Reaper Spirit of the Forest part 5 and Reaper Antarctic Explorer part 1

Spirit of the Forest

So with the holidays fun and games been a bit patchy with the blog posts.  However good progress has been made. 

I finished off the Spirit of the Forest figure.  Final steps on the base included

- brass etched ferns
- water reeds in the pond, then Vallejo Water Effects to add some ripples to the pool
- redoing some of the grass to add some different tones
- painted a butterfly (hand made from paper)
- made some Old man's beard from steel wool.  Originally painted green and then lightened on the figure

Butterfly cut out

On the figure I varied some of the green areas as most of the green was too uniform in tone.  I did this by using Jo Sonja Hookers Green and Pthalo Green to darken and cool some of the lower greens.

Steel wool vines

I did a bit more on the OSL, but not much.  Then it was just gluing the figure to the base and repainting the sides of the base to clean up any over paint.  Calling it done.

Butterfly in (fuzzy) detail

Then it was onto the Reaper Bones Chronoscope Antarctic Explorer 28mm figure.  I saw this one in my LGS and really liked it.  Something quite different in genre.  I cut off the rifle barrel and replaced it with a plastic rod.

Reaper Antarctic Explorer

I had a strong idea for a base of a ruined building in the background to give a "end of the world" vibe.  The figure being more a survivor than an explorer.  With that in mind I wanted muted colours and worn clothing.

Wall painted and window frame done

For the base I purchased a sheet of pre done plastic card brick work.  I cut out a window and used plastic card for the framing and clear plastic sheeting for the glass.  I cut up some more plastic card to make the wooden planks.  I tried the method of scoring the plastic card with a razor saw to make wood grain.  It worked a bit but not enough.  Need to give that another try and be more violent in the application.

Fire damaged wall

The ground work was built up with some DAS modelling clay.  The snow effects will be added once the figure is in place.

Painting the wall I used Vallejo German Red/Brown primer as the base coat.  It is a near perfect red brick colour off the bat.  I then added some lighter and dark coloured bricks to break up the wall.  I went for a mix of approx.

- 40% base colour
- 20% one step lighter
- 20% one step darker
- 10% two steps lighter
- 10% two steps darker.

The mortar was VMA Light Brown.

The wood planks were Bestial Brown + Black as a base and then shaded as usual.  Once everything was glued together I used my airbrush to add some smoke damage.  First VMC Black/grey and then VMA Black.  I find straight black too much normally.  I then painting in the graffiti ("No Food").

Next time the figure.

Reaper Spirit of the Forest part 4

Well it's that time of year and I'm fully into silly season.  Frantic week at work before we go into change freeze and lots of family stuff over the weekend so not much progress.

Spirit of the Forest

I played some more with the OSL and used some of the Liquitex ink as the glaze on the face, hands in lower legs.  Although the legs are quite far away from the eyes I want to make some harsh highlights on the tops of the legs to enforce the OSL effect.

Base

On the base I repainted the tree stumps to look more like birch trees.  I also did the resin pour on the pond.  Like the fountain for the Violinist diorama I used clear casting resin.  I dries in a day normally unlike the Liquid Gloss that takes a week.  You just have to be very careful with the harder ratio so as not to cook the resin.  I think I may have done this incorrectly (always hard in such a small batch) as the top of the surface of the pond has a slight ripple.  However that is fine as I was planning on using Vallejo Water Effects after on the surface.

Pond close up

I wanted some ferns on the base so ordered some brass etched ones.  In all my diorama books everyone uses brass/laser cut paper for ferns rather than diy ones.  I've never used brass etch before so some learning up ahead for that.  Now I need to work out what else greenery can be added to the base.  Some reeds for the pond will be first.  I'm also thinking of draping some vines/etc over the figure too.

Reaper Spirit of the Forest part 3

Spirit of the Forest

So this week was the rest of the wood on the figure and the core the the greenery done.  I also started to work on the OSL from the eyes of the figure.

For the greenery sections my base colour was JS Sap Green and a touch of Burnt Sienna (to blend it with the wood).  Shading was done by adding in JS Pine Green, Red Earth, Pthalo Green, VMC Red and black.  Highlights were done by adding in Cadmium Yellow Mid, Warm White and White.

For the recessed areas of the greenery went for more of the Pine Green and Pthalo Green.  For the darker areas I used more of the red and black.  Mid level highlights were done by adding the yellow, upper highlights by adding in white.

I also did some of the mushrooms in various colours to add some variety to the figure.

For the OSL I used white and Liquitex Lime Green ink on the eyes.  This was diluted heavily with water/flow aid and glazed on the jaw, eye area and on the two fists.  Pretty much did an straight line from the eyes and where ever that sight line hit the figure I added some glaze.  I now need to got back and add some higher level highlights closer to the eyes.

On the base I painted up some of the grass area and painted in the pond ready for a clear resin pour.

Finally I did a bit of work on the Terminator Genisys terrain piece.  It's way too dark (really should have base coated in a much lighter grey) but I'm happy with it.  I played around with trying some rust colours.  I started with a dark brown and went up to a light orange.  I also tried the AK Rust Streaks which I blended with some white spirit.  That worked pretty well.  Just need to finish painting the ground around the base to all this one done.