| Normally one would skip an artist or do a few other ones before getting another showcase interview, but an exception had to be made for Ray's newest work for Merc Sup 2. Probably one of the nicest camo scheme that I've seen in a long time. |
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| Ray thanks for taking the time for a second interview. |
| RA - Not a problem. I'm happy to do it. |
| First off. Let me say that's some outstanding work there with this mini! What was your inspiration for painting up the mini in this specific scheme since the "Raging Horde" paint their minis to match the terrain? Looks like they are on Mars! |
| RA - Thanks Jimmy. Originally, their paint scheme was "appropriate camo" which left me with many options. But, the one thing all the camo patterns I've recently seen have in common that frustrated me is that obviously they're all Terran themed. In the CBT Universe, this is the year 3067 with hundreds of colonized planets many of which are not Terran in the least. So, I decided to do a Mars-like camo pattern on this miniature. |
| Cool idea! Tell me, where did you get this larger size Elemental? It appears to be much bigger than the standard 25mm Elemental with much nicer details. |
| RA - These are available from Armorcast. They are in scale with the Armorcast 'Mechs (Mad Cat, Vulture, Atlas, Ryoken-soon) as well as being in line with most gaming miniatures produced today (28-30mm). I think everyone should pick a couple up and give them a shot they are beautifully sculpted. I sure would love to see some 28-30mm infantry from all the IS Houses :) |
| The first thing that I notice is the strikingly smooth transitions between the colors on this mini. What technique did you use to achieve this? |
| RA - For the "red" areas of the camo, there was some blending done from the base color (Scab Red over Charred Brown) to the highlight (Blood Red with a hint of Blazing Orange. For the "earth" part of the camo, this was achieved by lining; the camo blob was painted on in Charred Brown, and the blob was then over painted with Terracotta, leaving a bit of an outline. I then mixed 2/3 Vermin Brown with 1/3 Terracotta, and outlined the edge of the camo (as well as highlighting any edges the camo fell on). This made for a pretty neat effect. |
| The "dots" are nicely done; did you just use plain white to do this? Was this an afterthought or actually part of the look you wanted to achieve? |
| RA - The camo scheme I was going for was the "Chocolate Chip" as seen in Desert Storm, except for a Martian environment. I used a Bone White, so that it would sit well visually with the red without being as stark and contrasting as pure white. |
| The missiles are superb. Can you give us a step-by-step on how you did them? They have a "steel" look to them that's almost real!!! |
| RA - Ah...that's the trusty Reaper Armor Gray. I use the color whenever I want a dark rubber or a dull, dark metal. There was no highlighting or shading involved, the color works well on its own. I can't pinpoint the detailing; I looked through lots of elemental pics and also pics of sci-fi models' missiles. I think it may actually be the simplicity of the missiles that make them stand out on this piece. |
| The previous mini (the Zeus) was done with NMM for the metal parts. Did you do the same thing with this mini? |
| RA - It might look like it, but no. The metallic parts on this mini were achieved through drybrushing on black first with Vallejo Tin (looks like a rust metal), then with gunmetal, and lastly a very light brushing of silver. |
| The base work is great. What kind of materials did you use to get the "rocky" ground effect? |
| RA - That's a concoction I made that I use almost exclusively on my historical and fantasy minis, but very rarely on CBT minis. It's a rough mix of spackle, water, white glue, and playground sand. There's a larger percentage of water and sand compared to spackle and glue, so you get roughly a toothpaste texture. Once dry, you get an underlying terrain with "rocks" of varying sizes sticking in it. It looks more natural than just gluing sand on the base. I've found some great products that do the exact same thing, but I discovered them after I created my "sand paste". |
| I like the use of the decals and placement on this mini. Do you find that adding decals to minis enhance a paint scheme or are they used as a "crutch" to cover-up mistakes or a weak paint job? |
| RA - This one's a little tough to answer. I've seen some simple, clean, but not eye-catching paint jobs that suddenly look outstanding with good use of decals. Is that using the decals as a crutch, or is that just part of the process? I think in general they're part of the process - and if you can take a weak looking mini, and somehow make it look good by just adding decals, then more power to you.
I know for me, the decaling process is one of the most arduous tasks when doing CBT minis. While we all know that decals can enhance a paint job, it can just as easily detract or destroy your work. So I try to be really picky when and where I place decals. The trick is to try to apply decals where they would seem to belong, so in effect they become "invisible". I know on the Elemental, there are over a dozen decals, but they don't seem to jump out or steal attention to themselves. |
| One final question, if you don't mind - as an active member in the CBT community - reseller, CSO artist, FanPro Commando, etc. - in your experiences, do you find that well painted minis attract new people to the hobby and hold their interest and excitement in the CBT world? |
| RA - Absolutely. I believe that it helps draw in completely new people, as well as draw in people from the existing miniatures gaming/painting community. When you see well-painted miniatures you want to own those miniatures, you want to paint them, and try your hand at them, and you want to game with those miniatures. Personally, I don't think bare metal or proxies create that kind of enthusiasm. With well-painted miniatures they also lead to an interest in all the other aspects of CBT like gaming - for example:
"Hey this guy looks really cool, what's that?" "That's a Clan Wolf warrior in a Timber Wolf" "What's a Clan?" Or "Hey, who are those red guys? They look pretty mean!" "Those are the Sword of Light, the elite unit of the Draconis Combine." "What's the Draconis Combine?" Etc. |
