscuring them. The sword scabbard was my first experiment highlighting black with P3 Coal Black - it doesn't look too bad but I need more practice.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Mercenaries
• Mini Name: Kell Bailoch
• Painted: 2007

   

The skin was pretty basic, being primarily the Vallejo Brown Rose I usually use to undercoat any flesh tones I do. I washed the skin with black then highlighted it back up and slightly past the base color. The contours of the Bokur's face really took to the washing well and lent themselves to easy highlighting, resulting in what I think is an interesting skin tone.

The green armor plated were my first real success at the NMM style of highlighting. I had tried regular NMM in the past but have had little success. However with the application of a little wet blending, these plates came out much better than my previous attempts. I think that can be attributed to these areas being a color other than grey. Painting a chrome plate in gray requires you to exactly match the reflections to real life, but when you're using another color all you have to do is convince the brain of what you're trying to paint and it can help fill in the details for the viewer. In my opinion painting a non-standard flesh tone results in the same effect - because the brain doesn't know what a blue elf should look like it's easier to take the painter's word for it.

Painting this model was a great break from my Menites, but was also annoying for two reasons. One, that I had to give it back and two, that as much as I liked painting the sculpt the Bokur wouldn't work for my army so I wasn't going to get another one for myself. If I have one regret looking back at the figure, it's that I didn't do a wood grain on the shaft of the pole arm. Doing so probably would have broken it up a bit and made the weapon look less stark.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Mercenaries
• Mini Name: Ogrun Bokur
• Painted: 2006

Orin Midwinter

As work on my Legion forces progresses I've also been putting some work in on the Mercenaries I'm painting to be given away at Privateer Press Weekend this year.  I still have a lot of detailing and a little bit of re-working  to do but things are looking good as far as meeting my deadline.

First up is my Orin Midwinter, who I think is coming together well.  I shaded his robe by adding black to P3 Skorne Red and left him on the dark side to fit his fluff.  The trim, sash, and shoulder pads still need some work but I went with black to keep a sinister feel on the model.  Orin's staff is P3 Brass Balls shaded with brown and black inks and highlighted by mixing in just a tad of GW Mithril Silver.

After I finish the the rest of the model I think I'm going to do some source lighting on the end of this staff and his left eye.  I have some P3 Arcane Blue that I'll probably use - it's an interesting greenish blue that looks like it's good for this sort of effect.  I've tested it on some other models and I think it would look good applied to Orin.

Dougal MacNaile

I liked the way that Orin's robe turned out enough that I decided to duplicated the red on Dougal's sleeves and the dark gray on his vest. I've only blocked out a few more areas of the model but there are a lot of details on the model that will need finishing before he's done.  I think I'm going to change the color of his sash though to be something other than the same color as his vest.  I'm not sure what color I'll use yet but I just don't like the current look of it.

Dougal has an issue similar to the Idrian Skirmisher models do - a variety of leather accessories on him.  Painting them all the same color would look too uniform and very un-piratey.  That means trying to find a few shades that work together well.

Thor Steinhammer

Last up is Thor, the model I'm probably the least happy with at the moment.  His armor plates look ok but still need cleaning up.  The biggest issue is the dark gray - I just don't like it and I don't think finishing the highlighting is going to make it look any better.  I want to switch to a different color but I'm not sure what yet.  I could use the same red that I used on Dougal and Orin but I think that would wind up looking to neat and clean for this dirty little dwarf.

After I repaint the dark gray areas I'm going to have to do detailing which will include painting the flame and giving him a 5 o'clock shadow.  I've painted fire before and if this goes anything like my first attempt it will be a long, frustrating experience.

Wash Experiment

As I mentioned before, the local Warmachine community held Privateer Press Weekend at DieCon 8 last year here in St. Louis.  This year we're going to be doing it again.  And like last year I've been tapped to paint some miniatures to be given away as door prizes to attendees.  Last year I painted up a Broadsides Bart but this year I signed up to do a trio of Mercenaries - Dougal McNaile, Thor Steinhammer, and Orin Midwinter.  Given how much of my own stuff I'd like to have done by the convention it may be a tall order but I'm going to give it a shot.

So far the work I've done on Dougal and Orin has been mostly preliminary stuff.  I basecoated their skin with P3 Midlund Flesh  and washed them with a diluted mix of GW Brown Ink, P3 Flesh Wash, and some glaze medium.  From there I'll start highlighting the skin back up, but before I do that I'm going to get Thor caught up so I can do all three at once.  Dougal also got his pants based in Reaper Master Series Yellowed Bone, then I washed them with the same shade I used on both models' exposed skin.  With a little cleanup I think it's going to look pretty nice.

GW Foundation Red

The red on Orin is from a pot of GW Foundation Red that I was given a ways back.  It's a little thick but even watered down the paint has excellent coverage and really helped get him started.  I plan on washing his coat with a dark red/black to help define the shadow areas before I start doing any actual blending.  I plan on blending over the wash but it'll help give me a reference point on where to start.

I've already mentioned the GW and P3 paint lines that I use, but they're not the only paint lines I use.  My paint organizer has bottles from both Vallejo's lines, Reaper Master Series, some artist paint additives and even some craft paints that still see use on my models.  Some painters will  swear by a single line and stick with it but I'm a big fan of picking and choosing to find the tools that best work with your style and your palette needs.