Zulu war 28mm project

[Ranthony]

Hello folks,

I'm relatively new to the hobby, maybe a year in and have never gamed before as I enjoy the painting aspect first and foremost.

If I may, I'd like to ask for feedback on my figures from time to time as I recognise there is much room for improvement and there are so many talented painters here.
Some I intend to sell, others to create a battlefield diorama.

These are 3 sculpts by he renowned Paul Hicks for the Empress miniatures zulu war range.

I start with a black grey undercoat, fill in the main colours then wash in the appropriate colour, so red wash on red etc, then highlight a shade lighter and cover in soft tone before highlighting skin again.

Can I ask, what am I doing right/wrong, how do I improve (any quick tricks), do I need to change anything that's just 'not quite right'?

Any and all feedback will be much appreciated.

[Norm]

A lovely job, more of the same I would say :-)

Do you put a varnish on to protect the paint job?

[Ranthony]

Thank you Norm.

I'm content with the figures but really hope to be able eventually to emulate the work of charles baynon and Kevin Dallimore if at all possible.

I have found a style that's similar to baynon circa 2011 so a long way off yet.

Yes, I use vallejo matt varnish, brushed on sparingly over two coats.
It's great stuff but occasionally decides to shine a little too much so I have a bottle of army painter anti-shi
ne to hand.

[Grumpy Gnome]

They look good to me, although I am hardly an expert on the period (I know more about the movies Zulu and Zulu Dawn than the actual history the movies are supposed to portray).

I have not had much success with Army Painter anti-shine out of the bottle but thankfully brush on Vallejo matt clear coat has rarely let me down. I want to see if spray version of Army Painter matt clear coat can help with my sometimes too shiny static grass. But that said last summer I had some unhappy results with spray on matt clear coats (Army Painter and Citadel) I suspect due to not waiting for optimal weather conditions.

Your painting looks good to me. I might have gone a bit heavier (edit: not heavier, I think I mean sharper... something to make the band around the crown of the helmet pop a bit, maybe a different base paint color under that band from the helmet? Maybe a tiny bit of black wash on the band to pick up the line between the band and the helmet? This should break up the helmet color a bit to make it more 3d in appearance from a distance) with the wash on the helmets but it looks good as is.

I used to only use washes of the same color as the paint but after watching some tutorial videos on YouTube I started experimenting with surprising wash/paint combinations to allow more diversity in shades of color. You might find that works for you as well but then you might not. My last batch of painting was a bit too “muddy” for my taste, perhaps down to not cutting the citadel null oil wash with any medium or water. But being Napoleonics I put it down to smudges from using black powder in the field. And I notice my painting style is not as vivid or bold as many other folks. I am lazy with highlighting for example.

We can all talk about technical artistic skill but I think Art is very down to personal taste.

And I like your artwork!

[Ranthony]

Thank you Rick.

I had a rather discouraging moment with spray on varnish, looked as though I'd glossed a figure, I don't remember the brand though, seemed the better idea to stick to brush on after that.

I'll try out what you've suggested, and post up the results, sounds like a effective method.

I appreciate the kind words

Cheers

[Grumpy Gnome]

I have benefited from feedback on my painting in the past, always happy to try to pass on the help I had.

[Ash]

In case you haven't seen it, Empress's next 'lockdown deals' will include a lot of Zulu Wars British, going up around 09:00 tomorrow (Monday) morning.

[Ranthony]

Thanks for the pointer Ash.

I was going to purchase a pack for £12 when I saw that postage within the UK brings it up to £22!

That's absurd if it's not a system error, I dread to think what their international rates are.

[Ash]

Wow, that's 'shurely shome mishtake'.
Just checked my last orders and paid a very reasonable 75p P&P on a pack of four (so £1.50 for eight figures) & £1 on a pack of six figures, a pack of 10 blokes should have been around £1.75 not £10..!

[Ranthony]

Wow, that's 'shurely shome mishtake'.
Just checked my last orders and paid a very reasonable 75p P&P on a pack of four (so £1.50 for eight figures) & £1 on a pack of six figures, a pack of 10 blokes should have been around £1.75 not £10..!

I'd better email them.
I'd like the figs and would be a shame to pass up

[AdmiralAndy]

Great looking paint job on the whole.

It maybe the lighting but the Pith helmets look a little dark, but then I've no idea the colour range of tea stained white hats are, but I thought of it as more Beige than a solid light brown.

Is that a Colonel Durnford in the back? Where did you get him from? Is it another Hicks figure?

[Ranthony]

Hi Andy, thanks for the kind words.

Yes, I did wonder if the piths were too dark but once a number of figures are gathered together, I felt it added to the 'Victorian' feel with colours somewhat muted.
As far as I understand it, by and large, the troops used mimosa bark, which is a little more effective than the tea some used.

I think I'll switch things around a little and have a few in new and brighter tunics/hats.

Durnford, that's a Hicks sculpt yes, comes in a pack of 2, mounted and foot from Empress miniatures.

Some lovely characters across that range.

[cram]

Look good to me!!

When it comes to you painting the Zulu's this link might be of help: http://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2019/10/zulus-to-southwest-thousands-of-em.html

I have many many hundreds of these lovely plastic Zulu I have to paint through, so might with most of them take this fast but quite attractive approach by Aly!