The fearless Editor has expressed the notion that he would like some mention of how the adventurous painter handles details. Let's see exactly what we're talking about here: I like to do a real fancy job on my figures (that's because I can do it fairly easily - four years of art school helps). Anyway, I think that we can all agree that a detailed figure is exactly what it says - detailed. Now, before you even paint a figure it has to be good; does a French Hussar look like a slug riding a wounded buffalo or does he look like the kind of soldier you'd like to have in your army? If the sculptor has done his job, part of the battle has been won, and it's with pleasure that I note that there are a lot of good sculptors now at work in the miniatures field. In other columns and various articles, I've dealt with art tricks such as scumbling and washes and black lining which will make a figure look more detailed but I must tell you that the only way to really produce a detailed figure is to spend time on it. I can hear you screaming so stop it-,because, despite what I've just said, there is a trick which can make this whole process a little less arduous. And just because I am really a nice person, I'll help you. Now this was told to me personally by DaVinci ; after you glue your figure to a base for easy handling, use a thin dowel or old brush handle as a support for your hand. If you've never tried it, you will be amazed at the release of strain (and the concurrently decreased possibility of having a hand hernia). Aside from this, neither brushes, advice nor any magic tricks will help you; nothing will except for you own personal talent, time, and effort. Well enough about that, now let's go to flesh. What does it really look like? This may be more fun - forget any commercially produced paint that calls itself flesh -at best it looks like early ghoul or zombie. Ideally, flesh should be mixed from two parts white, one part each of red and middle green, and finally, one part yellow ochre. Considering that you people are really lazy bums I don't actually expect all of you to do that, so I'll give you the short cut. I'll preface this with the warning that I personally love a realistic flat finish and am anti-gloss. Use an acrylic color such as Indian Red or Portrait, add either a flat white or Pelikan flesh to it, and you will end up with a color which will not look like the dead. For non-white flesh, there are several mixes; oriental flesh is a mix of ochre and brown; negro flesh is a mix of brown, blue and black; Indian is really a red brown (Portrait or Indian Red as noted above). Now if this seems like a lot of trouble, you can always paint skeletons - but guess how hard that is. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. V #5 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1984 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com