Because power floats

Hello again, readers.  It's time once more to take a look at what I've gotten done today.  Finished up another figure, have a couple of things to talk about with him - including something that I wasn't planning on talking about for a while.  And, for the first time on this blog, I have an informal poll for you all.

First off, let's talk about creating a sandy desert base.  The steps leading up to this are the same as for most of the other bases I do - glue sand to the base, prime, then paint the miniature.  The main difference here is what colors I use for the base itself - if I'm going for a fine sand beach, I would use a Reaper Bone triad for coloring the base, stone is their Stone Gray triad, and standard earth is their Soil triad.

But for Deserts, I like to use a trio of Citadel paints - Zamesi Desert:

 Followed by drybrushing on a layer of Ushabti Bone:

And finally drybrushing on an even lighter layer of Screaming Skull:

If you notice the bottom of the base on that last one, you'll see that I also like to apply a black ink around the bottom of the base.  This cleans up the edge of the base, and helps set the piece apart from whatever terrain that it may be standing on.

Another thing you'll notice on this figure over some others that I have done is that thin black (actually a very dark blue courtesy of Reaper's  Blue Liner).  This is a technique that I have found that helps separate out two separate but similar colors, and really helps differentiate different parts of the figure.  It can come out looking a touch cartoony if you're not careful, but it can really be a godsend in touching up areas you've missed and separating out two different parts of the figure.

Now for the informal poll in this section.  I've decided I'm going to tackle one of the larger figures that I have ready to paint, and I would like your input on which one I start on this weekend.  Do I go with:

Wild West Exodus: Judgement

Warhammer 40k Tau Riptide battlesuit

Wild West Exodus Fire Eagle

Reaper Miniatures Nethyrmaul

Post your choices in the comments below.  I'll make the final decision on Friday (I may have another piece completed for you all tomorrow).  Also, if any of you have a particular subject that you want me to talk about, let me know, and chances are I'll include the subject in one of my updates.  Until then, keep painting!