Now I highlight, using single strokes. This is where the figures really come to life. I use a Robert Simmons 10/0 brush, and mix most of the shades myself, adding - depending on the base colour - white, cream or yellow to the mix. The exception here is that I used GW orange to highlight the red, as it comes pretty much exactly where I think a red highlight ought to fall; it's a deep, blood-orange shade rather than tangerine.
I paint most of the metals at this point. Here I used Folk Art silver, with some black added for the guns.
The eyes are done as follows:
- Paint in a white almond shape
- Dot in a black pupil and an upper eyelash (a single line)
- Use the deep flesh tone to reshape the eyes, to avoid the popular 'heroin addict' look
Lastly, I go over the figures to make sure that there are no egregious spots of red-on-white and white-on-red. These will always show up in photos, if not to the naked eye.
Basing
I usually prefer to base figures on washers. I buy them in boxes of 100 at a local independent hardware store, and they cost $0.03 USD-$0.05 USD each according to size - more for larger washers, of course. After priming with a spray of the usual grey, I glue the figures in place.
Once everything has dried, I smear pre-mixed spackle to merge the figure base with the larger washer. In this case I could have left the spackle 'as is', since I wanted snowy ground. However, I painted the whole base with white craft paint, and sprinkled Woodland Scenics snow over it for a freshly-fallen look.
Sparkly!
