Chuck1372's Simian Legion Report

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unknown member writes:

Hi, everyone! Here is my workbench article featuring the Gorilla legionaries. I had a great time painting them, and am grateful to everyone that voted to give me the chance to do so.

First off, a little background about myself. My name is Chuck Lapine and I live in Wisconsin. I've been gaming and painting for over twenty years. I paint alot more than I play, unfortunately, but lately I've been trying to rectify that.

I just started getting to the point where I think my figures look good. I think it just takes time to develop your eye. I tend to use mostly craft paints - mainly because they are cheap, but also, they have a great range of colors. Craft paints do have their drawbacks, but with my painting style, they are pretty minimal.

On examining the figures, I was impressed with the size and heft of the figures. They are beefy figures, with just enough detail without being a chore to paint. There was very little flash or mold lines.

I decided early on that I was going to file off the design on the face of the shield. I felt that the design wasn't pronounced enough for me to paint cleanly.

I also decided to mount the figs on larger bases to make them easier to handle. After getting the OK from Bill, I picked up a bag of round Inquisitor-scale bases. I glued the figs down and filled in the base with wood putty. While the putty was drying, I pressed in assorted sizes of aquarium gravel and small pebbles. When that set, I covered the whole base in diluted white glue and gave them a light dusting of fine sand.

I primed all the figs black using GW black primer, and went back and fixed the spots I missed with a coat of GW black ink.

Once everything was dry, I started on the metal areas. I prefer to do the metal areas first - that way, I can deal with any rogue metal flakes later on in the painting process. I gave the breastplate and helmet a drybrush of GW Tin Bitz, followed by Ceramcote Hammered Iron, finished off with a light drybrush of Vallejo Chainmail silver. I saved the piping that goes around the armor for a later step.

I started on the fur next. I dyrybrushed the fur in the following colors.

1. Charcoal (Ceramcoat)
2. Wedgewood Blue (Americana)
3. Hippo Grey (Ceramcoat)
4. Mudstone (Ceramcoat)
5. Bridgeport Grey (Ceramcoat)
6. Drizzle Grey (Ceramcoat)

I switched to a smaller brush with the Mudstone color, so that I could work in some highlights without totally obscuring the previous layers. I followed this up with a light wash of Charcoal. For the hands face and feet, I started with the Hippo Grey. I then mixed in a little water and Bridgeport Grey and blended it in. It only takes a drop or two of water to make it work. I just dunk my brush once or twice and let a drop or two fall into the mix. I added in more Bridgeport Grey until I was using straight Bridgeport Grey. As you work lighter, try to paint within the boundries of the previous color without totally covering it. For the final highlights, I did a mix of Bridgeport Grey and Drizzle Grey and a little water. I used this on the raised ares like the lips, knuckles, and eyebrows.

I detailed the face next. I painted the eyes with a coat of white, followed by orange, followed by a dot of yellow. I finished off the eyes with a tiny dot of black for the pupil. I painted the teeth with a coat of Mustard (Ceramcoat) finished off with a coat of Old Parchment (Ceramcoat). Next I painted the tongue with Tompte Red (Ceramcoat), highlighted with a mix of Tompte Red and Fleshtone (Ceramcoat).

For the tunic, I started with a basecoat of Eggplant (Ceramcoat). I followed this with Hexed Lichen (Vallejo). I highlighted this with a mix of Hexed Lichen and Deep Lilac (Ceramcoat) mixed with a bit of water - I worked this up to straight Deep Lilac. For the final highlights, I mixed Deep Lilac with Lilac Dust (Plaid). I finished the tunic by painting the trim with Old Parchment.

For the trim on the armor and on the shield, I used Metallic Pure Gold (Folk Art). I painted the center of the shield with Old Parchment. I then gave the gold areas a wash of GW Chestnut Ink. For the design on the shield, I used some waterslide transfers from Veni Vidi Vici that I ordered from Wargames. I know what my strengths are, and hand painting the original shield design wasn't one of them. To finish off the shield, I dappled on a little Chestnut Ink around the outer edge of the Old Parchment.

I did the sword blade with a coat of Hippo Grey highlighted with Hammered Iron. I finished it off by painting on a little Vallejo Chainmail silver on the very edge of the sword blade.

The only thing left was the base. I painted the whole base in a nice dark brown, drybrushed with a couple of different lighter shades of brown and tan.

I also did a nice movement tray (not pictured). I just cut out the rounds out of a piece of cardboard, and sandwiched it to another piece of cardboard. I finished it using the same technique as the figures bases.

Sorry I wasn't able to provide in-progress pics. I only had access to a flatbed scanner, and that was at my parents' house about a half hour away. I hope the pics are still useful and that I was somewhat informative. Best of luck to all the other contestants.