Army Painter Dip - Finished!
I finished basing them up and I think that they look really good! The Army Painter Strong Shade gives a great base to work from. It was so easy to place a few strategic highlights on spots to bring each miniature to the next level. Some parts didn't need any extra highlights at all (coat, shako, backpack). My total time spent painting, dipping and highlighting was well under an hour per figure. That is incredible to me. My other figures take around 5+ hours each to paint (although my speed is increasing). I could see how you could easily purchase a few Perry French Infantry boxes and have a large Napoleonic army done in no time at all.
You can see that they do look different from my normal work. They are not as detailed and they have a different effect when you look at them. Some of the shading looks better than my meticulously painted figures. The pants are very good. The stippled earth color dirties the coats nicely.
There were a few lessons learned on this project. I used my Citadel Standard Brush for the whole project and that kept me working at a fast pace. It is important to get a smooth, solid basecoat otherwise you will get a blotchy result (i.e. the bluecoat's flesh, the rearmost tan coat). Hit the miniature with Citadel Washes to enhance areas (eyes, mouth, musket barrel) that need more shading.
They will be up for peer review on our next Craft Day sometime in May after Salute 2011.
You can see that they do look different from my normal work. They are not as detailed and they have a different effect when you look at them. Some of the shading looks better than my meticulously painted figures. The pants are very good. The stippled earth color dirties the coats nicely.
There were a few lessons learned on this project. I used my Citadel Standard Brush for the whole project and that kept me working at a fast pace. It is important to get a smooth, solid basecoat otherwise you will get a blotchy result (i.e. the bluecoat's flesh, the rearmost tan coat). Hit the miniature with Citadel Washes to enhance areas (eyes, mouth, musket barrel) that need more shading.
They will be up for peer review on our next Craft Day sometime in May after Salute 2011.
how did the white undercoat work vs the black.
ReplyDeleteJohn -
ReplyDeleteThe only figure that was undercoated in black was the one with the blue coat. As you can see, the flesh paint didn't cover as well and therefore left a blotchy look to the skin. Also, the skin highlight on that figure is very drastic when compared to the others.
On the other hand, it was easier to paint him as I didn't have to worry about getting the paint into all of the recesses of the figure; I just left it black.
The next time I try this I am going to use the Armory Grey Primer. I think that will give me the best of both worlds.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI have been a fan of the white undercoat for a while. I used thinned inks, washes or paints, so the recesses are always filled, it sort of leaves me with with a 2 layer effect as the white shows through on the high points. I prefer the black AP. I then as need be dry brush; usually just the coat and the trousers and sometimes of the white parts especially plumes etc.
I find this method works esp well on Perry figures. I just finished up some Hanoverian artillerymen and I think they look pretty good. Should have them up on my blog in a couple of days.
I think your figures look great, I would never have the patience to do the 3 layer job, nor would I have any painted figures.
John
John,
ReplyDeleteYour figures look very good!
Surprisingly, the three-layer method actually cuts down on my painting time. My problem is that I keep going back into a miniature and changing things, fixing this and highlighting that. Using the Foundry system keeps me to only three layers with zero paint mixing. I could easily spend hours mixing paints just trying to find "the perfect color". That doesn't get armies painted.
The next time I do this I am going to try Armory's gray primer. I think that will hit the sweet spot (and keep me from having to paint the coats).
Thank you again for the kind comments!
Jeff
That is a lovely bit of work. I'm about to paint some of the same figures, and I'll try to follow your technique...
ReplyDeleteCheers, Simon
Simon,
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you! I'm sure that you will be very pleased with the results. I am just finishing up a second stand using the dip technique and it turned out even better than the first!
Jeff