Step by Step - Infinity DáoFêi - Part 2

I hope you have enjoyed the first part of my Step by Step. Here is the second part in which I will share some thoughts about "basing" with you.

Basing in my opinion is the most enjoyful part of our hobby. The mini is nearly finished and now there are only few things left which could go wrong. By having a good base the atmosphere of your paintjob will be supported and the "story" you want to tell will come "alive". So it´s important to have a lot of good material you can use. You can use almost everything, for example tobacco (for tree fungi), clear plastic (for icicles or waterfalls), Pelikan stuff (for spider webs)... there are only few limitations and the only thing you have to do is to test new materials. Always be openminded and try new ways! :-)


In this second part i´d like to show you two examples of how you could create a jungle-like atmosphere. The already known DáoFêi and the Predator (by PredaStore).

The DáoFêi (Link to Gallery)

The Predator (Link to Gallery)

I used these materials:

• Mini Natur

• Gras from Faller

• Pigments (made out of "pastel chalk")

• Green-Line Paper Plants by Fredericus Rex

How to use Mini Natur

• A package of Mini Natur often consists of many "pieces" (from small to large), placed on a tape for easy removal. Just use your tweezers to pull them off the tape and cut them into the right size. (picture 1)
• After glueing them on the base you have to decide: does the colour of the plants fit to your base? If not just paint them. As you can see on the pictures I painted them in different colours (green to green-blue), to make them suit more to my jungle-theme. Unfortunatly I just took a picture of the wip-status and the paint was still wet. After the paint dried I used some more layers to get the final colour (not shown). (pictures 2 & 3)

1) Mini Natur often consists of many small pieces

3) ... and painted them

2) I just glued the pieces on my base...

How to use Grass form Faller / creating moss

• It´s very easy to use the Grass-Powder. Just mix some of the powder with matt varnish and mix it. You´ll get some cloddish material. (picture 4 & 5)
• Just fix the material on the base. (picture 6)
• Paint the "moss" to get the best effect for you base. (picture 7)
• Here an additional approach by Raffa.

4) mix the powder with matt varnish

5) mix it and you´ll get some strange cloddish material

6) fix the material on the base and let it dry

7) paint it to get the best effect

How to use pigments

• I used "pastel chalk" (don´t know if it´s called this in English) for creating my own pigments. I like using this material as I can mix different colours to create my own, perfect fitting colour. Here I mixed a dark brown and orange to meet the base of the DáoFêi. (pictures 8)
• Unfortunatly I did not take any pictures while using the pigments. But Roman has written a nice tutorial about it. There are many nice effects you can create with pigments. I used them here to get a dry, dirty trail throught the jungle. You can see the difference slightly on the pictures. Pigments are also perfect to "connect" the mini with the base by making the feet a bit dirty (pictures 9 & 10)

8) by mixing different colours you can create the perfect tone for your base

9) the base without pigments

10) the finished base with pigements (e.g. the feet)

How to use Paper Plants

• I use the Paper Plants always at the end, when everything else is finished. It much easier to do it this way as you´ll have handle a lot of problems if the plants are already in place and you´d like to add some more stuff...
• At first I decided which plants I want to use for my minis. As you see on the picture above, there are two kinds of "basic" versions of the paper plants: a white and a green one. I used both and both have their sense. If you like to have brighter plants, use the white ones, if you´d like more greenish plants I´d recommend the green ones as a basis.
• I tried two ways of painting the plants. At first I cut the plants out of the papers and painted them via airbrush (not the best idea as they will fly anywhere). If you cut them out I´d recommend to use your brush for painting them. The second attempt was much better: painting the plants while they are still in the paper. By doing so you´ll have much more control! (pictures 11 & 12) 
• Hint: If you paint the plants in green I recommend to paint the downside a little brownish.
• After painting the plants, cut them out and bring them into a nice position. There is nothing more boring and "unrealistic" than flat plants. I recommend to use the backside of you brush to bow them. Just use some pressure and move the brush... the plants will bow automatically. Just use you fingers or tweezers to do the details work (pictures 13 & 14)
• Hint: before fixing the plants on the base, place them on it to see if the colour/choice of plants/positions was right (picture 15)
• Use super glue to fix the plants on the base. I always paint some details (light and shadow) afterwards to get the best effect.

11) cutting the paper plants out of the paper. not the best idea!

12) much easier: paint the plants in the paper

13) use the backside of your brush to bring the plants in the right position

14) Paper Plants ready to use

15) just place the plants on the base before you fix it and see if everything works out fine

16) the finished miniature

I hope you enjoyed this detailed Step by Step and some of you could get some new ideas :) if you have any questions just feel free to ask here via placing a comment or send me an email:

baphomet[at]massivevoodoo[dot]com


Regards,
Peter