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Hi all, welcome to my Wip section... I'll be posting regular updates about what i've been painting and modelling and maybe showing you guys the odd trick, tip or technique





Just before I do though maybe i'd better introduce myself and ZombiesRCoolPainting...

ZombiesRCoolPainting is a organisation/business that I (James) set up... I make a lot of video painting tutorials (I've got a pretty big Youtube presence) and I just generally like showing others how to paint so I also do articles and am now posting regularly on the blog on my website over here:

http://zombiesrcoolpainting.weebly.com/




But enough about ZombiesRCoolPainting... who's the guy behind it all ???



Well as I already mentioned my name is James, I'm 16 and I live down in Tasmania (in Australia). I've been painting for 3 or so years and in that time I've improved my skills dramatically. I've gone from sloping paint on night goblins from the old battle for skull pass box set to winning varies online competitions and having my work being admired by all sorts of different people, both online and locally when my mini's are in the display cabinets of my local gaming store (Area 52).



My goal as a painter is simply to continue to improve and one day I'd love to be able to win a Golden Demon...

So thanks for sticking around and I hope you all find this "Modeling Diary" interesting and informative as I will certainly be aiming to include tips and tricks as well as wip's of my own work.





Cheers guys, any questions or comments feel free to get in touch

So here's a finished DA bike !!!

I've been filming the entire process so i'll have a video tutorial made on this guy as soon as I get back from my holiday

In the meantime, here's a quickie on how to get nice dust effects on your mini's and bases !



1 I began by prepping the base and the bike tires black (though any underlying colour can be used)

2 AK Interactive medium rust and AK pigment fixer were combined to form a paint like consistency and applied all over the base and other areas I wanted the dust and grime to appear.

3 AK light rust and some lighter yellow pigment colours were stippled on to the wet pigment and fixer mixture to brighten the colour and atchieve the neances I was going for.

4 the finished results !

As you can see it get's quite nice results, particularly for the amount of time it takes... very easy but quite effective

Naturally you can alter the colours used to create different dust/dirt types or environments.

Cheers guys, be posting again in a week or so when I get back from the sunny seaside

Oh and btw, if you want to pick up some of the AK stuff (its fantastic stuff to have around for weathering effects) you can get them within oz over here: AK Interactive Products @ Tabletop Empires

For the international guys, maybe check out Wayland or somewhere like that

Oh wow, your models look fantastic.
Do you airbrush your miniatures? If no, how did you achieve such a smooth black on the biker?

Hi all, I'm back with a vengeance!!!

Had a fantastic holiday by the seaside but now i'm right back in to painting mode... that being said with school starting in 2 days and several big competitions that I am entering in nearing an end the pressure is on...

Here's a look at what's on my desk... There's 5 separate projects.

1 A medieval archer on a finished woodland themed base ready for primer

2 A medieval knight with separate swamp style of base (model to be painted separately) ready for primer

3 The beginnings of what will be a rather grumpy banana wielding a sledge hammer (novelty competition category entry) a looong way to go on that guy...

4 Some random historical samurai mini's that i'm painting up for a rule book + the beginnings of a display base (top secret hush hush stuff)

5 and least impressive is a lone 28mm knight... no base yet and no real inspiration so we'll just have to go with the creative vibes and see what happens...





going to be a nightmare trying to get it all done in time but i'm sure we'll get there in the end!

I've just finished the foundation of the neat little display base i'm doing for the 2 Samurai mini's i'm painting up for a historical rulebook...



I've just used a plastic container, plaster, foam and a small block of wood to achieve the results so far. As you can see i've bent a piece of flexible, clear plastic around the base rim to hold in the plaster to create nice smooth edges to the vignette/diarama. Think I might include a waterfall and have the two guys ankle deep in water like they are charging through a shallow river to get at their enemies... What do you guys think ?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Comments anyone ???

I've just finished the basic texturing and scenery on this diorama base and while I had the camera out I thought i'd mention how I achieved the effects on this base (I'm often asked about that sort of thing...)



I start of using a clear 2 part epoxy resin and I coat most of the base with it. PVA glue is the traditional medium and it works fine but I like the resin because it can be poured thicker allowing things to be "buried" in it deeper.

I allow the resin to dry a little before adding anything to the base so it has some resilience.



I then start out with the largest texture elements (not counting and plants/trees etc) so I begin with some slate chips, then large gravel, coarse sand, fine sand and finally a combination of dirt, flock and sawdust.

I then work on the plants, I scatter tiny pieces of dry plant roots (simulating twigs etc) and some bits of static grass before going on to use some lichen to create miniature trees. I see so many people who mess up this stage so if you take anything from this article, remember this... Don't just dump clumps of the stuff on the base!!! You need to pull it apart so it forms small tree like formations. This will create a beautifully realistic looking effect that can never be achieved by just gluing a random clump of the stuff to a base which I see so many people doing.

And that's it! really very simple to do but the effect is very nice (particularly when painted... it's hard to get the full appreciation when it's in it's current state).

If you don't have some already, be sure to pick up some lichen, it's a fantastic material for creating realistic bushes/shrubs/small trees and I have never seen a true equivalent of this material anywhere else... personally I use the Army Painter stuff.



To my Australian viewers you can get this at a really good price from Tabletop Empires over here: http://www.tabletopempires.com.au/index.phproute=product/product&path

To all the international guys maybe check out Mini Wargaming or The War Store...

Cheers Guys, catch ya in the next one

Hi all, haven't posted in a while, i've been super busy working on a bunch of models, here is the guy i'm working on right now!

freehanding... yay

Hi all, i've been working solidly on my medieval knight figure and have finished the whole thing including the horse... just need to do the base!

The last thing i've been working on is the shield, I spend 1-2 hours on the free hand... I've never done that sort of work before, do you guys think it looks ok ?

Decided to stop updating this wip log because no one seems to be interested, sorry if anyone is, cheers to those that have been commenting etc, if you still want to be following me check out my blog!