Ha Ha
I have just completed painting the Jokers Clowns' Party box as my introduction to BMG 3rd edition. I already own the core box but hadn't actually wanted to start in on it yet for no good reason...I had painted up the Teen Titans for a customer some months back and enjoyed them but wasn't yet drawn to the actual game. I had also bought the 'all in' Batman Gotham city chronicles from Monolith - all unpainted but now had the itch to paint some Batman. In the completely illogical way of gamers everywhere i decided to warm up with Clowns' Party!
So having picked up a set on ebay, assembled, filled and primed it was all systems go but with whom to start? I went with the big guy Borgon.
This was an easy choice as he is the stand out mini in the box and the most airbrush friendly with large areas of flesh and denim made for some nice modulation and blending. The flesh is my usual vallejo flat brown, cork brown, flat flesh, ivory mixes. I successively add eah to the previous to highlight up to get nice smooth blends but keep sufficent contrast between lights and shadows.
The hardest part for me was painting in the name as i literally couldn't make it out for ages on the illustration until my aged brain finally clicked in that it said Borgon but with the B covered!
I used to hate painting letters until i bought my windsor and newton series 7 brushes. A size 1 is perfect for this as it holds enough thin paint but with such a fine point that it doesnt splodge out but runs evenly. I use normal vallejo model color but thinned down with either flow improver in actual airbrush thinner - whatever is at hand.
The rubble is literally rubble as i smashed up some brick, mdf and wood with a lump hamer to make a mix which i just glue on with super glue.
Next up the Joker. as im not a big Batman expert I try to stick as closely as possible to the box art except that i do simplify sometimes when i think some of the added painted details detracts. This is just my preference however. sometimes less is more betterer!Joker was actually one of the easiest in this sense and only his trouser stripes and edge highlighting on the cuffs, lapels and pockets were tricky. Like an idiot i fully painted his face before realising it was going to be whited up anyway.
Here i didn't use rubble as per Borgon as with the smaller bases it doesn't work so it the old sharp sand and pva mix (see blog entry on basing).
Mr Dynamite was next and i initially bodged by using too purple a colour before reverting to the pink. This was a really straight forward paint with the only free hand being the Ha Ha on his back which you cant see because i forgot to photograph his back.
This picture shows nicely the size difference between the miniatures. Borgon is a beast.
Whiteface came next as I wanted to paint the diamond pattern.
This was one of my favourites to paint as it had both the obvious diamond pattern of red and white but also the Green diamonds on the turned back cuffs as well as more trouser stripes. To do the red white diamonds do the white ones first as painting white over red has always been a bad idea. for some science reason the red shows through like a crime scene cover up. This does mean you need to be super careful with the red but the W&N size 1 is your friend. It doesn't show particularly well in this foto but it is possible to shade the red diamonds quite effectively with definite scarlet towards the top.
Rasta clown was another fun job. The pose is dynamic and the interest here was in reducing the amount of detail from the box art. I decided to keep the face make up and the T shirt design but dropped the tattoos and the nose on the batface T shirt.
Ace. again simplified to just the ace of spades and a couple of tattoos. Looking at this i think ill go back and highlight up the green bomb things.
Gaggy was next and was easily the trickiest as not only is he smaller but also has very vague diamonds in parts which meant about half the diamonds are freehand. additionally the pose makes it tricky to reach parts once assembled so best not to attach to the pneumatic thing until painted. Also paint the yellow first as its way easier to do the dark over light than the other way around. I used an ivory base then yellow ochre then lemon yellow with a tincy bit of white for the yellow. The benefit of the airbrush is also visible in the dark to light on the machine. there is also a bit of delicate chipping effect on the machine.
Lastly my two least favourite but easiest to paint figures - Mr Yellow and Mr Green. these were straightforward airbrush jobs with less brushwork.
Since painting these guys i have opened the big box and painted the Batman crew except for shotgun policeman who was missing a leg...fortunately i contacted knight Models and they were on the case inside 16 hours. when it will be shipped/arrive due to the current unpleasantness i dont know.