Crimson Paladin II - Part I

 

Making sure to step over the drain.

Just a fairly quick post because I managed to get a fair bit of airbrushing done in a single day and I'll be busy for the next week. I recently assembled the next of the Crimson Paladins and this time out I decided the arms should be fully attached from the start. It was to much hassle last time.

Painting-wise there isn't much to say. From the experience before I know that a wash stage will help define everything more, but that some manipulation as applying over the gloss varnish will increase shadows, and glazing later with Evil Sunz Scarlet is going to help make everything pop. The airbrushing was done with this in mind. I still used three passes (Dryad Bark / Mephiston Red, then plain Mephiston Red, then Evil Sunz Scarlet) but I didn't try to be very neat.

The first coat is to give the whole model a base colour to work from. This is also mostly the shadow colour, even if the wash will darken it more later anyway. I used my "new workhorse" airbrush with a 0.35mm needle here and made sure to apply many thin coats to get a smooth finish and to avoid clogging the nozzle.

Next was the first highlighting stage which again used the same airbrush, and mostly from a Zenithal angle. Basically I just sprayed from above and occasionally a little from the side, but not from underneath. It's similar in colour, but trust the process: the later wash will darken everything, and glazing will brighten again in select areas.

Finally I switched to the CRplus Infinity airbrush with a 0.2mm needle and build up the final layer more selectively. I know there's some good reviews about the workhorse type airbrush, and it's indeed perfectly fine, but once you're quite familiar and comfortable with airbrushing then that extra quality kit really comes into play. The trigger action is definitely better, the paint flows more smoothly, and it's easier to clean afterwards. I intend to buy a newer Infinity at some point, eyeing off the Giraldez model, as soon as there's some kind of spare money for such things.

At this point the reds don't give much contrast really. Shadows are there, highlights are there, but knowing that I'll be refining it later made the broader airbrush application now that much faster.

The base on this model is actually two thin layers of green-stuff. I was playing with a new texture roller which has a manhole cover I liked, which I then needed to turn into an actual base. With the slightly higher base these older kits are visually comparable to the new Cataphractii  models too, but there's still one more trick to make the Crimson Paladins seem taller. The previous one had this done, and it's the head. It sits too low in the torso normally. I'll try get all the helmets done in one go, but a little bit of green-stuff to extend the faceplate down and a little more on the base to make it sit ever so slightly higher and it makes all the difference.

That's about it for now. I did more airbrush of other models too, and I guess one of those will be for next week.

-- silly painter.

Custodian Wardens - Part VI (Showcase)

 

Bodyguards looking for body oil.

Finally, done! It wasn't that there was an awful lot left to do, it's just that between work and horrible weather I've never had time or motivation to actually get them done. All finished at last though, standing tall and proud.

It's worth noting that these are large models, larger than Primaris possibly even the newer terminators. They're very imposing but it's really hard to get a feel for that without seeing them in person. A full squad in the middle of another force and you start to get a sense of how mean Custodian Guard can be.

In rounding out the weapons I fell back on my normal black weapon casing formula with with a slight twist:

• Corvus Black base coat over all the black details.
• Eshin Grey to build up initial highlights.
• Abaddon Black glazed into shadows.
• Ulthuan Grey / Eshin Grey (roughly 1:2, but depends) for edge highlights.

I played with the mixes of paint between stages and there was a good deal of back & forth before I had it just how I wanted. Generally the Ulthuan Grey was never used pure: it's too bright on its own and I wanted definition more than anything else.

Silver details are for the most part mixes of Doom Metal (TTC) and Iron Hands Silver. Everything else is covered fairly well in previous posts for the weapons.

The gemstones gave me pause for a while. I was originally going to paint them in a blue or teal colouration, but I decide that was going to stand out too much. One or two gemstones maybe, but all of them and the warmer tones of the armour will clash with the cooler blue too much. I then considered purple but again felt that I wanted more harmony and so went with basically red.

• Gal-Vorbak Red base coat.
• Wazdakka Red around most of the previous coat, but leave a small circular edge darker.
• Wild Rider Red as a crescent generally on the lower part.
• Fire Dragon Bright as a smaller crescent.
• Gal-Vorbak Red / Doom Death Black (TTC) in a circular shape opposite the crescent.
• Doom Death Black (TTC) glazed higher in the circular shape.
• White Star (TTC) reflection dots.
• 'Ardcoat over the gemstone to seal and make it gloss.

That's quite a lot for items to small. With everything on the wet palette it's much easier, and the TTC paints were chosen specifically for their thinning ability and slightly longer drying time. They have a matt finish but that gets pained with a gloss varnish anyway.

For the knuckles I decided they were simply far too small to bother going so far with and so I used Omega Blue (TTC) there and a few other places. That particular paint is quite vibrant and what else to say - it was a spur of the moment thing and I just went with it.

These are definitely worth the investment to paint them up to a high standard, and the marble basing suits them very well. I have a few more Adeptus Custodes in the backlog still, including Ixion Hale. I'm sorely tempted to start on his assembly. Maybe I'll just go find the box and see.

-- silly painter.

Impressions

 While I'm back and getting very close to finishing the current work in progress squad, I decided to write up something that's been on my mind for a while. This relates to how miniatures are painted and what the end goal is.

I've seen a good deal of talk about how to make something look realistic, how to make reflections behave as they would in real life, or how a particular highlight should be done. There's a certain element to that: a viewer will notice immediately if something doesn't "look right' - a blue reflection from a fiery battlefield would look peculiar for example. It's also somewhat untrue given the scale.

When painting miniatures then the viewer is probably going to see them under different lighting conditions to which they were painted, and under different lighting to the setting in which the model is placed. Already this is at odds with realism: the angle of lighting alone is going to differ depending upon where the model is facing, where any overhead lights are, etc. Size plays a role too: sunlight diffused through cloud layers will be noticeably different to direct overhead sunlight on a cloudless day. The sheer distances involved make volume interactions differ on a small miniature compared to an eight foot tall armour plated killing machine.

Ultimately, painting for realism is not the actual goal. Painting for the impression of realism is far more popular. Taking this further and instead it can be painting for an impression.

Early on the folks at the 'Eavy Metal team learned that contrast is key. The photography and magazine printing technologies of the time required a high level of contrast to make the miniatures show up properly in publications and showcase them to customers. The human visual system keys on contrast for object definition and recognition: contrast of colour, contrast of brightness, contrast of depth, it's the difference that matters. This is the entire concept behind edge highlighting: define the outline to make viewing a model easier.

Freeing the mind from the shackles of realism and focusing on painting to form an impression lets you play with the model and guide a viewer in many different ways. Cylindrical objects painted as panel modulation suggests height over shape, edge highlighting can accentuate OSL effects, or by their omission create an impression of shadow without actually needing to darken an area. Exaggeration of lighting can make a flat surface curved, or a curved surface flat. I typically don't align the direction of light with a helmet so that I can focus the viewer's attention on the head more easily - abandoning realism gives the flexibility to adjust perception of the model.

It's not just highlights and shadows, but the very colours used can do this too. Painting a specific vampire in moonlight allowed me create an impression of a night scene without making the model dark. It's quite high in value in places, and then the yellow eyes stand out extra against the blues and purples otherwise used. If the model was truly at night then barely anything would be visible.

Going beyond this to the very brush strokes used, the choice of blending or not, and there's still a world of artistic possibilities to explore. I saw a post once of a model that didn't win a competition, yet was undeniably one of the most visually striking models on display. It simply wasn't painted as what is normally expected. Miniature painting won't come into its own as a more widely accepted art genre until that range of expression is opened up.

What does this have to do with my own painting? When it comes to painting Marines then it impacts which colours I'm choosing, and other than Blood Angels it impacts how "far" I'll go. Does the model look like what I was going for? If so, I can leave it there. Blood Angels are the exception - I'm trying to be less exacting when I paint them, but their whole core ideal is artistry to tame the rage within, and I like to depict that with my approach.

Food for thought at any rate.

-- silly painter

Custodian Wardens - Part V

 

So very shiny.

It's been a few weeks since the last post, which is an annoying consequence of incredibly busy work, alongside some other duties keeping free time at an absolute minimum. At last though I managed to finish up the armour on all models and fully assemble them. This makes them around ninety percent complete but for all the little details (gemstones in particular remain).

Since the last time, the remaining step has been to add a more extreme highlight to all the "gold" detailing. I wanted certain parts to stand out slightly more, such as the chest design in the picture above. This isn't about extreme edge highlights (which I can certainly still do) but a subtle brightness shift to pick them out more. Canoptek Alloy was the paint of choice here: thinned to an light glaze consistency because the paint has very good coverage and used to brighten specific areas. I mostly concentrated on "lines" of filigree and the chest.

I could go back and deepen recesses or add brighter highlight points, or more besides, but I figured enough is enough and they look about how I wanted. With everything being the same colour (more or less) then detailing isn't intended to stand out heavily. A conscious decision on my part to reveal more detail the longer you look rather than having it jump out straight away.

The silver components are just two colours in the end: Doom Metal (TTC) and Iron Hands Steel. The former for a base coat, followed by a mix of the two for initial highlights, and then the latter for final highlights. These areas are small and don't need many colours to make them work.

The top-knot is another three-colour scheme, which is chosen to ensure the gold isn't overshadowed by highlights elsewhere and also just to make it easier! Mephiston Red base coat, Shyish Purple (Contrast, thinned a little) as a wash concentrated underneat, and then thinly highlight with Evil Sunz Scarlet. This is brighter than the the lower parts of the model, but with a satin finish that contrasts against the armour to give it a different look.

The weapon has taken some thought. For now it's based coated with pick-your-black over most parts (the grip was painted previously so wasn't touched) and the blade left from airbrushing. I wanted a power weapon feel but without the lightning patterning commonly used (personal preference, I generally don't like it) so ultimately went with a combination of Doom Metal (TTC), Omega Blue (TTC), and Grey Knights Steel. The latter paint is darker than you might think so I was using that to shade more than anything else and pure Omega Blue for most of the edge highlights. Doom Metal mixes well with either and was used to help create shadowed parts or otherwise generally define the shape of the blade.

The blade additionally has wing designs which normally I've seen painted gold. I tried that and then glazed the blue metallics over the top to represent glow from the blade: this definitely works but still didn't seem to fit. Reasoning that the wing design is essentially the power node from other power weapons I simply base coated with Grey Knights Steel, highlighted to a pure Omega Blue on the tips, and used Drakenhoft Nightshade to add definition. The axe looks reasonable here but I'm not yet sold on the spears. I suspect I'll not be happy with anything and will end up leaving it as-is.

The gold on the weapons I've been playing around with a lot just to see if I could approximate the main armour but with far less effort. I think I've stumbled onto something acceptable: Balthasar Gold base, followed by Reikland Fleshshade (Seraphim Sepia normally but in this case I wanted a slight red tint to tie into the other reddish parts), then a mix of the base coat with Retributor Armour and finally mixing in Canoptek Alloy for the last highlights.

The weapon needs the black to be worked with some more yet, and aforementioned gemstones, some cabling and other sundry details, but they are definitely started to look like they'll be finished soon. Not that soon however because I'll be away for a couple of weeks again. I hope after I'm back I can find the time to sit down and complete these models so that I might then move onto the next project.

-- silly painter

Custodian Wardens - Part IV

 

No, the axe is not for chopping firewood.

It's taken some time to do not much visibly on account of very little time to paint, and what time there has been was spent getting every other model in the squad to the same level. Nearly. Unbelievably, I'm still not done with armour yet either.

Mostly highlighted as described before, I'm still going to pick out some areas with a heavily thinned Canoptek Alloy. This is a very strong paint normally and I don't want it to overpower what's there, but the detailing isn't standing out quite as much as I would like just yet. I will need to be very careful to not ruin everything.

The helmet lenses are really simple:

• Wazdakka Red
• Rust Orange (TTC) within the red.
• Fire Dragon Bright as a final highlight.

I did go back in with a black to outline where the red went outside the edges, but that wasn't always necessary. I didn't bother with white reflection dots - the lenses are barely visible as it is, anything more isn't really adding anything to the model.

The faceplate is simply Iron Warriors covered with Iron Hands Steel. I wanted a very polished look and didn't bother with any fancy gradients or shading. Other steel / silver areas have Doom Metal (TTC) for shading, but I'll reserve more extreme highlight points for the weapon most likely.

Finally (this is a short post) Flesh Tearers Red was used to fill in the gaps on the pauldrons and introduce more colour to break up the monotony there. I thinned it and used a couple of layers to build it up. I'm not sure it worked quite as nicely as if I'd used something else base and layer up highlight points, but I wanted to try something different and it fulfils the original purpose.

There are still a few details to go before I turn my attention to the weapons, but they are coming along nicely. I just hope everything else begins to calm down enough to let me finish these models without too much more delay.

-- silly painter

Custodian Wardens - Part III

 

Seen some shit.

This is a shorter post about more than just the Custodian Wardens, but concerns faces in general. There's only one model in the set that I've assembled without a helmet, and that was purely because I thought it suited the silhouette better.

To start with, the sculpt lends itself to older white haired look. It really does for some reason - it just has that grizzled veteran vibe. Obviously the Custodian Guard do age, so I would assume this guy has been at it for a very long time and has witnessed a lot. He's also very well groomed.

Painting the face actually used comparatively few paints. I started off with Night Lords Blue but didn't exactly go for complete coverage. A little patchy in areas is ok as it will give a more natural look in the end. Barak-Nar Burgundy was next, leaving the previous colour in the recessed areas and just kind of sketching out the shapes. These colours were chosen for no other reason than they were on the palette at the time, but that's again something that gives a more natural look: not every person has exactly the same skin tone, and it's the variation in models that make them look realistic.

Barbarian Brawn and Dwarven Flesh, both TTC paints, were then used to build up the skin tones by mixing in previous colours and highlighting up as I went along. The deeper recesses and lower parts of the face predominantly used Night Lords Blue mixed in to give colder shadows, while Barak-Nar Burgundy faded out from there and was also more apparent to the sides of the head. Final highlights are pure Dwarven Flesh, glazed into place: nose, upper cheeks, and the forehead. I made a conscious choice to keep the front of the face brighter and this really sells the look. It helps define the shape of the head and keep attention where it should be.

The beard and hair is Trooper White, another TTC paint, which is also the "whites" of the eyes. The iris is just Night Lords Blue, and I did not even try to put in a black pupil. I did mix in some of the blue and burgundy into the white for initial hair colouring, moving more to the blue later. I used very little pure Trooper White for the hair; (barely) a hint of another colour is sufficient to make it look more natural.

I stopped about there. I could make the skin tone brighter, but that might clash with the hair and the skin was looking sufficiently leathery by this stage. I just added eyebrows then blue tinted cabling around the head and glued it in place.

Guardian Spear with built-in boltgun, but still wants to use a knife.

This model is not really fully assembled quite yet. The pauldrons and cape are just resting in place right now so that I can easily access some of the still visible parts of the model, but I do get a good feel of how everything will look in the end - and I'm happy with how that's going. I still need to highlight the armour on this model (and most of the others). Next models I'm definitely not going to go quite this hardcore on.

-- silly painter.

Custodian Wardens - Part II

 

Wonder if he washes his own cloak.

While the armour still hasn't received final highlights, I have managed to figure out the other major piece of the model: the cape / cloak / whatever. It took me a while to come up with an idea for that, and actually I had something in mind when I saw something similar from Trovarion.

The idea is that while it can go vibrant, it shouldn't look reflective. The shadows are are cooler and tend towards blue or purple, where the highlights are the warmer tones of a red. This gives contrast and readability while still looking softer, possibly like velvet. I did not want to use simply darker red or black for shadows and nor did I think a wash was appropriate. In the end it was just three paints:

• Barak-Nar Burgundy base coat.
• Night Lords Blue / Barak-Nar Burgundy (1:1) in the shadowed areas, basically anything facing down. The ratios aren't exact: more blue in the deeper recesses, more burgundy glazed into lighter areas.
• Mephiston Red build up for the highlights. Mixing this with a hint of Barak-Nar Burgundy helps transition in places to the purer red which is mostly reserved for upwards facing surfaces higher up.

I'm not sure if a brighter red is suitable or not and so haven't added anything more quite yet. I can always do that later once the helmet is in place and the armour highlighted more.

Rather obviously the model is glued to a base now. I haven't pinned the model in place but something tells me I should have. I'll think about it if they ever come off. Ideally I should have aligned the legs and drilled holes before putting the topper in place but it was too late to do that by the time I'd thought of it. Maybe next time.

The leather braces I straight up stole from a Duncan Rhodes video:

• Doombull Brown
• Nuln Oil
• Doombull Brown glazed into some volume highlights again.
• Rust Orange TTC (or Squig Orange from Citadel, but mine had all dried up) to edge highlight.

Very simple and yet effective. The weapon grips were similar:

• Doombull Brown
• Carroburg Crimson
• Rust Orange to highlight
• Doombull Brown glazed over the highlights to knock them back slightly.

I still have the rest of the squad to complete all of these steps for and so I suspect the next update might take another week or two. Everything is just slow going right now. At least the hard part is over and I think I can just paint without thinking of how to do each little detail.

-- silly painter.