Welcome to the last part of this series. After the Authorized Bounty Hunter is basically done, it's time to tackle the base and take a final picture for the Q2 painting competition over at Data Sphere. So, let's get going, deadline is at the end of May.
I wanted the base to fit in with the rest of my army, but also wanted it to stand out a bit - I'm painting for a competition, any extra mile you can go, you usually should go. After pondering my possibilites, I settled on putting some spotlights or light markings on the floor - the stuff you will find in airports and hi-tech loading docks.
I actually had some plastic piping in my extended bitz box and cut very tiny slivers from it and glued them to the base. I also cut tiny pieces from thin plastic rod and glued them to the base, too, to serve as spent shells.
After priming the base, I went for my basecoat mix, that I used for most of my PanOceania army - some GW Zandri Dust and Baneblade Brown with a bit of P3 Cryx Base Highlight. I added a good amount of Zandri Dust and GW Rakarth Flesh to the mix and drybrushed the brighter colour on, moving from the center to the brim with my brush, thus making the brim the lighter area. That way, I get a shadowed area where the mini is supposed to stand.
The second highlight consisted of Rakarth Flesh with P3 Menoth White Highlight, that I brushed on very gently, so that the brighter colour wouldn't cover to much from the previous step. I also only applied it to the brim area.
The base looks pretty rough now - time for some washes/glazes. I used a combination of Devlan Mud, Umbral Umber and Battlefield Brown for this, giving it a darker tint. The glazes were applied in the opposite way from the highlights, from the edge to the center. Now it looks a lot smoother, but still not all that great.
The spotlights were painted with the same grey tones used for the armour of the ABH (see part 2), to have some part of the base link to the colours of the mini itself. The center of the lights was painted pure white. With some thinned down P3 Exile Blue and Turqoise Ink I applied glaze after glaze over the white surface, letting each layer dry before applying the next. To finish them off, a dot of white was added to the center of each spotlight.
The bullet casings were easy. To paint yellow, I usually start off a brown basecoat, in this case again some Zandri Dust. The next step comprised of lots of GW Sundburst Yellow and P3 Sulufuric Yellow added to the mix. I then highlighted the edges with some pure off-white, Menoth White Highlight in this case.
I wasn't happy with the base yet - it needed more work. Freehands are always a great way to enhance a too plain look. If you fell uneasy about trying freehands, try them on your bases. There's almost no harm done on a base and if you are unhappy, simply paint over the failed try. As you might have seen on the rest of my army, I used numbers and letters on the bases, similar to loading bays or tech areas. I paint them with GW Ulthuan Grey, which gives a nice, weathered white look. Speaking of weathering, I added some dents and scratches to the surface of the base. By mixing Battlefield Brown with some black, I applied tiny dots and lines to the surface of the base. Easy enough, right? But to get a believable scratch or dent, you need to paint a brighter dot or line (from the previous drybrushing steps) right next to i. This way, you create the optical illusion of a raised edge next to a depressed area. Neat, huh?
So, the base is done. I'll put the mini in the display case for now and look at it a few times over the next few days to see if I'm satisfied or feel that there's something missing.
In the meantime, head over to the thread of the painting competition and have a look at the other entries. There's some really cool stuff from the other guys that you shouldn't miss out on.
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