Lemartes Shoulder Pad

Although this article applies to Lemarte's right shoulder pad (a large skull icon), it can equally apply to his helmet, or any skull iconography in general. It's a fairly involved process, so probably best suited to those particularly special models.

Up until now, I've been mostly starting skull icons with a fairly light base colour, typically Rakarth Flesh. I am starting to appreciate building up from a darker base however, as it seems easier to blend up to a lighter tone than down to a darker one. So with that in mind, Rhinox Hide was used to give the shoulder pad its base coat. Do note that the model, as usual now, was given a coat of Chaos Black spray first.

Rhinox Hide base coat.

I should point out that I'd already painted some of the helmet by now, but the photos didn't turn out quite as nice as I wanted. Wanting to use a few layers to gradually build up, but I next used Baneblade Brown as a first stage highlight.

Baneblade Brown layer.

Due to the poor lighting (as anyone reading any of my posts will know, I don't have the greatest camera or lighting conditions for taking these sorts of photos) it appears here a little lighter than it should. I was a little concerned about Baneblade Brown being too light actually, but as the next step are some washes, they tend to darken it back a little, so the layer I feel was a good choice.
Next up, the washes. I actually used two this time around, based on a small excerpt from here. The idea is not to use only brown colours - blue, purple, red, something else for the shaded areas. I've toyed with something similar before when using different layer colours on purity seals than the base colour. It just gives everything a whole different texture, and I recommend people to experiment for themselves just to see what effects they can achieve. Back on track, I used first a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade, and then Druchii Violet. I ended up with two because the first made it dark, and then I realised I wanted a hint of red or purple in there, just to make it more menacing and less cold.

Drakenhof Nightshade and Druchii Violet washes.

I think most people would agree that it does look more impressive than with just using simple earth tones. The next step I messed up a little, and had to go back into the shaded areas with very, very thin layers of purple and blue, which I mention as something else that can be done. One doesn't always paint it exactly right on the first go, so often touch ups must be done along the way. If a layer becomes too light, go back and use a (very) thin layer to darken it again. Just remember that very thin layers is the key - it really allows you to work the highlighting, fixing, changing, adjusting as you go. Don't be afraid darken and re-highlight as needed.
At any rate, the next step was further highlighting with Ushabti Bone. The helmet used Karak Stone instead, but I just wanted to see the difference. I think I personally prefer Karak Stone, but either can be worked with. Unfortunately, the photo really didn't show up properly at all, so the next image combines also the following step of Screaming Skull highlights along select edges.

Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull highlights.

I've also done some additional layering of White Scar to again really make it stand out as a skull, though I can't remember if the photo above included that or not. It doesn't really look like it, but that could just be the lighting, so I'll say it's not. Either way, the above looks how it did without the final layer of white, so I'll just leave it at that.

I'm happy with how the pieces of Lemartes are turning out so far. I'm not painting this model all in one go, but rather little details one at a time. So I won't be finished for quite a while, but the model is such a great looking one that it deserves no less than my best effort for every part of it.

To wrap up this post, I'll mention a little about painting styles. The final layers of the shoulder pad started to look a little rough, and it's something I've mostly kept with. Photos from Games Workshop normally show a nice, smooth finish to the painting, which most people try to emulate. It looks better in photography. They also typically use hard edges to various highlighting stages - something I've actively tried to avoid in this case, preferring to try blend everything together. I decided that the rougher appearance had a more used feel to it, grittier, and more in line with who Lemartes is. The point I'm trying to make is: don't simply copy from photos of how a model "should" look (and I don't just mean the colours). Develop your own style as you improve your painting skills, and don't be afraid to experiment. It's more fun that way.

-- silly painter.

Tactical Squad Finished (mostly)

Well, strictly speaking, it's a 5-man combat squad, but they're still tactical marines. Mostly finished, they only require some lettering where appropriate. Still thinking of what to write there.

They also require the company markings on the right shoulder pad. That will most likely be decals.

I'm still deciding about the insignia. Blood Angels have black primarily - it's part of the Chapter's colours - but adorning with artwork and intricate details is also very much part of them. So I don't want them all to be the same. I will try paint some in black later, just to break it up a bit. This particular combat squad took part in some notable actions and are allowed something more inspirational for the duration of the campaign.

The bases have some tuft on them. Not much to say there - just pva glue and that's that. I will try something else later, whenever I next drop by a hobby shop.

The boltguns all have a little bit of Wild Rider Red on the boltgun targeters, just because, and I ended up using a metallic gold colour scheme on the boltgun adornments. This was partially laziness, but also because I didn't want all skulls and wings to always look the same.

Anyway, I'm rather pleased with the end result. The next combat squad will need preparing now, and I'm also going to start on Terminators. I had thought tactical marines might be more stock standard, simpler, and faster painted. It turns out, they're not - every Blood Angel will likely be painted to at least the same standard. Not sure I know how to do anything different now.

-- silly painter

Tactical Squad Continued

Despite busy schedules, I've still been finding small amounts of time for more painting, and taking a couple of really bad photos. As usual, they don't do the actual model justice, but they do give a sense of how things are shaping up.

Since the last post, the backpacks have been sprayed and highlighted and just need some final detail work to polish them off. They didn't require any shading steps in the end, but I was very careful with the layering stages. So the next batch of models will most likely use less of the Carroburg Crimson wash: it will be used more selectively in future, and not applied quite so liberally.

I ended up continuing on through one model to get him mostly assembled, just to serve as inspiration for getting the others done too. Small items such as grenades, pouches, combat knives, or purity seals may be added later. In particular, the left pauldron needs something to cover up a defect (it was one of the original ones made).

There's not too much to say on the current state of the model that hasn't been covered before. A couple of things to mention however are that the Agrax over the cord on right vambrace provides kind of "self shadowing" and edge definition that makes it stand out against the armour quite well. The other note is on the boltgun strap.

The boltgun strap I didn't want to be just brown, although that should definitely be its base colour. The problem with using only brown shades though is that I didn't think it would fit the type of material a strap should be. So in the end:

• Rhinox Hide (base)
• Screamer Pink (layer) (just to give that hint of shiny leather look)
• Agrax Earthshade (wash)
• Gorthor Brown (layer highlight - very fine lines along the edges)
• Lamentor's Yellow (glaze)

The final glaze is only a very subtle effect, barely noticeable, and was only done for an experiment, but the end result is good enough that I'll probably stick to it in future.

The next post, whenever it may be, will probably feature the finished 5-man squad. So it could be a little while.

-- silly painter.

Base Painting 01

Painting the base colour of any Space Marine force is critical to a visually cohesive army, and just as critical to individual models. While power armour is perhaps considered an easy option to paint, there is a surprising amount of detail and painting options there, and the rounded greaves and pauldrons offer challenges not seen with other armies.

With the experience of some special models and Death Company under my belt, it's time to start with the core of any Space Marine army: tactical squads. It's also time to start with the base colour of red, and applying lessons learned from working with other models to hopefully reduce the time required to paint a model without sacrificing quality.

The format for this post is to describe the approach used on three different models, and then wrap up with what will likely be used going forward.

Spray gun (left), hand painted (centre), spray can (right).

Model #1
The first model, actually in the centre of the image above, was painted with Mephiston Red by hand. The full list is:

• Black primer (spray)
• Mephiston Red (base)
• Evil Sunz Scarlet (highlight) 
• Mephiston Red (thin base)
• Carroburg Crimson (wash)
• Mephiston Red (thin base)

The thin base is, as usual, used to blend everything together where necessary, and to fix any mistakes. This order of painting worked out quite well, with the highlighting and shading blending together very well. Using the wash after the highlight did dampen the highlighting a little too much for my liking however, and the two coats of this base felt like a waste.

Model #2
The second model attempted to fix some of the areas that were either slow, or lacking with the first model.

• Black primer (spray)
• Mephiston Red (spray base)
• Carroburg Crimson (wash)
• Evil Sunz Scarlet (highlight) 
• Mephiston Red (thin base)

Here the spray gun was used to apply Mephiston Red after the black primer, so the results were a little different to the spray can. The wash was applied second, and then highlighting, with a final thin base to blend it all together. This generally worked better, but it does require knowing how much to build the highlight up. It could have used a little more here - the wash made it looker lighter by comparison, but the final thin base pulled it back a fair amount.

Model #3
The third model had further changes done.

• Black primer (spray)
• Mephiston Red (spray base, x2)
• Carroburg Crimson (wash)
• Mephiston Red (thin base)
• Evil Sunz Scarlet (highlight) [to be done] 
• Mephiston Red (thin base) [to be done]

2 coats of Mephiston Red from the spray can were used to ensure everything was evenly covered. This ended up a mistake - it was applied too thickly and some detail has been lost, although careful painting will hide that. It's also worth noting that the Mephiston Red spray, and the base paint from the bottle, will appear subtly different when dry (the spray appears more dull), so a thing base over large areas is recommended at any rate.
The wash was done before the highlight, but a thin base in between just ensures that highlights will be better compared to the base colour as they're applied.

Going Forward
The real benefit from the spray gun test has turned out to be a bottle of Mephiston Red that is watered down evenly throughout the bottle. It can be used almost as a layer paint, or a wash, and really helps to fix mistakes, and blend highlighting and shading together. So I definitely recommend this: buy two bottles of base colour paint, and mix one evenly with water. It really has saved a lot of hassle trying to mix with a brush on a palette every time.

Other than that, the wash step may not actually be required. Next time, I will instead only use one coat of the Mephiston Red spray, and then use the thin-base over larger areas as a kind of first stage highlight. I'm mostly doing this anyway, and the wash can be added to specific areas later, if required (the helmet and shoulder pads come to mind).
Doing things this way means one less step, or least performing it much faster, fewer layers of paint (meaning less chance of obscuring detail), and should give the same result in the end. It will likely be attempted on the backpacks, which so far have only been given a single black spray coat.

Another post will cover how that gets on later, but that's it for now.

-- silly painter.

Spray Gun

All I have to say here is: if you're a Blood Angel, just buy the new can of spray paint available. You'll save a lot of trouble, and paint.

The little spray gun can probably do just as good a job, but it takes some getting used to, in order to know the right mix of paint, water, nozzle adjustment, etc. Quite simply, it's not worth it for me to get used to that when the spray paint can is already there.

On a brighter note, the custom made shoulder pads look quite good once painted. Only a very close inspection will pick them out from the plastic ones.

-- silly painter

Tactical Squad 001

Things have been a little slow of late, again, due to the annoyance of multiple colds (no, really, just one after another), work, and a bit of travel. However, a tactical squad has been started .The first spray coat is currently drying, although it wasn't really applied properly.

This time, I'm painting the arms first and gluing them on later. At the very least they'll get a base coat first - it's easier to spray them this way, given the limitations of where I can do this. Mounting them on a length of wood and being somewhere more open would be a better choice, however there's nowhere suitable for that right now. So it may take several attempts to get an even coat over the models.

The Death Company are finished now, at least to an extent I'm comfortable with. They were sure a learning experience, and are well worth the effort put into them. Hopefully there will be an image attached to this post.

-- silly painter

Painting Jump Packs

The first finished Death Company model.

Writing has been done on various areas (e.g the right pauldron) which required a very small brush and wash-consistency paint. The writing is not dark - I used Rhinox Hide (base) instead of black, but it could probably do with two coats. Watering the paint down I find easier for writing words, with the tradeoff being that it's very light when it dries. Might do a second coat, or just use black next time.


The jump pack exhaust area was originally going to be quite a plain, stock standard, metallic appearance. Deciding that this was too boring, I contemplated some kind of scorched effect surrounding it, but in the end went with the glow of idle thruster exhausts. Blue was the choice of base colour for this, simply because I thought it would look better than red/orange/yellow, and offset the large amount of red already on the model (the weapons, purity seals, and gems).

The exhaust glow was painted in the following manner:

• Kantor Blue (base) around the entire exhaust area.
• Alaitoc Blue (layer) as a "thick" highlight around the nozzles.
• Teclis Blue (layer) highlight, thinner than the previous layer, and leaving some of it showing.
• Lothern Blue (layer) highlight, again slightly thinner along the edges. It was given some more emphasis in the middle.
• Ulthuan Grey (layer) fine edge highlight, and "core" area of the nozzles.
• White Scar (layer) very fine edge highlight, just to really make the edges shine. It was also watered down for the "core" areas as well.

Quite a pleasing effect overall, although the final white highlight could have been thinner. Note that while quite a few blue paints were used, this is mostly for convenience - the same could just as easily have been achieved with mixing white into the base blue, and building up the layers with more white added each time.

-- silly painter

Moulding Shoulder Pads

As a continuation from the last post, I've managed to play around with instant mould (see also oyumaru, same stuff) to see how it would fare against a green-stuff mould. On the whole, it's much better, and I definitely recommend it to anyone trying something similar.

The instant mould is fairly easy to use, reusable, and doesn't stick to green stuff. The last point is particularly useful - it makes getting the press out of the mould quite easy. So if any mistakes are made, they're easy to fix. The popular trick of aligning front and back halves of a mould is to use lego as a kind of temporary casing - this works rather well when creating the mould, and can be useful later when actually using the mould too.

There is plenty of information out there on using instant mould, so I won't bother going into details about it here, but I will list some things I figured out on trial runs.

• Instant mould is flexible. This helps to get things out of the mould, but be careful when letting things dry. If clamped together too hard, the mould will warp slightly and ruin the press.
• Don't use too much green stuff. This will create a extra thickness at the boundary between the front and back halves of the mould, and while perhaps not ruin shoulder pads, does make them less than perfect. Trial and error are required to know how much to use.
• Mould lines. These are extra lines to push out excess green stuff. They can also help pull the press from the mould later on.
• Patience. Letting the green stuff properly cure means it won't deform when trying to remove it from the mould.

Above are two trial runs. One is painted to see if it would really look any different to a pastic shoulder pad, and the other is straight from the mould. Later presses are much better quality and have less flashing, but that just comes from experience. On a painting note, the blood drop will have to have some kind of dark outline to differentiate it from the shoulder pad base.

Please note that the cost for all of this is actually more than if I could buy the shoulder pads directly (at least for 100 or so). I don't actually like the ones they do offer - the wings just aren't as appealing. If anyone is thinking they could replicate their own entire model, then think again. Plastic models will be of higher quality and give you less trouble to work with.

Lastly, a Death Company marine is just about ready - just some lettering and "scribbles" on scrolls left. So expect another post before too long, detailing the finishing touches there.

-- silly painter

Tidbits

This post will start where the last finished: green stuff shoulder pads. No photos, mostly because the camera and lighting conditions aren't favourable for photographing cured green stuff, but it doesn't matter much.

Using vaseline and a brush to prevent the putty from sticking to the plastic, I made a mould of the front of the desired shoulder pad. The idea was just to try place the winged blood drop onto existing, blank shoulder pads: the blank pad and small amount of green stuff would press into the mould, after the mould was brushed with vaseline. Care must be taken with the vaseline though - it must be evenly applied, but also very thinly, otherwise it tends to gather in corners and ruin the shape of the pressed putty.
In terms of detail, it worked rather well. The insignia turned out very clear, and it was a promising start. The problem with this method, and with the Blood Angel insignia in particular, is that it can get very close to the shoulder pad trim. The excess must either be cut away, or the entire shoulder pad trim must have an extra layer on top. The former is far too time consuming, and the latter ends up causing thickened shoulder pad trims that would unbalance the look of the marine.
The original mould also wasn't intended to include the trim, so it runs into problems - particularly at the corners. A different approach was tried: make the entire shoulder pad from green stuff!

Making an entire shoulder pad would remove any problems with thicker trims, and the only excess to cut away would be flashing lines. As I already had half of the shoulder pad in a mould, albeit with issues at the shoulder pad corners, I decided to make a mould for the other half to save myself a bit of time (I just wanted to test and see if the idea would work for me, not form a production line). Long story short: yes, it works, and much better than trying to apply an insignia to an existing blank pad. Still have to be carful with the vaseline - you don't want the green stuff sticking to the mould. With this in mind, I'm now making a new mould that should give better results, including plastic sprue lines that should help lift the green stuff out of the mould when it's cured some.

I do plan on seeing how well oyumaru (or instant mold) works too. It might be more useful for making the mould because I hear that green stuff doesn't stick to it too easily.

Painting wise, there's not much new happening right now, other than taking far too long to paint the Death Company. On the plus side, they are starting to look much nicer, and they are more detailed than your average tactical marine.

I have adjusted slightly painting the Blood Angel symbol, compared to how it was done on Dante, by using a grey to layer the wings with. I don't have my notes with me at present, but I think it went Caledor Sky (base), Administratum Grey (layer), Ulthuan Grey (layer), and using a fine brush to paint the feathers individually. The tip uses just Rakarth Flesh (base) followed by White Scar (layer).

Another week and I'll hopefully have the Death Company finished. Well, the first five models anyway. A squad of tactical marines will likely follow on, as I want to try shading and blending with red.

-- silly painter

Drilling Holes and Camo Schemes

Just a brief post here, having recently returned from a well deserved, or at least well appreciated, holiday. If one ever gets the chance to visit the Games Workshop Hall of Miniatures, then take it.

At any rate, today's musings are on drilling holes, and the colours of the W40K universe, and are very short. No photos today.

I was originally dubious about the effect drilling holes into gun barrels would make, but it does actually add substantially to the model. It's a case of the little things that matter. The trick is to not go overboard: holes shouldn't be too large, or too liberally applied.
It's fairly easy to do in the end: just use something with a sharp point to place a guide hole (or dent) into the gun barrel, and then use the hobby drill to make the hole. Try to get it on centre too - off centre is worse than simply painting a black dot on the end. So nothing special. It doesn't take much effort to drill through the plastic though, so be careful not to go too far with it.
Mistakes can probably be fixed easily enough with green stuff, so there's a use for any spare left over from modelling: roll it into a cylinder and use for replacing ruined gun barrels.

Another point I just wanted to jot down is that there's sometimes discussion about the practical nature of various colour schemes (mostly with Space Marines, or Eldar). I find it odd that people apply the lighting conditions, human visible colour range, environmental shapes and colours (e.g of plantlife), and combat technology of Earth today to the 40k universe. I personally see the army colours being more psychological in nature, and would be adapted as appropriate to any given situation. As an example: if your enemy only sees in the IR spectrum, bright colours might actually help you to see where your own troops are in the midst of battle, making no difference to the enemy.

Final note: from experience long ago of decals on shoulder pads, this time around I'm going to try see if moulds and green stuff can make a raised edge better for painting on. Blood Angels are supposed to have ornate looking armour as well, so I'll probably give veterans and older battle brothers more attention, while leaving more standard appearances for those just promoted from the scout ranks to full power armoured warriors.

-- silly painter

Quiet Times

Been a little bit since I last posted here, but I've not been idle. Not entirely, anyway. Work has been getting in the way, along with some other side projects, so the painting has been slow recently. It should gear up this week though, so maybe I can get to that spray gun soon.

Anyway, a picture of some changes are show below.

I'm mostly done with the Death Company first armour highlight (blending Eshin Grey), and have started on some more solid highlighting (still Eshin Grey, but sharper lines on appropriate edges). I've also started on some more base colours - nothing special to write about yet, just groundwork to make it look a little less black - also helps give the model some form, which just helps motivation to paint more.

I've started on some rope on a couple of jump packs. Actually, I mistakenly glued the wrong top/bottom components together - I figure they're just sharing it. Anyway, White Scar is being used to pick out the rope, and I intend to cover it with Yriel Yellow next. The white also helps the yellow come out more; yellow on black just doesn't quite work, and I want it fairly bright. Later shades will darken it again, so the end result won't be so vibrant.

I'm also slowly getting through some of the Dark Angels on the desk. They're up to the final armour highlighting stages now, and then it's onto some of the details.

  -- silly painter

Faces and Hair #2

Eyes

From previous experience, I knew the eyes were going to be difficult. They always are. They're just one of those things difficult to get right.
Seeing as I'd already done most of the colour, shading, highlighting, I thought I'd give the "normal" way a try. This involves painting the eye entirely black, then white (trying to leave a very thin black border), and then finally putting a small black dot in the middle for the actual eye. A variation on this is to put white dots to the sides of each eye, leaving a black iris in the middle. Seems simple enough. Yeah, right.

It's the final stage I have trouble with. That final black dot always is either too large, too small, in the wrong spot (making the model look cross-eyed or something), or some combination of it all. Then it all has to be redone, and the surrounding areas fixed up from any mistakes. I perservered, and the result is seen above. The other side looks much the same, but the photos didn't turn out as well.

(side note: tip from a friend is to put tissue paper in front of a flash to stop it from being too reflective. That really does help sometimes!).

Next time, I'm going to do the eyes different. They'll be done after the shading stage, and the final dot won't be a dot at all. It will be a vertical line. The idea is that, if mistakes are going to be made anyway, you may as well get the central eye area correct. Using a line helps with the the brush stroke, and it's much easier to paint over the mistakes, leaving the central eye area as it should be. This normally ends up looking the same in the end, but it's a much less frustrating approach, and the one I used to take back in the day. I will likely use this approach, or at least one based upon it, with future models - at least until I'm a lot better at painting!

The final touch was actually a little bit of Ungor Flesh for the eyebrows. I didn't want full yellow - that would be too much - but I wanted something to use as just a very slight hint. A darker haired model could get away with more of a brown for the eyebrows, in this case it wouldn't have fit. In the end, it looks much better for the hint of eyebrows - with the face, it's the tiny, subtle things that really help the overall expression.

Hair Again

As can be seen with comparisons to a previous post, a little more attention was given to the hair. Based upon a suggestion, I tried with some very subtle white highlights. They didn't really turn out, so I glazed over it. That didn't work either. In the end I resorted to another layer of Yriel Yellow to make it less dark. Maybe a stronger white undercoat will help in future - definitely something worth investigating at some point.


The photo is a little dull on the colour, but the teeth are a little lighter than surrounding areas. They're not white, just lighter.

I'll probably get back to highlight black now, and perhaps thinking of colours for rope. Something worked rather well on a testing Dark Angels model, so I'll probably try it again here soon.

  -- silly painter

Faces and Hair #1

Over the last few days I've been pondering the issue of faces, hair, skin tones, that sort of thing. Colours for armour, weaponry, and bases can be a little experimental and things still turn out, but the unhelmeted head of a Space Marine really has to be done right the first time. It will ruin the whole model if the colours or tone are too far off, and the detail is easily obscured if a little too much paint is used.

With that in mind, I found there wasn't too much on google for the new Citadel range of paints, though there's a fair amount for the older paint set, so I figured it couldn't be too different.

The Face

Much of the face is based off reading this blog (a good read), found simply via a google search, with my own tweaks and subtle differences.

The first thing I did was base with Rakarth Flesh. This is far too light of a colour for human flesh, but would probably be just fine for something like Dark Eldar, or Legion of the Damned. It doesn't really suit a Death Company marine though, so that was a bit of a mistake, but it may have actually helped out in the end.

Over this a layer of Cadian Fleshtone was applied, with touchups where I felt the base was showing through that little bit too much. This is a much nicer colour for use on the face.

Once dry, Reikland Fleshshade was washed on, just to darken things a little. A touch of Agrax Earthshade was also set under the eyes and lower lip. It's amazing how such a little thing brings out the expression that much more. A very good tip from the afore mentioned blog. The lips were then touched with Wazdakka Red, mostly on the lower lip. I also used some Agrax Earthshade on the inside of the mouth just to make it dark. The next step was to highlight areas back over with Cadian Fleshtone, including a very, very thin layer over the lips because the red was a little too vibrant. Getting the lips right is going to be one of those tricky things.

The last step for now is something I just made up on the spot: "highlighting" with a base of Ratskin Flesh. This is probably the colour I should have based with in the first place, but the idea here was to apply it thinly to the cheeks, darkening them, creating a slightly blushed effect. Someone yelling out a battle cry is going to have a flushed face from it.

The eyes aren't finished yet, but that's a topic for next time.

Same stage from different angles and lighting.

The Hair

Wanting this model to have golden blonde hair for the whole angelic appearance, I didn't really find anything appropriate in the paints that looked right. This one is pure guess, but it seems to have worked out ok. When doing this, note that the model doesn't have much detail about the hair - it's not a finecast. The paint will have to fill that void and make it look like hair in addition to being coloured like hair.

The steps were rather simple in the end:

• Base with Averland Sunset
• Highlight with Yriel Yellow. This step is "messy" - the highlight shouldn't be even. It's hair, not armour plating.
• Extra Yriel Yellow along the fringe, and a little more sort of drybrushed to give the hair a bit more of a textured look.
• Wash with Seraphim Sepia.

And that's it. Very simple, and I'm happy enough to leave it as is. Next time I paint a marine with hair, I'll probably look into building it up from layers of brown, just to see the difference.

-- silly painter

Blending 101

Today's post is all about blending. Not making ourselves tasty beverages, but instead the blending of one colour into another. This is largely done as part of the overall subject of highlighting, but it's difficult enough to do that I've been experimenting with various methods to find the one that's right for me.

There's a fair bit of information out there for the older paint sets, some of which I've attempted, and there's no actual one particular way of doing this. Different people will use different methods, so try them all and see what works for you. For me, I wanted something that could:

• Blend very smoothly.
• Be done quickly.
• Use only as much paint as required (prevents waste).

Getting blending done quickly, while still being smooth, is mostly for squad based work, but it also means that I should be able to use a technique repeatedly without problems.

One technique that I've not even bothered with is "wet blending". This is applying the two colours next to each other, and then mixing them in place on the model. While it was my style of choice with the Tamiya range, the Citadel paints dry too fast for this to be really feasible - the layers will be dry before you can even start to mix them.

Another technique that I've read about is applying a small amount of paint with one brush, and then using another to sort of "pull" at the edges, leading the paint outwards from the edge. This can work quite well, particularly with a damp brush (note: damp, not water-laden!). Unfortunately, I was also suffering from the problem of the paint drying too quickly, leading to patchy areas. I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect the newer paint range makes this a little more diffiult.

The last method I tried ended up working out, but is the most tedious of them all to start with. After a bit of practice, it gets faster though and is actually best suited with squads (you can return to the first model after finishing the last). The results are shown below, though the photo doesn't do it justice.

Note that this model was used for experimenting different techniques, so not all blending and highlighting is even across it, but the knee pads and helmet muzzle are the best examples to inspect.
At this point I'll mention that it's far easier to blend by using a dark base and a lighter layer. Going the opposite direction can also be done, I tend to prefer washes in that case.

So the final approach is:

• Using a damp brush, apply a little paint, and then spread it outwards using brush strokes perpendicular to the blending gradient. That means if you want to blend from top to bottom, use brush strokes left/right to right/left. This isn't a hard rule, but I find it helps.
• If the paint is a little dry, this can quickly turn into a sort of drybrushing, but that's ok for now.
• If the paint is a little wet, you might have to "push" it back towards the edge.
• Another tip, is that sometimes I find it helps to use a damp brush to sort of "pre-dampen" the surface under scrutiny.
• Basically, this step needs a bit of practice to get the right amount of paint on the brush to start with!
• When learning, this can ruin a brush fairly well. So use an older, slightly frayed brush (which I find ends up working better anyway).

• Keep in mind that the paint will dry much darker in the end, so repeat as necessary. This is where it's suited to squad based models - by the time you've finished the first coat, you can immediately start on a second.
• Don't be overly concerned with keeping the blend perfect just yet either. That gets fixed in a moment.

• When happy with the basic blend gradient, the next step is to apply either a wash, or a very thinned down (almost wash consistency) base paint.
• This removes hard differences, and is they key to a smooth blend. Keep in mind that it will darken things a little.

The results should speak for themselves, though it really is much nicer than shown in the photo. I've used this technique across 3 models now, with different colours, and it's working fairly well so far. It's also easy to fix mistakes - just use either the lighter layer colour, or the darker base colour to touch things up a bit as you go along.

A final note on the technique itself is that it's best applied to larger areas (knee pads, greaves, that sort of thing). It can be a bit fiddly with smaller areas such as eye lenses, gems, fingers, etc, so I prefer straight forward highlights in those cases.

I've worked with blending from a base black spray to Eshin Grey, but it wasn't too visible on the photo, so instead enjoy a picture of Death Company in the works, led by Lemartes.

Model Preparation

Today's post might be a bit shorter, and won't contain any photos, which is actually related to the subject at hand: model preparation.

First of all, a statement of the obvious: good lighting is very important. Not only does it save on the eyes, but it lets one see the model more clearly during painting. So there will be a lack of photos until I have a new desk lamp suitable for the purpose.

With that in mind, I thought I'd waffle on about getting models ready to be painted.

There's plenty of information out there, and included with the boxes and instruction sheets, of how to assemble a model. The usual pliers, sharp knife (be careful), etc, all apply. There's also the the recommendation of modelling files to remove left over sprue, a "mould line remover", and emery "sticks".
I find that most of it is actually fairly useful, but for the emery paper. The files do a good enough job, with the emery reserved for those cases that just won't go smooth any other way. So for saving money, definitely go for the files first. They'll also last a lot longer. I recommend a flat file first, and a rounded one second. There are often places where the flat one is too large to fit, and the rounded file works just nicely here.
When using files, I find it helps to keep an old piece of clothing under the model being prepared. The plastic can build up as a dust on the file, and the old clothing (or whatever material) is excellent at wiping this off. I don't recommend paper - the file will likely rub the paper into dust itself. I also don't recommend blowing on the file; other than being ineffective, it just puts the dust into the air.

The mould line remover is actually quite useful, but you can probably use an old butter knife just as effectively (depends which is cheaper!). It's actually more useful at removing mould lines than simply trying to file them off, and saves a lot of time when working with entire squads.

With actual model assembly, it should be obvious to put together as much as won't hinder painting, and leave the rest until after it's all painted. For Space Marines, this generally means leaving the backpack and gun off. Assault troops can make this interesting because the guns are attached to the arms, and swords in particular can cross over the chest and obscure it a little, but I still find it easier to paint them when attached to the model first (I find that my own fingers get in the way of the paintbrush otherwise). Personal preference.

When painting entire squads at a time, spray paint is really useful. Used correctly, I've found it applies a thinner base layer than directly painting with a paintbrush, and it is definitely much quicker to use. I do have a spray gun in my list of tools as well, but I haven't used it yet. I'll be sure to dedicate a paragraph after I've actually tried it out.
One thing to be careful of with spray paints is ensuring that an even coat is applied to the whole model. Spraying one side when laying flat, and then flipping it over and doing the other side can lead to a middle area that doesn't get covered much, if at all. Using an angle to cover these areas can help, but models standing up make it much easier to work with - assuming you have a well ventilated area suitable for that.

Lastly this post (which is already longer than I thought it would be): liquid green stuff. Having learned from the finecast of Commander Dante, I knew that something to fill the gaps left over from manufacturing faults would be very useful. Liquid green stuff is basically a putty than you can paint on, and hardens after a little while. It's very useful for filling in gaps between model components, or filling in moulding faults, but can't really be used as a generic modelling putty. Luckily there were very few places it was required on the recently acquired Lemartes finecast (easily one of the best Space Marine models out there), so the first tries weren't complicated. It really is easy to apply: just paint it on, and let it dry. It thins out well with water, but it's better to use less water, lest it become too runny. The old adage of two thin coats is better than one thick coat applies here too - and it's the second coat I find that really does the best job. The green stuff will shrink a little as it dries, which is one reason that the first coat shouldn't be too "perfect" when applied; leave the proper finish for a second (or later) coat.

And that's about it for now. Most of this post is either going to be old hat, or obvious, but it should hopefully have one or two items that are food for thought in there.

  -- silly painter

Commander Dante - Work in Progress #3 (and final)

As the last in this series of posts on Commander Dante, there's not a whole lot more to say about remaining details. There are a few notes though, so I'll go over each in brief.

I missed talking about the belt buckle in previous posts, and yes, it was never meant to have blue tinted wings. That would be too much, and a little variety doesn't hurt.

The hidden shoulder pad I actually used a very fine pen to write his name on, although looking at it I'm sure I'd like to use a brush next time. Words are difficult to do correctly, but I'm sure a very fine brush is better suited to such detail. Where the fine pen does work great is on small dots and dashes on the purity seals (can't be seen in the photos above). This is something that can be achieved with a brush too, but using a pen is simply easier. The only downside to the pen is that the ink takes a while to dry, and has a gloss rather than a matte finish.

There was also a decal of a skull applied to the hidden shoulder pad. I used that to experiment with mostly because it would be hidden in the end anyway. The decal was perhaps unsuitable to the shoulder pad however, and suffered from that terrible problem of folding, or edges sticking out where it doesn't quite conform to the curved surface. Cutting small slits in places helps with this, but I find that it also doubles up in certain places, making the decal look "odd" on the crease lines. Painting over it can help, but only if the decal lies flat. I did use a coat of Lahmian Medium to seal the decal, touching up the edges with Auric Armour Gold to help blend everything into the underlying paint better. I definitely need more experience with decals.

Lastly here, the base. Finecast miniature bases seem to continue the tradition of coming with a large gap down the middle of the base. I used a putty similar to blu-tac to seal over this, however masking tape is actually just as effective. Given a layer or two of paint and it can be barely seen. The base here was given a layer of Armageddon Dust, followed by a drybrushing with Underhive Ash, and then a touch of Longbeard Grey drybrushed over that. The lighter colour of the grey helps break it up a bit, although certainly some other colours might help some more. I didn't want the base to overshadow the model however, and so stuck with something very simple. The texture paints work rather well - it's like painting small sand onto the base. I will experiment with texture paints more in the future.

Overall I'm fairly happy with the finish. The gold works well, and the blue tint to the wings also turned out respectable. The axe head doesn't really look how I want it to however, so I may at some point in the future do some more work there.

Now, time to apply what I've learned to other models.

  -- silly painter

Commander Dante - Work in Progress #2

This post is about the details other than the base gold armour. To start with, the base colours are used.

The usual black is applied where it's obvious, but the strangest part may be the wing iconography. The wings were based with Caledor Sky, with the tops and blood drop done with Celestra Grey. From another model being used to practice with, I had tried a blue wash over light colours for wings, but it didn't really turn out too well. In hindsight, a lighter blue might have been a better option, but I wasn't sure how much would show through in the end.

Mechanicus Standard Grey was used with the joints, for opposite reasons to the wings. Normally I would paint them black, and then highlight over the top. This time I'm reversing that and using a lighter colour, with the intention of using Nuln Oil later to make the recesses darker. This is something that did turn out rather well.

Rhinox Hide for the pouches, and Khorne Red for the axe handle. The handle I wanted darker than the blood drop gems, so a darker base is used. Caliban Green on the wreath on the head, Warplock Bronze on the mask tubing, Rakarth Flesh on the scrolls, and Mephiston Red on the seals rounded out the base colours.

With the base done, it was time to start layering.

Mephiston Red, although a base paint, was thinly applied to any blood drop gems. Watering it down slightly let it be applied more smoothly, and also gave it a brighter colour due to the underlying Celestra Grey. Ulthuan Grey was brushed onto the wings, although it's there that a bit more work should have been done to cover the blue. As it is, I feel the blue stands out too much rather than acting as more of a shadow colouring. Better brushes would have let me paint individual wing "feathers" to solve this issue, which is something to try next time. Still, it's not so bad, and the tips, also painted with Ulthuan Grey, help give a whiter appearance.

Leadbelcher was applied to any gun or other shiny weapon areas. Again, this is a base colour, but it looks far better when applied over a black coat, so I consider it more of a layer paint. I also gave a highlight of Ironbreaker to most of the same areas.

Nuln Oil was applied to the armour joints, which gave a far better look than trying to highlight the edges. I'll be using this method on future models.
It's not really apparent in the photos, but a tip picked up from a Games Workshop "colour card" (used to show their recommended paints for Blood Angels) helped with highlighting black edges. Eshin Grey was brushed onto the jump pack cabling, and along the gun edges. Black is one of those tricky colours to highlight, and while I wasn't impressed with my first efforts (really must get a better brush soon), I'm convinced that Eshin Grey will be more effective with a bit of practice.

A shade of Carroburg Crimson was given to the purity seals, just to darken them a little when compared to the gems. It was also applied to the axe handle.

Kabalite Green on the wreath finished this stage. The wreath is one of those tricky parts, because it's a fairly minor component, but the contrast of green against the golds and reds is crucial to balancing out the head when compared to the rest of the model.

Above is the next stage of highlights and layering. Blood drop gems were given a watered down Abaddon Black darkened tip, Wild Rider Red highlighted base, and a white dot inside the black to give it that gemstone quality. While this is sometimes effective, I'll probably work on that method come the next model.

A little Runefang Steel on weapon edges gave them a brighter look, after shading with Nuln Oil (and spilling it in the process - darn).

Scrolls and parchment were shaded with Agrax Earthshade, and then highlighted with Karak Stone. During the shade phase, I also made sure to apply a little in the corners where the scrolls meet the armour. This gives a darkened border to a) help those elements stand out, and b) makes the join look more shadowed. It's difficult to describe the difference without better quality photos, but the results are far better this way, and it's again something I'll be doing more of going forward.

A glaze of Bloodletter was given to the shaft of the axe, just because I thought it would look better than all silver. It does. All silver is sometimes abused a little too much, and models can be far more interesting with a subtle change in hue (perfect for glaze work). The axe head was given two coats of Guilliman Blue glaze for that glowing energy look. It's an ok effect, and worked with the Dreadnought, but isn't as effective here. I may give some light blue edge highlights later.

The wings were given a final highlight of White Scar. This time, I tried to carefully paint each "feather", one by one. It worked rather well in the end, and is again something I'll be doing more of in future. While they might appear ideal for drybrushing, I find wings need to be more exact than I can currently to with drybrushing, which is perhaps better suited to armour edges, hair, fur, etc. Or I just need to get better at drybrushing.

Last details (for now) are the pouches, touchups to armour (not visible from these photos), and a bit of colouring to the gun. But first....

The scrolls and parchment were given a final coat, or two in the case of the shoulder pad, layer of Screaming Skull. This turned out quite well, and would likely work rather well with Dark Angel robes. With the wings already highlighted to white, I didn't want the parchment to be as bright and so didn't highlight them all the way to white.

The head wreath was given a final highlight of Warpstone Glow. I might be tempted to mix a little white with that and do another highlight down the track, but I'm happy enough with it for the moment.

The pouches on the model's right were highlighted with Gorthor Brown on the edges, just to give them some form. The right holster, on the other hand I decided was too brown, and something more fancy befitting a Commander would be needed. A thinned down coat of Screamer Pink, followed by a shade of Carroburg Crimson gave it a very velvet appearance, and really does give a much better finish than brown. I did not highlight the edges - instead, I simply made sure the shade wasn't applied there, and gave extra shade towards the centre areas. I haven't felt the need to highlight the edges after that, so that's another trick to keep in mind.

Although not really visible in the photos here, I did end up using small amount of Brass Scorpion on the gun barrel to give it a blasted look. The layer was actually a little too much at first, so I then went over some of it with a very thin layer of Ironbreaker. I would actually blend the Ironbreaker in towards the more blasted areas where possible, ensuring the brass look didn't vanish. The effect is quite reasonable, and I'll be exploring that combination with further models.

So this time a lot of techniques were learned that can be put to good use with future models. This is something you really only get to experiment with from those extra special models, another good reason to not leave them to paint until last.

'til next time.

  -- silly painter

Commander Dante - Work in Progress #1

Mostly as an excursion in metallic gold painting, Command Dante is also the first of the Citadel Finecast models for me to paint. The Finecast parts are very detailed, but suffer from soft plastic and quite often some faults from the manufacturing process. Dante's jump pack suffered heavily from this, and I don't have any green stuff to repair it. It's hoped that it won't be too visible when finished, but it could always be disguised as battle damage.

I did some reading first on Sanguinary Guard to determine how to approach the gold colour. There are two ways to painting gold: with or without metallic paints. The metallics have a habit of picking up reflections very easily, and so aren't suitable for models expecting to be photographed. They do however look rather well for some in store models I've seen.

With regards to metallic paints, I found that the layer paints are a little thinner than others, and so highlight rather well. It was mainly because of this that I felt Commander Dante could be painted to a fairly high degree of quality.

The first step, as always, is the base coat. Normally this would be black, however I wanted the golden armour to have a lighter tone, so the base coat was done white instead.

 Ceramite White provided the base coat, being careful to apply it thinly so as not to obscure any detail. As I've mentioned before, that particular paint is a little thicker than others, so watering it down every so slightly did help. If it gets watered down too much it has a tendency to settle in the lower areas. Adding a touch of paint to thicken and then spread it around other areas helps reduce that problem.

 With the base coat done, Balthasar Gold was used as the base gold colour. It's a fairly dark colour, closer to copper, but building up highlighting layers will make the finished result much lighter. I did avoid areas that won't be painted gold, which is mostly because my rule of thumb is: use the fewest layers as required. This helps to avoid obscuring detail with too much paint, a leftover habit from the Tamiya paint days.

 After the base armour colour was done, I covered the armour quite liberally with the shade Seraphim Sepia. The observant viewer will note that I'm only doing the armour for now. There's no special reason for this other than it let me paint the most common colour with worrying too much about painting somewhere I shouln't; other areas will be painted later. I reasoned that painting over the armour by accident could be fairly easily fixed later (which is mostly true).
Seraphim Sepia matches the golden colour fairly well, although the muscle shapes in the armour required a little coaxing to get the wash to settle how I wanted. Don't worry if when applying the shade it looks to cover up any deail - when it dries out, the detail will be back.

 The first stage highlight was done with Gehenna's Gold. This was applied to pretty much all raised areas, with a little more attention paid to sharper edges. The face had the cheekbone areas, the chin, nose, and eyebrows given a little more care because I really wanted a contrast between dark and light to bring out the mask's expression.
Picking out the raised areas of the armour, where it's shaped as muscle, is fairly easy but does require a bit of patience and good tip to the brush. Other areas, such as the hair, required more of a drybrush type effect, otherwise paint would spread unevenly and destroy the good work of the shade.
Quite often one layer of the paint wasn't enough and a second would have to be applied. This is normal, and actually gives a better finish than if using one thick layer. It also lets the highlight blend a little better.

 The second stage highlighting was done with Auric Armour Gold. This worked particularly well for the face, and really makes it stand out and gives the whole model that extra bit of character. The photos above should hopefully show the effect well enough.
This highlight was most heavily used on the edges, but I did apply a thin layer across larger areas too, with a little in the middle and then spreading it out to the edges. This was done to increase the overall brightness. Auric Armour also reflects light rather well, so good lighting will pick up the edges painted with it.

The overall golden colour of the armour worked quite well, although as I've mentioned it's not very good for photography. I only have one real gripe with the result - it's perhaps a little darker than what I was going for. This could probably fixed in future models by mixing in perhaps a little Runefang Steel, but I try to avoid mixing paint colours. The only reason for this is that it means mixing the right proportions for an even look - and that means a spare paint bottle and testing out different proportions of different colours. Too much hassle for me at this point in time; sticking to gradual layering works just as well most of the time, and lets me reproduce the result more easily.
Also, the slightly darker tone actually accentuates the brighter points, and gives the model a grittier, battle ready look.

Next time I'll start on the non-gold areas.

  -- silly painter



-- Additional: I later added a glaze of Lamenters Yellow just to see how it would look. It works well to give that extra glow to some areas, and so used most heavily on the halo. It's a very subtle effect, but those subtle things can make all the difference.

Death Company Dreadnought

No work in progress photos of this guy, just another (mostly) finished model. The main reason for painting something that will become a centre piece of any army so quickly is simple: keeping the interest going. Painting masses of normal troops can get boring, so I decided to take my time and do this one.

A Death Company Dreadnought is predominately black. Highlights on vehicles are also easier due to long and sharp armour plate edges, and there's a lot of metallic colours that are some of the easiest highlights to get away with. Washes over metallic colours are also easy - it's mostly Nuln Oil. Some Seraphim Sepia and Agrax Earthshade was used for a rusted or scorched look.

The crosses also provided the first change of some Blood Angel highlighting with red. Nothing special - it's just a base of Mephiston Red with Wild Rider Red along the edges. Care had to be taken here: too thick detracts, too thin doesn't show up at all. A nice fine brush helps here.

Some of black armour plating was highlighted by using the side of a very wide and flat brush to get Celestra Grey along edges. This is mostly a drybrushing technique, even if the paint is a base paint. It worked rather well, but the key is to keep it to the edges and drybrush only. If it builds up too much, then the grey is too bright and it doesn't work. That took a bit of figuring out, and I'll likely use a different technique for black armour highlights in future.

The claws were a base of Leadbelcher, with Ironbreaker for highlighting. This was then given a glaze of Guilliman Blue (2 coats). Lothern Blue was layered onto the tips and some edges for some extra glowing power effect. Overall it worked rather well, but it's a little uneven in some places. I could have gone for the normal effect seen in Games Workshop photos, but I felt that a power claw should be metallic with a blue glow, not just blue with highlights in general. Not sure if that makes sense in words, but just compare the image with other photos off the 'net. The more glaze also means the claws aren't as bright in comparison to the rest of the model and complement rather than stand out too much.

The torso sarcophagus was very simple compared to other styles I've seen. No highlighting was done at all in the end because I felt that the coppery colour fit too well. It's just a couple of coats of Balthasar Gold. The reference image has a normal metal colour, but that's just too much silver on one model.

The (model's) left shoulder insignia is Yriel Yellow, with a Fuegan Orange wash (a couple of coats), and Flash Gitz Yellow for the highlights. It's far more impressive than in the photo, particularly because a very fine brush kept the detail in place. It works well as a non-metallic gold, and is more photogenic than the metallic paints. Something to keep in mind if I ever enter painting competitions. The halo over the cup is Gehenna's Gold tipped with Auric Armour Gold, but the second highlight is barely visible on such a small area. It would still serve well for other models however, such as Commander Dante.

The Blood Angel insignias were based with White Scar, with Drakenhof Nightshade applied as a wash on the wings. This didn't really turn out fanastically, so I've looked at alternate methods in other models. The blue, however, works well and gives it a much cleaner look than using something like Nuln Oil. The middle blood drop gem is stock standard: Mephiston Red as a base, with Abaddon Black used to darken the top, and Wild Rider Red highlighting the bottom. A small dot of white gives the gem-like appearance. Care must be taken with the white dot however - it's easy to make it too large, and just as easy to make it too small (after which corrections typically make it too large).

I did try some Dark Reaper as another black highlighting paint, which might work well in some specific areas (it's actually next to the red crosses in some places), but doesn't work for the edges of armour plating. It can also be seen on the grapples above the torso. It's a good paint for bordering an area of brighter colour, rather than trying to highlight black, so at least that experiment was useful.

The base was just messing about really. I can't even remember what I did to that, but it somehow works. It was mostly some work with different grey paints, and a wash (possibly Agrax Earthshade, but I'm not sure) to give it some browns.

And that's it for the already painted models. Commander Dante is up next, because I wanted to see how the gold colours would turn out on something more large scale, but I've been taking photos as the painting of that model progresses so the format will be a bit more "work in progress" than "here's the finished model".

  -- silly painter

First Models

In starting to paint again, the most typical model was chosen: a Space Marine. Standard tactical squad members have broad areas for armour, making applying paint far easier, and giving nice hard edges for highlighting work. They don't have much tricky detail, and so are very good for learning the paints.

Now, the photos are taken with a phone camera. So they're not good. A good camera costs money, and that money is currently being spent elsewhere on things such as buying far too many models and painting accessories.

The first model painted was simply a test. The idea was to see how bright the colours would turn out, how well they would mix and blend, that sort of thing. It would also help to see just how steady the hand still is.

The finished model is seen above. Note that the base has not been painted - this is something that must be finished at a later time, but I've never been much for painting bases. It looks kind of silly having desert sand when playing games within murky depths of a hive city. Seeing as the painting is more for the painting, however, and not the gaming, then the bases will get attention later.
A base coat of Abaddon Black was used, over which Caliban Green was applied. Leadbelcher was applied to the appropriate metal areas, and Mephiston Red to the gun and shoulder insignia. I did try Ceramite White on the other should pad, and the center chest, but it proves to be a somewhat thicker paint than I was expecting. It needs a little watering down if it's going to be used for these things. Later I patched up the details with White Scar, which is a much nicer white to work with, although it needs two coats to work properly.
With the base coat on, a simple wash with Nuln Oil over the metal areas and Agrax Earthshade on the chest (and the skull on the gun). This is about the extent of where things used to be; highlights with these paints are something new to work with. Dry brushing was tried on the backpack (it's visible behind the head), but that didn't really work. Blending colours was easier with Tamiya paints - they wouldn't dry so fast, so you could mix things in a bit. Citadel paints, however, dry a bit clearer and allow the underlying colour to come through. So the first layer of highlight was done with Warpstone Glow. This didn't really should up too much, but did show promise of use to step into another colour for highlighting with. I also tried it to raise the colour of some areas - it can be seen on the (model's) left shoulder pad, just below the white wing but above the trim. It can't be seen in the photo, but I wasn't happy with the blending there.
Blending with Citadel paints is different to when using Tamiya. With the Tamiya acrylics, you can get away with putting a small bit of each colour (from base to highlight) and mixing them in place. This produces a nice and gradual gradient towards the highlighted point. With the Citadel paints, it's a bit trickier: first water down the paint a little (getting this right takes practice) and then apply paint to the highlighted point. Wiping the excess off the brush (or using another brush), the paint is then "pulled" outwards. I find this is best done by starting on a dry area, and then using circular motions to gradually spread a small amount of the (hopefully still wet) paint outwards. This is done two or three times until the desired final gradient is achieved. It's not really that easy to get correct, but does work nicely if done right. I still find the Tamiya method better, but those paints are (or at least used to be) thicker, and ran the risk of obscuring detail, so couldn't be used in more complex areas.
Meh.
Moot green was used as a final stage highlight along the armour edges. This didn't turn out on the first go - I was using the brush all wrong. Plus, the brushes from Citadel aren't very good and became fuzzy very fast. Ironbreaker was used to highlight the metal areas, with Wild Rider Red used sparingly on the red of the gun and the eyes. A dot of White Scar in the eyes, and a little more along the chest insignia, and that's mostly it. That's not all of it of course (some browns for areas not shown in the photo, for example), but the main idea was on highlighting.

Lessons learned: hold the brush at the correct angle for the highlight, and don't overdo the highlight. The Ironbreaker was applied too much in some places, where as the Moot Green is missing in some places. The highlighting should be used to bring out edges, but the catch is that if not used on adjacent edges, then those adjacent edges look...well...bad. The model's right shoulder pad trim shows this. Highlight paints take a little getting used to, and they have to be chosen carefully, but are worth the effort, and the layer paints really are layers - they don't completely obscure the underlying colour.
Washes are best applied a little more thickly (but not too thick) on the other hand. They're not applied the same as layer paints, and you're not meant to be as careful. Adding just a small amount to the brush doesn't work: a fair bit should be applied in one go. Most of it is just water, and only practice will show just what it really looks like when dried out.

 Using the experience from the first model, and second was quickly painted.

The highlighting was much better this time around. It's still a little too sharp and bright in some places (it doesn't really show up in the photo, but it's worst on the legs), which means that the Moot Green was applied a little too thick, but overall it's a definite improvement.
Not much more to say really. The second model was basically an iteration over the first. Now that the paints felt more comfortable, it was time for....a Furioso Dreadnought. Yep, I skipped right past paint more standard Marines, and when straight to something more complex. That, however, is for another post.

  -- silly painter

Well, it's probably about time to start a record of adventures in resuming the tedious, time consuming, and eye-straining art of miniature painting.

As is obvious, this is about getting back into painting; I'm not new to painting miniatures, though I haven't been without a paintbrush in my hands for several years. It originally started with Warhammer 40,000 (as these things often do). Well, technically it start with model aeroplanes, tanks, battleships and submarines, but that was more for colour and not about the actual painting. With W40K, it became apparent the playing with grey plastic models wasn't as much fun as fully painting ones, and so I started with a paintbrush on Orks and Space Marines.
Tamiya acrylic paints were those lying about the house at that time, so I started with them in a poorly ventilated area and a weak desk lamp. Cutting a long and thoroughly boring story short, I eventually bought some Citadel Miniature paints, using those and the Tamiya paints as appropriate (for subjective definitions of appropriate).

Then I moved continents and left all models and paints behind.

Fast forward several years, and the Citadel Ultimate Paint Set caught my eye. On impulse, I bought the set, paintbrushes, some tools, painting workspace, and some models to start with again. This introduces a problem of sorts: too many paints! It's sometimes far easier to use a small selection of paints - you get to know what effects you can achieve with them, how they'll turn out, what the colours will look like, how much water to mix in, etc. With a large paint set comes having to learn how to use the paints all over again, but it does mean access to a broader range of techniques, for example I'd never used glazes before.

This is where this little blog comes in. The main purpose is to keep track of how a model looks through the stages of painting, what paints are applied, and some thoughts on what works and what doesn't. At the time of writing, some models are finished and I'll post them up in the coming days, followed by a work in progress of Commander Dante.

  -- silly painter