Citizens of Gierburg: Girls Girls Girls

Hi guys!

Today I would like to show you some of the female civilians I painted for Gierburg. All models are from Black Cat Bases.

The first model is this unfortunate Captured Noblewoman. Fancy clothing. It is my first shot ever at painting make-up on a model (I like my women natural normally ^^) but I thought I'd give it a try. I also placed a teeny tiny white spot in the lower lip to simulate light reflection.
I think that doesn't look too bad.

Next is a young woman of far less noble stock, but in turn she knows how to take care of herself: Jeny, the Wench.

Last is the Innkeeper's Wife... another one. I thought Stilhoufen already had a wife called Bertha... but who am I to judge - I prefer not to get involved in these things. At least this confusion would explain her bad mood:

I like to slightly accentuate faces with pink to simulate bloodflow. It makes the models look much more alive. In real life, faces are most often not monochrome, but have different colours. The cheeks and lips are usually better irrigated than the rest of the face.

To achieve this effect quite simply on your miniature, all you need to do is add a very small amount of red to your mix and water it down well (consistency of milk). The 2 things to keep in mind are

1. Don't add too much red. It is better to add another layer than to have clown-like red cheeks.
2. Water down the paint. Why? Because it makes it more transparent and more subtle. Also, should you inadvertedly mask recesses with it, you can quickly "save" the situation by absorbing the excess paint with a fresh dry brush (capillary forces are your friend here!)
   

Then carefully accentuate zones where you imagine bloodflow e.g. lips, cheeks and nose.

Citizens of Gierburg: Vendors

There is a number of different types of merchants operating in Gierburg. Vendors wander the narrow ways of the south, pushing a small cart or with a tray around their neck full of wares, usually some sort of light snack or beverage to aid a thirsty traveller.

Hey guys!

It's Tom reporting on Cianty's blog again. The painting is going well and there are plenty of new Gierburg citizens that I want you to "meet". Today I'm showing you two characterful figures from Alionas Miniatures that I painted for the Gierburg Project: the Fishwife and the Appleseller.

First is Hazel, the Fishwife. This is one of my first models entirely with Vallejo paints (save for the wash on the apron for which I used GW Devlan Mud.

I find fish can be a little tricky to paint, since it is hard to get the colour right. Everybody has a mental picture of a typical fish, but when you ask what actual "color" it is, it is tricky to define. I would say, most commercial fish are black-ish or silver-ish. However this would not necessarily look very recognisable on a miniature. So I decided to go for green, with the following recipie:

1. Basecoat VMC US Dark Green
2. Add VGC Camouflage Green increasingly and overbrush (stay mainly on the dorsal side of the animal)
3. Repeat with the same mix, but add a drop of VMC Dark Sand (Arena Oscura) and only overbrush the dorsal side.
4. Give the whole fish a wash of watered down VMC US Dark Green

The other vendor is Johan, the Appleseller. This is a model where you need to do some careful highlighting, shading and possibly some blending. The shirt is rather intricate (although it doesn't look like it) because its folds are deep enough to require shading but shallow enough to look unnatural if overdone. It took quite a while to get the mixes of VMC Tierra Mate and VMC Arena Oscura right, and I had to work my way back and forth between the different hues on the model to zero in on what I found to look best.

Enjoy the pics!

See you soon with another post!
Tom

WIP sneak peek of more Gierburg citizens coming soon