Captain ADC to Marshal Suchet, 1811

Note: This tutorial is a work in progress.  As I paint the figure I will continue to add to this tutorial
until it covers the figure from start to finish.

The figure I've chosen is a 75mm scale Napoleonic piece from Pegaso Models. The figure
represents an aide-de-camp. The information provided with the figure gives a brief description of
these officers. Unlike more modern aide-de-camps, in the Napoleonic period these officers often
found themselves in the midst of battle, perhaps having to cut his way through enemy lines to
deliver important orders or information. They often had to risk their lives in order to deliver their
message at all costs. During hard campaigns the life expectancy of an ADC was a mere two months.

Prep

Of course the first step is to clean, assemble, and prime the figure.  This project required some
decision making when it came to how much to assemble before painting.  Normally I'll leave small
accessories like the scabbard, spurs, and sabretache off as they are delicate and easy to knock off
while painting.  However here I also opted to leave the right hand, left arm, and pelisse (coat) off.
The hand and arm could probably have been attached at this point, but there's a lot of detail around
his waist and it will be easier to get to with those pieces unattached.  In addition, the seam on the
left arm will be hidden by the coat, so that won't be a problem.

I went with a white primer, though grey or black would be fine too.  This figure is about half dark
colors and half light so there's no wrong choice.  The white primer will make painting the face and
red pants easier.

I will be painting this figure using acrylics and later some pigments for weathering. Unless notes
otherwise all of the matte acrylics will be Reaper Master Series and all of the metallic acrylics with
be Scale 75 Metal 'n Alchemy. Reaper paints are great, very similar to Vallejo but I have an easier
time blending with them. This is more personal preference and you can do just as well with many
brands. The metals, on the other hand, are Scale 75 and are by far the best water based metals I've
seen. Vallejo Model Air are a close second, but the color options for their yellow metals are far
more limited. 

Painting the Face

I like to start painting with the face.  I begin by base coating the face with Rosy Shadow.  I also
base coat all of the sections adjacent to the face.  So for the hat and collar I used Pure Black and for
the hair I used Brown Liner,  I use a bit of water to further thin the paint, so the base coat take about
2 to 3 layers for full coverage.
I then sketch on the shadows.  I use two reddish browns mixed with the Rosy Shadow (about 3 to 1
brown to rosy shadow).  First Chestnut Brown for the basic shadows and then Mahogany Brown for
the darker shadows around the eyes, under the nose and chin, and in the mouth.  From there I take
care of a few of the facial details.  For the eyes I start with a coat of dark pink (Violet Red + Rosy
Skin).  This is then covered up with an off white (Weathered Stone, and Weathered Stone + Leather
White), but some of the pink remains at the corners of the eyes.  I then paint in the iris followed by
a dot of pure black for the pupil and then a dot of pure white for the catch light.  With larger figures
it's easier to put more detail into the eyes.  Try to do as much as you can, but if it's too small feel
free to simplify the approach.  You can skip the iris and just use a black dot for both the iris and
pupil.

This figure is baring his teeth, so I used some Bone Shadow and Aged Bone to paint them in.  As
with the eyes, avoid using pure white.  These aren't getting direct light so they would not be that
bright.
With the details finished I move to blending in the shadows.  I start with the brown and Rosy Skin
mixes and slowly add in more Rosy Shadow until I'm up to pure Rosy Shadow.

From there I start to add in Fair Skin to create the highlights.  When I'm at pure Fair Skin I start to
add in Fair Highlight for the top highlights.  Use the highlights to further define the shape of the
nose, tops of the cheeks, and chin.
I now switch to the remaining facial details.  The hair starts with Brown Liner, then into Muddy
Brown.  To that I add Tanned Skin and at about 50/50 Muddy Brown and Tanned Skin, I start to
instead mix in Fair Skin for the top highlights.  Be a bit random in your highlight placement (within
reason) to pick out certain parts so the hair doesn't look too uniform.  I also take care of the lips,
using Rosy Shadow mixed with Violet Red.  To that I mix in Fair Skin to brighten it and create the
highlights.
At this point the face looks pretty good, but it's still a bit flat.  To create a more lifelike look I used
several glazes.  I take GW's Bloodletter Red glaze and Guilliman Blue (I also mix the two to form a
purple glaze).  In each case I add at least an equal amount of water to keep the effect subtle and
allow me to slowly build up color.  The red is applied in multiple layers to the cheeks, top of the
nose, and bottom of the ears.  The blue is used on the lower part of the face to create a subtle
stubble effect.  I used the purple to deepen the shadows under the eyes, in the deepest part of the
cheeks, and under the chin. It's a simple enough technique but I think it really adds to the overall
look.  The nice thing is, no matter what approach you use for the rest of the face, the final glazing
step should still work.

Painting the Shako

The majority of the hat is black, not an easy color to work with.  There are many variations on black
so we're not stuck with just black and then neutral grey to highlight.  In this case I'm going with
more of a brown-black.  I'm using Pure Black, Dusky Skin Shadow, and Dusky Skin (a grey-brown
shade).  There's not a lot to the shape of the hat, so to give it some more texture I doing the
shading/highlighting by stippling the paint.  Starting with a base of pure black, I start to mix in
Dusky Skin Shadow and then continue to work up to pure Dusky Skin.  Try to get some reasonably
smooth variations but it doesn't have to be perfect.  In the next step I'll use some glazes to further
smooth the blends.  Because the glazes will also knock back the highlights in this stage I go a bit
brighter with the highlights than I really want the end result to be (middle image).

Now I create glazes using pure black and dusky skin shadow.  I take a drop of paint, add two drops
of Vallejo Glaze Medium.  Then roughly 6 drops of water.  There's a bit of trial and error in this.
Add some water, mix it all together, and see how it looks as you swirl it up onto the edges of the
cup.  It should be semitransparent.  Too thin and you'll be applying tons of layers.  Too thick and it
will overpower all your work from the first step.  Err on the side of being too thin.  If it's not having
much effect on the figure you can always add a bit more paint to thicken it.
For glazes you want to control the flow of paint and only put it where you'd like (unlike washes
which can go everywhere).  So, after dipping your brush in the glaze, gently wipe the brush on a
paper towel to remove the excess paint.  When you then apply it to the figure pay attention to the
direction of your brush stroke.  The most color will be left at the end of the stroke, so think about
pushing the paint where you want it to be.  Also keep in mind that the glaze medium acts as a
drying retarder.  So you need to wait a bit longer between each layer to make sure the preceding one
has fully dried.  Otherwise the next layer will just push the paint from the first one out of the way
and you won't be able to gradually build up the color.

Here I started with an overall coat of Dusky Skin Shadow glaze, pushing away from the highlights.
After one or two layers I switch the black, to darken the shadow areas.  I continue like this until I'm
happy with the overall color and blends.

It's a little hard to show this with the images as the effect of the glazes is subtle and small difference
in the camera's exposure trick the eye.  But the glazes darken the grey and help with the blends.

The next steps are the cockade and the metallic details.  I will be going into more depth on the
metallic details when I cover his clothing, so for now here are just pictures of the end result and a
short description.  For the metals I'm using Necro Gold, Elven Gold, and Citrine Alchemy from the
Scale75 yellow metal set.  I'm also using Reaper's Imperial Purple in the shadows.  I begin with a
base coat of 50/50 Necro Gold and Imperial Purple.  This is over a dark undercoat, the metallic
paints do not work as well over bare white primer.  Into that I begin to mix in Elven Gold and work
up to the mid tones.  For the highlights I start to add Cirtine Alchemy to the Elven Gold and work
up to 100% Cirtine Alchemy.

I've put in some additional texture to the metallic parts.  On the strip around the base of the hat I
painted diagonal stripes, leaving a small gap between each.  As I applied the highlights I treated
these as 3-D and painted the highlights along the upper edges.  The strips holding on the cockade
and the lines on either side of the rings at the top were done by painting a series of dots.  I use thin
lines of pure black to fix any small mistakes with the texturing.  While none of this is necessary, it's
nice to add these extra touches if you feel up to it.

The Dolman

To paint his coat we need to work with dark blue, red, and gold details.  Here I'll focus on the dark
blue and the gold.  There's only a small bit of red so I will go into more detail on that color with the
pants.

Dark colors can be difficult to paint.  For shades like blues or greens, if you use brighter shades of
those colors to highlight it tends to brighten up what the viewer perceives as the base color.  Instead
I like to mix grey into the midtone.  This desaturates the highlights, which helps create decent
contrast while keeping the overall look dark.

I began with a base coat of Ritterlich Blue.  For the shadows I mixed in Pure Black (2nd image).
To create the highlights I gradually mixed in Dusky Skin (3rd image).  Previously I've used a
neutral grey or a blue grey.  Dusky Skin is more of a brown-grey, but since I'd already used it on the
shako I thought I'd try it in place of the standard grey to provide a little more consistency between
colors.  As with the shako I pushed the highlights a bit brighter than I wanted so that when I applied
the glazes the end result would be where I wanted.  Using Ritterlich Blue and Vallejo Glaze
Medium (along with some water) I applied several layers of the glaze over the entire blue section of
the coat to help smooth out the blends and tie it all together.  I also applied several layers of black
glaze to reinforce some of the shadows.
With the blue finished I turned to the gold details.  You can do all of it at the same time, but there is
so much on the coat I find it easier to work on smaller sections.  Starting with a dark base, I applied
a layer of 50/50 Necro Gold (Scale75) and Imperial Purple to all of the gold sections.  Now I
focused on just the color and strip along his back.  Using pure Elven Gold I painted parallel stripes
along these sections (2nd image).  I wanted another gold line along the top and bottom, so I first too
Pure Black and painted a thin border along these sections.  Following that I went back over the
border with Elven Gold leaving a small gap between the border and the stripes (3rd image).  Finally
I began to gradually mix Citrine Alchemy into the Elven Gold and carefully painted the highlights
along the ends and some of the stripes.  Again, using pure black, I cleaned up the lines as needed.
In the past week I've made some progress on the ADC, though not as much as I'd like.  I did some
shading/highlighting on the blue and then started working on the red and gold details.  With the stuff
around the waist finished I was able to add the other arm.  In the end, most of this arm will be covered by
the pelisse slung over his shoulder.  As a result I'm not doing much shading/highlighting except at the hand
and wrist, which will be showing.  The rest you can sort of see if you look under the coat, so I want the main
colors there but no point doing all the highlighting/shading when it's just going to be hidden.  There's a
small gap at the shoulder, but that will be hidden as well so no need to fill it.

I get burnt out quickly working on this gold details.  There's a lot, so I try to take small sections at a time.
On most projects it can help to stop every so often and reevaluate how things are going.  One of the perks
of posting photos online is you're forced to stop and look at your work.  I hadn't noticed, but can now see
that the gold details on the hat are much tighter than the ones on the jacket (along the borders and at the
wrist).  On the jacket the gaps are much bigger and the result looks a bit sloppy.  I will definitely go back in,
slim down the dark lines between the gold, and just generally clean things up.  I am really looking forward
to finishing the jacket and moving on to the pants.

By the way, I'm working on another step by step tutorial for this figure.  I've posted what I have so far and
will continue to update it as I finish the figure: ADC Tutorial
Painting Faces Step by Step
That are a lot of different approaches to painting faces, this is one that has worked for me.  The
following example is a 54mm face (for Pegaso's French Dragoon) but I follow the same general
idea when painting 28mm, 75mm, and 90mm faces.  The main difference is the level of detail I can
reasonably expect to achieve.  But more on that later.

The following numbered steps correspond to each row in the image series seen below.  Unless
otherwise specified the paint names refer to Reaper Master Series paints.

1 - The face is base coated with Rosy Shadow

2 - I rough in the shadows with mostly Chestnut Brown (I like to use a reddish brown for the
shadows) but then a bit of Mahogany Brown in the darker shadows around the eyes, in the nostrils,
under the chin, and a bit in the left cheek (his head is slightly tilted so the left side will be darker).
The main reason I do this is to get the shadows around the eyes finished before I go in there to do
those fine details.
3 - Start on the eyes
I first lay down a reddish pink layer (Rosy Skin + Violet Red) and cover up most of it with an off
white (Weathered Stone). Ideally a little of the pink will remain in the corners.
4 - Eye details
I went in with a dark blue (Ritterlich Blue) and tried to get the shape of the irises. Because his head
is slightly turned to his right I also painted the eyes looking a bit to the right. Straight ahead would
have been fine, but to the left would have looked awkward. I then went in with a light blue (Ashen
Blue) and tried to lighten up the irises near the bottom half, while retaining the dark border. Then,
as carefully as I can, I add a black dot for the pupils and a dot of pure white for the catch light.
Pretty tricky to do at the 54mm scale, so if you left the eyes at the dark blue stage you'd probably be
fine. But if you can get those extra details that's great. On a larger scale, like 75mm or 90mm, I'd
really try to get those in there.
5 - Returning to the skin, I go back with various mixes of Chestnut Brown and Rosy Shadow to
smooth out the shadows I'd roughed in.
6 - Now I add in the highlights, with blends of Rosy Shadow into Fair Skin, and then into Fair
Highlight.
7 - Details and Tweaks
Based on the previous picture I thought the highlights needed a little more pop, so I went from Fair
Highlight to Linen White on the tops of the cheeks, tip of the nose, and a touch on the chin. I use a
mix of skin tones and red for the lips, then repeat steps 5 and 6 for the ears. I also add in the eye
brows with a dark brown.
8 - Glazing
The real magic comes with the glazes. I take some of the GW glazes: Bloodletter Red, Guilliman
Blue, and a mix of the two for purple (although further thinned down with water). I add some red to
the cheeks (pushing away from the highlights into the shadows), tip of the nose, and ear lobes. The
blue goes on the lower part of the face to change the tone for a subtle stubble look. And the purple
is used to deepen the shadows in the cheeks, under the chin and jaw, and a bit around the eyes.
Lastly I go in a touch up a few of the highlights as needed.
Here is an example on a 90mm scale face.  The first image is the face after stage 5, with the eyes
finished and the shadows blended in.  The middle image is during stage 7.  I'm added the details and
am in the process of making a few tweaks (the corners of the mouth still need fixing, ears aren't
finished).  The final image is after the glazing.

The main difference is the level of detail.  I put more work into the eyes, even doing some blending
in the iris color.  You'll also notice a bit more detail under the eyes and I've created some subtle
shadows to add in some forehead creases.  Also on this figure I used a mix of the regular skin tones
and dusky skin to create the stubble instead of the blue glaze.
Some other tips and thoughts...

When painting around the eyes it's helpful to paint a dark line just above the eye (bottom edge of
the upper eyelid) and paint a light line just below the eye (top edge of the lower eyelid).

On faces it can be very important to vary the intensity of your shadows and highlights.  The creases
in the forehead are not very deep, so they get very subtle shadows (actually defined more through
highlight than shadow).  The lines running from the nostrils to the corners of the mouth are deeper,
but not as dark as the areas under the chin or right beneath the brow.  They also tend to fade the
further they get from the nose.  I try to continually balance the shadows and highlights as I work on
the face.  If some shadow gets too dark then just lighten it up.  Or vice versa.  As you go remember
to take a step back and take a critical look at your work.  For example, on the Roman at the middle
stage the corners of the mouth just didn't look right.  You don't always have to follow the sculpt.
You can choose to overemphasize or underemphasize features.

With larger scale faces I will sometimes work on the face in several sections.  I might just work
around the eyes and nose, then the cheeks, forehead, and finally mouth/jaw.  It's not something I do
every time, but sometimes I find this approach helpful.

Painting Skin Tones

(This is a repost of an article I created for Wamp.  Check out their tutorial section for the original as
well as other great articles.)
Painting skin on your models can be tricky and, at times, quite frustrating. But once you get a
handle on it, it's actually a lot of fun and gives you plenty of room to experiment. My goal in this
tutorial is to share my general approach to painting skin and give you a number of mixes and
corresponding figure examples. When it comes to paints there are a lot of good choices (GW,
Vallejo, P3, etc). However for this tutorial I'm mostly using Reaper Master Series. I like these
because (a) they are squeeze bottle and thus easier for using on my wet palette (b) come slightly
thinner than Vallejo and thus I have an easier time blending with them and (c) they have a ton of
skin tone paints which form the core of my mixes. These aren't the only options but I think they are
a great place to start.

Before I get into painting skin I just want to say a little bit about highlighting and shading for those
new to the hobby. Because the models we paint are at such a small scale light doesn't look the same
as it does on a human sized one. Instead we have to use shading as we paint to trick the eye and
make the figure "look right." We typically use a technique called 'zenithal lighting.' This basically
means we imagine there is a light source directly above the figure and paint shadows and highlights
accordingly. This will enhance the shadows created by the actual light and really help the look of
the finished figure. In historical figure painting circles this technique is sometimes referred to as the
stop sign rule. Think of the shape of a stop sign (an octagon) with a light above it. The top surface is
hit by direct light so it is the brightest while the bottom surface gets no light and is the darkest. The
side surfaces are hit by indirect light so they will be your mid tone. The upper two slanting surfaces
are hit light that is not quite as direct so they are less bright than the top, but still light (so halfway
between the brightest color and your mid tone). The lower two slanting surfaces get a little indirect
light, but not much so they are halfway between your mid tone and your darkest color.
The trick of course is applying the same idea to the mini which is a much more complicated shape.
Keep the approach in mind, imagine the light source above your figure, and with practice knowing
where to place highlights and shadows will become second nature.

Okay, on to painting skin....

Reaper has a number of skin triads. Each of these has a type of skin mid tone (ex: Fair Skin, Tanned
Skin, Rosy Skin, Dark Skin, etc) along with the corresponding highlight and shadow. While these
are a good place to start, I find getting really nice looking results takes a little more work. This first
mix is a combination of rosy and fair skin tones. It's good for female figures, elves, or any character
where you want a light skin tone. The colors I use are Chestnut Brown (09071) and Rosy Shadow
(09067) for the darkest shadows. From there I worked up to Rosy Skin (09068) then to Fair Skin
(09047) to Fair Highlights (09048) and finally a touch of Pure White (09039).

I find the rosy skin gives the shadows a more lifelike look. To get some deeper shadows a little bit
of a reddish brown is mixed in. Similarly, a touch of white to the fair highlight can help those
topmost highlights pop out. As I move from one color to the next I work in a number of
intermediate shadows. For example I might start with pure rosy shadow, then 3 parts rosy shadow to
one part rosy skin, 1 part rosy shadow to 1 part rosy skin, 1 part rosy shadow to 3 parts rosy skin,
and finally pure rosy skin. This is just an example. For smooth transitions you may want to use 5-10
intermediate stages. For other colors perhaps less. Fair skin and fair highlight are quite close, so I
don't need many intermediate steps between those two. The number of layers or intermediate steps
depends on the results you're going for, how much time you want to put into the figure, and how far
apart the two colors are.

To see how this mix works in practice, here are a few figures where I used it:

White Speaker:
Bruiser Gus:

(There are some slight variations in color due to my camera and light setup. Bruiser Gus was
photographed using the 'good' setup so this is the closest to what the mix looks like in person)

Clone of Dirz:
As you place your shadows and highlights, it's important to vary the range you're using. By this I
mean not every shadow should be equally dark or highlight equally light. The darkest shadows
should be used to pick out major anatomical details. More muted shadows are used to define other
details. So use less severe shadow tones for the muscles in the arms and legs to bring out their
tone/definition. Save the darkest shadows for the arm pits and other areas that are getting very little
light. This helps the major features stand out. Take a look at the arms on Bruiser Gus and the legs of
the White Speaker. Compare the shadows and highlights to other parts of these figures.

When dealing with large mostly flat areas the stop sign rule says they should be painted the same
shade... however this typically looks dull and boring. Instead a slight gradient will look much better.
For an example, look to the back of the white speakers leg, focus on the upper leg. The skin tone is
lightest right under the buttock and gets slightly darker down towards the knee. The same thing is
done on her abs. Although mostly flat a slight gradient is used to add more visual appeal.

When painting the body it doesn't hurt to turn to anatomical references. In most cases you can let
the sculpture lead you as your apply shadows and highlights, but sometimes fine details aren't
included and instead need to be added solely through the painting. As an example, look once again
at the back of the white speakers leg. The rear of the knee detail is not molded on so instead we add
it with paint, imply the shape with highlights and shadows. Creases in the forehead can be done the
same way. Often these fine features won't be sculpted on so instead you can add them with your
paint brush.

For a more masculine skin tone I might use the following paints, taking advantage of Reaper's
bronzed skin mixes:
Mahogany Brown (09070), Chestnut Brown (09071), Bronzed Shadow (09259), Bronzed Skin
(09260), and Bronzed Highlights (09261).

I wanted to create some deeper shadows so I added the Mahogany Brown (09070) to the lower end
of the paint spectrum. As before I could have added white mixed with the bronzed highlight... but I
wanted this to have a darker look so I left it out. As you work on your highlights, if you feel they
need a little more visual pop you can add in a little white. It just depends on the look you're going
for.

Here is how this skin mix looks on a figure:

Another mix for male skin is:
Chestnut Brown (09071), Tanned Shadow (09043), Tanned Skin (09044), Tanned Highlights
(09045), and Fair Skin (09047)

This one uses Reaper's tanned skin mix. While you can stick to Reaper's three color set of mid tone,
shadow, and highlight, I feel adding a little extra to the shadows to warm them up a bit and going a
little farther with the highlights improves the end result quite a bit. For many of the skin mixes the
fair skin and fair highlight colors make good highlights. For shadows a dark red or reddish brown
seems to work well for me.

Here is this mix on a figure:

So the key things are to take away from this tutorial are:

- Use zenithal lighting / follow the stop sign rule

- Vary the intensity of your shadows and highlights to emphasize major details over minor ones

- Experiment with different skin mixes, the three given here are only to help you get started

Here we've focused on traditional skin. Adding a warm color to the shadows and upping the
highlight has been the basic approach in each case. If you're painting an undead or sickly looking
character you might want to change that approach. For a vampire I might try mixing in a blue or a
purple to the shadows, use a fair skin mix, and maybe add a grey to the highlights instead of white.
Try out different combinations and see what works for you!

Critical Role - Vax'ildan Tutorial

Introduction
Welcome, Critters!  This will be a very thorough step by step for painting the limited edition resin
Vax'ildan from Steamforged Games.  My intention is to write something that someone who has
never painted a figure before can follow, though there should be plenty in here for those of you with
more experience too.  A couple quick things before we start... first, for you novices, I have been
painting for 20+ years (painting seriously for the past 8 or so).  Don't expect your first figure to be a
masterpiece, I know mine wasn't.  Like any skill it takes a lot of time and practice to get good at it. 
But that shouldn't discourage you.  The beauty of painting your figures is it's your figure.  This is
something you have created, so be proud of it!  Just have fun and enjoy the process.  Second, I will
be posting this tutorial in multiple parts.  This way you don't have to wait until I'm done with the
figure before seeing how to start.  And third, don't listen to just me.  There are many ways to
approach a project like this and you'll find thousands of tutorials online for beginner painters. 
Maybe what I do works for you, but maybe some other approach will work better.  Look around and
find what's most helpful for you.

Part 1: Preparing the Figure

Are you new to figures or are you new to resin figures?  If so, this section is for you!

In many ways resin figures are like plastic figures.  When it comes to the painting, you will
approach them the same.  But there are some differences in the prep and handling of the figures that
you should know about.

1) Before starting to assemble, prime, and paint, wash the figure.  When the figure is cast, a mold
release agent is applied so they can get the figure out of the mold (hence the name).  Unfortunately
this can remain on the figure and make it more difficult for the paint to adhere.  To remove it, gently
(see comment 2!) wash your figure with warm (see comment 3!) water and soap.  An old toothbrush
is perfect for this.  Put a bit of soap on it, scrub the figure, and then rinse it off.  While the parts
aren't too small, it's best to close the drain so avoid losing anything in case you drop it while
washing.  Or just wash the figure in a bowl where there's no risk of losing parts at all.  If you got
excited and skipped this step, don't worry.  You'll likely see the initial coats of paint aren't covering
all that well.  Let them dry and then apply another coat.  You may have to do this several times, but
eventually you'll get complete coverage and can continue on from there as if nothing was ever
amiss.

2) Resin is more fragile than plastic.  While either material can break, plastic has a bit more give in
it.  If you're too rough with the scrubbing or bend some of the parts too much, they are more likely
to snap on a resin figure than a plastic one.
3) Resin does not respond well to heat!  When you're washing the figure, the water can be warm,
but it should not be hot.  If the resin gets heated, parts can begin to bend or sag.  This can be useful
if you're trying to straighten a part.  Not likely an issue with Vax, but on other figures you may find
a sword or spear isn't quite straight.  Heating it with hot water can let you straighten the part.  As for
Vax, just be aware and avoid exposing the figure to extreme heat.  So don't do anything like putting
the figure right next to the stove or leave it sitting in your car on a hot day.  You don't need to store
him in the fridge or anything, just avoid high temperatures.

Because of all that, why make a figure in resin instead of plastic?  First off, resin is better at
capturing the details and produces a higher quality cast.  Plastic figures can look a bit softer as the
detail is not as crisp.  And second, plastic molds are very expensive to produce.  So for smaller run
productions, resin makes more economic sense.

Filing, Pinning, and Assembling

Okay, now that we're done with Resin 101, let's get to the figure.  Take a look over the parts and
you will likely see 'mold lines.'  These are lines formed where the pieces of the mold came
together.  Steamforged makes very nice figures, so you hopefully should not have any major mold
lines to deal with.  On my figure, I mostly saw these on his back.  A set of needle files (available at
your local hobby store) is a great way to get rid of these.  They should come off pretty quickly, so
be careful to just get the mold lines and not the detail on the figure.  Alternatively you can scrape
them off using an x-acto knife (use the side of the blade, holding it perpendicular to the figure and
scrape along the line).  Some fine grit sandpaper can work too.

IMPORTANT! Resin dust is harmful to your health.  Ideally you should wear a mask when
filing/sanding resin, especially if you already have any breathing issues.  Many of us skip this
(there's not going to be that much dust from this figure).  But you should wear a mask. This is one
of those do as I say, not as I do tips. =P

With the mold lines gone, we can now assemble the figure.  For some figures, you may wish to add
pins in other to strengthen the joints.  A pin is just a small rod of metal when helps to hold the
figure together.  In this case, the joint between the wings and the body looks strong, so no pin
needed there.  There's also three points of attachment to the base (the knee and both feet), so you
should be okay if you are using the base it comes with. I've decided to create a display base for the
figure, so mine will need some added support.

Pinning a small figure like this isn't easy.  I'm added a single pin into his foot, which will help hold
him onto the base.  While I don't have the design of the base figured out, ideally I'd like to provide
some additional attachment points.  Perhaps I'll place a post or something that will touch the edge of
a wing (giving me an additional point for attachment).  To pin, you'll need a pin vise, a set of micro
drill bits, and a small metal rod.  You may be able to find all three at your local hobby store.  If not,
an arts and crafts store could have them too.  If that doesn't work, a hardware store would be my
next guess.

I very carefully drilled a small hole in his left foot.  Keep pulling out the bit to check how far in
you've gone.  It doesn't take long before you've drilled all the way through to the other side
(something you want to avoid).  My hole is maybe 2mm deep.  Enough for the pin to get purchase. 
Try to angle the drill so the pin will be going directly into the base.  Again, if you are using the base
the figure comes with, you most likely can skip this step.
Now we can assemble the figure.  Always test fit the parts before gluing.  If parts don't go together,
you may need to file the attachment points so they can slide together smoothly.  Also take a look for
gaps where the pieces go together.  The wings and body should fit together well, but if you put them
in at an angle (and glue them that way), you may find you've created a gap.

For resin, I recommend using Superglue (aka CA glue or Cyanoacrylate glue).  Your local hobby
store should most definitely have this.  I use the 'Medium' or 'Gap Filling' variety.  If your store has
just one, this is likely it.  You can also find CA glue in 'Super Thin' and 'Thick' varieties.  They have
their applications, but this is not it.

I find it best to NEVER apply the glue directly to the figure from the bottle.  You will most likely
get way more glue than you need.  It can get out of your control, cover up detail, or end up attaching
the figure to your hand.  My preferred approach is to take a piece of aluminum foil and squeeze out
a bit of glue onto that.  Then, take a tooth pick, dip it in the glue, and then carefully apply the glue
onto the figure.  For Vax, apply the glue to the box in the center of the wings (the part that fits into
the body).  You'll want to mostly cover that box, but the coverage should be thin.  You don't want it
squirting out all over the place once you put the pieces together.  If you get a big glob on there, use
the toothpick to remove the excess before assembling the parts.  Apply pressure (not too much,
resin is fragile and you don't want to snap off a wing) for a few seconds and it should stay together. 
Eventually you will repeat the process to attach the figure to the base.  A bit of glue on the
attachment points and you should be good.  But please read the next paragraph first!

For any figure you will want to consider whether you want to assemble the entire piece and then
paint it, or assemble some of it before painting and the rest afterward.  If you set Vax onto his base,
you will notice that it will be challenging to get the brush to his lower regions.  Maybe you will
want to paint part of his body before attaching him to the base.  The thing to consider is, though
these regions will be hard to access... they will also be hard to see.  That means you don't need to do
much painting there since no one will notice it.  My suggestion is to prime the figure and paint those
regions black, then attach the figure to the base before painting the rest.  The base will provide a
good point to hold the figure while painting, so it's nice to have on there.  By painting the regions
black, they will appear to be in shadow (though you're likely painting the clothes black anyway) and
the grey resin won't show.  If you try to paint it black after attaching it to the base, you will likely
miss a region and then, depending on what angle the figure is held, that grey resin may show.

Since I'm not using the provided base, this is not something I have to deal with.  I will use the pin to
hold the figure while I paint and attach it to the display base in the end.  Of course pinning isn't
simple either... so whatever you choose there's a bit of work to be done!

Alright, I hope that gives you a good idea how to prepare your figure for painting.  In the next part
we will be priming our figure and applying the base coat.  I hope to get to that this weekend, so
keep an eye out for part 2 sometime next week!  And please feel free to ask me questions either here
or on Twitter (@MiniPainterDave).  I'm always happy to help in any way I can.

Part 2: Priming and Basecoating

With the figure prepped and assembled, the last thing to do before painting is to prime it.  Primer
helps the paint adhere to the surface of the figure.  This not only makes the initial layering of paint
easier, it also makes the end result more durable (though you may still wish to apply a sealer in the
end if you will be using the figure for gaming).  You can buy primer at your local hobby store or an
arts and crafts store.  Even automotive stores often carry primer.  The primer will usually say the
materials it works on (metal, plastic, wood, etc).  If it says plastic, it should work for resin.

There are a couple other primer choices you should make.  The first is do you want a spray primer
or a brush on one.  Most people, including myself, prefer spray primers.  They're quick and give
you a nice thin coat.  Brush on primers can more easily result in initial coats that are too thick and
cover up the detail on the figure, so I would avoid those if you can.  The second choice is what
color primer should you use.  The most common primer colors are white, grey, and black.  You can
find some specialty primers in other colors.  Those mainly come in handy if you know your model
will be mostly blue or red or green or some other color.  Not really applicable to Vax.  But black,
grey, and white all have some pros and cons.

Black Primer: This is a good 'beginners' primer.  Using this will help get black down into all those
cracks and recesses in the figure.  Should you have trouble getting your brush in there when
painting, they will remain black and look like a shadow.  Thus black primer is more forgiving than
say white (where missed spots will really show).  On the other hand, painting light colors on top of
black can take more effort.  That's not a huge issue for Vax as he's going to be mostly dark colors. 
But you should expect to need some additional base layers for the face and arms to prevent your
skin from looking dull and too dark.

White Primer: White primer is great for brightly colored figures.  Almost any color will look
brighter on top of white.  However, since Vax is mostly dark, this really just helps you out with the
skin.  The downside of white primer is any areas you miss (small cracks, space between sections)
will really stand out.  You'll have to put in some extra work to get a nice end result.  Unless the
figure will be light/bright colors, I would recommend white primer to intermediate and above
painters.

Grey Primer: A bit of a mix between the two.  It has less of an effect on color brightness than
black, but you still have to make sure you hit those crevices or else they will definitely show.  I'd
say Grey and White are more or less interchangeable (same pros, same cons).  Use grey is you want
a more subdued color and white if you want a brighter one.

So, in short, I chose to use white primer but if you're a beginner I'd suggest using black instead.
While the above picture was taken indoors, I primed the figure outside.  Primer dries quickly, but
it's best to give it at least an hour before handling the piece or applying paint.

You'll notice I just gave the figure a light coating of primer.  You don't need to soak the piece in
primer.  Too much can clog up the details and actually make it harder for the paint to adhere (by
making the surface too smooth).

Another approach to priming is called Zenithal priming or black and white priming.  This technique
using both black and white spray primer.  Begin by giving the figure a thorough coating of black
primer (you want pretty good coverage of the piece).  Let that dry and then apply white primer but
only from above.  It's actually best to not just do it from directly above, but at a slight angle (30
degrees assuming the top is 0) and from each side (front, back, left, and right).  Don't go too thick,
just a quick spray from each side and you should have the coverage you want.  This effectively pre-
shades the model.  I don't do this often, but I know many like the approach.  The paint will cover up
the shading, but if you use light coats it can show through somewhat and help guide you with your
shadow and highlight placement.  Here's a figure I painted a few years ago where I applied the
primer in this way so you can see what I'm talking about.

Because of Vax's pose, I'd use a great angle from the front (more like 45 degrees, maybe even 60) to
make sure you're getting some light onto his face.

Paints, Brushes, and Palettes

Okay, now that we're ready to start applying paint to the model, it's a good time to talk about
supplies.  There are quite a few lines of miniature paint out there and almost any of them should
work for you.  Popular brands are GW or Citadel, P3, Vallejo, Reaper, Army Painter, and Scale
Color.  They are all meant for miniatures and any of them will do a fine job.  Personally, I use
Reaper Master Series paints.  They are not necessarily better than the others, I just happen to like
them and they work with my style.  If you are just starting out, I would suggest either Citadel, P3, or
Vallejo for the sole reason that they are often carried in local game stores.  For your first figure, it's
nice to be able to stop by the store and pick up the handful of paints you will actually need, rather
than ordering a big set online.

For brushes, the best for miniature painting are made from Kolinsky Sable.  This hair will hold a
point better and last longer if you take care of it.  Brands I've used are Winsor & Newton (Series 7),
Scharff (series 3000), and Raphael (8404).  I've also heard good things about Broken Toad and
Artis Opus.  You will likely want a fine detail brush (size 000) for the face and other small parts of
the figure.  For larger sections, a size 00 or 0 should work well.  You may also want something even
bigger, like a size 1 for base coating.  However, for the base coat, you can get buy with a less
expensive brush.  The point isn't as important, so you can find something a bit cheaper than
Kolinksy Sable.

You've got your paints and you've got your brush, but you still will want a palette.  For acrylic
paints, I HIGHLY recommend getting or making a wet palette.  These keep the paints from drying
out while you work and can likely be made from stuff you've already got in your kitchen.  I suggest
Googling 'making a wet palette.'  This should turn up tutorials and videos explaining how to make
your own.
In short, you need a container (shallow plastic container or even a plate), a sponge or paper towel
soaked in water, and palette or parchment paper.  The paint goes onto the paper and absorbs water
from the sponge below, keeping it from drying out while you work.

Base Coating
Finally, time to put some paint on the figure! Base coating is an important first stage.  This is where
you lay down the initial coat, start to color the mini, and provide a smooth base to work on for the
following steps.  If you chose to use black to prime the figure, this could be a very quick step.

You will normally want to select midtone shades for each part of the figure to use as the base coat. 
Since most of the figure will be black, I recommend a dark grey.  If you primed the figure black,
that's close enough.  You don't need to go over it at this point.  Instead, just take some more black to
fill in any gaps missed by priming or areas where the coverage is not complete.  For the skin, a
middle of the range skin tone is a good choice.  I used Reaper's Rosy Shadow, but skin from other
ranges will work just fine.  Aside from that, you may want to paint some parts brown leather. 
Leaving those black is probably okay, but you can go over in a dark brown if you prefer.  There are
also a few metallic sections like the dagger blades.  Metallic paints, which we will get to later, work
best over a dark base.  So go ahead and paint those blades black for the time being.

To apply the base coat, begin by putting a small amount of paint on your palette.  Miniature paint is
close to the consistency you want, but you will typically still need to thin it a bit.  Take a drop of
water and add it to the paint (using the opposite end of your brush is a fine way to do this, quickly
stir the paint/water on the palette and then wipe the back of the brush off on a paper towel).  The
consistency you are aiming for will require 2 to 3 coats for complete coverage on the figure.  This is
done so you have a nice smooth, even coat to work on.  If the paint is too thick, it can fill in and
obscure details and make the surface bumpy (which will create issues as you try to shade/highlight).

Below is an image of my Vax.  On the left you can see the results of a single coat of dark grey.  It's
clearly grey, but you can see the white primer still showing through.  On the right is two coats of the
dark grey.  Now we have nearly complete coverage.  That's roughly what you are aiming for, 2 to 3
coats for full coverage.  If it's taking more, your paint is too thin.  If it covers completely in 1, it's
too thick.
A couple notes... you see a difference here because the paint and primer are quite different.  If you
are painting a dark grey over a black primer, you likely won't be able to tell what your coverage is. 
In that case, try a bit of the paint on your palette or hand to see how thick it is before applying it to
the model.  Light colors also tend to have a harder time covering up dark colors.  So when you go to
apply your skin tone over a black primer, you may actually need 4 to 5 layers.  This is okay, your
paint isn't too thin.  Just expect it to take a bit more work to get those light colors on there.

So what if your paint is too thick or too thin?  If it's too thick, that's an easy fix.  Just add some more
water.  If your paint is too thin, you can add more paint... but unless it's just barely too thin, that can
result in you wasting a lot of paint.  Usually its better to just move to a new spot on the palette and
start over with a new drop of paint.  Add the water more gradually, easier to make it thinner than to
make it thicker.

Finally, I need to stress that to build up color with multiple layers it is CRITICAL (see what I did
there?) that the first layer of paint be dry.  Otherwise layer 2 just re-wets layer 1 and you end up
pushing the paint around rather than building on top of it.  Acrylics dry quickly, especially when
you are applying thin layers.  As you move around the figure, the earlier sections should dry before
you get back to them.  But if you're base coating a small region, like the face, you should pause for
30 seconds before applying the subsequent layer.  You can use a hair dryer (set on cool, heat is bad
for resin!) or just gently blow on your figure to speed up the process.

Remember, you ideally want to base coat your entire figure before moving on to the details.  This is
done to reduce the chance of mistakes later on.  For example, when you base coat the hair, you may
accidentally get some black onto the face or some skin tone onto the hair.  Everyone gets 'outside
the lines' from time to time.  As you learn better brush control you will reduce these errors, but it
still happens to us all.  That first layer is where it's most likely to happen as you are going right up
to the border between the regions.  If you attempt that after doing a lot of detail work, you might
create a big mistake that is tough to fix.  When it's only the base coat, you can quickly go over the
wrong color with the right one and fix your mistake.  So, while technically you don't have to
basecoat ALL of the figure at the beginning.  If you plan to work on a specific area, it's best to base
coat all of the surrounding sections first.

Part 3: Details!
Alright, now we're really getting into the painting.  You've got your basic color down, but the figure
just looks flat.  More like a toy than Vax about ready to pounce on a monster.  That's why we want
to shade and highlight the figure.  Light on a small scale figure doesn't react quite like it does on a
full scale person, so we exaggerate the lighting to make the figure look 'correct' to the viewer.

If you're just starting out, this is often down with washes and dry brushing.  I'll just briefly talk
about those techniques and refer you to other tutorials (like Painters Guild on Alpha) if you want to
learn more.

A wash is paint thinned down significantly so that it is semi-transparent.  You apply this to the
figure and allow it to wash over the surface, collecting in all the cracks and crevices of the figure. 
It's normally down with a darker color that will slightly tint your base coat, but make it much darker
in all those cracks where it collects.  This effectively shades the figure.

Dry brushing involves taking regular paint and wiping the majority off your brush, so that it is
almost dry.  You then run it along the model and the remaining paint catches on the raised sections
of the figure.  This creates the effect of highlights.

The result of this approach is that recessed areas are shaded and raised areas are highlighted.  It
works well for gaming figures, but it's not quite how light operates.  How light or dark a part of the
figure should be depends on the angle it makes with respect to our imagined light source.  You can
selectively choose where you apply the washes and the dry brushing to mimic this, but it's not quite
perfect.  Instead, I use an approach called layering to create my shadows and highlights.  It's a more
intentional placement of different shades to create the effect I want.  The general idea is you apply
slightly overlapping layers, each of a different shade, to create the effect of a smooth blend between
colors.  The more gradual your layers the smoother the end result, but the more time is involved to
get there.

In terms of where you should apply those lights and darks, we often use the idea of zenithal
lighting. You can find plenty of tutorials on miniature pages for this.  The general idea is you
imagine a light source above your figure.  Think of it more like a halo than a point light.  So
whether you look at the figure from the front, back, right or left the light is above but slightly in
front of the figure.  Sheperd Paine, a painter of historical miniatures, described this using what he
called the stop sign rule.  Image an octagon, a stop sign.  The top surface is pointed directly at the
light and thus it is the lightest.  The bottom surface is pointed at the ground, and it is the darkest. 
The horizontal surface is your mid tone (likely you base color).  The other surfaces fall somewhere
in between based on the angle they make with respect to the light source.

The concept is straightforward, but it takes a lot of practice to apply it correctly.  For now, just keep
it in mind as we proceed.

Painting the Face

So I decided to do something a little different and actually recorded my process of painting the
face.  Unfortunately the middle section, where I did the highlighting and shading, did not record
properly.  But the rest is still there and will hopefully be helpful for you to actually see the process.

Introduction and Overview:

Painting the Eyes:

Shading and Highlight:

Okay, this is the section that unfortunately did not record.  But I will try to talk you through it. 
Remembering the stop sign rule from above, we place our shadows on the parts of the face angled
down (under the jaw, brows, and nose, in the ears and lower part of the cheeks).  From there I
gradually blend my colors back up to the midtone.  My shadow is a mix of Chestnut Brown (a
reddish brown) and Rosy Shadow (a medium skin tone).  I start with roughly 90% Brown and 10%
Skin.  Then, over the course of 5 or so layers, add more and more skintone until I'm at 100% Skin. 
Now, I begin to add in my highlight colors (Fair Skin).  Gradually I mix more into the Rosy
Shadow and start to apply the color where the face is angled up.  This is the top of the cheeks,
bridge of the nose, forehead, upper lip, and chin.  As I get closer and closer to 100% Fair Skin, I
reduce the area where I apply it.  Just the very top of the cheeks, the top of the nose and again where
it meets the brow, the upper part of the forehead, and the part of the chin which sticks out.  Finally,
I add in Fair Highlight for some final pop.  This is just small dots on the nose, cheeks, and top of the
forehead.  Keep it very limited in application.  If you apply it over too large a region it will cease to
look like a highlight and appear more as a midtone (with the flesh being VERY light in color).
Glazing to Add Color Variation to the Face

Thankfully the last part did record.  Here's where we do some magic and turn a decent face (above)
into something much more lifelike.  The beauty of the approach is it doesn't matter how good your
original face is, it should still make it better.  Even if you're a novice, it can help you step up your
results.

Here are a few close up images of the finished face.

How to Paint Black, Black, and Black
With the face finished, it's time to move on to the rest of the figure and that means you'll be painting
a lot of black.  But there's not just one way to paint black and we want to take advantage of that.  
We've got a variety of materials to paint: cloth, leather, feathers.  While these will all be 'black', we
still want them to look like distinct materials.  Thankfully we have a couple ways to distinguish
between them.  The first is by varying the colors we use to shade the black.  The second is by the
finish (how matte or shiny) we make the material look.  This is accomplished by varying how
strong the highlight is (how far you go towards white) and how rapidly we transition from dark to
light.

Let's begin with color.  When painting black, you ideally want to start with a very dark color but not
quite true black.  This allows you to get darker and create shadows (which will be true black).  The
paint line you're using may have some good variations on black, but if not don't worry, we can
make our own.  I'm using Reaper paints and they have a couple sets I like for black.  Their Dusky
Skin set is grey that tends towards brown.  I like this for cloth as it as a more natural feel to it.  Then
there's their Dark Elf Skin, which is a grey with hints of purple in it.  You can obviously just use a
set of neutral greys, but these just don't have the same visual interest.  Below is a look at those two
sets (along with black for the shadow and an off white for an extra highlight when needed).
If you don't have those paints, don't worry.  You can create a variant of the Dusky Skin set by
taking pure black and adding some dark brown.  Then, into the brown-black mix, slowly add some
skin tone to create your highlights.  For the Dark Elf, try mixing a grey with a bit of blue or purple. 
The exact shade is not important, just that you create variations on black to add interest to the figure
and to help distinguish between materials.  I'll show you another version of black when we get to
the feathers, but let's focus on the main body for now.

We've got our mixes, but how you apply them can also create interesting effects.  For cloth, we
want a softer look so you'll do more gradual transitions from dark to light.  For the leather and hair,
you might want a shiny look.  In this case, we will attempt to rapidly transition from dark to light to
mimic the gloss effect.  Yes, you can use a gloss finish to do this quickly... but it doesn't work as
well as you hope.  Because it tends to get into the recesses too, you lose depth and the piece looks
more like a toy than naturally shiny material.

Let's start with the boots and armor.  I find it easiest to sketch on the shine and then go back to
blend it in.  I use the colors shown above (black, dark elf shadow, dark elf skin, dark elf highlight,
and vampiric skin) without any intermediate shades (this is just a sketch).  You can look at
reference leather for help on where the shine might appear.  Edges tend to pick up the light.  With
zenithal lighting, the highlights are generally on the top of surfaces.  Reflections act a little
differently.  You still imagine a light source above the figure.  But the reflection point moves down
the surface, closer to spots angled around 45 degrees.  The reflections also tend to take the shape of
the object.  Got a cylinder (like the leg)?  A sphere would have a spot reflection, but the side of the
cylinder would create a line reflection.  Here is how I sketched the lights onto the legs...
From there I go back in to blend the colors together.  For most things I like to work from dark to
light, but with black I find it easiest to reverse that.  I start with the lightest color and create a
gradient on my palette to the darkest.  Then I work from the center of the shine spot to the outside,
getting darker as I go.  Here's a look at those boots after blending...
I made a few adjustments after that, but this should give you the basic idea of how it went.  In
addition to the boots, I'd done a bit of work on the cloth using the Dusky Skin mix.  After finishing
the boots I took a look at the piece and felt the dynamics (light to dark contrast) of the cloth wasn't
strong enough.  So I went back in to push the highlights.  I also redid the chest armor to make that
shine stronger.  You can see how that looked below.  Notice how both the colors used in the black
create a different effect, but also the sharpness of the transitions.  Both the armor and cape use the
Dark Elf mix, but the armor has shape transitions while the cape has softer ones.  The cloth on the
arms and legs uses the Dusky Skin mix with soft transitions while the arm uses the same mix but
with sharp transitions (for more of a shiny look).
Feathers!
The one thing we have yet to touch on are the feathers.  You can use the above mixes for that too, or
you can do something different.  Let's take a look at some reference for help on how to approach it.
The first image is a bit more neutral, but still feels a bit like a cool grey.  I'd say the Dark Elf skin
set is a good approximation.  The second image shows a black with far more blue in it.  For this
effect I would take pure black and mix in a dark blue.  From there, I'd add something like a skin
tone to create the highlights.  You could swap the blue for teal, green, purple, red, etc.  You can
create some very interesting effects by choosing different colors.

For any of these, I recommend picking a small spot and trying out the mix there first.  See how it
looks and whether or not you like it before applying it to the rest of the figure.  I'll be starting the
wings soon, but I'll test out the color I chose to see how I feel about the mix and how it looks in
comparison to the versions of black already on the figure.

For my wings, I went with Pure Black for the base and then to Scale 75's Abyssal Blue.   Nothing
special about that color/brand, so don't rush out and buy a set just for it.  The color is just a very
dark teal shade.  A good alternative would be Vallejo's Deep Sea Blue.  In addition, Vallejo is a
brand commonly carried by hobby shops (if not your local gaming store, look for a hobby shop that
sells model cars, planes, etc.).  To that, I gradually added some Vampiric Skin (an off white I used
to highlight the black on Vax's clothing).  A light skin tone can also be a great highlight color to
mix in to black.  I've used that on numerous occasions.  However, I want the figure to feel like it's
under the same light.  If you switch up the highlight colors for different parts (use a warm light
here, a cool light there) it can make things look a bit off.  Picking the same highlight color will
hopefully create a more realistic looking result.

Okay, color choice aside, the real issue is how to you actually paint all those damn feathers!?  I took
a more painstaking approach and worked on individual feathers.  Most people don't want to spend
the time or risk their own sanity in that way.  So dry brushing is your friend!  I mentioned it earlier,
but if you're not familiar you can find numerous tutorials on how it works.  In short, you wipe off
most of the paint from your brush so it's almost dry.  Then you gently brush it across the surface of
what you're painting.  The minimal paint on the brush will catch the raised edges, helping to bring
out the detail.  It's an efficient way to work with feathers, fur, etc.  But maybe we can take it a step
further and improve the results.

Below you'll see my version.  To create something similar with dry brushing, here's how I'd do it. 
First, we still want to think about how light hits the figure.  The undersides of the wings will be
mostly in shadow.  You can leave them pure black, but you lose the detail.  So let's try to use dry
brushing to apply minimal highlights.  Start with a base of pure black.  If you primed it black,
great.  Just take a close look to make sure no spots were missed.  Easy to still have some resin
showing in all those cracks between the feathers.  Take some black and make sure they all get filled
in.  Now, pick your 'near black' color.  That Vallejo Deep Sea Blue should be ideal.  If you want
something darker, add a bit of black to it.  Now, give the undersides of the wings a thorough dry
brushing.  Hit all the feathers.  After that, let's get a bit more direct in our application.  Mix in a bit
of your highlight color into your Deep Sea Blue (or whatever color you used).  Don't get too light,
but you want it to be noticeably brighter.  With this, I just want you to hit those upward facing
edges of the feathers.  Get the from sides of the wings (from Vax's shoulders to the wing tips.  But
under the wings, drag the brush along the length of those long feathers, just on the upper side, not
the whole feather.  You can even be more selective.  For his left wing, do this mainly for the
feathers nearer the tip of the wing.  For his right wing, notice how the shape curves.  Hit the feathers
closer to the body (where the wing is at more of an angle), skip the middle (where the wing is
flatter), and then hit the tip (where the wing curves up again).  Again, check the pictures below to
see where I placed the highlights.  Finally, go back with pure black and paint the back edge of each
of those long feathers.  You're not dry brushing this step, you want a nice solid line of paint.  This
helps clean up the dry brushing (you likely got some highlight on the lower edge while doing the
upper edge of the feather next to it) and creates a clear border between the feathers.
The effect is subtle (the underside of the wing is in shadow), but it still provides definition to the
shape and visual interest.

I'd approach the top of the wings similarly.  As you can see I'm still working on the top section. 
You'll go brighter here as it's being his directly by the light.  However, you should still pay attention
to the shape.  You can vary the intensity of your light as you dry brush.  I'm still giving the upper
edges of the feathers more light and, at times, also a bit more light on the tip.
And here's the view from the front.  Overall the wings are dark (underside in shadow), but notice
how the limited application of highlights helps provide detail and shape to the wings.
Here's one last image that I've included so you can see the figure in extreme detail.  Click on the
image below to see the full image.  You can see the brush strokes and get a better idea how the
color and shading is built up through individual layers.
I still have a little bit left to paint (the rest of the wings and the glove on his right hand), but I've
covered how I approached the figure and hopefully provided you with some useful insights on my
process.  We could end the tutorial here, but there is one last part I want to cover... the base.

Part 4: Basing