Post by abesadafi on Feb 6, 2010 9:50:33 GMT -7
Hello Everyone...
This is my first tutorial.
My first time taking pictures other than school field trips when I was young 100 years ago.
My first time uploading images to a hosting site.
And my first time trying to make a post with images.
So if I mess up, I will figure this out eventually.
So to begin, my goal here is to show anyone who is interested how I paint my Ultramarines. Specifically this tutorial is in regards to Ultramarine Assault Marine Squad 5 of Battle Company 2.
I will not be adding in how I glue the pieces together or the best angles for spraying on primer. I will say that primer is very very very important so that you are painting onto a base with "tooth."
By tooth I mean microscopic bumps in the paint that allows thinner paint to be applied creating a smoother effect, which leads me to my 2nd big rule.
THIN YOUR PAINT OUT!
Now I do not mean to be a chemist and make a permanent mixture of thinned out Ultramarine Blue. I mean use a pallet like you will see in my pictures and when you dap some paint onto the pallet or use the edge of a citadel pot have some watter on the edge of the pot or on the paint pallet to mix some water in any time you reapply paint to your brush. This will take some getting used to but honestly learning to thin paint out like this is a major step and within a week you will be pleasantly surprise how easy it is to do multiple layers which make your minis look so much better and have ZERO clumps on them.
Anyway we will begin with preparation after you have used primer.
Rules about primer are simple, a dark model with deep shadows like a Dark Eldar Raider should be primed black to make the shadows and darkness easier to achieved.
White primer is if your model has a lot of light colored blue, any shade of red, yellow, white or any light color so you do not need 40 layers to achieve proper brightness.
TUTORIAL BEGINS HERE FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO SKIP MY RANTINGS ABOVE
STEP 1
So in this first pictures I have all of the parts of my assault marine either on Rubber clips or at the end of a paper clip.
The point of this is so that your do not have to touch your miniature while painting it. Oils from your skin will cause imperfections later. Also it sucks to smudge something that it took you 45 minutes to paint and have to paint it from scratch again.
Paper clips are my preference because I only have to drill a small hole where I will be gluing the miniature pieces together anyway.
As you can see it just is easier to work when you have a handle. There are lots of options out there. Aligator clips, spungy clips, hand vises, paper clips drilled into glued locations, etc...
STEP 2
Begin to build up your base coat. I recommed by starting with areas that are the hardest to reach or "the lowest valleys." Like the black rubber areas behind the knees of space marines. This is not always the case and your should decide what area to base first based on the mini. Take a Tyranid gaunt, I would start with all areas that are non-exoskelaton and then the recesses of muscle next and lastly the carapeace. As far as the marine I started with the black recesses, then I went on to the Ultramarine Armor, after that it was the gold belt and eagle on the chest and finally the Chainmail Buckle and under the arm strap connectors on the jump pack straps.
I used Reaper Master Paint Pure Black for the Black color because it has not shine what-so-ever and its just the best black in the business for me anyway.
I used Vallejo Ultramarine Blue for the armor.
I used Citadel Burnished Gold for the Belt and Chest Eagle.
I used Citadel Chainmail for the Belt Buckle and Stap Connectors.
I used Citadel Tin Bitz for the Bottom Tread on his boots.
Simple 5 base colors.
Also to note, painting your minis in pieces like this allows you to reach all areas and minimizes mistakes since you have less of the mini in your hand at any one time. Figure out what works best for you as every painter's method is different but all are correct if it works for them.
This next image shows that I am building up the base coat in extremely watered down thin coats. It took me around 5 coats to reach my clean flat Ultramarine blue. I like Vallejo's Ultramarine blue because it already comes thinner and does not require me to use much Acrylic Flow Release which I recommend for any painter who wants a cleaner looks.
Acrylic flow release when mixed with water and added to paints per its instructions make paint flow off your brush so much easier and smoother that once you use it you will always use it.
You can see in this next picture the importance of very thin smooth layer to build up your base coat. I honestly can not stress it enough to thin your paint and do multiple layers. It is so much easier than you thin to layer. On these legs by the time I coat the top of the leg the bottom of the leg where I started it dry so if you are worried that multiple layers has a lot of waiting involved then you are mistaken since acrylic paint dries near instantly.
STEP 3
This next pictures shows that I have completed my base coat of all colors.
It took around 5 layers for the Ultramarine Blue armor.
10 extremely thin layers for the gold areas.
3 layers of the Reaper Master Pure Black in those areas.
4 layers of Citadel Tin Bitz on the Boots
And 3 or so layers of thinned down Chainmail for the silver areas.
Once my base coat was done I began the initial washing of the shaded areas of the armor, the gold and silver parts and washing any area where two colors meet.
I used the Citadel Asuramon Blue Wash for the armor.
Citadel Devlan Mud wash for the Gold areas and area connecting the chest eagle to the armor.
I used Citadel Badab Black for any areas where black or Tin Bitz met the Ultramarine Blue as well as a light wash on the Chainmail areas to give them depth so when I highlight them later, they "pop" out at you.
STEP 4
Now that you have your initial wash and base coats complete the fun part of painting begins. The highlighting and detail painting begins.
This next picture shows how I use a double highlight for any edge of my armor. This really pops out the armor and is a cheap trick in my opinion to making space marine armor look good. Its easier than it looks, but does take a steady hand.l
I applied a mixture of 70% Vallejo Ultramarine Blue and 30% Citadel Space Wolves Gray to all edges of the armor, including the small recessed areas on the front of the legs. Later I will add straight Space Wolves Gray to all edges of the armor leaving some of the first mixture showing to create a more smooth transition to my extreme highlight and it may sound hard but it is easy to paint a thinner line inside an already existing line, it just takes a little practive.
I do not know if it is the right term but the 70/30 mixture is my "Midtone Highlight" and the Space Wolves Gray will be my "Extreme Highlight" later.
This next picture is taken from father away to show what the Highlight is beginning to do for the miniature. It really stands out and its only 60% done.
STEP 5
Now that your miniature is coming into focus, you want to start cleaning up any mistakes like painting over a line or getting some armor color where the belt is. Mistakes are part of miniature painting and cleaning them up is not to hard. Just remember to keep your paint thin and use multiple layers if needed to keep the mini as clean looking as possible.
Now on to highlighting.
As you can see I highlight the Jet Pack staps once without any darker gray mid tone. I do this because there is not a lot of room to work there and frankly squad painting its tedious so I use a short cut.
I highlighted the straps and the area behind the knees with Codex Gray thinned down and once I had highlighted all the black areas I gave them another wash with Citadel's Badab Black. This is a shortcut to creating a dull muted highlight since these parts on my marines are made of rubber and their highlight should not look pronounced like the metal armor.
For the armor I highlighted using Citadel Space Wolves Gray and made as thing a line as possible. Over any areas I previously mid tone highlight to leave as much of the mid tone highlight showing as possible. Some areas are easy to hit and usually only take one coat of the highlight while other areas took more coats due to being in hard to paint areas.
The gold I highlighted with Citadel Burnished Gold the same color I used to base coat but after I washed it in Citadel Devlan Mud.
I highlight the Chainmail which was washed in Badab Black with Citadel's Mithril Silver. I also "dabbed" Mithril silver over the dark areas not on the edges to give it a "worn and scuffed" look.
All paints were watered down to make it easier to highlight.
Paints I used...
Citadel Badab Black wash
Citadel Codex Gray
Citadel Burnished Gold
Citadel Mithril Silver
Now that I have most of the mini highlight I do my White paint almost at the end just before the base. I tried a new white this time and it did not come out as good as my other minis so I will not be using this white again for this type of painting. I used Reaper Master's Flat White for the knees to try it out. It does not work good with my white painting technique like Vallejo's Flat White which I normally use.
I use a technique called "overbrushing" to create a very smooth looking white surface. If you use normal painting techniques the white paint will look "textured and clumpy." To overbrush you dab your white paint down on a pallet or wet pallet and heavily drench the bristles of your brush in the water and then the white paint so it is sopping wet. Then you don't paint it on as much as glob it on the knees quickly so that all areas of the knee that will be white are wet at the same time. That is very important to have all areas of the knee wet with the white paint/water mixture at the same time so it dries into a smooth surface. You can normally apply white paint first as an undercoat and let it dry to get as clean a white as possible but it is not necessary. I had to wait about 5 minutes to make sure the knees were dry. This is where I found out Reaper's white is not as good as Vallejo's white. After dry I painted on the Ultramarine symbol.
Painting the Ultramarine Inverted Omega Symbol is easier than you think and it takes a trick to do cleanly, if I had used vallejo's white paint anyway. You start by painting a Circle on the knee in Ultramarine Blue. It does not matter to be super neat here as we will touch it up in a sec. The next thing I did was paint a line across the top of the circle in Ultramarine Blue and then I let it dry so it looked like a circle with a bar at its top. After dry I used the white paint to dab a white circle in the middle of the blue circle then I painted a white line from that inner circle through the top of the circle/bar. There is your Inverted omega. I then used more white paint to clean up the general look of the symbol inside and out to make it look as clean as possible. It would be better with Vallejo's white since that paint has an extra chemical in it for smooth drying.
Paints I used...
Vallejo Ultramarine Blue
Reaper Master Flat White (using Vallejo Flat White from now on)
STEP 6
Ok for the next step I painted the base with several thin coats of Citadel Vermin Brown. I painted the bottom outer edge of the base that the miniature rests on, because this makes it harder for the paint to chip off the bottom of the base once you clear coat it.
For weathering I attempted to add a little dry and wet mud at the bottom of the marines legs. I flicked Citadel Vermin Brown onto the bottom of the legs and used Citadel Graveyard Earth on the upper areas to create the "dry mud" effect to give the mud a two-tone look.
Paints I used...
Citadel Vermin Brown
Citadel Graveyard Earth
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
This is where you clear coat the miniature. I strongly suggest that you do this for two reasons. The first is to seal the miniature from paint wearing off from use or aging. The 2nd reason is to create the effect that you want for its post effect. What I mean by this is that if you want a "glossy" look then you should use glossy. Sometimes on special minis like sergeants or leader characters I will use Citadels Glossy "Ard'Coat" on metal areas or things like the lenses on their helmet, so basically anything I want to shine. Also you should think of having your miniature look more normal with a Matte Seal which either dulls down the shine or keeps the mini looking exactly as you painted it. I use mostly a Matter Seal and the brand I find to be the best for me is Testors Brand Dullcoat, this spray has only ever had 1 error for me and it was because I did not keep the spray head clean. It comes in smaller cans, but it is cheaper. It has absolutely no visible change to a mini that it has coated so I love it.
After I Clear Coat I let the miniature set for 24 hours to create a solid seal, this is very important for me so that when I base it next it actually holds and does not fall off.
Now we begin the basing of the model. Determine what type of terrain you want your army on and I suggest going with the same type of terrain across the army. For me I am doing pretty much a default bases style of green grass and brown sand. I originally pictured rolling hills of Ireland with white rocks but I moved to this scheme for competition reasons and a darker base cuts the miniature off from the table so it does not distract from the mini.
To base I use Sand from Citadel and Back-2-Base-IX (Australian online Bitz company) as well as Citadel's “Glade Grass.” On larger models I use more type of grass, including yellow and the black grass. I use Elmer's glue to stick sand and flock to the base. If I have larger base terrain item I might use Super Glue if needed, its all about your own personal style, do what works for you.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
I begin by applying Elmer's Glue to the base.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Then I use a brush to spread it out to the areas I want the initial application of sand to go. If you remember in elementary school when you made posters with glitter, this is the same idea.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Next I place the miniature in the sand box. DO NOT shove the miniature in as this may strip off some of your paint which would require touch up.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Then I push the sand onto the base gently.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Now its time to wait at least an hour for it to dry but longer is better so I usually wait until the next day and I spend the time painting other parts of the mini. The reason you want to wait for this to dry before you add the grass onto the miniature is so that the grass does get glued on the sand area, it does not look good like it is sticking through the rock, it just covers it if the glue is not dry.
Now we repeat the above steps to apply the grass with one difference in application and one difference at the end.
Same process to apply the glue.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
You can not see them real well but I use tweezers to grab the static grass and drop it to the base. This is the application difference. By all means do it how you like, I just like tweezers to grab clumps of grass since the static grass is a pain to pick up and it gets everywhere if you are not careful.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
A few people have asked me how do I get the static grass to stick up, which I really did not know why it stuck up until I looked it online. I had just by default done the correct thing to get it to stick up. After I dropped the clumps of grass on the base I turn it over and blow on the grass to get the excess grass to fall off. I then apply grass over all the existing grass again to make sure I attach grass all over and I repeat. This is the difference at the end of the process from how you apply sand.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
After this if you do not want grass sticking over the edge of the base, you can take you thumb or a flat brush and lightly turn the grass up around the edges.
END OF FIRST TUTORIAL, REPEAT BASIC PROCESS FOR THE REST OF THE ASSAULT MARINE PIECES, FUTURE TUTORIALS WILL BE BETTER, BELOW IS A FEW PICTURES OF THE FINAL PRODUCT INCLUDING CLOSE UPS OF THE TEXT ON THE FLAG BANNERS I BUILT ON HIS JETPACK
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
This is my first tutorial.
My first time taking pictures other than school field trips when I was young 100 years ago.
My first time uploading images to a hosting site.
And my first time trying to make a post with images.
So if I mess up, I will figure this out eventually.
So to begin, my goal here is to show anyone who is interested how I paint my Ultramarines. Specifically this tutorial is in regards to Ultramarine Assault Marine Squad 5 of Battle Company 2.
I will not be adding in how I glue the pieces together or the best angles for spraying on primer. I will say that primer is very very very important so that you are painting onto a base with "tooth."
By tooth I mean microscopic bumps in the paint that allows thinner paint to be applied creating a smoother effect, which leads me to my 2nd big rule.
THIN YOUR PAINT OUT!
Now I do not mean to be a chemist and make a permanent mixture of thinned out Ultramarine Blue. I mean use a pallet like you will see in my pictures and when you dap some paint onto the pallet or use the edge of a citadel pot have some watter on the edge of the pot or on the paint pallet to mix some water in any time you reapply paint to your brush. This will take some getting used to but honestly learning to thin paint out like this is a major step and within a week you will be pleasantly surprise how easy it is to do multiple layers which make your minis look so much better and have ZERO clumps on them.
Anyway we will begin with preparation after you have used primer.
Rules about primer are simple, a dark model with deep shadows like a Dark Eldar Raider should be primed black to make the shadows and darkness easier to achieved.
White primer is if your model has a lot of light colored blue, any shade of red, yellow, white or any light color so you do not need 40 layers to achieve proper brightness.
TUTORIAL BEGINS HERE FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO SKIP MY RANTINGS ABOVE
STEP 1
So in this first pictures I have all of the parts of my assault marine either on Rubber clips or at the end of a paper clip.
The point of this is so that your do not have to touch your miniature while painting it. Oils from your skin will cause imperfections later. Also it sucks to smudge something that it took you 45 minutes to paint and have to paint it from scratch again.
Paper clips are my preference because I only have to drill a small hole where I will be gluing the miniature pieces together anyway.
As you can see it just is easier to work when you have a handle. There are lots of options out there. Aligator clips, spungy clips, hand vises, paper clips drilled into glued locations, etc...
STEP 2
Begin to build up your base coat. I recommed by starting with areas that are the hardest to reach or "the lowest valleys." Like the black rubber areas behind the knees of space marines. This is not always the case and your should decide what area to base first based on the mini. Take a Tyranid gaunt, I would start with all areas that are non-exoskelaton and then the recesses of muscle next and lastly the carapeace. As far as the marine I started with the black recesses, then I went on to the Ultramarine Armor, after that it was the gold belt and eagle on the chest and finally the Chainmail Buckle and under the arm strap connectors on the jump pack straps.
I used Reaper Master Paint Pure Black for the Black color because it has not shine what-so-ever and its just the best black in the business for me anyway.
I used Vallejo Ultramarine Blue for the armor.
I used Citadel Burnished Gold for the Belt and Chest Eagle.
I used Citadel Chainmail for the Belt Buckle and Stap Connectors.
I used Citadel Tin Bitz for the Bottom Tread on his boots.
Simple 5 base colors.
Also to note, painting your minis in pieces like this allows you to reach all areas and minimizes mistakes since you have less of the mini in your hand at any one time. Figure out what works best for you as every painter's method is different but all are correct if it works for them.
This next image shows that I am building up the base coat in extremely watered down thin coats. It took me around 5 coats to reach my clean flat Ultramarine blue. I like Vallejo's Ultramarine blue because it already comes thinner and does not require me to use much Acrylic Flow Release which I recommend for any painter who wants a cleaner looks.
Acrylic flow release when mixed with water and added to paints per its instructions make paint flow off your brush so much easier and smoother that once you use it you will always use it.
You can see in this next picture the importance of very thin smooth layer to build up your base coat. I honestly can not stress it enough to thin your paint and do multiple layers. It is so much easier than you thin to layer. On these legs by the time I coat the top of the leg the bottom of the leg where I started it dry so if you are worried that multiple layers has a lot of waiting involved then you are mistaken since acrylic paint dries near instantly.
STEP 3
This next pictures shows that I have completed my base coat of all colors.
It took around 5 layers for the Ultramarine Blue armor.
10 extremely thin layers for the gold areas.
3 layers of the Reaper Master Pure Black in those areas.
4 layers of Citadel Tin Bitz on the Boots
And 3 or so layers of thinned down Chainmail for the silver areas.
Once my base coat was done I began the initial washing of the shaded areas of the armor, the gold and silver parts and washing any area where two colors meet.
I used the Citadel Asuramon Blue Wash for the armor.
Citadel Devlan Mud wash for the Gold areas and area connecting the chest eagle to the armor.
I used Citadel Badab Black for any areas where black or Tin Bitz met the Ultramarine Blue as well as a light wash on the Chainmail areas to give them depth so when I highlight them later, they "pop" out at you.
STEP 4
Now that you have your initial wash and base coats complete the fun part of painting begins. The highlighting and detail painting begins.
This next picture shows how I use a double highlight for any edge of my armor. This really pops out the armor and is a cheap trick in my opinion to making space marine armor look good. Its easier than it looks, but does take a steady hand.l
I applied a mixture of 70% Vallejo Ultramarine Blue and 30% Citadel Space Wolves Gray to all edges of the armor, including the small recessed areas on the front of the legs. Later I will add straight Space Wolves Gray to all edges of the armor leaving some of the first mixture showing to create a more smooth transition to my extreme highlight and it may sound hard but it is easy to paint a thinner line inside an already existing line, it just takes a little practive.
I do not know if it is the right term but the 70/30 mixture is my "Midtone Highlight" and the Space Wolves Gray will be my "Extreme Highlight" later.
This next picture is taken from father away to show what the Highlight is beginning to do for the miniature. It really stands out and its only 60% done.
STEP 5
Now that your miniature is coming into focus, you want to start cleaning up any mistakes like painting over a line or getting some armor color where the belt is. Mistakes are part of miniature painting and cleaning them up is not to hard. Just remember to keep your paint thin and use multiple layers if needed to keep the mini as clean looking as possible.
Now on to highlighting.
As you can see I highlight the Jet Pack staps once without any darker gray mid tone. I do this because there is not a lot of room to work there and frankly squad painting its tedious so I use a short cut.
I highlighted the straps and the area behind the knees with Codex Gray thinned down and once I had highlighted all the black areas I gave them another wash with Citadel's Badab Black. This is a shortcut to creating a dull muted highlight since these parts on my marines are made of rubber and their highlight should not look pronounced like the metal armor.
For the armor I highlighted using Citadel Space Wolves Gray and made as thing a line as possible. Over any areas I previously mid tone highlight to leave as much of the mid tone highlight showing as possible. Some areas are easy to hit and usually only take one coat of the highlight while other areas took more coats due to being in hard to paint areas.
The gold I highlighted with Citadel Burnished Gold the same color I used to base coat but after I washed it in Citadel Devlan Mud.
I highlight the Chainmail which was washed in Badab Black with Citadel's Mithril Silver. I also "dabbed" Mithril silver over the dark areas not on the edges to give it a "worn and scuffed" look.
All paints were watered down to make it easier to highlight.
Paints I used...
Citadel Badab Black wash
Citadel Codex Gray
Citadel Burnished Gold
Citadel Mithril Silver
Now that I have most of the mini highlight I do my White paint almost at the end just before the base. I tried a new white this time and it did not come out as good as my other minis so I will not be using this white again for this type of painting. I used Reaper Master's Flat White for the knees to try it out. It does not work good with my white painting technique like Vallejo's Flat White which I normally use.
I use a technique called "overbrushing" to create a very smooth looking white surface. If you use normal painting techniques the white paint will look "textured and clumpy." To overbrush you dab your white paint down on a pallet or wet pallet and heavily drench the bristles of your brush in the water and then the white paint so it is sopping wet. Then you don't paint it on as much as glob it on the knees quickly so that all areas of the knee that will be white are wet at the same time. That is very important to have all areas of the knee wet with the white paint/water mixture at the same time so it dries into a smooth surface. You can normally apply white paint first as an undercoat and let it dry to get as clean a white as possible but it is not necessary. I had to wait about 5 minutes to make sure the knees were dry. This is where I found out Reaper's white is not as good as Vallejo's white. After dry I painted on the Ultramarine symbol.
Painting the Ultramarine Inverted Omega Symbol is easier than you think and it takes a trick to do cleanly, if I had used vallejo's white paint anyway. You start by painting a Circle on the knee in Ultramarine Blue. It does not matter to be super neat here as we will touch it up in a sec. The next thing I did was paint a line across the top of the circle in Ultramarine Blue and then I let it dry so it looked like a circle with a bar at its top. After dry I used the white paint to dab a white circle in the middle of the blue circle then I painted a white line from that inner circle through the top of the circle/bar. There is your Inverted omega. I then used more white paint to clean up the general look of the symbol inside and out to make it look as clean as possible. It would be better with Vallejo's white since that paint has an extra chemical in it for smooth drying.
Paints I used...
Vallejo Ultramarine Blue
Reaper Master Flat White (using Vallejo Flat White from now on)
STEP 6
Ok for the next step I painted the base with several thin coats of Citadel Vermin Brown. I painted the bottom outer edge of the base that the miniature rests on, because this makes it harder for the paint to chip off the bottom of the base once you clear coat it.
For weathering I attempted to add a little dry and wet mud at the bottom of the marines legs. I flicked Citadel Vermin Brown onto the bottom of the legs and used Citadel Graveyard Earth on the upper areas to create the "dry mud" effect to give the mud a two-tone look.
Paints I used...
Citadel Vermin Brown
Citadel Graveyard Earth
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27This is where you clear coat the miniature. I strongly suggest that you do this for two reasons. The first is to seal the miniature from paint wearing off from use or aging. The 2nd reason is to create the effect that you want for its post effect. What I mean by this is that if you want a "glossy" look then you should use glossy. Sometimes on special minis like sergeants or leader characters I will use Citadels Glossy "Ard'Coat" on metal areas or things like the lenses on their helmet, so basically anything I want to shine. Also you should think of having your miniature look more normal with a Matte Seal which either dulls down the shine or keeps the mini looking exactly as you painted it. I use mostly a Matter Seal and the brand I find to be the best for me is Testors Brand Dullcoat, this spray has only ever had 1 error for me and it was because I did not keep the spray head clean. It comes in smaller cans, but it is cheaper. It has absolutely no visible change to a mini that it has coated so I love it.
After I Clear Coat I let the miniature set for 24 hours to create a solid seal, this is very important for me so that when I base it next it actually holds and does not fall off.
Now we begin the basing of the model. Determine what type of terrain you want your army on and I suggest going with the same type of terrain across the army. For me I am doing pretty much a default bases style of green grass and brown sand. I originally pictured rolling hills of Ireland with white rocks but I moved to this scheme for competition reasons and a darker base cuts the miniature off from the table so it does not distract from the mini.
To base I use Sand from Citadel and Back-2-Base-IX (Australian online Bitz company) as well as Citadel's “Glade Grass.” On larger models I use more type of grass, including yellow and the black grass. I use Elmer's glue to stick sand and flock to the base. If I have larger base terrain item I might use Super Glue if needed, its all about your own personal style, do what works for you.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
I begin by applying Elmer's Glue to the base.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Then I use a brush to spread it out to the areas I want the initial application of sand to go. If you remember in elementary school when you made posters with glitter, this is the same idea.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Next I place the miniature in the sand box. DO NOT shove the miniature in as this may strip off some of your paint which would require touch up.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Then I push the sand onto the base gently.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
Now its time to wait at least an hour for it to dry but longer is better so I usually wait until the next day and I spend the time painting other parts of the mini. The reason you want to wait for this to dry before you add the grass onto the miniature is so that the grass does get glued on the sand area, it does not look good like it is sticking through the rock, it just covers it if the glue is not dry.
Now we repeat the above steps to apply the grass with one difference in application and one difference at the end.
Same process to apply the glue.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
You can not see them real well but I use tweezers to grab the static grass and drop it to the base. This is the application difference. By all means do it how you like, I just like tweezers to grab clumps of grass since the static grass is a pain to pick up and it gets everywhere if you are not careful.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
A few people have asked me how do I get the static grass to stick up, which I really did not know why it stuck up until I looked it online. I had just by default done the correct thing to get it to stick up. After I dropped the clumps of grass on the base I turn it over and blow on the grass to get the excess grass to fall off. I then apply grass over all the existing grass again to make sure I attach grass all over and I repeat. This is the difference at the end of the process from how you apply sand.
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
After this if you do not want grass sticking over the edge of the base, you can take you thumb or a flat brush and lightly turn the grass up around the edges.
END OF FIRST TUTORIAL, REPEAT BASIC PROCESS FOR THE REST OF THE ASSAULT MARINE PIECES, FUTURE TUTORIALS WILL BE BETTER, BELOW IS A FEW PICTURES OF THE FINAL PRODUCT INCLUDING CLOSE UPS OF THE TEXT ON THE FLAG BANNERS I BUILT ON HIS JETPACK
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
By angus7777 at 2010-02-27
If you find that there is hair or ash or sand or dust or any foreign contaminant on your model before the Clear coat then buy micro tweezer from Caboose hobbies which come to a razer sharp point, this will allow you to post primer/paint to clean of the mini a bit more creating your smooth effect. They cost between 3 to 10 bucks and are a worthy investment, I have 4 pairs of differening sizes.