OD's SoB Prep Blog

[Old Dwarf]

11/17/14-Buffalo Gal, put the cat out tonight, I'm gonna paint
by the light of the moon. Well actually it's 2 60 watt lamps but
it's the spirit that counts. It's 2AM I can't sleep so I figured might
as well get started on the Saloon Gal & Marshal.

The two don't share much in the way of colors so I just did the Marshal's
shirt in white & then went to the Saloon Gal's boa & then stayed with her.
(She's more fun to paint-aka it's great painting Boobs again.)

Blonds may have more fun but Blond hair is not much fun to paint. I
used several methods over the years & it's always a challenge to make
it look natural. This time around I used Cinder Yellow (that's about as Blond
as you can get) but it's such a weak color you need to mix it with something
else or it just falls apart on a black base coat. I chose GW Bubonic Brown.
a Blondish-brown shade. The colors mixed well & I got a shade I liked.

Alas it still didn't cover the black base coat. Rather than mess with the Blond
mix that I wanted to keep I painted her hair with Reaper Woodland Brown
( a light brown shade) then I painted over it with my Blond Mix & it took.
A little Soft Tone Ink & the hair was done I still need to give it a final highlight
perhaps Cinder Yellow?*

(* I'm still trying to get my mind around this color. The War Paints Line I
really like they cover well & the SoB Sets are subdued shades which go
well with an old West theme. But Cinder Yellow won't cover a damn thing!
It simply breaks up I'm using in a mix & I'll see if it works as a highlight.
GW Sunshine yellow tends to do this as well but at least you can do a
second coat & it covers, Cinder Yellow doesn't )

Anyway back to the Saloon Gal, I'm painting her up per the example
in the Adventure Book using Saloon Red for her dress, Shadow Black
for the under skirt & leaving the stockings in the base coat black color
as it does a faded stocking effect & avoids clashing with the black
under dress.

Something else I noticed which didn't appear in the painted image
in the Adventure-this fig does have detail her stockings end before
her under skirt stops so she's showing a bit of thigh ( so of course
I had to paint them flesh to preserve the integrity of the Miniature).

So the Saloon Gal still needs her green gloves but I have to check
out my green paints to see which is the best match, otherwise she's
ready to Ink. I think I'll try to get some sleep now & try to pay some
attention to the Marshal when I get up & have breakfast.

Well both are done, for the record I used Reaper Meadow Green for her
sleeves/gloves & highlighted with GW Scorpion Green. I also picked
out her shoe laces in saloon Red to balance her black shoes &
stockings. I didn't dry brush her highlights instead I used a detail brush
& painted them. I use War Paint Moulton Orange for the final red highlight.
The Cinder Yellow did finally earn it's keep as it made a decent highlight
on the hair.

The Marshal is rather a bore after the multi-colored Saloon Gal as he's
basically leather vest, brown pants & a White shirt, I used GW Tausept Ochre
for the hat & desert tan from the SoB Hero set for it's highlight.

The Marshal has a set of shirt buttons which pose a challenge, there
not coat buttons you can make metal. The example in the Adventure Book
just made a brown strip down the center of the shirt but to me that
didn't look right (or his laundry service should be shot) so I did them
GW Space Marine Grey that gives a pearl effect.

Today it appears it's going to rain all day so I'm starting on the Bandito
& Indian Scout. I've done the hair (both are SoB Shadow Black)& picked
out the eyebrows & the Bandit's Handlebar . I'm not following the
Adventure Book Example completely as I doing his pants Portal
Blue from the SoB Hero Set( a medium dark blue) & giving them a
Red Stripe down the sides. The sombrero trim is picked out in Saloon
Red. His shirt I think I have enough GW Codex Grey to scrape out
enough to use.

The Indian Scout I'm following the Adventure book Pic- GW Regal
Blue (perfect for the Union Coat he is wearing) for his coat.

So I may finish up my Heroes today!

I will, the last 2 Heroes are painted up & I just inked them up
in the appropriate tones so I'm giving them some time to dry
& then do the final highlights.

Done & Done the Bandito & Indian Scout are finished & my 8
Heroes are complete.

Some random thoughts on the Hero Figs- I already commented
on the detail but I'm pleased with the results. My 3 most favorite
from a painting stand point were the Saloon Gal, Bandito & Indian
Scout because they had more color variety than the others. My
least favorite was the Female Rancher who IMO had some detail problems,
plus she is posed in a way to make painting difficult.

To eyes or NOT- I did not try to put in eyeballs & pupils, at the scale
the Miniatures are at you can't make them look good. You also
don't need them, the soft Tone Ink basically gives the effect of eyes.

I've seen some nicely painted Heroes at BGG that were ruined by
trying to put in eyes (my opinion of course). You have to over
paint the eye socket white to make room for the pupil so you
get the Google Eye effect & often putting in the pupil goes badly,
so we get cross eyed & Lazy Eye Heroes.

What you should be sure to do (again it's all just my personal preference)
is make sure you get a detail brush & give them eyebrows . The eyebrows
give definition to the upper face & provide the illusion of eyes .

So with all of Wave 1 painted I now need to do the bases. I'll start
on that project tomorrow. Once there done I can break out the Game.

(Just an aside, it got warm enough today despite the crappy rain that
I grabbed my Spray Black Primer & primed up my Gears of War Figs.
I've had them setting around for a couple of years & earlier this year
I did a number of conversions for the Game figs you have to proxy
( I bought multiple sets to have enough). I don't plan to start painting
them up right away- I have some serious SoB play to get in. But
if I should get in the painting mood again I can pull them out & get at it.)