Another shot at OSL

 This is a 25mm Grenadier #8119 Dungeon Raider by Julie Guthrie circa 1993. A shift from my usual 15mm or vintage 25mm, but I purchased this mini when I first started up again, as I wanted to try some object source lighting techniques (never even imagined during my late '70s heyday of figure painting).

It has sat primered for awhile but I thought I would try to get it done for the Analogue painting challenge. As this was to be a the entry fee and a potential gift for another modeler in the challenge, I decided to push a little bit on paints and techniques. 

I preshaded with vallejos and then used the Golden highflows, with the exception of the armor, which I decided to use silver metallic, despite my aversion to metallic. I took some time blending the silver and it turned out better than I anticipated, especially with a very light wash of black.

The eyes took 2 attempts, but came out much better than previous. I can't say it wasn't more of a lucky stab, than a mastered technique. 

The washes I had mixed up were not cooperating, so I made a fresh batch each of black and sepia. Small dots of black on the helm rivets and lined the layers of armor. Sepia tones in other areas. Unfortunately the leggings didn't capture much shading from the pre shading I did, so I added extra wash to the folds. A coat of matte varnish except for the armor in the lantern light pattern, and then the attempt to add light.

The lantern light squares were painted with hansa yellow medium, then lined in the middle with titanium white. I went back and forth between using my airbrush or hand brushing the light on to the figure and decided to go with a makeup brush. Charged it with the hansa yellow medium and brush it out a good 20 times. Barely showed on the parchment paper - still came off the brush like crazy. 

Luckily I started with a very light touch, and it came out much better than Mr. Ghost. 

I debated darkening the back and far side of the mini with the airbrush. Everything had gone well to this point so I decided to call it, and added a last coat of varnish. 

Lizard men 15mm

 These are some Battle Valor lizard men in 15mm that will be useful for rounding out a selection of swamp creatures. I had a difficult time painting these as I don't think the primer I used was well mixed. It was resisting the base coat in many areas and the shading really didn't work well with the green.

I definitely think the marsh ground work needs extra debris, but it works for photo scenery.

Terrain pieces for pictures

 I've been working on some terrain pieces to take pictures on, and it's an opportunity to get some of the rust out before starting larger areas. I've gotten down into the basement and retrieved some ground foams and equip to make some rubble.  

 

This is a marsh scene. Foam Keep, coffee stir stick bridge and grasses made from twine.

The water was a clear resin product made by Art N Glow. Very happy with it as it is advertised as low odor, and it really was. I poured it in my upstairs hobby nook, and was prepared to take it down to the basement if needed but the odor, although present was minimal so it cured upstairs. 

It behaved as standard clear resin but it is a 24 hour cure. It tints well with ink, and you still get a miniscus.

I think it needs more ground cover to finish it off, but I can add that a bit at a time in the future. 

The desert scene is made on the same 10"x7"x 1/2" drywall base as the marsh. I used drywall because its cheap, has good adherence, and is not overly heavy. 

I made the ridges with cut pieces of pink board covered in home made sculpt a mold. The major rock formations are plaster. I used to have a Woodland Scenics rock mold, but couldn't find it (not sure the mold pattern would have worked), so I used some Equinox mold material and some pieces of charcoal to make rock facing molds.

I painted the base with a mix of 1/3 each, tan latex paint, mod-podge, and baking soda. Makes a very nice sand texture and you can get some small waves and ridges if needed. I couldn't find my silicone rubble mat so I tried the using pink board to cast on and it actually worked well. Not sure you can cast on it twice but you can make a lot of rubble on a single piece then still use it for other things.

I have a few bags of Woodland Scenics talus rubble, but much of the time is seems too round for my needs so I began making my own flatter rubble a long time ago. I can color it by the batch which is also helpful.

Some ground foam and lichen for the grass and bushes and good enough for the time being. 

Art N Glow clear casting and coating epoxy resin was purchased on Amazon. They have a few varieties so look for one that mentions low odor.