It's all about the base

It's always a good weekend when I spend it in a class learning new painting techniques. A couple of months ago it was CK Studios and stepping up my airbrushing game. This weekend just gone, it was basing with Oliver Späth of HonorGuard Painting. This is one of a series of UK classes being organized by Journeyman Miniatures. It's great that Journeyman have stepped up here; I feel like the UK has sat in the shadow of Europe and the US in terms of classes (and talent to be honest).

Each of us got a plinth and a model for us to build our base around. This is the first time I've ever really incorporated a plinth into a model in this manner (stupid last minute decision for my last contest entry aside). I've mentioned on this blog in the past that I really prefer to have models that can be used on the gaming table at the end of the day so this class was really outside of my comfort zone.
The Plinth came from Crazy Wenky and is excellent quality (and really affordable compared to other plinths I've seen.

The model was from Red Box Games. Oli brought along a bunch of different sculpts. I opted for this particular sculpt because it reminded me of the Terrinoth (Runbound/Descent/etc) character - Ronan of the Wild. Getting those Descent models painted up has been on my mind lately so I figured I could get some practice in with this chap. Oli's specialty is woodland terrain and I figured this model would also be well suited to this environment.

During the CK 102 class I made a point to be really on top of taking pictures at every stage... that simply didn't happen for this class (I blame the heat!). Oli said he would send over some details of the class and I am hoping they are in depth! There was so much covered I am sure I'll have forgotten much of it.

Day 1:

The first day was intense. The class ran for at least 10 hours and took the plinth from brand new, through sculpting up (see below) all the way to painted with the basic layers shadows and highlights.

Day 2:

We added the foliage and other finishing touches to the bases - reeds, soils etc. We then did final washes to bring things together. A s**t ton of amazing tips got laid on us thick and fast! It was great to be able to try out all these products and be guided through effective ways to apply them.

Overall:

I am still not much of a plinth person. It just seems impractical and I know I don't have the storage space for all these purely decorative pieces. Practicality of this piece aside, this class gave some amazing tips that I am sure I will be implementing on even more mundane pieces.

- Raggy, signing out