C.D. Gallant King's Blog, page 4

July is really freakin' hot (#IWSG July 2023)

Don't take me off the list, I'm still here!I missed the IWSG post this month (by two days, anyway), but I have been writing. A couple more chapters of Gale Harbour book 3, changed around an old one, two. This will definitely be the longest book of the series (possibly by a lot). I added too many characters. :-(I've also been considering changing the branding on the series. I love titles like "

Finding stuff to do is not my problem (#IWSG June 2023)

May chugged along, writing-wise. I finished a couple of more chapters in Gale Harbour book 3, and had lots of ideas how to fix some glaring problems in previous chapters. It really feels like it's starting to come together, which is good. I still have another 20-30K words to go, but for a long time I was stalled and it felt like I would never be able to get it back on track. Now the end is (

April Fooled Me But Good (#IWSG May 2023)

April was rough. On the First, my daughter suffered a concussion (no, not related to failed April Fool's prank). We ended up in the hospital emergency room all weekend, from which she picked up a nasty stomach flu. The flu proceeded to work its way through our house, and took us two whole weeks before everyone was back on their feet (we completely missed Easter). We got better for one day, met

Z is for Zenithal Priming

Zenithal Priming is an advanced priming technique that attempts to simulate shadows and highlights created by the sun at its zenith.Basically, you prime the entire model in black, then spray on a white primer from above only. This leaves any lower edges and recesses black, creating baseline shadows even before you start blocking in your colours.I've also seen this done with black, then a grey

Y Can't I Find a "Y" Word?

Y can't I find painting terms that start with Y? I've been trying to come up with something for almost two months and I can't think of anything good.Oh well. Instead I'll talk about a few terms that I missed earlier in the month.Flash is the excess plastic on the seam lines of models, where the piece was previously attached to the sprue. These are usually easily removed with a sharp blade (like

X is for XPS Foam

XPS Foam, or extruded polystyrene foam, is a type of rigid foam board usually used as insulation. It's very useful in construction as it's water resistant, easy to cut and work with, and very effective at insulating from heat and cold.It comes in thicknesses between ½ to 2 inches, and convenient sizes from 2x2 up to 4x8 feet.For our purposes, XPS is also incredibly useful in model building. It

W is for... a Wide assortment of stuff

Washes we've discussed before - it's a high-viscosity medium that allows its pigment to flow into the recesses and low points of your model, adding shadow to the nooks and crannies.Weathering is adding visual texture to a model to make it look old and well, weathered. This is a common technique used on vehicles and terrain to make them look rundown and battle worn. It's often achieved through a

V is for Vallejo

Amadeo Vallejo started Vallejo Paints out of his garage in New Jersey in 1965. A Spanish immigrant, he could barely speak English, so his Dutch wife, Eugene Safranek, handled most of the business and PR, while Vallejo himself perfected his new style of acrylic paints.Vallejo in his workshop in 1971. SourceVallejo's early customers were primarily animation studios, particularly Hanna Barbera (of

U is for Undercoat, UV Resin

Undercoating is really just another way of saying "priming," which we discussed in depth last week. It's probably better to use the term priming anyway, as "undercoating" can be confused with "basecoating."We also discussed UV resin last week, in terms of 3D printing. But UV resin also has other uses.In printing, UV resin is deposited in thin layers and then cured with ultraviolet light to harden

T is for Terrain

Terrain is the area where you play your tabletop game, representing the environment where the characters are located. In a wargame like Warhammer, this could be a large battlefield, in Dungeons & Dragons this could be an elaborate dungeon or castle. Really anything is a possibility.Some people use simple grid maps with 1-inch squares, providing a quick simple reference for scale. Obstacles and