French Line Infantry Painting Tutorial Part Two - The First Highlight

Fusilier, Grenadier and Voltigeur
The box art from the HaT French infantry 1808-12 gives an idea of the look of the French
 line infantryman on campaign. Note the variations in trousers, water canteens and great-coats.
The rigours of Spain would produce even greater variation, but Fusiliers were still required to remain clean shaven.

Detailed highlighting requires a good brush

French Line Infantry Painting Tutorial Part One

Sorry for a delay in producing this second post, life has demanded more of my time with starting a new job, wedding anniversaries to celebrate and entertaining friends whilst the weather has enabled more out door living. The good news is that in between all that fun I have been putting in the odd hour or two to move this project forward, so on with the post.

So the next stage of the paint job is to apply the fist highlight colours to all the block colours you have already applied.

The one thing you really need for a job like this is a reliable brush that you can use again and again and get a good job particularly with fine work such as applying the top lip highlight under the nose of the 18mm figures as seen with the third figure from the left above.

To do this level of work you need to have a good point to your brush and I first highlighted these Tamiya detail brushes back in 2012. They are quite literally the best ever brushes I have ever used and I would strongly recommend them without reservation
http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/tamiyas-small-pointed-brush.html

I started this next stage in the same order as the first, so in these first three pictures you can see the figures after I have applied Citadel Kislev Flesh, picking out the nose, cheeks, top lips, chins, tops of hands and exposed fingers and thumbs. With the voltigeurs and grenadiers some of them are sculpted with a moustache as with the second right figure above and I generally leave the base colour showing for the top lip whiskers.

The other main colour I started with was the blue jackets and here I have highlighted with Vallejo Prussian Blue, those surfaces exposed to the light looking to leave seams and folds with the darker base colour. The backs of the figures above really show how effective just one shade up can bring out the folds around the turn-backs, straps and shoulder lapels on the fusiliers above.

The next major highlight to do is the light grey, specifically Coat d'Arms Uniform Grey to pick out the top folds of the grey great-coats, grey shako covers and those figures selected to have grey trousers/overalls as opposed to those I will have in their whites which usually form the majority of the soldiers.

Probably the biggest job in this next stage is applying the off white to all the dark grey areas. The idea is to apply a white that is thin enough (you are looking for the consistency of skimmed milk when mixing with water) to allow the grey base to show through in the creases and folds of all those belts laid across the front lapels. This application needs to be done as accurately as possible, so don't load your brush with too much paint. However the good news is that you can cover all the grey without worrying about leaving any of it exposed.

The other paint work requires a more accurate application, including the white straps on the blue uniform areas and around the back-packs, great-coats and musket slings. I would suggest mixing the white in a 50:50 with water to get a more controllable and thicker application, but leave areas around loops and buckles with the grey showing, to imply those buckles and around straps in folds of the uniform to create the shadow of straps going under arms.

The art of highlighting is to apply the next shade up taking care not to cover all the first shade but to leave it showing around the edge of the highlight. This effect fools the eye by giving your colours depth. For example, look at the picture below and see how the dark sea blue applied to the top edges of the shakos and to their peaks emphasises those areas exposed to the light.

Similarly the tops of the shakos with dark around the top rim highlights the crown and draws the eye.

This stage is also where I start to apply the lacing edges to turn-backs and collars. Try and be as accurate as possible (this is where a good brush pays you back for the investment). By adding the colour now you can correct any miss-application with the third and final highlight, although I will also take any excess paint off using water (the beauty of using acrylic paint).

The idea of allowing the base coat to show through is demonstrated with the plumes on the elite companies where you can see the base green, yellow and red showing through in the recessed areas of those raised plumes and chords. Like wise, the dark brown helps to provide depth to the brass scales and shako plates.

So there is the second stage completed with a highlight colour applied to all the first colours used. Some people are happy to just go to this stage and varnish. I would suggest the third and final highlight will really make things pop and we are using less paint as we work up to this point so the effect requires less work but will reward you with figures that will stand out on your table.

As always, if you are not clear on any of the stages illustrated or my colour preferences then drop me a comment and I will get back with an answer.

Next up, Part three, the third and final highlight and basing process.

French Line Infantry Painting Tutorial Part One - The Base Colours

The illustration helps to show the effect I am trying to achieve with the
variation in shade as the light hits the more exposed areas of the uniform

It's been a while since I went through a painting tutorial, and now being very much involved in adding significant numbers of French line infantry into the collection and with the 206th anniversary of the Battle of Talavera tomorrow, I thought it might be of interest to illustrate the process and colours I prefer to use when painting these troops.

Getting efficient at producing a nice looking unit is what this series of posts will be a about and lets face it, if you are into Napoleonics you are probably going to want some of these chaps in your collection and probably a lot of them.

The battalion shown below was waiting for the first colour to dry on the groundwork as I began work on the base colours for the third battalion to complete my second regiment, the 96e Ligne. It occurred to me to photograph and record the work to illustrate my method.

The 2/96e Ligne on the desk with the ground work to be finished 

I tend to have two battalions of French primed with undercoat at a time to allow work to proceed seamlessly from one to the next as we want to get on with playing as much as we enjoy painting.

My battalions are in units of twenty-eight including the four skirmishers and my senior or first battalion would normally have the mounted colonel on the command base, my second battalion a sergeant with the fanion group and my third with a pioneer with the fanion group. In addition I like to put in the odd personality figure like a cheering soldier, or in this case a fusilier falling wounded.

First stage base flesh and coat colours

The first stage is to apply the base flesh colour, which I tend to do with Citadel Ratskin Flesh. I find this colour gives a really satisfactory dark base to my flesh and although I have experimented with adding Citadel Riekland Fleshshade wash, now only use this on bareheaded individuals to contrast their hair from the rest of the face. To see the effect of the wash then follow the link to the 2/96e Ligne to see the cheering soldier.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/296e-regiment-de-ligne.html

At this early stage I am focused on making the greatest progress and getting the work done in the right order. The right order of putting colours on takes a bit of time to work out, but when faced with working through multiple units it becomes an important aspect. I will write down my sequence so I can come back to a project and pick up where I left off without having the painful process of re-learning it.

Next base colours to add, browns and greys. Greys include lapels, trousers, great-coats and shako covers. Note I will do straps and lace in grey at a later stage

So in this case, the last major colour to apply will be black because black gets applied over the top of other colours to finish off the base set up, such as black musket barrels over brown wood-work. Not forgetting of course that black is not a colour!

After the Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue jackets, I applied Coat d'Arms Dark grey to some great-coats, some trousers, all lapels and waistcoats, metal mess bowls and water bottles.

Brown include trouser, great-coats, back-packs and bayonet scabbards - fusiliers carry bayonets on the right, elite company on the left with their sabre-briquet 

Next colour on was Vallejo Burnt Umber to my Spanish cloth clad trousered soldiers and all the back-packs.

I then took Vallejo Chocolate Brown and applied that to the muskets, other great-coats and bayonet scabbards - yes French bayonet scabbards are brown, not black, as shown in the header illustration.

"Blacking up" - shakos, musket metal work, boots, swords and scabbards and ammunition pouches

The final large colour - shade, call it what you will, is the black over the primer to finish off the boots, shakos and peaks, musket and sword metal work, sword scabbards and ammunition pouches.

For variety I do shako covers in black, grey and white, thus for a white cover I would use a base coat of Vallejo Buff

With the black work done, the base boundary colours start to take shape and you feel you are making good progress.

All the black done, completes the first main base colours

With this big chunk of block work done it is time to go and make yourself a well earned cup of tea before getting stuck into the final base coat preparation covering the straps, laces, cuff/collar/shoulder straps/plumes and water bottle work before we can start to make these chaps come alive.

If you are interested in your painting skills, I would really recommend checking out the article published in Wargames Illustrated 287 which was available as a downloadable pdf called "The Four C's of Painting" by Joe Sleboda that covers off Colour, Composition, Contrast and Correction and is a very good summary of the basic skill set on deciding what you are going to do, where and correcting those little errors that can creep in to brush work.

So whilst prepping these guys I have been thinking about the groups of four figures that will be together on a base. The stick is organised so each group of four are together and I can make sure that there is plenty of variation in the group as far as castings and colour choices. In addition I will correct errors in the painting as I go ending up a little bit Obsessive/Compulsive but at least I can walk away and do something else afterwards, because I know the job has be done right! - "calm down Jon, step away from the figures!!!"

All the base colours added and stage one complete. Here the four elite figures in my Voltigeur base can be seen together on the stick with three figure variations and different colour combinations to provide variety for the eye

The final stage of getting all the base colours on to your figures should leave your models looking like the picture above. Having done all the large areas we are now doing the smaller detail areas such as small straps, lace, chords, musket slings, turn-backs, plumes, pompoms, brass/gold metalwork and water canteens.

Hopefully my pictures of the finished base coat figures will show you the colours I use for these little areas. Others that I noticed I hadn't highlighted include the raised gold buttons on the backs of the officers habite jackets that are found at the back on the waist line. I touch these in the Camo Black Brown as they will come up a treat when tipped with gold.

Note also that, unlike the British, the French didn't have a standard water canteen and so these figures carry three examples, the ghorde, the whicker framed bottle and the metal canteen, each requiring a different paint job. The four fusilier companies are represented with three groups of four fusilers having blue, orange and purple pompoms. I represent the first company with my drummer having a green pompom. The staff (officer and fanion bearer) have white pompoms and the elites including the pioneer either in grenadier red or voltigeur green/yellow. Note also that my elites carry distinctions peculiar to the 96e Ligne, hence the illustration at the top of the post as another reference to commonalities between regiments.

The volitigeurs of the 96e Ligne wore yellow cuff slashes as seen above, instead of the more standard white. Note that I haven't done all the piping, such as around the collars, some cuff slashes, turn-back and lapel piping. These will get done in the next stage as they can get in the way of the primary highlighting and it is simpler to add them later in the process. Likewise there are some small straps across the front of some of the fusiliers from which the water bottles are hung and are easier to apply later in the job.

So that is the base coat finished and now we can move on to the really fun stuff of shading up to a third coat to try and make these little chaps pop. However it is worth stressing that a good result relies on the foundations laid in the first stages, undercoat and base coat and attention to detail at this stage will reward you later.

The other aspect I would highlight here is that of colour selection. The predominantly blue coats of the French lends itself to a "cold" white, hence I have based my white areas on a grey. The British and Spanish in the red and brown coats lend themselves to a "warm" white and thus I would tend to base coat the white areas with a buff base coat.

You will note that the figures look dull in their dark colours. This is deliberate as these dark shades will underpin the more vibrant upper shades and provide the contrast in the shadowed areas. This technique is the same for painting 28mm figures and we are not relying on any black lining to delineate colours or areas of shadow.

Next up - Part Two and the first highlight colours

Painting Psychology - The reward process in painting

Detailed whites on the Colonel of the 24e Ligne

I, probably like most wargamers, have a painting routine and technique that has become habitual. I may try out an occasional new colour combination or multiple shading every now and then, but like most humans, I fit the stereotype of doing what feels comfortable, again and again.

However I do credit myself with thinking about why I am doing things the way I am doing it as I am in the zone as they say, and a thought came into my mind about what I was doing with my current project, the 24e Ligne.

The first seven figures on the left show what I was doing before changing the process at figure eight with grey straps and lapels ready for the next session.

The pictures, I quickly grabbed at the end of a session show progress on the first battalion. I should say that I haven't painted French line infantry for years now, and as with all new subjects it takes me time to work my way around a figure working out what needs highlighting and what colours to use. When it's new, I am constantly stopping to refer to picture references, that I don't do quite so often as the subject becomes more familiar. I think I can now paint British infantry in my sleep!

I use a three colour system that starts with a basic process of applying the base shades in a block painting process, and I always start with the flesh areas, the coat colour, then other major colour groups, muskets, back packs, greatcoats, trousers, water bottles/canteens. The final block shade is usually black, where I get to tidy up the figure and lay a base for the metal parts that usually sit on another colour.

What follows then is a highlighting process with two increasingly lighter shades. I would usually break this process up into sessions of one to two hours depending on what else had to be done and how good my pod-cast list was.

I happened to be in the second session of these chaps, which had all the principle block colours done, the black, the first highlights except the white bits. I then started on the Colonel pictured above, shading over the grey and buff areas with off white, and then moving on to the other command figures and the first fusiliers. Working the white, as I call it, can be very intense as the small detail of straps and waistcoat areas is quite precise and my progress slowed dramatically.

I then thought, hang on, when I finish this session, I want to come back to a completed section, and I was not going to be able to do that at this pace. So I decided to just focus on the large areas of white that were relatively easy to get done, namely the trousers and shako covers, and leave the lapels, straps and turn-backs to the next session, after all I would be doing white lacing last and that is even more intense.

When I finished the last shako cover and put the work down I had an immediate feeling of success and completion, looking forward to coming back with just the detail work to do, which I know will "break the back" of the project.

Now I am relaxing and thinking about the process, I realise that is what I would normally do with other figures I have painted but I guess the novelty of the subject matter threw me off my SOP (standard operating procedure), but it has made me realise why I do things in a certain way to get that feeling of achievement by finishing a section of painting and if you find this useful it might help you.

So on with the 24e and I hope to get these chaps done in the next couple of days.

Painting Desk Tidy Up with a Christmas Present

A very tidy table, for me, with my new Battle Flag paint storage tray top left

Whilst getting over excessive eating and quality time spent with family on Xmas day I was up this morning keen to put together my new Paint Storage Tray from Battle Flag, that Tom & Will got me for Christmas, cheers Guys, and to do a bit of tidying up on the table.

http://www.battle-flag.com/

I am really pleased with the tray as it helps keep my table clear of paints that I use regularly plus I can slot my tweezers and needle files in it as well. I would like to get another one at some stage to add a bit more storage, but I thought I would share with you what a really useful bit of kit this is

Romans, Redcoats, Rangers and Indians on the desk

After tidy up I got a bit of time to finish off the block painting on some Aventine Roman commanders I am putting together for the Dacian Wars collection. In addition, at the same time I have the next project on the "sticks" at the back, a set of French Indian Wars British Redcoats, and some Rangers and Indians I am doing for a friend's Muskets and Tomahawks collection. Pictures of finished items to follow.

In addition to a few other things, I got a book, from my lovely wife, which I am looking forward to reading, based on my reading of "Galloping at Everything, by Ian Fletcher, a brilliant book to read that I reviewed back in November.

Galloping at Everything - Ian Fletcher

Edward Charles Cocks was, amongst other things, one of Wellington's "Galloping Officers" and had a very daring military career, which led eventually to his death at the Siege of Burgos in 1812.

In addition to that I was given a few more toys from AB to help move the Talavera project on including some of the gorgeous dismounted French Dragoons.

More stuff to come on JJ's with a trip up to North Devon to play a bit of ACW skirmish for our annual Xmas game, plus pictures of Romans, Redcoats, Rangers and Indians, and a look back on the plans set out for 2014 and what's coming in 2015.

Painting War - Napoleonic French Army

Just before starting our third run through of the Oporto scenario today, I thought I would post my first impressions of an eagerly awaited book from Dave Brown at Caliver Books , namely the second volume of "Painting War" featuring the work of an excellent painter "Rafael Perez a.k.a "Archduque".

As you know, I love the painting side of our hobby as much as the reading, researching and playing aspects and am never tired of seeing how others have developed a technique and style that is just another way of delivering great looking figures to the table.

Imagine then my delight at the feast of information contained in this excellent little volume. This book contains pretty much everything you need to know in terms of painting beautiful looking figures and some, with clear and easy to follow guides on how to get the look right on those typical units found in the French armies spanning the revolutionary - napoleonic period.

The book is illustrated with pictures of 28mm figures, which as an 18mm collector is not a problem as the basic system of shade painting applies equally to both scales. All the suggested colour options are listed and cover all aspects from painting faces and horses to what blue to use on French infantry coats. The paints used are principally from the extensive Vallejo range with a few options included from Citadel Paints as well

For those interested in adding a little extra detail there is a very handy illustrated listing of rank insignia for infantry, cavalry and those fancy chevrons seen on hussar pelisses.

There is even a suggested technique for basing your figures.

For the experienced painter or the novice there is a lot of useful information contained within the pages of this book and I am very pleased with the purchase. Unlike other books I have seen that are full of great pictures of figures, this book contains those great pictures but also includes the practical information needed to help you turn out those kind of figures yourself.

My only little point of criticism and I stress little is the Spanish to English translation done that leaves a little to be desired in some of the wordier parts of the book and I wonder whether this was done with a Google translator. Note the cover in the first picture with a very interesting spelling of campaign and which I think should probably be "On Campaign". As a native English speaker I would be more than happy to proof read any further offerings to translate the translation into better understandable format.

For the Napoleonic collector and painter this book is recommended.

French 20th Dragoons - AB, Part Five

OK, so if you have been following my posts this week you will know that I started work on this unit a week ago last Sunday and I have recorded the progress of putting these figures together in their completed state.

I hope you like the results, I am looking forward to getting these guys into battle, probably in September, may be October when I run the Vimiero "full fat" scenario with a few mates from the Devon Wargames Group.

If you are interested a potted history of the 20th French Dragoons

More French dragoons coming soon.

French 20th Dragoons - AB, Part Four

With Saturday morning I am now into day 6 of this project and having completed about another hour and half on the horses last night, the following three shots illustrate where I'm at 7.45am.

I'm really on the home lap now. Last night I completed all the tack, manes, tails, hooves, eyes, white areas and coat highlights. The French were in the habit of using black leather work for their tack so painting French horses uses one less base colour.

As I paint I like to try out ideas occasionally. One idea I have started to adopt is highlighting the horse after the oils have dried. I quite like the look of block painted horses you see illustrated, in the way the detail of the musculature is accentuated. The use of artists oils achieves a much more subtle version of that technique. I have found that by applying a watered down top coat of the original base coat I can raise the detail of the horse, without losing the subtlety originally achieved.

So onwards and upwards - I will add to these first three shots before I post to show where I got to on day 6.

A big thanks for the comments guys. I've really enjoyed the feel of having a conversation as I paint. It has given me a great opportunity to think more deeply about the process.

09.10am

So the horses were finished off with highlights added to the black and white work. The metal work, bridles and buckles have been added and light hooves for the trumpeters white done, allowing me to bring the horses and riders together.



I look to marry up riders and horses before painting begins. The last thing you need is to struggle pushing a rider on to a horse only to find that in the process of wriggling and nudging the rider in place you've gone and damaged the paintwork on the horse. I know, I've done it and to quote my school teacher "it's not big and it's not clever", and "it's only your own time you're wasting!"

Off course to make sure the right rider goes with the right horse I arrange everyone in the same order on the paint desk and put them back in the same place as I paint. Simple but effective.

So I can now leave these guys to stick and go and get the bases ready. I have prepared laser cut mdf bases arranged for "Napoleon at War" rules but that work equally well for what I think are becoming my preferred option "Carnage and Glory". I have had these cut by the lovely people at Warbases and I like to apply magnetic tape to the bottoms, which I get from the equally lovely people at Magnetic Displays,  so I can transport my models safely in their metal tool case.

In addition I will varnish the models whilst still on the painting wood and hope to get them on the bases this afternoon ready for the groundwork to commence.

 "Et Voila" one regiment of French dragoons ready for groundwork and parade shots