Today's post details some of the additional work on the shoulder pad (from Forge World), laurel wreath, and thoughts behind some of the colours chosen. First of all, let's start with colours.
The sergeant is likely going to be the focal point for all painting, with the rest of squad finished only after he is. This allows me to concentrate on the one model, and then use it as a reference for the rest. He's not too far from being done now actually, although I guess that depends how overboard I go (so...he's far from being done). At any rate, the picture above I should mention was slightly modified, purely to try and sharpen it a little. The image was a little too blurry otherwise. Anyway, I'm still attempting to go with as few metallics as possible (the claws will be metallic soon), and so tried to give a golden feel to some of the icons. I didn't really succeed there, at least not to a level I'm happy with, so I'll have to keeping trying. There needs to be either more brown, or more white, or both. Regardless, the chest plate for Blood Angels tends to have a black aquilla (or similar design) these days, but I wanted something to make the sergeant stand out a little more, so his is golden. I'll probably do something similar for the tactical squad as well: sergeants will have a more golden symbol across the chest, with squad leaders having black.
At this point, the terminator has too many harmonious colours. I wanted to add something a little contrasting just to break it up a bit: enter the laurels on each glove. They're perfect for some small detail in a contrasting colour to attract the eye to them, giving the whole suit of armour a more ornate feel. The wreath is not painted quite the same as with Dante, however I like this way better.
- Caliban Green (base)
- Moot Green (highlight edges of each leaf)
- Drakenhof Nightshade (wash - and yes, a blue wash!)
- Sybarite Green (highlight tips of each leaf).
As usual, the photo doesn't do things justice, but Sybarite Green does give a good leafy green, and really makes the laurels "pop". Just need to have a very fine brush tip to be working with, and a little patience.
The Crux Terminatus I decided to give a stone look. I debated making the skull white, or giving it a bone feel, but decided that it would look more impressive to wear carved stone into battle rather than something that could be mistaken for plaster (fear me, for I am your exterior decorator). Being a Forge World shoulder pad, the resin is highly detailed, and presents quite the challenge to paint. I dare not use more than a spray undercoat on them lest the detail be obscured. Even so, the layers of paint had to mimic in places the original design, but it turned out ok. Just be sure to use very thin layers when working with such items!
- Mechanicus Grey (base)
- Dawnstone (highlight, very thin)
- Nuln Oil (wash)
- Russ Grey (highlight)
- Fenrisian Grey (highlight, skull only)
The skull was the tricky part. The creases on the forehead are extremely difficult to not obscure, and in the the end they were the part mostly mimicked via highlighting. I used two layers of Nuln Oil there in the end; one wash to catch the creases, the second to bring them back from overly ambitious highlighting. Even then, the last highlight was touched up in places because of the second wash. Drybrushing might work, but the creases are very shallow, so just patience and a steady hand are probably better.
The skull I also wanted to stand out more; the skull should be the focal point. To this end, Fenrisian Grey was used to brighten it up somewhat, subtly setting it apart from the background, but still maintaining the same overall colour scheme. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, but I have to repeat it yet across four more. That won't be so easy.
Next time I might actually have the second shoulder pad attached. At the very least, it's about time for some metal colours now.
-- silly painter.
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