Lumineth Vanari Auralan Warden - Part I

 

Pointy ears, pointy shields.

One of the great things about free models of the month from Games Workshop is that they can serve as an experiment platform without needing to care if the results really work or not. Trying different techniques, different colours, is always motivational, but when you're looking to create a colour across an entire army then whatever is done first tends to stick just to keep everything cohesive. So this Lumineth model is going to serve as experimentation, mostly for Custodes as it turns out.

There will probably be quite a few small posts for this model as I want to track how each part is done, if I like it enough to warrant being on the Custodes.

The shield as it turns out has a nice pattern on the back that is perfect for playing with colours that might suit the leather gauntlets and weapon grips that many Custodes tend to have. The robes will also be a good fit for practicing cloth-like appearance, but that's for another post.

The leather patterning shown is:

• Mournfang Brown as a base coat.
• Doombull Brown applied on all raised areas, leaving the deepest grooves alone.
• Mephiston Red glazed onto central edged areas.
• Word Bearer's Red added to  highlight about mid-way along each interlocking piece.
• Mephiston Red glazed again as edge highlighting. I liked how it turned out, so keeping this in two steps will remain - it helps to shift the tone of the previous colour slightly.
• Barak-Nar Burgundy thinned down and added to deeper recessed areas, and glazed into the outer areas of each piece. As a base paint this can be tricky to work with, so it needs to be thinned quite a bit.

The last step can really help to shift from a red into a more purple appearance, and I suspect I'll use that for a bit of contrast on the Custodes. It gives that much extra depth. I might consider a wash of Carroburg Crimson as well, but that might be better suited to something with a little more sculpted texture, like the weapon grips.

The metallics seen on the shield were the result of some playing around with airbrush paints with a normal airbrush, to figure out how the armour on Custodes might be done. More on that soon.

-- silly painter.