Giraldez's "Painting Miniatures from A to Z"

Fairly soon, Angel Giraldez is going to take the miniature painting world by storm. Many of us know of the studio painter behind Corvus Belli's well-sculpted miniatures, and Giraldez is about to release a book after much (and often painful) anticipation. I discovered Infinity the Game back in July, and upon its discovery, I immediately googled "Corvus Belli Infinity Painter".

Giraldez attended his first GenCon this past August as a guest artist and has since gained a large online following. As he grows his social media presence, he's becoming more & more active on his Facebook page. Recently, he's been focused on promoting his upcoming book release, "Painting Miniatures from A to Z" Masterclass Volume I book. His upcoming release promises to show us the secrets of his interesting hybrid of airbrush and hand painted techniques that form his signature, dynamic style. Many "teasers" have been posted on his Facebook page to add to the hype and it's obviously having an effect-- his fans are chomping at the bit for more information about pre-ordering information. 

 

In the meantime, Giraldez has released some great step-by-step tutorials of the Infinity Kum Riders to give us a taste of what we can expect from his upcoming book. He has an amazing ability to make larger, "big picture" effects seem almost effortless. While I have not yet dabbled in airbrush techniques (but will someday!), I can appreciate his simplified, yet practical approach to miniature painting. I'm sure he developed it out of necessity! When Corvus Belli provides several miniatures to be painted to a high-quality standard in a short amount of time, a talented miniature painter must find faster ways to achieve similar results. 

While I have little experience painting futuristic miniatures, I've attempted to mimic his style in a small way: by outlining the edges of metal weaponry. For example, I've used a Corvus Belli Infinity Djanbazan Hacker WIP to practice this technique: 

I admit, it takes a lot of patience, especially since I've never before attempted to outline such a detailed weapon in white. However, now that I've seen his tutorial, I'll be using a light grey rather than a white. Lesson learned! I love learning new things and practicing new techniques– that's what truly excites me about Giraldez's book. He had complete creative control over its development and  if it delivers all that it promises, it will help grow miniature painters worldwide! One day, I'll invest in an airbrush, but in the meantime, I'll be painting more futuristic miniatures and practicing Giraldez's stylish techniques learned from his new book!

Out Sick

My illness came back and I'm still out sick. Apologies for the lack of blog post this Thursday! Finally feeling better and I'll be back as soon as possible.

Ursula · More True Metallic Metals (Part 2)

This is a continued experiment with gold True Metallic Metals. I haven't used a lot of the metallic paints before and I haven't practiced any TMM techniques since painting Lord Ironraven. In this experiment, I wanted a bronze, greenish-effect on the battle axe of Reaper Miniature "Ursula". I also wanted to paint some fun, bolder colors on her hair and bodice. I haven't painted orange hair before, and it was an interesting contrast to dull down the metallic paint and build up bright colors elsewhere on the miniature at the same time. 

For the metals, I painted a base coat 50/50 mix of Privateer Press P3's "Blighted Gold" & "Rhulic Gold". Then I added multiple, thin layers of Reaper "Green Shadow" to give a green tint to the metallic base color. I then highlighted and edged in Rhulic gold, though it doesn't read very well in these photos (a definite downside to TMM). Natural light definitely helped in these photos, and I'll soon decide if I want to paint a few touch-ups that will look better on camera and then take final pictures. For the rest of the colors, I used a wide range of Reaper paints:

  • Hair: Rust Brown, Marigold Yellow, Pure White
  • Bodice, Gloves, and Belt Sash: Surf Aqua, Blue Liner & Leather White 
  • Fur: Leather White, Brown Liner
  • Scale Cape (I call it her "Acorn Cape"): Olive Skin Shadow, Brown Liner, Leather White
  • Axe Handle: Olive Skin Shadow, Brown Liner
  • Eye Patch: Olive Skin Shadow, Leather White, Brown Liner

I decided not to line the TMM metal edges in an off-white and paint "hot spots" in a pure white, a common practice in NMM-- I'm not convinced I should mix the techniques. I think that matte white paint may stand out too much from the metallic paints and distract from the intended effect. Otherwise, I'm pleased with Ursula as a TMM practice miniature. She's one of the minis that's been sitting on my shelf for a long, long time after years of being intimidated by both TMM & NMM techniques. I improve only by experimenting with these different techniques, and I always learn something new each time I try-- some lessons learned from mistakes, others are happy accidents that I try to recreate on future miniatures.