It's a pain in the butt to get static grass to stand upright (without using one of those fancy static-electricity rigs). What I end up doing is to literally put the model upside down until the glue dries. If you have a good clear-coat on the model, it won't hurt anything. Tufts are much easier to use than static grass.
This is not perfect but works better than one thinks it should: Get a shaker for herbs or spices, that has big holes. Fill it with the static grass. Shake it from waaay above (not just a little high, but very high). On the way down the fibers more or less fall upright. The result is better than the usual, although not as good as a proper static grass applicator. Good enough for basing i'd say.
Noch puffer is such a shaker, maybe part of the magic is being (an exact kind of?) plastic. Bic or similar plastic ballpen can be used as remote comb/attractor, after rubbing it against wool. Also you can buy a fly swatter and make an electric applicator on the cheap, or buy premade from someone else. Pics (and advice, like "paint the ground first") http://www.youmagnificentbastards.com/2013/02/static-grass.html
There's many guides on making applicators with a fly swatter on the internet (the first 2 matches in this search show one being built and used, and the third uses it to make tufts, works rather decently for something so cheap), but this guide shows a more professional-looking and durable homemade one: I for one will wait until i can buy a good one, but honestly i'd rather prioritize getting myself an airbrush, i suspect i'd get far more mileage per buck from it than people that make more terrain and stuff, maybe i'd even be able to make a dent on the pile of shame!
Thank you all for the kind words and advice on getting the grass to stand upright. I applied a generous amount with a gentle bit of pressure, turned upside down to remove the excess and then used my vacuum cleaner from 6 inches away to try and suck them all straight! Oh well, next time I'll avoid modelling a large grassy area like a garden so I can stick with tufts! The glow effect was achieved by 1) painting the 'light' pure white; 2) mixing a bright green (citadel scorpion green) with lots of water 3) Using a little of my coloured water (dabbing off excess from the brush), I moved the brush from the middle of the light area to the edge. This way, pigment was ending up at the edges. I had to repeat this many times, waiting for the previous layer to dry completely before reapplying the watered down green. At the end, I used a less watered down green over the orange border to create the OSL effect. I do the same thing for the blue, yellow and red lights on the model.
I do it slightly differently: - apply PVA glue - apply a lot of static grass - like, cover the glue in 5+mm thick layer of grass, you don't want a thin one - press lightly onto the grass with the flat of a knife to make it stick - turn around over a container - lightly tap the base a few times with something hard so the shock knocks most of the grass off The thick layer and tapping does the job, it's little effort but the grass sticks up much better than just glued on the normal way.
Here we have the next batch finished! The skin tones are still giving me pause, so I think I'll try my best to avoid them for now :P I wish the Kameel was more useful than a cheerleader - it took a lot of work and I would like to 'use' it more than plonking it in a corner in total cover. Oh well, enjoyed it :) Always looking for feedback on what to improve.
Thanks, @archangeleong . I used (all citadel): Mordian Blue (shade), The Fang (base), Fenrisian Grey (highlights), Abaddon Black (deepest shade), Druchii Violet (final wash in the shadow areas).
Skin tones - best way - get wet palete - and before painting create gradient of a desired skintone - it will not dry in next 2 0 ~30 minutes (if palete is made corectly ) and you can easy applay correct tones from there - and add warm hues in shadows and cold in lights (or in reverse depending on preference )
Thanks for the tip, @maru . I do use a wet palette, but I'll try creating a gradient of my skin tone first and pay attention to warm and cold hues. I'm doing the Djanbazan HMG dude-bro at the moment, so his bulging biceps will give me a chance to practice.
Woo next few done! I did as Maru suggested with a full gradient in my palette for the skin tone - and I think it worked well, especially on the Djan arms. Look forward to using these guys on the table.
Congrats Skin looks way better :) next tip Before you paint a skin do not start from black / white start from Green or blue (or even purple if you are up for certain elfish artificial look ) you start from green - cover a skin areas with it - let it dry - then paint as usual skin tone :) - enjoy way more natural look
What kind of green, @maru? No models this time, just some terrain. I found a use for my old classified cards as poster-type boards!
Mostly different brightness of Grass / Sap green Grass green will give you a bit colder feel when sap green is warm one if you look at Joan of Ark the one from Hot and dengerous her skin was started from underpainting of Sap green - this is just a stock photo of a hue - you may get similar hue from almost all minature painters brands :) you will find Joan on 4th page of my topic - the one in armor and red banner ;) on page 3 you will find a Dragon Lady mini - this one is from purple a good start is a bright sap green - it is "bottle green" colour - quite vivid one - this adds a warmth and helps a lot with "glowing skin" effect Edit : IMPORTANT - do not mix skin colours with green on palette - applay green / glue / purple on skin area and let it dry ! (or you will end with orks / slanesh demons )
You may also want to study portraits with green underpainting (look images for those two words). Or look for verdacchio, that is the classic name for it.
Nice skin tones! Dunno about the green, but one friend of mine always used a blood-red as the base skin color for his minis, then built up his colors from there.
it is called monotone red will define warmth colour from the base and i would not use it as if you would like to get a neutral tone you need to applay crazy high covering paint or a mix with green to neutralize owerwhelming red but if you start from green or blue *(pains grey ) you already got "shadows" so all you need is lights and skin color it up " and add blushed " just by a thini amount of red
Super interesting. I will deffo be trying a green and red base on the next few, thanks for the advice! For now, here is an attempted camo effect - do you think it 'pops' or can I do some more work on it?
