Ah Shall Say Zis... Only Once

Eyup folks, today we continue on the Inq28 commission with some lovely Andrew Rae sculpts from Statuesque miniatures. They are all from their "resistance" range, hence the 'Allo 'Allo references.

Despite the different outfits these ladies needed to hang together as a group. That meant finding a colour palette that worked across the military and civilian-ish styling. The military types had a Cold War era Russian feel to my mind so Val Russian Uniform green seemed like a place to start.

expand the pictures, they're not as underexposed as the thumbnails for some reason.

The uniforms were painted in the Val Russian Uniform, the webbing was picked out in Val Grey Green (a cracking webbing colour) and the whole thing was washed in Athonian Camoshade. Caliban Green provided a basecoat for the helmet and shaded it with Val Black-Green Ink wash-i-fied with the addition of Lahmian Medium. The green is rehighlighted, first with pure Russian Uniform then with Russian Uniform with a dash of Grey Green added (it was already wet on the palette, lots of mixes go this way). Webbing was edged in the Grey Green.

Something I was really happy with was finally capturing the colour of "modern" assault rifles (think AK-47 and friends). It's tricky, you need a dark overall tone with bright edge highlights. I've been pratting around with different methods over the years but this one really seems to work. A mix of AP Gunmetal and Black is painted on as a basecoat. Then a wash of black (I use black ink mixed with Lahmian Medium). Once this is dry you really push the contrast by very lightly drybrushing with AP Shining Silver. This picks up the edges and makes the finished weapon pop. People who have already figured this out will be going "durr!" now but painting conundrums are one of those things. They're simple once you know how.

For the "inbetween style" model, I needed to introduce some more colours. I decided that a neutral grey for shirts, socks, anything small and unobtrusive would work. Val German Grey highlighted up with addition of Ulthuan Grey. The coats are another favourite colour Val English Uniform. I used it for the scarves on the military style ones too so they subconsciously bind together as a unit.

Swapping the main and spot colours out can completely change a model's character while keeping them in keeping them "in theme". In this case, the grey and the leather become the dominant colour while the Russian Uniform diminishes into a spot colour. Character of the miniature wildly different, colour scheme maintained. I have to mention at this point that this one is the weakest of the sculpts in my opinion. The rest are wonderfully posed with decent - if willowy - anatomy and cracking sculpting. This one...  she's just too skinny. Supermodel physique is not maintained by running around and fighting, that packs on muscle. She's either 11 in which case she is too tall and has implants or she is anorexic in which case the whole running and fighting shtick is a problem. It isn't awful by a long way but one disappointing apple in a very well executed barrel.

she really does have two eyes, the camera just ignored the other one.

But on with the show! Here again, a model that brings the grey to the fore and does it in some style. This is one of the only "futuristic" armaments the girls brought to the party. I'd deliberately painted the group in ambiguous colours so they could be used for all sorts of roles and periods in gaming (multi-use if possible is a big thing with me) but this one needed all the sci-fi. I seized on the chance to play with a new toy. Valejo's Fluorescent Green, I got a few of these colours recently after reading a Massive Voodoo article on using them in Object Source Lighting. Let me tell you, they work. Over a white base in the gaps I layered on a couple of very thinned layers of the Fluo Green. The fluorescent paints are not great paints, very thick and tarry, but it's the pigment you are after. Just thin with water and medium. Highlighting went on by adding white to the Fluo Green. The Fluo Green can also be used brilliantly to glaze the area around the source. Works a treat.

Finally, my favourite sculpt in this group. I just adore the pose, the fact that she is fairly muscled in comparison to her fellows and has an appropriately sized but massive gun bracing against the recoil. The painting has all been discussed (except the leather, Rhinox Hide, shaded with Agrax Earthshade and highlighted by adding Mournfang Brown) so just drink in the design and enjoy!

That's it for the miniatures this week, but I thought I'd share a slightly larger painting project I knocked out over the weekend:

Yup, in the category of "Jeff makes weird stuff sometimes" this is a foam latex anvil. Carved from upholstery foam, sealed in layers of liquid latex and then painted with vallejo colours mixed with more liquid latex. Doesn't look too bad for a first attempt if I say so myself. With that, we are done so...

TTFN