Shout Out to The Painting Clinic (aka: Doctor Faust)

When I started this crazy hobby of ours back in 1999, there wasn't much in the way of resources outside of Games Workshop published material, but the internet was starting to take off and a local group formed which we called dcareaminipainters.  While monthly meets were at a local game store we also used an internet group messaging service (bought out by Yahoo) to communicate.  Eventually there became a larger national and then international internet group on Yahoo and that's where I bumped into Dr. Faust and his minipainting website called the PaintingClinic.

The PaintingClinic quickly became a go to resource for me and over the years I've referenced back numerous times.  Eventually he started a YouTube channel and has now abandoned the website altogether which he explains why in this video here (an excellent little history lesson by the way on the beginnings of using the internet for group collaboration as well as a bit of a tirade on internet trolls and life lessons - I found it all interesting).

Every now and then I get an update of the latest videos from channels which I've set as a favorite - I've viewed a few of PaintingClinics videos but those viewings have been few and far between as they've been mostly sci-fi material or armies - neither of which I'm much interested in.  However, within the last month he's been on a Dungeons and Dragons kick and painting singular minis for his gaming sessions - that's awesome!

While I explain my style of painting as a "layering" approach and I write up the steps/paint in each layer within my blog posts; the PaintingClinic videos SHOW you exactly what it means to use the layering method as well as a glaze to blend the layers together.  These are some fantastic videos and I want to give a shout out to some really cool stuff - the benefits of layering is you get 90% of a fully blended look with 20% of the effort - most of his work is within a 2 hour time period.

As of this blog post - here are the videos...

Reaper Ranger Part One
Reaper Ranger Part Two
Reaper Dr. Orontius Part One
Reaper Dr. Orontius Part Two
Reaper Bones Ogre Part One
Reaper Bones Ogre Part Two
Reaper Bones Hell Hound
Ral Partha Copper Dragon Part One
Ral Partha Copper Dragon Part Two

I highly recommend taking the time to watch these videos.  They're all very nicely done (even have a professional feel to them) and last about fifteen minutes each on average.

Reaper Miniatures' Ghost King - 77161

      

More Bones Kickstarter... next up was the Ghost King from Reaper Miniatures.  Again, the same sculpt as the metal Dark Heaven Legends line - item 2991 at $7.99 - but, the price of the Bones is $2.79 - about a third of the price - great value!  Unfortunately, this model also displays the issue that's a downside to the Bones line - items like the sword are next to impossible to straighten although I've given it my best effort to heat, straighten, and dip in cold water to set.

I really like the sculpt - sculpted by a name I'm not familiar with - Tim Prow in 2005.  Reminds me directly of the King of the Dead from the Tolkien/Jackson LOTR:ROTK images.  Therefore my naming of Mortuus.

The painting method used was a first for me - started with the darkest base colors - Scab Red on the cloak, Graveyard Earth on the robes.  Boltgun Metal on the armor. Vomit Brown on the bones.  Then, I decided those colors were going to be the highlights - so I opened up the Devlan Mud wash and proceeded to "inverse" layer - using the the wash to paint on layer after layer to darken the model - in the end, all paint on the model was washed with an initial layer driving down to where the darkest recesses have about five or six layers.

Painting Instructions for Ghost King (Mortuus):

Step 1: Undercoat model with black paint (not primer - it will eat into the plastic and cause tackiness)
Step 2: Use Scab Red on cloak
Step 3: Use Graveyard Earth on robes
Step 4: Use Boltgun Metal on armor
Step 5: Use Dwarf Bronze on armor trim
Step 6: Use Vomit Brown on bones
Step 7: Wash model with Devlan Mud - continue process over and over working into the recesses to provide highlight to shadow
Step 8:  Drybrush Codex Grey on base
Step 9: Drybrush Fortress Grey on base
Step 10: Drybrush Skull White on base
Step 11: Use Chaos Black on sides of base

An alternative paint scheme that I thought about would be to have a brighter model by making the robes look like swirling magic air - much like the pizza dijinn or the reaping wraith.  Then the cloak could be brought up to a brighter base and the bones could drive to white highlights.

Kickstarter paint total: 51 + 1 Ghost King = 52