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I wasn't sold on the foam, shame on me for doubting the Doc. Very successful.

Meer_Cat wrote:Man, that tree technique came out nice! I should have realized that the foam would take the paint solution in at different shades depending on how much you dabbed, but there's some real depth of color here- great stuff!

Thanks Meer'. It also helps that I used 4 different mixtures of brown and green for the various layers that I added to the foam. But yes, I wasn't aiming for an even colour tone across the whole.

Big H wrote:A nice addition might be to litter the floor with leaves, you can buy these from model outlets , or better yet get a similar thing from the "Catkins " of Silver Birch trees, they will be on the trees soon-ish, go to the woods for a lifetimes worth of model leaves !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_pendula

Thanks H'. I already have some prepared from a couple of years ago and planned to add a few to the base once the grass is on.

Red Harvest wrote:Effective. I wonder how well the paint will 'stick' to that foam. Time will tell, eh? Enough paint in all the air ockets and that foam will harden nicely.

It looks very convincing.

Thanks Red'. I've grabbed a lump of foam and dunked it in the last of the PVA/water/paint mixture. Once that's fully set I'll see what it takes to remove the paint; squeezing, rubbing, keeping in a pocket for a week, etc... For science!

Shadenuat wrote:Should have made her look angry, because rawr rawr humans are evil scum.

https://pre00.deviantart.net/832b/th/pre/i/2016/351/4/5/_commission__chibi_princess_mononoke_by_kelsa20-darw5go.png

Add some kodamas! They're awesome.

Thanks Shadenuat. If the plastic she's made from was easier to work with, I may have been tempted, but carving the mask was enough hard work. Maybe this is before the evil humans have started to desecrate the forest.

And yes, I had intended to add some tree spirits and had even put some thought into how to make their heads wiggle. With the work I was doing over in my other blog, and the foam work here, I had forgotten about them.
I loved them from the first time I saw one in the film.
=> In progress... stay tuned.

inmygravenimage wrote:I wasn't sold on the foam, shame on me for doubting the Doc. Very successful.

Surely, you know not to doubt me and my crazy ideas by now... Shame, Shame...
Thanks.

No further progress to report. Tree spirits in progress.
Just thought I'd pop in an appear to be a know it all that's already thought of everything...
Thanks for any and all feedback.

Just discovered this blog, very cool stuff!
The way you're making the trees is inspiring as well as useful as you're kinda presenting it here as a tutorial. Thanks!

"Big H wrote:
A nice addition might be to litter the floor with leaves, you can buy these from model outlets , or better yet get a similar thing from the "Catkins " of Silver Birch trees, they will be on the trees soon-ish, go to the woods for a lifetimes worth of model leaves !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_pendula

Thanks H'. I already have some prepared from a couple of years ago and planned to add a few to the base once the grass is on. "

Haha, fair one Doc, erm "great minds....." etc

Use this foam all the time, looking good bud, think it takes your paint better. Nice wee scene.

The foam idea is inspiring. I have a lot of old Woodland Scenics trees that I keep meaning to buy some flocking for. Now I think I'll just tear out a cushion from the next abandoned sofa I see on the roadside.

Oops, sorry another blip of time lost to the warp.

Lo Tim, and welcome. Thanks too.
Yeah, I've learnt a lot from reading how other's do things so I like to give something back by sharing my processes so that other other's can get tips or inspiration.

Indeed they do, Big H.

Thanks Cam'.
Actually this is (rare for me) water-based paint I'm using. My paints won't mix with PVA.
I have a few pots of Revell Aqua color for the odd occasion when I need to use water. And a big bottle of brown craft paint for basing work (sticking down static grass mixed with PVA.

Thanks Skalk. More on the foam below.

We'll start with the foam.
I said I would test the paint retention of the foam and I'll now share the results.

Top picture: I took a piece of the soft yellow foam and soaked it in the paint / PVA mixture.
2nd picture: I cut it in half to show that, with a squeeze, the paint penetrates the foam completely, and because I needed 2 bits of foam coloured the same.
3rd picture: The piece on the right was subjected to abuse that I hope no model will ever endure: I crushed, rolled, scrunched up into a ball, and scrubbed it on my wooden board and my trousers...

...and the result you can see there. Just a slight loss of paint on the tips of the foam. In a way it looks more realistic as foliage.

4th picture: As promised, I kept the other half in my back pocket for a week of being sat on...

...the result? It kept the paint but is now flat and has remained flat. The original yellow foam would return to shape immediately.


So there you have it. Does the job.

As to the Mononoke piece... I've been slacking. But not entirely...

I said I had plans to make the Kodamas jiggle their heads, and I've been trying out various ways to make it work.
Unfortunately, on this scale I can't get it to work: Anything firm enough to hold the head in place vibrates too quickly, and even the long length of 0.25mm plasticard (in a spring-like coil) is not bouncy enough. Anything that may produce the desired jiggle would be far too flimsy to hold the head together.

So no jiggling heads.

But I do now have some Kodamas


I think we're off to the paint desk next...

Very cool!

Liking those tree spirits! I have to ask, when you first picked up Mononoke was the plan to do all this?

 Dr H wrote:
...I kept the other half in my back pocket for a week of being sat on...

...the result? It kept the paint but is now flat and has remained flat...

I'm guessing that the glue/paint had not fully cured. The other trick with this sort of foam is the glue+paint then roll the foam in various sizes and colors of flock. I've seen that done to nice effect to create shrubbery. No idea of the durability. Maybe I mentioned this somewhere.

Drybrush some lighter green and some yellow on those 'leaves'. They are a bit too monotone. Or, you need better lighting for the photos. I know all about needing better lighting. I am a master at badly lit photos. It's nice to be good at something, eh?

How true to the original colors of the princess do you intend to stay?

Another break from this project to work on things with shorter deadlines.

Thanks Gits'.

Thanks York'. Well, I knew I wanted to make a proper display base for her, and especially after I saw the base it was "mounted" on ("" as the rear feet weren't even touching the base).
The simple display base did however grow a bit as it progressed though, as happens with my projects. Just go with the flow and let the model take you to where it wants to go...

Thanks Red'.
The glue/paint mixture is fully cured and even now, weeks later, they and the trees are still flexible but firm.
Rolling in flock would be good for a fine texture on this yes.

Also, on the subject, look what popped up in my YT subscriptions:
Terrain tutor


Gives much useful advice and ideas, and a name to the foam I used as the backing of my display base; composite foam.

Oh yeah, painting of the foliage is soon to happen. This was just the basecoat for colour and structure.

I intend to stay pretty close to the Manga colour scheme. We'll see as it progresses.

And primer has happened.

Just a quick spray over while I had the airbrush set up.
Painting will begin soon...ish. I have a robot to get painted this week as a priority.

The robot is done (see my other blog for that), but I now have a LoER terrain competition piece to do (also in the other blog), and now Nerdfest has fired up another Nerdcademy competition (see below)...

However, I have started throwing paint about.

I decided to start on the backdrop as that will then give me something to use as a backdrop for the wolf and San photos...
First things to do are the wood bits, but to keep with the theme I can't just do it in my usual wood method (mainly browns), no... it has to be all blues and greens and yellows... (see below)

Still needs more work, namely more greens and yellows. But it's a start.
I've included my reference picture so you can see how far I have to go with just the wood, and just how bright the green of the leaves is going to be...

Just need more life to the wood before moving on.

And, as I mentioned, Nerdy has a new Nerdcademy comp' up, and at the very least it inspired me to build a new member of the army.

This is based on a very old idea (just have a look back at how long ago I last built a Dire Avenger, the idea was ready back there) but has solidified from Nerdy's competition theme.

The original idea was nothing more that to use a spare Tyranid warrior head piece as a shield strapped to the arm of a Dire Avenger. That is all I noted down.

The competition theme is to paint (being a painting contest) a member of one army as another army.
Therefore, rather than paint this chap as the usual Dire Avenger blue, I'll paint him up in Tyranid colours, to match the head he acquired...
...that then leads to him being a 'nid hunter and therefore he now has a spear and using the colouring as a kind of camouflage.

Which scheme? I don't know yet.

Here he is from bits to blu-tacked together (arms are glued).


I'm going to re-pose the legs to match the arms and the "yet to be decided" basing.

Not long to get him done for the contest, so he's on a fast track to painting.

Forest looks great. Also intrigued by the Avenger. Looking forward to seeing how he turns out.

Thanks Youwashock.

Trees now looking more alive.
Although quite yellow at the moment, I'm hoping that'll be fine once the foliage is greener. It'll bring out the green in the "wood".
I have also started by darkening the dark areas of the foliage.


And only a minor change to the Dire avenger's pose, bringing the left leg in and forward, straightening the lower leg to get the foot (mostly) flat.
Now looks like he's stepping rather than presenting his crown jewels.

Also strikes me how much he looks like a classical Greek / Hoplite / Spartan soldier.

Fantastic repose. Love the hoplite, very effective Well-greaved

Thanks Graven'.

And he's now primed and ready to paint... just not decided on which scheme.

And and, you can also see the first stage in "green-ing" the foliage of the Mononoke base too.

Two updates in one photo montage


This heat is really sapping my motivation though... <= imagine that to be sweat.

I've settled on Leviathan for the scheme on the Dire avenger.
Kraken was going to look a bit too "normal" for an Eldar with bone and red.
Behemoth (Red and blue) was a close 2nd, but the scheme of Leviathan appears to work better on an Eldar model, with the contrast of the white (with pink gaps) and purple, and red weapons.

With that in mind, I started with the white.

Not terribly exciting at the mo', but it's a start.

And the Mononoke base got some more work on the green foliage; some brighter green, some green/yellow to really make it jump out, and some pale green for some highlights.

And while I had the white out...

Still more white to add, not quite as smooth as it needs to be in places... such is white...

Lovely shading there squire.

Thanks Graven'. The photo helps this time (for a change). I've "finished" off the white now, but it's not drastically different enough to warrant another photo here (eyes. mouth and claws to do).

However, I've also added the purple to DA #3.

A little tidy up required on some of the highlights, as usual... *sigh*
Then pink bits, red weapon, and any additional details left to do...

I have been lurking around waiting for progress on this. Love how the base for the princess is turning out, that foam for the trees and back drop is ace.

Being an old eldar player I can't wait to see how the avenger turns out. So far its all good.

Love that eldar model... a real beauty. Trees are fantastic...

Monotone base is looking good, nice work on the eldar

Thanks York'.

Thanks Gits'.

monkeytroll wrote:Monotone base is looking good, nice work on the eldar

Ahh, the irony that the wolf, at least, is currently monotone. Thanks.

Pink and red added.


Browns to finish (just a highlight), and metals to do, and the base.

Eldar, eh? It needs some pansies on the base. For it to sniff of course

<hint>The shield has potential for some interesting freehand. </hint>

Looks good so far.

That was actually my cursed auto-correct switching out Mononoke whilst I wasn't looking...... Occasionally it does it's stuff and still makes sense, most of the time it just throws some garbage into the equation

P-Niddy still looking good (that's me, not my auto-correct)

Thanks Red'. No flowers or freehand, I'm afraid.
As the contest theme is to paint as a different army, this Eldar is painted as a Tyranid, and 'nids don't have freehand designs painted on their armour.
Had I not been sticking to this, I may well have added some tribal design to the shield.

No plants because he's hunting 'nids, and they've nom'd them all.

Thanks MT.

With that, many photos, some tidying up, many more photos, He's done.

The concept, to keep it all together, is an Eldar 'nid-hunter.
He likes to get in close to his quarry and so uses a Tyranid warrior's head / crest as a shield and has painted his armour to match the colours of the Leviathan hive fleet. While not a perfect disguise, it helps to give him a few extra seconds in low-light, at distance, or out of the corner of the eye.
And maybe there's a little Eldar pride / arrogance in there too.

The actual painting was just a matter of deciding what pieces of armour to paint white and which, purple.
Then add the pink into the joints and use it to pick out the plume and eye-lenses.
The weapon, of course, had to be red. Made the shaft a darker / browner red to make it look like a different material to the head (which was made to look like a fire-axe, with the metallic edge).
I picked out a few other things in metal (the clearly Eldar tech'); who's got time to paint every grenade that you're just going to blow up anyway. The straps for the shield and the grenade belt are brown leather, and I went for yellow gems and camera lens to contrast with the purple.
As mentioned, the base is devoid of plants due to the only place you're going to be hunting 'nids is on a planet they are eating. If you are around plants, the 'nids haven't got there yet.
I did add a 'nid toxin sac to the base to be a little 'nid slug thing, there to pick up the final scraps of bio-mass.

All round views:


and some fun shots (with a nod to Barry Chuckle. RIP):

But you can make your own mind up about how it finished...

Ah, but Doc, 'Nids are based on insects, many of which have all sorts of very interesting patterns on their wings, or carapaces or what have you.

I nearly went on to say that while 'nids can have insect-like colour schemes, and can therefore include various chemical wave patterns (also the reason for how the Zebra gets it's stripes), the Leviathan hive fleet doesn't.

I know what you mean, Red'. If not for my vision for the contest theme, I'd have put some kind of marking on the shield.
I do have a few more Tyranid warrior heads left over, so maybe next time...

In other news...
I broke San's spear. Caught the tip on a finger and snapped it off at her hand.

There's no easy way to glue that back on, it'll always be weaker than solid plastic, and that has proven to not be very strong.

So I drilled it out and re-made the spear from a paperclip and a new tip epoxied on.
Stronger and looks better than Mk-1.


Got my LoER terrain entry to get painted, this will get attention as time and paint permits.

I guess it's my turn to say: Good job replacing the blade spear,

And, as you said, stronger and better. Well done.

Mononoke's base is looking ace, and serves as a nice backdrop to boot

Another gap in work here, but I've finally pushed on a bit...

Thanks LT. Yeah, the base is proving to be useful for small miniatures. May have to make myself a large one for larger models. I had hopes to make use of the UFO crash piece more, but it's a bit busy for most models.

I've been putting off starting on San; that "new technique fear" thing.

However, I actually had a look at some tutorials and examples of "Chibi eyes" online and thought I'd try it out on the wolf first, as San really needs the skin doing first.

From examples of the anime, the wolf's eyes are not as white as his coat, so I went for a cream (with a very slight touch of pink to them) base,
A black outline of the eye,
Then a brown blob, that I attempted to make darker at the top (not that it shows),
A black dot in the middle of that,
Finished with a white reflection dot.

I also finished off the mouth, nose (blue in the anime) and claws.
Reference:


Steps:


Final look:


I'll see how San's eyes look before deciding to gloss them or not.
Until next time...