Odd little update: handpainting billboards.

This is an odd little update because I just realised how long it's been since I posted to the blog. I was working on an ishoo using a new material I've just discovered, but I went and forgot to take photos of the whole second half because I got too excited by the process. (It wasn't a very fancy ishoo anyway - I'm about to start work on a replacement which used the material and techniques in a more exciting way.)
So anyway, it's school holidays once more in the fair and fairly wet south-east of Victoria so I've been working on more Orkness stuff. I'm almost finished construction on an imperial shrine which the orks have turned into a missile silo (when I say almost completed, I mean only the shrine - I have yet to start the missile) and I dug out a half finished old project which I had cast aside in order to have time to finish it's companion piece for a little wars game. The old project is Mrs. Griselda Primm's Home for Wayward Girls Grots. I had the shell done, but it needed a base and details. My original plan involved having a cage hanging off the side, but I decided it would be fragile, so I needed something to fill the space. A billboard seemed to fit the bill. Giant vintage signs and billboards really help set the tone for something like Orkness - a shabby 1950s English seaside resort overrun by Orks (and also 38,000 years in the future). I thought about just downloading a vintage billboard, but then realised I wanted something orky. ENTER ORKA COLA!
In lieu of a proper ishoo, here's a quick guide to how I hand painted the Orka Cola billboard.

The starting point - a 12cm X 9cm panel of thin corrugated card from a Lego box. There are various bracey wot nots on the back, and the back has been painted up as rusted metal. The various ruled lines are for various different sizes of billboard I experimented with before settling on this one.

Here the background has been painted in using Vallejo paints and a range of slightly knackered brushes.

The Ork himself has now been added using Vallejo paints and much better brushes. He started out Sick Green and was highlighted up by adding Goblin Green and finally a mix of Goblin Green and Rotting Flesh (Or is ti Dead Flesh in Vallejo?) Some shade was aded using a Model Colour green of which I know not the name.

Here the sign is test fitted to the building at about 21:30 last night. At this point my eyes protested and I stopped painting.

Bright and early this morning I sprang from my bed, casting aside the covers and scale reference cat and completed the lettering. I have added some black wash around the outsides of the figure and lettering to make them stand out from the background more.

And her we see the Orka Cola sign installed in it's rightfull place. Rousing huzzahs!

All up, painting the sign took about and hour to an hour and a half. Transferring miniature painting skills to painting on a flat surface was not too hard and I found the whole experience quite relaxing. I recommend hand painting murals and signs to all terrainicidal maniacs out there.