Grey Knight WIP#3

A little more progress. Perhaps not initially visible much, but it's detail progress - it's on more apparent once you look into the model in more, well, detail.

Still got a pointy stick.

There's not much going on into terms of painting schemes. Retributor Armour, Reikland Fleshshader, Liberator gold, and a the usual mix of silvers is all that was done on the storm bolter's detail. Switching between golds helps to keep the colours interesting, but still uniform. There's actually a small dot of Spiritstone Red around the "belt buckle", and it works so well there that I didn't feel the need to do anything fancy with it.
I'm actually having trouble with what to write across the scrollwork on the chest, so for now it remains blank. The central icon would only obscure anything anyway, so not all of the word would be seen. So the writing and central icon are now one: a capital 'I' from the sigil for the Sigillite.
The face has only just been started. Being without helmet, I've left this to almost last. Still the blade to stylise as well. Still, the base coat used is Bugman's Glow. I would really like to do a more dark skinned face at some point to expand my skills a little, but for this model needs a lighter face to balance out the white cloth and book pages vertically. I'll keep it in mind for the Custodes though - different skin tones for them to represent their individual nature.

Likes to be in the spotlight.

Above is another model simply for reference purposes. He still needs fair amount of detail work, but the eye lenses have been done. I couldn't remember the exact method I used on the original Grey Knight (which looks better honestly), so I've settled on the following:

• Lothern Blue.
• Drakenhof Nightshade around the edges.
• Baharroth Blue highlight in the middle.
• White Scar for a further highlight.
• Guilliman Blue to pull back any mistakes.

The last step can also help keep one of the lenses less white, to keep in line with directional lighting. It might be worth using Drakenhof again as the last step though, to darken around the edges some more. I'll see.

-- silly painter.

Grey Knight WIP#2

Still plugging away at the Grey Knights. This is mostly a post to remember what details were done how.

Showing off a pointy stick.

First off, it took a while to figure out the shaft of the force halberd. The usual black highlighting seemed insufficient, and yet black as a base colour works well with the rest of the model. Ultimately, I decided that as a force weapon, it should have something more to indicate this. Hand drawn runes would be a bit much, and possibly distract from the rest of the model, but a kind of glow along edges might seem as though the Grey Knight is channelling power through it. So a bit of Sotek Green to the rescue. That's all actually - just trying to blend it towards edges, with a stronger accent on said edges. Definitely makes the weapon more interesting, while the aqua offsets against the golds and red nicely.

The weapon head, beneath the blade, is metallics of course. I didn't want gold, simply because enough of that is on the armour, but a metal of some kind to give it an old yet practical feel. With inspiration from steampunk (no, really) I settled on more of a brass or bronze feel. In the end:

• Balthasar Gold
• Reikland Fleshshade (Gloss)
• Runelord Brass
• Sycorax Bronze

A bit of Nuln Oil (Gloss) on the blade was applied as well. The gloss shades are good for metallic paints, but care has to be taken with them: they have a nasty habit of pooling in the deeper creases and ending up very shiny. Might have to investigate ways of lessening that in future.

Most of the books are done simply enough with Mournfang Brown on the "cover", with Wazdakka Red on the corners. Most of the books are so small with very little of the cover showing that no highlighting or shading is necessary there.
The pages are:

• Rakarth Flesh
• Agrax Earthshade
• Screaming Skull
• Pallid Wych Flesh

Edging of the besagew is:

• Balthasar Gold
• Gehenna's Gold
• Auric Armour Gold

What I classify as a bit of a oldie (from having used it on the Sanguinary Guard), but effective. It can be good to not use the same gold on everything. Not shown above (not that that model in particular has this anyway), but the besagew pattern is replicated in gold and black on the right shoulder pad. Same gold is used there. However, for the besagew itself, the white area is:

• Celestra Grey
• Nuln Oil
• Ulthuan Grey

with the red area:

• Mephiston Red
• Carroburg Crimson
• Wazdakka Red

I purposefully use subtle different reds here just to keep things distinct from the Blood Angels.

The black casing of the storm bolters will probably have highlights using Skavenblight Dinge and Stormvermin Fur, and is likely to be done next. Blades behind books will be standard silvers, with possibly a Liberator Gold pommel. Otherwise, there's a lot of details to be sorted out across the Grey Knights. Wonderful sculpts, but it takes time to consider how each individual piece of detail is going to be done.

A few other random notes:

Fulgrum Pink was bought and used as very tiny spot highlights on purity seals. It just makes the "wax" stand out some more, and helps it look glossy.

I rather suspect that given enough time, the springs inside of the Citadel painting  handles will stretch. I don't take the models out much, but they definitely have loosed up a little when I do. Still, it hasn't affected how well it holds the models so far.

Layer brushes have been tweaked a little bit. They hold water much better somehow now, and have much more pointed tips than the last time I looked (which has been a little while). My old small layer brush is starting to look a little worse for wear, and isn't as effective for details anymore. It has lasted amazingly well though, and I do still use it for some areas.

Guess that's about all for now. Hoping to have the Grey Knights done within a week. Just want to get the finished really.

-- silly painter.