Border Reiver Project 3: Undercoating

Gesso undercoating: straightforward enough.

My basic painting approach for 28mm figures is to undercoat, wash, block paint, and stain. Finally I make the bases and flags look as good as possible so people don't look too closely at the figures.

The washes and final staining create light and shade and substitute for not using a 3-tone paint effect. The only problem with this approach is that you can’t see how it’s eventually going to look until you apply the final stain.

For this job I'm undercoating with undiluted white gesso. White spray paint would be quicker but it's not the right time of year and I have had a very bad experience with spray paint.

I prefer using a white undercoat. I've used black in the distant past but it's hard to see the detail, more so as you get older.

Although neat gesso looks quite thick while being applied, it seems to shrink tighter as it dries. I don’t want to discover any bare bits of metal later on so the next step is to touch up the gesso, a job best done in good light.

Some pike block figures drying off. Those North Star pikes are lethal.
I'll have to warn people about them when they're put on the table.