UMS "Agram" : Preparation and painting with contrast/speedpaint paints

Preparation and painting with contrast/speedpaint paints – Cthulhu Wars

Mario Grgurev, 4th February 2025

In this article I describe my process of painting figurines with contrast and speedpaint paints. This is how I painted all the figurines I made for Cthulhu wars. I made them to be "tabletop ready", but I think that with these techniques, a higher quality figure can be achieved, with proper preparation and attention to the precision of details. An example from the pictures is an Acolyte model from the game.

The painting process was almost always the same, with slight variations in the primer and initial shading. The first step is of course the spray primer, which I started with white paint. This is where I did the most variation in the process because after a few tries, I ran out of white spray cans, then light gray, and ended up with a plain gray paint. I realized that the optimal color for this type of painting is light gray spray can – you want to emphasize the hollows of the figure, but not kill the shadow color (like you would with a black or dark gray primer). The light gray spray provides a good base for the shade colors that I apply in the second step, emphasizes the contrast with the white drybrush, and leaves me with the dark color that I apply in the later stages.

The next step, regardless of the tone of the primer I applied, was to apply the shade colors from GW. Which color it was, depended on the primary color I wanted to achieve. For example, for red, blue, and yellow, I prefer a purple, or at least an approximate purple shade. In the example of this model, I used Carroburg Crimson, which is a purple-red tone. Likewise, for green, I used Athonian Camoshade, but in retrospect I should have gone for a warm shade (like red), I like the difference in warmth between contrasting tones better. I colored the leather and books/papers with Seraphim Sepia, the easiest way to contrast the skin color later.

After the shade paint dried, I applied a white drybrush over the entire figure. This is the final step to prepare the figure for painting diluted colors such as contrast.

Let's start with contrasting colors. Given the simplicity of this model, I applied maybe two colors in total, but I did the same thing on more complicated figures. Red over the dress, paying attention to the separate parts I wanted more beige, skin color on skin, brown on the book and Skeleton horde for the beige parts (to get the dirty fabric effect). I used speedpaint medium on many of the dark contrasting colors to thin them out, but sometimes it didn't work very well. On large areas, such thinned paint leaves stains that need to be cleaned up.

The last step is to define the details of the model and potentially add highlights. In this case, I subtly touched up the red stain with a lighter red drybrush, painted the dagger with off-white, painted the belt, and added patterns to the open pages of the book. The model is now tabletop ready and the entire process takes about 20 minutes of painting. The only downside is that you have to wait for the various thinned layers to dry, but I usually plan on painting other models in that time.

Latest articles

AGRAM LEGO SECTION - Orient Express

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	U srijedu 16.4. u sklopu naše Agram Lego Sekcije započelismo sa serijom predavanja paralelno sa izradom LEGO makete vlaka Orient Express!

	Prvo predavanje u ovoj seriji je počelo u 18:00 i trajalo je otprilike 45 minuta u kojem nas je naš Mario upoznao sa pojavljivanjem vlaka u pop-kulturi.

	

	

	Ulaz na predavanja je besplatan i otvoren za sve te prijave nisu potrebne.

	

	

	Izrada makete je rezervirana za članove Agram Lego Sekcije. Ukoliko se želite uključiti u sljedeće projekte, javite se za više informacija na ums.agram@gmail.com .

	
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Mario Grgurev, 18th April 2025

March to Hren28 week 2-3

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	Our team is preparing to perform at the Turnip28 tournament called H.R.E.N.28 in Slovenia in July. Ana, Mario, Domagoj, Seb and Antoni assemble their armies and paint, and we follow them on their way!

	  

	ANA: "Continuation of last week's Fodder unit. I basecoated the shoes and hats in black and some details in red and washed them with a brown wash.

	  

	After that, I started adding additional shading and the first highlights on the uniform.“

	  

	  

	ANTONI: "I named the army (cult) for Turnip28 Feast of Charybdis. The entire army is based on crabs. And it will consist of 1 Toff, 2 Toadies, a cannon and a unit on "horses" of three pieces and 12 Napoleonic British soldiers who will form the gunlines.

	  

	In addition to those figures, there will also be this Scuttler that I worked on this week. It's a cool unit because it doesn't deploy in deployment, but comes out of the mud in the first turn and gets some crazy charges"

	  

	  

	  

	MARIO: "My army/cult is based on elephants/birds and it's called March of the Proboscis. The story behind the cult is that the main elephant eats everything it comes across and the rest of the army follows and camps behind it and vultures on the remains of its victims. I started with elephant conversions.

	  

	... and then I continued to convert the other figures. In fact, the army will be made up of an elephant (Probiscis) with a figure lying in a deckchair stretched between two trees on the elephant's back. Next to him there will be 6 x brutes (men-at-arms), then 3 x Bastards (knights on horses) and 12 x Fodder (Austrian Napoleonics) whose heads and torsos I will change..."

	  

	SEB: "My cult, called Knights of Shellwood, as you can probably gather, will be based on shells, but also snails. There will be a lot of conversions, more or less swapping heads on Napoleonic warriors, with shells instead of heads.

	  

	The army will consist of a Toff (leader), 2 snail knights, 4 cheffs and 1 unit of 6 Brutes. Today I started work on the second snail knight which will actually be a cannon.“

	  
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	Naša ekipa se sprema za nastup na Turnip28 turniru pod nazivom H.R.E.N.28 u Sloveniji u srpnju. Ana, Mario, Domagoj, Seb i Antoni slažu svoje vojske i farbaju, a mi ih pratimo na njihovom putu! 

	  

	ANA: „Nastavak na unitu Foddera od prošlog tjedna. Basecoatala sam cipele i šešire u crno i neke detalje u crveno te ih powashala smeđim washem.

	  

	Nakon toga sam se bacila na dodatan shading i prve highlighte na uniformi.“

	  

	  

	ANTONI: „Vojsku (kult) za Turnip28 sam nazvao Feast of Charybdis. Cijela vojska je bazirana na rakovima. I sastojat će se od 1 Toffa, 2 Toadiesa, topa i jedinice na „konjima“ od tri komada te 12 napoleonskih britanskih vojnika koji će tvoriti gunline.

	  

	Pored tih figura, bit će i ovaj Scuttler na kojem sam radio ovaj tjedan. Fora je jedinica jer se ne postavlja u deploymentu već izlazi u prvom krugu iz mulja i dobiju neki ludi charge.“

	  

	  

	  

	MARIO: „Moja vojska/kult je bazirana na slonovima/pticama i zove se March of the Proboscis. Priča iza kulta je da glavni slon ždere sve na što naleti, a ostatak vojske ga prati i kampira iza njega te se lešinari na ostacima njegovih žrtava. Krenuo sam s konverzijama slona.

	  

	... a onda sam nastavio konvertirati ostale figure. Zapravo vojsku će sačinjavati slon (Probiscis) sa likom koji će ležati u ležaljki razapetoj između dva drva na slonovim leđima. Pored njega bit će tu 6 x brutes (men-at-armsi), zatim 3x Bastards (vitezovi na konjima) te 12x Fodder (austrijski napoleonci kojima ću mijenjati glave i torzoe…“

	  

	SEB: „Moj kult, pod nazivom Knights of Shellwood, kao što mu i i me kaže bit će baziran na školjkama, ali i puževima. Bit će podosta konverzija, manje-više zamijene glava na napoleonskim ratnicima kojima ću umjesto glava postaviti školjke.

	  

	Vojska će se sastojati od Toffa (vođa), 2 snail knighta, 4 cheffa i 1 jedinice Brutesa od 6 komada. Danas sam počeo rad na drugom snail knightu koji će zapravo biti top.“

	  

	 
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Marko Paunović, 17th April 2025

CSSR 1986 Diorama part 7

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time, we take you behind the Iron Curtain to Czechoslovakia. 

	  

	Next are the final details, which are not necessarily connected to each other, nor were they done in the chronological order in which these articles are published. They simply were not connected to the rest of the story in the articles, so they all deserve their own mish-mash article. First, preparing the substation for painting by spraying the interior black. So that it will be dark inside through the openings in the doors and windows. Once the substation is fixed to the base, this will be impossible to do.

	  

	From the clear plastic that I also used to make the fence, I cut out the shape of the window for the substation.

	  

	In the box with the bits I also found a barrel in good scale so I assembled that too.

	  

	Finally, there was corrosion on the door. First, I thinned the holes in the gate panels using a drill.

	  

	Then I added hinges to the door and gate. I made them out of paper clips.

	  

	I also added a lamp above the entrance to the substation. Given the thin rod it hangs from, I drilled a hole in the substation wall and pinned the lamp that way.

	  

	This concludes the work on this diorama. Now it's time for painting and vegetation.

	  
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	U ovoj seriji članaka pratit ćemo moj rad na novoj diorami, još jednoj u nizu serijala 1986. Ovoga puta, vodimo vas iza željezne zavjese u Čehoslovačku.

	  

	Na redu su završni detalji, koji nisu nužno povezani jedni sa drugima, niti su odrađeni u vremenskom slijedu kako izlaze ovi članci. Jednostavno, nisu bili povezani sa ostatkom priče po člancima pa su svi skupa zaslužili svoj miš-maš članak. Prvo, priprema trafostanice za bojanje na način da je unutrašnjost posprejana u crno. Tako da kroz otvore na vratima i prozorima unutra bude mrak. Jednom kad se fiksira trafostanica na bazu, to će biti nemoguće napraviti.

	  

	Od prozirne plastike od koje sam napravio i ogradu, izrezao sam oblik prozora za trafostanicu.

	  

	U kutiji sa bitsima našao sam i bačvu u dobrom mjerilu pa sam i nju sastavio.

	  

	Za kraj je ostala korozija na vratima. Prvo sam rupe u pločama na kapiji stanjio koristeći bušilicu.

	  

	Onda sam dodao i šarke na vrata i kapiju. Njih sam napravio od spajalice.

	  

	Dodao sam i lampu iznad ulaza u trafostanicu. S obzirom na tanku šipku o kojoj visi, izbušio sam rupu u zidu trafostanice te na taj način pinirao lampu.

	  

	Time završava rad na ovoj diorami. Sad je na redu bojanje i vegetacija.

	  
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Marko Paunović, 10th April 2025

CSSR 1986 Diorama part 6

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time, we take you behind the Iron Curtain to Czechoslovakia. 

	  

	We are slowly coming to the end of this diorama. Apart from a few more small things, the main job that remains is to make the concrete parts. First, we will make the concrete slabs for the pedestrians. To do this, the simplest method is to cast them from plaster. So first, let's make a mold.

	  

	I made a mold of thin strips (2 x 2 mm cross-section) on plastic foil. I made a grid for the panels. This way, the panels will all be the same thickness and shape.

	  

	I then poured some sand into the mold – to simulate the pebbles in the composite concrete slab.

	  

	Then I mixed the plaster with water until I had a pasty mixture and then poured it into the mold.

	  

	Using the rest of the batten, I leveled the boards inside the mold.

	  

	While the plaster was drying in the mold, I added a little water to the remaining mixture and used a paintbrush to paint over the concrete parts of the diorama. The sidewalk and the concrete part of the fence.

	  

	In the meantime, the plaster in the mold had dried and I was able to remove it. The more flexible the foil, the easier the job will be. .

	  

	We checked again to make sure everything fit and when we were sure everything went according to plan, we could glue the parts together.

	  

	We coat the base with PVA glue (do not thin it too much) and place the concrete slabs in their place, making sure to leave some space between the slabs for texture and later vegetation.

	  

	All that's left is to add some details to the diorama base and this process is complete.
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	U ovoj seriji članaka pratit ćemo moj rad na novoj diorami, još jednoj u nizu serijala 1986. Ovoga puta, vodimo vas iza željezne zavjese u Čehoslovačku.

	  

	Polagano dolazimo prema kraju izrade ove diorame. Osim par još sitnica, glavni posao koji je ostao je izrada betonskih dijelova. Prvo ćemo napraviti betonske ploče za pješake. Da bismo to napravili, najjednostavnija metoda jest lijevanje iz gipsa. Stoga prvo idemo napraviti kalup.

	  

	Na plastičnoj foliji sam izradio kalup od tankih letvica (2 x 2 mm poprečnog presjeka). Napravio sam raster za ploče. Na taj način, ploče će sve biti jednake debljine i jednakih oblika.

	  

	U kalup sam zatim nasipao malo pijeska – kako bi simulirao kamenčiće u kompozitnoj betonskoj ploči.

	  

	Zatim sam zamiješao gips sa vodom dok nisam dobio pastastu smjesu te ju potom ulio u kalup.

	  

	Koristeći ostatak letvice, izravnao sam ploče unutar kalupa.

	  

	Dok se gips sušio u kalupu, dodao sam malo vode u preostalu smjesu i kistom prešao preko betonskih dijelova diorame. Pločnik te betonski dio ograde.

	  

	U međuvremenu se osušio gips u kalupu te sam ga mogao izvaditi. Što je folija fleksibilnija, posao će biti lakši. .

	  

	Opet smo napravili provjeru da li sve paše i kad smo se uvjerili da je sve prošlo po planu, možemo zalijepiti dijelove.

	  

	Premažemo podlogu PVA ljepilom (nemojte razrijeđivati previse) te postavimo betonske ploče na njihovo mjesto pri čemu pazimo da ostane malo mjesta između ploča za teksturu i kasnije vegetaciju.

	  

	Još je ostalo samo dodati nešto detalja na bazu diorame i ovaj proces je gotov.
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Marko Paunović, 10th April 2025

CSSR 1986 Diorama part 5

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time, we take you behind the Iron Curtain to Czechoslovakia. 

	  

	After the gate, it's time to tackle the rest of the fence. First, we'll make a post that will hold the closed part of the gate on one side and the open pedestrian door on the other. We'll make the shape of the post (and the rest of the fence) from linden slats with a cross section of 5 x 5 mm.

	  

	To fix this part of the fence properly, I decided to pin the batten to the base. I drilled a hole with a drill and put a staple in it. I glued it with superglue, and the fence post with PVA glue to the base. (NOTE: be careful not to use superglue on Styrofoam or Styrodur, as the glue will eat through it.)

	  

	Once the post was glued, I added both doors also with superglue.

	  

	For the second part of the fence, I decided to make part concrete and part steel. The concrete base, like the post, will be made of slats with a cross section of 5 x 5 mm.

	  

	I drilled holes in the fence posts at the same heights so that we could thread thicker plastic rods (2 mm) through them.

	  

	Then I glued the wooden parts together and threaded the horizontal bars through them. This made the structure very sturdy.

	  

	I then started making the cross bars in the fence from the thinner bar (1.5 mm). I glued everything together with superglue (although we could have done these with plastic glue as well).

	  

	The next step was to glue the fence to the base. I did this using PVA glue.

	  

	Finally, I added the second part of the gate and glued it together with superglue.

	  

	This concludes the construction of the fence and gate. Next time we will tackle the plaster and the construction of the concrete slabs.
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	U ovoj seriji članaka pratit ćemo moj rad na novoj diorami, još jednoj u nizu serijala 1986. Ovoga puta, vodimo vas iza željezne zavjese u Čehoslovačku.

	  

	Nakon kapije, vrijeme je da se bacimo na ostatak ograde. Prvo ćemo napraviti stup koji će držati zatvoreni dio kapije s jedne i otvorena vrata za pješake s druge strane. Oblik stupa (i ostatka ograde) ćemo izraditi od lipovih letvica 5 x 5 mm poprečnog presjeka.

	  

	Da bismo dobro fiksirali taj dio ograde, odlučio sam pinirati letvicu u bazu. Izbušio sam bušilicom rupu i u nju stavio spajalicu. Zaljepio sam ju superljepilom, a stup ograde PVA ljepilom na bazu. (NAPOMENA: pazite da superljepilom ne idete po stiroporu ili stiroduru jer će ga to ljepilo nagristi.)

	  

	Kad se stup zaljepio, dodao sam oba vrata također superljepilom.

	  

	Za drugi dio ograde sam odlučio da bude dio betonski, a dio čelični. Betonsku bazu ćemo kao i sa stupom napraviti od letvica 5 x 5 mm poprečnog presjeka. .

	  

	Stupove na ogradi sam bušilicom probušio na istim visinama kako bismo kroz njih mogli provući deblje plastične šipke (2 mm).

	  

	Potom sam zalijepio drvene dijelove i kroz njih provukao horizontalne šipke. To je učinilo konstrukciju jako čvrstom.

	  

	Od tanje šipke (1,5 mm) sam onda počeo raditi poprečne šipke u ogradi. Lijepio sam sve superljepilom (iako bismo ove mogli i sa ljepilom za plastiku).

	  

	Sljedeći korak bio je ljepljenje ograde za bazu. To sam učinio pomoću PVA ljepila.

	  

	Za kraj, dodao sam i drugi dio kapije i zalijepio ga supreljepilom.

	  

	Time završava izrada ograde i kapije. Sljedeći put bacamo se na gips i izradu betonskih ploča.

	 
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    ["first_name_mask"]=>
    string(5) "marko"
    ["last_name_mask"]=>
    string(8) "paunovic"
    ["username"]=>
    string(5) "marko"
    ["password"]=>
    string(40) "3bd37b326d19d1880d3b93a4b32e8fb3a90fa122"
    ["born"]=>
    string(19) "2033-03-07 20:35:00"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2009-06-02 20:37:03"
  }
}