Round Three Report from Garness-at-Home

Dread Pirate Garness writes:

Hello, all. Firstly, I would like thank Bill and i-Kore for such a wonderful contest. This format has really pushed me to try new techniques, and greatly increase my picture-taking ability. I would also like to thank everyone at TMP who has keep me going this far. It is my sincerest hope that I provide a report and figure that deserves to continue on in the contest. With that said, here is to advancing to the next round.

The figure is Vidar Wolf Helm, a Dwarf hero or champion of some notoriety. When I first looked over the figure I wanted to do 3 things:

1. set him in a winter setting
2. do something with his kilt/loin garment that would speak of the Celtos background, and
3. give him a magic sword of some sort

I began by drilling a hole in the left arm and the left hand of the sword portion. I was concerned the sword would not stay in place, so I decided to pin it. Once that was done, I cleaned some of the flash off on the pelt, arms and legs. Then I primed the figure in Rustoleum Grey primer. I really like grey primer because it does not dull/darken the figure, nor does it make it too bright.

I then began working on the kilt. The Dwarves are supposed to be Viking raiders from a winter wasteland. I wasn't sure there were any Scottish Vikings, but the idea of a highlander-type grizzled veteran appealed to me, so I did a web search for various tartans. I did not think red or yellow really worked, so I began with a dark blue using Vallejo Navy Blue. I had in mind to use a simple pattern, so it would stand out a bit but not have all the detail lost in a mish-mash of colors.

I then used Americana Black as a border for the other colors. I did wide black lines, both vertical and horizontal. Many painters ask me how I get my black lines so neat. The trick is: it is really much easier to paint a wide black line, and then fill in later with a thinner line of another color. If I should happen to "paint outside the lines," it is really easy to go back and clean up with the black.

For the vertical lines I used a Americana Med. Green Hausser. (GW Goblin Green would work as well.) I painted these as close to the edges of the black as possible without covering up the black. It is OK if you ever have to do more than one bit at a time, better to do 2 or 3 thin lines and get a neat edge than to do 1 big one and have lots of clean up.

I then used Ceramcoat Blue Heaven for the horizontal lines, and mixed the green and blue for the squares in between.

Lastly, I highlighted the green with GW Striking Scorpion green, and added white to the Blue Heaven to highlight the blue. I added little black crosses to the navy blue squares, and then painted black borderlines in between the light blue and green. I did actually paint the black lines all the way through the green and blue, but it looked horrible - like railroad tracks all over the place - so I went back and painted over them.