Here, Kitty Kitty...

a 'Tale of 3 Painters' update.

For someone whose use of metallic paint is normally restricted to the cold, steel tip of a bayonet or the occasional flashing sabre of a cavalry officer, to suddenly be faced with a miniature that is completely made up of metal elements was a tad overwhelming.  I have to confess that on more than one occasion I started to think that I was well and truly out of my depth with this beastie.   

Then along came the revelation that was, Vallejo Matt Medium; Mike, 'The Dark Templar' Reynolds had made reference to this wonderproduct in his earlier post 'A Tale of 3 Painters… Week 1 Summary'.  What it allowed me to do was to successfully add washes without them being repelled by the shiny, metallic surface that I had laid down; I can't tell you what a boon this was to someone with limited experience in this area!  

The concept of repeatedly layering on washes, building the depth of the paint was another technique that I don't tend to use on a regular basis, but when I saw the breathtaking work done by Andy Walker over at his 'Lair of the Breviks' I knew I had to raise my game a little; the metalwork on the Watcher  miniature that he is currently working on really has been an inspiration.  

With this in mind I excavated some aged Games Workshop 'Tin Bitz', which helped to create the tabby cat stripes that I was looking to achieve, then set about layering black ink, then a lighter tone of paint and then another wash of 'Devlan Mud'.  Trying to incorporate 'Guild' red into the miniature I painted a shoulder plate on either side of the Hunter, (think, "these aren't the droids we're looking for" Stormtroopers) these armbands with a liberal scattering of red autumnal leaves should give a subtle nod to the 'Guild'.

Mike had suggested that he was going to be using greys for his base so it seemed to make sense to do the same, picking out he odd cobble here and there and then washing with 'Devlan Mud'.  Aping Mike again, blue was used for the power source and the tube linking the neck to the head was painted to replicate rubberised canvas, any excuse to avoid painting metal!

I'm sure that I could continue to work up areas and there may yet be an opportunity to tidy up one or two mistakes, but overall I'm pretty pleased with what I've achieved to date.

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As always don't forget to keep up to date with the others, Andy Walker at 'The Lair of the Breviks' and  'The Dark Templar' himself, Mike Reynolds.

What is 'A Tale of 3 Painters' all about?