Chris Palmer
This past week I started the Pirates set and painted the Mariel Twinspar, Female Pirate figure.
I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then I gave it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsed and dried it. Next, I glued the figure to a black-primed 1" fender washer with Aleene’s Tacky glue, and then glued the washer-mounted figure to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer’s glue.
I began by painting the skin with a mix of Americana “Shading Flesh” and GW “Bronze Flesh”. When that was dry, I gave it a wash with GW “Agrax Earthshade” wash using a wet brush. When the wash was dry, I then painted her top with Crafter’s Acrylic “Storm Cloud Grey”, and her pants with Americana “Zinc”
Next, I painted the lining of her coat, and facings with Accent “Mustard Seed”. Then I did the outside of the coat with Crafter’s Acrylic “African Violet”. I then did her gauntlets with Folk Art “Barn Wood”.
Painting the boots, belt, and pouch with Black was next. Then I painted her hair with Ceramcoat “Maple Sugar Tan”; and when that was dry, I gave it, and her gauntlets, a wash with the “Agrax Earthshade” wash using a wet brush. Next, I did initial highlights on her top with Americana “Dove Grey”.
I then did final highlights on her top with White. Then I did highlights on her coat lining and facings, first with Accent “Golden Harvest, and then with Crafter’s Acrylic "Bright Yellow”. Next, I did the highlights on her pants, first with Americana “Neutral Grey”, followed with the “Storm Cloud Grey”.
I then turned to highlighting her coat, using a mix of the “African Violet "and Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender”. I then painted her epaulettes and the handle of the sword with the “Mustard Seed”, and the scabbard with the “Zinc”. Next I painted her hat and eyepatch with Black. I then painted the feathers in her hat with the “Golden Harvest”.
Next, I painted her eye, and I painted her pupil/iris with the “African Violet”, I then mixed a little of the “African Violet” with some of the “Shading Flesh”, and added a bit of eye shadow. I painted her lips with a mix of the “Shading Flesh” and Americana “Opaque Red”. I then highlighted her skin; beginning with a mix of the “Bronze Flesh"and the "Shading Flesh”, and then I added a little Crafter’s Acrylic “Flesh” to the mix, and lastly I added a little White to the mix. I then highlighted all the Black parts by mixing a little Ceramcoat “Denim Blue” with the Black.
I turned now to highlighting the plume on her hat using first the “Bright Yellow”, then some Crafter’s Acrylic “Daffodil Yellow”. I felt it still needed a little definition, so I gave it a light wash with the “Agrax Earthshade” wash using a wet brush. Next, I worked on her hair, using first the base “Maple Syrup Tan”, and then using Americana “Buttermilk”, and lastly some White.
Next, I worked on the metallics, painting her sword hilt, scabbard fittings, and epaulettes with, first, Ceramcoat “Bronze”, and then with Ceramcoat “14K Gold”. I then painted her scabbard, and belt buckle with Folk Art Metallics “Gunmetal Grey”, followed by highlights with Folk Art “Silver Sterling”.
At this point I decided I wanted to get a little fancy, and decided to do some free hand floral designs on her coat. I first painted small stems across the coat using Americana “Olive Green”; I then went over the stems again to give them dimension, using Crafter’s Acrylic “Holiday Green”. Next, I painted half a flower bud with Crafter’s Acrylic “Bright Yellow”, and the other half with Crafter’s Acrylic “Daffodil Yellow.”
Lastly, I painted he base with Americana “Mississippi Mud”. Since my pirates usually fight on board ships, or in taverns, I usually don’t flock them. After the figure had overnight to dry, I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat “Matte Varnish”. The next morning I sprayed the figure with Testor’s Dullcote.
I’m very pleased with how this pirate turned out. I’m glad I made the extra effort to decorate her coat, though in retrospect I wish I had taken a little more time with it, and concentrated on spacing and uniformity of the designs more.
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Unbelievable detail, especially for the cloak and the feather. Always enjoy your work, thanks for sharing.
Your comment about fighting on ships and bases intrigued me as I did a half-orc pirate for my daughter Ellen (who I believe you met last year at Barrage). Anyways, I used matchsticks (bought in 1987 in Germany no less) that I sized up to create a base for her that resembled a ship’s deck – here is the link to see if this would work for you (there are two female half-orcs but one is a pirate):
https://markamorin.com/2016/01/24/reaper-dark-heaven-legends-female-half-orcs-for-my-daughter-ellen-morin/
What do you think?
Thanks, Mark!
That base you did (as well as the two figures!) is really great. I don’t know if I have the patience for such tedious work; especially if it’s for more than one figure! But it certainly is a trick I will file away for just the right time. Thanks for sharing it! 🙂
Appreciate the nice comments – it (deck making on bases) actually went faster than other project tasks that I have done – I ended up splitting the matchsticks in half lengthwise, and sizing up to the base, and using tweezers and wood glue. Of course Carson glasses help immensely!