Painting Arcadia Quest: Whole Lotta Lava and Others

Way back around Christmas 2020, my brother sent my family a bunch of Arcadia Quest stuff, knowing that we like playing and painting. We painted most of the figures over the next few months, probably finishing in February or March. Then, there was a ridiculously long delay before I varnished the models, in large part because we were waiting on one son to finish one minor part of one figure. We did not do any family painting between then and now, so it wasn't like he could get to it while the paints were out. After it slipped out of immediate attention, it became much easier not to think about it. A few days ago, I was looking at the mess that is my home office, and I told him we had to finish up that project. Within a few hours, the figure was painted, and then I varnished everything, and here we are.

I have divided the figures by painter since friends of the family probably care more about who is painting what than what is being painted. The figures come from the Whole Lotta Lava scenario as well as some other hero packs. Keep in mind these were painted a year ago; I'm sure the younger boys would do an even better job now.

My Sole Figure

I was painting something else at the time, I think it was the figures from Thunderstone Quest: Barricades. However, the boys also wanted me to join them with his project, so here's the one I painted: Valma.

Valma (front)

Valma (back)

Regular readers may recall that "family painting" means, in part, sitting in a poor lighting condition without my whole arsenal of brushes, mediums, and accessories: it's mostly just basic Vallejo colors and water, though we also have two or three washes in the family box. I think Valma turned out fine. Looking at it now, she's a bit too pale since her flesh tone is not distinct enough from the skull on the end of her hammer. It's a fair match for the card art, but I should have made that visually clearer.

#1 Son

My eldest son worked on these two from Whole Lotta Lava.

Ignos and The Fallen Angel (front)

Ignos and the Fallen Angel (back)

I think he did a bang-up job on Ignos. It really feels like its molten core is glowing. The Fall Angel looks nice, too. I don't think he's done much with multihued transitions, and those wings were a good exercise for him. 

The Fallen Angel has such a ridiculous emo hairstyle that I decided to lie him down and try to get a shot of his face.

The Fallen Angel (fallen)

Unfortunately, Whole Lotta Lava is a scenario for Arcadia Quest: Inferno, which we don't have, so I don't think we have a way to get Ignos to the table. He belongs on display somewhere perhaps. The Fallen Angel should be able to be integrated into our hero collection for our next campaign.

#2 Son

I cannot remember now why this son only painted one figure from this set. I think it was by choice, that he just had other things on his mind at the time. The only one he painted was Anvil, but I think he did a great job with it.

Anvil (front)

Anvil (back)

It is solid work, and when photographing it, I noticed how he tried to add some rust to the hammer, which is a nice touch. The card art is a bit ambiguous about what's going on with the hammer; it could be interpreted as oxidation, dirt, or simply artistic flourish. 

#3 Son

These are OK, but I remember feeling like this son was more interested in being done than in actually painting. I don't remember if there was something particular that was distracting him. I think that next time we do family painting (which I hope will be soon), I can work with him more on seeing opportunities for detail work, covering mistakes, and keeping focus.

A Hellcat and Yona (front)

A Hellcat and Yona (back)

As above, I am not sure the Hellcat will make it into any scenario, unless we just swap out a different mini for it at some point, but Yona will definitely go into our pool of heroes for the draft.

#4 Son

I always sit next to my youngest son while painting, and so I am able to give him more direct instruction and feedback than the others. It's a sort of family echo of my essay from the other day, when I talked about how I cannot be everywhere in the studio at once. He developed a good eye for when to take action. 

Mittens, Kuruk, and a Hellcat (front)

Mittens, Kuruk, and a Hellcat (back)

Those two furry heroes were tricky to paint. He's too little to think much about painting in the shadows, but it was clearly a great opportunity to learn about prudent use of washes. I helped him thin down a little Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil so that he could do a light wash, think about it, and potentially add more as needed. You can get a lot of bang for your buck with that technique, and I'm really proud of how well he did here, especially the details and color transitions on Kuruk.

Bonus Extra: Mrs. G's Viking Warrior

I don't think miniature painting really calls to my wife, but she does do a nice job when she sits and paints with us. She chose, rather than painting a figure from this set, to paint the Reaper Bones viking warrior that she was given as a Christmas present by one of the boys. 

Viking Warrior (front)

Viking Warrior (back)

I remember her being upset about how hard it is to paint convincing blonde hair, and I agree: it can be a difficult thing to get right. She ended up leaving the shield plain blue rather than freehanding anything over it, and I don't blame her. Freehanding is scary, and I try not to look at my first few shield attempts. The tattoo I painted on Valma's head is very simple and still just OK.

That's it for the latest installment of family painting. Yesterday, I just primed a new set for us to explore, but you'll have to tune in later to find out how that goes. Give us a few weeks... but hopefully not another 15 months.