To Westeros with Captain Blood! 14 October, another hill tribesman (p66)

[Ogrob]

That's a really nice force! The Blackfish looks great especially, it's a cool interpretation of that character.

[Wulko]

Incredible! I really love your take on the Blackfish!

[Metternich]

Simply superb painting, and amazing character.  I wondered though, why the Blackfish seems to have so little armor.

[Siegfried]

Bravo, sir!!! As always, fantastic work. I wish I could paint like you. So next time I see a flying comet in the sky, I'll ask for your super-painting-powers 

I have a question though, being a great admirer of yours: How do you do the colours for the livery of the soldiers? It's amazing how basic they are to any work of painting, and yet how difficult it is to carry them out well. I've now tried several recipes from various online sites, and the result I've got has always turned out to be the same, dull and opaque. Thus far, I've kept the amount of washes low and the priming white, and therefore has made me think that the error might be in the colours I've been using for basecoating and highlightig. So I wondered if it would bother you to share your recipes for painting your reds, blues, yellows, etc. so bright and tidy as they look in the pictures.
All the same, thank you very much for your time and best wishes!

Siegfried.

[Andym]

Siegfried, have you tried using the foundation paints from GW as a base colour? Might help.

Nice one Capt! Are the wee fishes decals or handpainted? And that banner looks the biz, how have you added the texture in there? I’d swear it looks like real material!

[Captain Blood]

(I like the double wavy line, personally.)

Actually, so do I 
(But I'm being a bit of a button counter on this project - which is ironic, seeing as I don't generally give a monkeys about accuracy on historical figures. But with these, I'm just trying to realise my interpretation of what's described in the books... )

Are the wee fishes decals or handpainted? And that banner looks the biz, how have you added the texture in there? I’d swear it looks like real material!

Thanks Andy. Yes, the fishes are done by hand, which is why they're all a little bit different. Not totally happy with them to be honest. Think they may look a little too comic, but I'm not doing them again...
The flag is just the usual tomato puree tube foil job. No, no texture. Just shading

I wondered though, why the Blackfish seems to have so little armor.

Fair point. I suppose I see him as a bit more of a disreputable old guerrilla fighter than knight in shining armour. (Maybe he wore armour in his younger days, before he became a legendary renegade...  )

So I wondered if it would bother you to share your recipes for painting your reds, blues, yellows, etc. so bright and tidy as they look in the pictures.

Hmmm. I used to have a tutorial up on Steve Dean's site, but alas, Steve's site is no more... Maybe I will remake it here... But honestly, it's pretty much the same technique used by most painters, more or less in line with Kev Dallimore's approach. It's also down to the photography. Bright light, contrast, saturation etc. But if I were to give you one tip, it would be this: Always make your top highlight colours a lot lighter and brighter than looks entirely natural at first. Firstly, most paints dry darker - so always go brighter than you think. Secondly, the brightness / stand-out of a finished figure depends very much on the highlighting and contrast from the shady areas of clothing, armour, skin etc., to the areas in highest relief... That's if you want figures that 'pop'. Many painters favour a subtler style, and that's fine. Just a matter of taste...

[Dr. The Viking]

I like it! You have accomplished a lot with this Westeros business. The fish has a bit of a foetus feeling about it. Worst thing is that the actual thing wouldn't even be out of place as a shield design in GoT I guess.

Less banter, more lauding - Brilliant ser, bravo!  

[Siegfried]

Thanks, Cap! Your advice is very much appreciated. Next time I'll make sure to use some brighter colours for my highlights. Hopefully they will help the figures pop out more on the tabletop!

Hmmm. I used to have a tutorial up on Steve Dean's site, but alas, Steve's site is no more... Maybe I will remake it here...

That'd be great! It would certainly get many of doubts answered, besides just serving as an excellent guide to follow. For by the looks of it, your painting procedure seems to be rather simple, making it a fantastic aid for beginner painters like me!

So thank you, sir! And good luck!

[Darathar]

Those are some nice looking Tullys you have there. I like the heraldry it looks good!

[tomrommel1]

The Tullys are really grand!!!

[Wellington Bonaparte]

Hope you dont mind but I've stolen your  idea to use some of my WOTR Yorkists to give me additional Tully troops, they actually mix in ok with the HYW Perry figures. . For me its your  kit bashing and use of green stuff I love, the painting is so incredible that I'm just in awe, but I may be able to knock up a few reasonable conversions to make my Tully/Stark/Lannister troops more interesting. Thanks for all your updates, amazing stuff 

[Magos Kasen]

Just caught up on the last few pages, and wow, such inspirational stuff as always

[Captain Blood]

Thanks gents, for your very nice comments
Wellington - steal away. That's what the forum's here for. Sharing ideas and prompting new ones.

[Ogrob]

I don't think the GoT Compendium thread would have nearly as many entries if we couldn't steal the Captain's ideas

[Duff]

Get in!