My First Miniature, or How I Learned to Thin My Paints and Love the Journey

Back in mid-2007, I was introduced to the joys of painting miniatures by friends Kyle and Ben. The latter has been particularly kind and gracious in showing me the ins and outs of this hobby over the last 13 years. I decided to to start a Praetorian force for Warhammer 40k (since I love the movie Zulu) and got a few figures in a bundle on eBay. Sly Marbo was also included and I decided that he was to be my first test figure.

Armed with Delta Ceramcoat and cheap Michaels brushes, I set to work! I don’t remember how long it took me to finish painting, but I remember how proud and excited I was when I finished. I remember Ben telling me that it was really good for a first figure.

Let’s quickly contrast him with my most recent 40k figure.

Wow. It’s amazing what 13 years can do!

I’m kind of embarrassed looking at this figure now, but I think it’s important. It’s a nice reminder of how my skills and techniques have evolved. That, and memories of all the help and encouragement I got along the way from friends and family. I’m still not the greatest painter (nor do I expect I ever will be), but I’ve really gotten to enjoy the learning process (which has been tough at times given my perfectionist tendencies).

I want to close this post with an awesome web comic that really spoke to me, courtesy of OK Blue Comics on Tumblr.

Finished Catachan Test Figure

Finished up my Catachan test figure today, and I’m really happy with how he turned out! I know I say that often, but it’s rare for me to happy with how my work turns out. This dude is one of the old school metal figures. I picked him and others up on eBay for a good price and plan on interspersing them with the plastic figures.

It took a bit longer to do the figure than anticipated (it’s always like that for me when working out a new color scheme). But now that that’s sorted out I think I’ll get through these figures pretty quickly.

“The jungle...it just came alive and took him.”

I admit it: 1987’s Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of my favorite films. It’s a highly quotable, classic action film with a great cast and filled with iconic scenes. For me, one of those best scenes is when Dillon (played by Carl Weathers) meets his end...but not before getting his arm blown off.

With my recent Catachan project going full steam ahead, I knew I had to replicate this scene in 28mm. What better way to do it than as an objective marker?

This was an absolute joy to make! I’ve decided to use dried parsley flakes on all my jungle bases from here on out, which gives it just a little more depth. Once everything was varnished and sealed, some of Games Workshop’s Blood for the Blood God technical paint was applied. I worry about the marker being too gory, but I also feel it captures the feel and tone of both Predator and Warhammer 40k in general.

I may make some some other markers based off the movie, but there are also so many other iconic scenes from Vietnam War movies as well. We’ll see.

Painting Dark Skin (Plus my Catachan Test Figure)

I’ve been surprised at some of the reactions I’ve gotten on the dark skin for my Catachan test figure (still very much a WIP) on Facebook and Instagram. I figured I’d post a little tutorial on the simple method I used to do it. Enjoy!

My mostly finished Catachan test figure!

Truth be told, this was my first real time painting dark skin. None of the armies I’ve done before have had black people in them, so I definitely wanted them represented in my Vietnam-themed Catachan army. I'm really pleased with how it's turned and overall I found it much easier to paint than light skin.

First off, prime black (though I suppose grey would work too) and put down a base layer of Games Workshop Rhinox Hide. A wash of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade was applied afterward.

The face and muscles are then highlighted with Vallejo Flat Brown. For a handful of future models,  I’m going to experiment with Games Workshop Mournfang Brown in some future models. I think that'll give my army a nice variety of skin tones.

Then – and here’s my special addition – I apply a thin wash of Agrax Earthshade again to knock down the brightness a bit and tie all the colors together. That’s pretty much it!

It's a pretty simple but effective method, but I quite like it. Hopefully you found this helpful!

Jungle Fever!

While stuck at home, the urge hit me to try my hand at making some jungle bases. It came out of nowhere really, but I realized I had all the necessary parts. Using this awesome tutorial from Games Workshop, I set to it. I did stray from the video a bit and throw in some skulls and fallen branches (courtesy of a fallen branch in our yard....how meta).

The underside of the barbed bracken was under coated with Death Guard Green. I also strayed a bit from the tutorial on this, but I didn’t want to run the risk of any bare plastic showing on the final product. While this was drying, I slapped on some old GW texture paint (from four years ago...yikes!) and allowed it to dry. I glued in the branches and skulls while the texture paint was still damp. I waited until the texture paint was dry to glue in the flora. 

With everything dry and in glued in place, the bases were also given a spray of Death Guard Green. 

Once dry, I randomly picked out the leaves with Elysian Green and Warboss Green to give things some variety. The fallen branches were painted Steel Legion Drab. As the tutorial specified, everything was given a wash of Athonian Camoshade, then the plant bases, stems, and branches were given a wash of Agrax Earthshade. Everything was then dry brushed with Screaming Skull.

Speaking of skulls, they were heavily dry brushed with Screaming Skull and then given two coats of Skeleton Horde Contrast. I liked the “earthiness” of the color mixed with hints of the original Death Guard Green. It reminds me of examples I saw in my Anthropology classes back in the day at Fullerton College. 

This was also my first time using a light box! I'd picked it up for cheap on eBay a few months ago with the purpose of photographing both my minis and Teresa's jewelry. Full disclosure, I did adjust the brightness and contrast in editing but I feel it does the best job of showing the bases' details. 

Additionally, while running errands yesterday I hit Curio Cavern and went through their bits box. To my knowledge this is currently the only bits box in Northern Virginia (since the Island Games closed last year). I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of jungle pieces they had! I'll definitely be incorporating these on future bases and scatter terrain.

Now that I have jungle bases, I think it's only natural to put proper figures on them.

Yup, the classic Catachan Jungle Fighters for Warhammer 40k. I used to hate these guys when I was first getting into the hobby but they've grown on me over the years. Plus they're not the ubiqitious Cadians that every Imperial Guard Astra Militarum player seems to have. They're different and that's something that really appeals to me.