Work In Progress

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2010-10-11: update - added second picture showing use of scorched brown for lettering and an attempt at making a brass plate nametag - brass plate was done using bubonic brown for the base, then adding skull white and making a line through the top middle, then adding more skull white and adding another line on top of that - then adding black dots for the "rivets".

Additional sample - a plankwood - bubonic brown base with bestial brown on top with scorched brown lettering and holes with boltgun metal bolts.

Final additional sample? - two more pics - one using actual metallics - nope - looks awful - then back to using bubonic brown for the base, then bleached bone in the middle, finishing with a strip of skull white in the very middle (in essence the highlighlighting goes inwards - darkest on the outside and "shiniest" in the middle).

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Didn't get a lot of painting done this weekend - simply a basecoat and a little test I'm working up.

The next project is going to be another Reaper of a rogue - this time I'm doing him up all in a single color - brown - but the real point of this post is to take a look and showcase the naming of a miniature. It's something I've been wanting to do for awhile and just haven't thought about how I want to go about doing it.

Two thoughts...

1st - is to put a signature on the model and a date - either year or month/year

2nd - when playing an rpg and plopping down a bunch of minis - it's difficult to keep track of all the minis on the table for the NPC (non-player characters - the ones being ran by the dungeon master / game master / judge) - typical conversation:

player: I'll attack the green orc
judge: which of the six
player: the one on the left side
judge: there's three on the left
player: the one with the sword
judge: there's two with a sword
player: the one that has the red doohicky thingy on his body

and so on... - whereas it's really easy to google up an orc name and finding a website - now if you dropped on the table Vrunk, Kridish, Bruuk, Hork, Hagdush, and Buulg; then the role playing will go a whole lot faster when the player announces they're going to attack Vrunk!

I've also thought about just putting numbers on them - or a little flag with a number on them, but how boring is it to say elf attacks number 7 when the player can say Calaitharnith attacks Vrunk.

I was also thinking about freehand white lettering the name on the base, but I thought it a bit boring and therefore never did anything.

So I recently came across the website of Glyn Evans who goes by the name Zaphod. About 2004 he started to sign his stylized name of Zaphod on the base of the miniature in what looks like a tattered scroll - he eventually gave that up for a stylized Z and the year - then on his latest minis painted for gaming he used the tattered scroll affect for putting the miniature name on the front - another example - I really like that idea and I gave it a try tonight.

I started out with a set of white lines to make a solid block. Then I "yellowed" them with some bleach bone in the middle. Followed that up with some black cutouts. Finally the lettering - my consulting is Zingodia Systems - Zingodia is a bit long to use - so I used Zing and the year.

For my first try:
- tattered edge is good - I think the cuts on top and bottom is a bit much
- lettering is too thick - need a bit more practice
- black lettering is too strong - probably a bestial brown would be better - aged lettering goes brown - can give scorched brown a try as well