From Zero to Hero: Ltd. Allister Caine - Cygnar Warcaster

 Hey guys,

just a quick one for you today. The moving-in with my girlfriend is taking form and that leaves me with very little time for the hobby these last few days. But expect it to pick up, once the move is over and I'm settled into my new home.

Preview of the finished miniature

I started to work on the base and glued down to skulls. Caine is a badass and deserves a nice base to show just how big a sharpshooter he is.

I locked down all the basecoats first. VMC Ivory for the cloth, VGC Falcon Turquoise for some of the details. The Hair and Skulls where painted with Extra Opaque Heavy Brown, the straps and buckles on the uniform with VGC Leather Brown. For a nice bit of contrast, the kerchief on the neck was painted with VGC Vermillion. Finally, the face was based with Tallarn Flesh.

All the paints where thinned at least 1:1 with Magic Water (10:1 Water to Flow Improver mix).

For painting the rim of the cloak and the shinpads, I wanted to give wetblending a first try. For this, I prepared my palette with three colors. The base color, a highlight and a shadow tone. I added glaze medium to all the paints, as that would increase the work window.

For the blend, I started with applying a wet layer of the base and then changed my brush to apply the highlight or shadow tone. A bit of work on the edges of the color transition was then done by glazing over the areas where the colors met with a highly watered down midtone, to achieve a smoother blend.

This was repeated multiple times, until I was satisfied with the results.

The colors prepared 

First pass

Second pass

Third pass

The same technique was then applied to the cloak.

To protect my work and prepare for the next step, the mini was given a coat of Satin Varnish.

I then went over the whole miniature with an oil wash, which recipe can be found in this article. I just refined my technique in comparison the the last time I used an oil wash. I mixed a thinner wash, with a lower paint to thinner ration then before and applied this only sparingly. This made for a much more subtle effect and gave definition to the mini.

After the oils wash.

To lock the wash in, I waited for two days for it to fully dry and then coated it with two layers of Vallejo Polyurethane Matte Varnish.

I quite enjoyed painting this miniature, although the build was not the smoothest. Some parts where bent  out of shape and I had to fill quite a few gaps before painting it. But it gave me the chance to experiment with new techniques, which is always a plus in my book.

Cheers,



IK-Painter