Cops and Robbers

Again from the Bones 4 Core set, here are more "townsfolk" -- Bandits and the City Guard. I continued to used the same limited palette as with the previous townsfolk.

First the good guys:

Then the bad guys:

A Town Called Malice 2

Here is my continuation of the Townsfolk subset from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter Core Set. I did the cooper instead of the rolling pin woman because I wanted to take some time with the torch. Anyway, the same pallet applies here. For the most part I continued developing texturing techniques.

For the Sage, I wanted to give the impression of somewhat fancier clothes. After shading and highlighting, I brightened the cloak and frock with GW inks (Biel-Tan Greeen and Carroburg Crimson respectively). This give the colours a richer feel.

Two things I tried differently on the cooper were 1. no under-painting and 2. letting go. I usually apply an coat of German Camouflage Black-Brown over the whole figure to start when working with Bones. I know it has been shown many times that Bones are designed to go from blister to paint but I wanted to check it out for myself. I just went straight to the base colours, shading and highlighting with no issues.

 The second was more difficult. This was me telling myself to trust myself and the figure and not overwork the paint. I had to remind myself to pull back when I started thinking, "maybe I should add another blend or work that edge some more..." At first it was a little uncomfortable but after awhile everything sort of fell into place and I am happy with the results

A Town Called Malice

I made a commitment to myself to not buy more minis until I paint the ones I've got or at least made  significant progress. I decided to start with the Townsfolk from the Reaper Bones 4 Core Set sculpted by Bobby Jackson. Bones are very useful for experimentation. With these minis I tried different base coats to observe their effects. I've used black-brown, dark blue, dark green and black-red.

I challenged myself by limiting the palette for the set so that all the figures tie together (ideally) in the end. My main colours are (Vallejo) Ochre brown, German Field Grey, Burnt Red, German Med Brown, and German Cam Beige. Each figure will have elements of these colours in addition to black, white, gold, metal and flat earth or grey for the base. I'm also playing with texture and contrast.

The first ones completed are: Beggar #49 (also available in metal SKU 02584) ,Farmer #50 (also available in metal SKU 02825), Courtesan #146 (also available in metal SKU 03856, and Milkmaid #149 (also available in metal SKU 03857)

Here is a peek at the next 4 I'm working on:

Arcane Adventures

This is the Bone 4 version of Enora, Iconic Arcanist by Reaper from their "Pathfinder" range. A common issue with Bones figures is being "soft" on detail compared to their metal counter parts but I was impressed with this casting. I found it to be very well defined, even the fine chains and other small details.

I really tried to focus on lighting and contrast. I imagined the light to be coming from the left front of the figure. I took a few photos of the base coated miniature with that lighting and used them as a guide. This really helped focus where my lights and darks should be.

Queen of the Golden Company

This is the Bones version of Merrowyn Lightstar, Female Elf Paladin (03764) from the Bone 4 Core Set. NMM is de rigueur these days but I still like metallics for, well, metal. I used Vellejo Brass, Old Gold, Gold and Silver along with Seraphim Sepia ink and a variety of browns to build up the shadows and highlights. I sometimes go back and forth deciding a colour scheme but when I saw this figure I knew her armor had to be gold. The red and black was inspired by Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night (I saw a chibi toy version on Pinterest and thought "That's the look I want!").

Which Witch?

Yet another figure from my wish list that came as part of the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter. This is the Bones version of Willow Greenivy, Witch (03682). I recently discovered the Bird with a Brush blog by the most excellent Rhonda Bender and the thought process and approaches discussed were a real eye opener for me. I actually took a variety of pictures under different light sources and picking my favourite, used it as a map for my lights and darks. I feel it made a huge difference for me. If you are interested in improving, do yourself a favour and bookmark that blog!

Watch Out, It's Skalding!

This is the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter version of Hakon, Iconic Skald (60182) that comes as part of the Pathfinder Iconics II stretch goal. This figure was on my wish list so I was really happy to see it in the Kickstarter. He reminds me of Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit (film). This is my first time using Games Workshop Valhallan Snow. It dries a light blue grey so I dry brushed with white. I think it looks convincing enough.