Lumineth Vanari Auralan Warden - Part III (Showcase)

 

Early toothpicks were dangerous to use.

A bit of a jump in steps, but the model was always about playing with, not replicating. Plus I wanted to just finish something to get motivation up, so this was it. I did not bother with being perfect, cut several corners (the eyes in particular could have a lot more work done, gemstones were done using technical paints only and without shading or anything), and generally consider it tabletop ready only. Really trying to save caring more for special characters. Or just Blood Angels in general.

The main idea behind this model was a more limited palette and seeing what differences I could show in texture. White on the cloth and armour panels, blues much the same. The "scales" were a mix of greys. I also tried a little NMM in places using an unusual combination:

• Thondia Brown (actually the base brown used everywhere on the model).
• Wild Rider Red on highlighted areas.
• Yriel Yellow glazed over most of the "metal", and then built up more on brighter points.
• Yriel Yellow mixed with some white on the palette for spot highlights.

I kind of like how that gold came out in the end. The brown base works here, giving it a neutral gold rather than shifting to any cold or warm spectrum in particular.

Tassels were a simple combination of Wild Rider Red shaded with Carroburg Crimson. Such small details don't need more, but I wonder if that would provide a good foundation for the top knots on the Allarus Custodes. It's worth thinking about.

And of course the varnish spray frosted slightly and really messed up a few areas, so in future I'll really have to look at a varnish that can be fed through an airbrush.

-- silly painter.

Project 20 Marines - Part II

 

Colour-of-Dried-Blood Angel

It's been slow going with painting projects lately, just until I get a few things sorted out and free up some time and motivation. This post is nothing particularly special, and mostly just to ensure a few notes are kept about the Primaris assembly.

All of the planned twenty marines are now sufficiently assembled to start painting. It took some time to figure out the best approach the for Primaris models: the weapons are not separate from the arms. In the end I decided it best to assemble the arms fully onto the weapons, then allowing the shoulder pads to be glued into position, but keeping the arms only blu-tac'd in place for now. This allows the arms to remain in position for the airbrush stages, also keeping the shoulder pads with the same highlight direction, but easily removed later for easy access to chestplate and weapon painting.

I've yet to decide if various airbrushing stages should be done without and with the arms, or if various areas can be touched up with some Mephiston Red glazing later on.

As a further step from painting the backpacks, I'm experimenting with doing edge highlighting before the final airbrush highlight. I generally don't do much hard edge highlighting anymore and it's hoped that this will allow a softer but still defined edge highlight that I can then strengthen in areas as needed. I've done a single test model in this manner and it's worked well enough so far. The rest of the backpacks need doing yet, but a wet palette means I can just do one at a time whenever the motivation strikes.

For something completely different, getting something to hold each model has been another challenge. I don't particularly want tens of painting handles, but would like something to hold the models while airbrushed. To that end: plastic bottle caps glued onto old Citadel paint pots. It's not perfect, but does the trick. Once the airbrushing is done I can then glue each model onto its proper base and use the painting handles from there.

-- silly painter.

Allarus Custodians - Part III

 

The Caped Custodian.

After a little bit of a getaway, I'm back and picking up the brushes again. So while not a whole lot of progress has been done since last time, there are enough little pieces to note down what has been done.

To start with, the armour has been highlighted on this model. It doesn't really look that way in the photo, and indeed it's subtle, but sometimes subtle stands out more. I toyed with a few things but ended up with:

• Canoptek Alloy / Liberator Gold (1:1) mix for an initial highlight, mostly along "feathers" of the various eagle designs, and edges. Liberator Gold alone has the wrong hue and doesn't match the gold armour, so here it's mostly used to saturate the Canoptek Alloy slightly.
• Canoptek Alloy for edge highlights, or anything that should stand out in particular.

For what I take to be either shield generators, or some kind of power reactor on the back:

• Warplock Bronze base coat.
• Castellax Bronze to highlight, with a fair amount of mixing with the previous colour to get the transitions just right.
• Canoptek Alloy for edges.

Obviously I'm enjoying Canoptek Alloy quite a bit here. It's a remarkably versatile paint and can be used for bright edges where a silver simply doesn't fit.

Gemstones I have to guess at. I wrote it down at the time, but have since lost the piece of paper. So this is a guess but should be close:

• Night Lords Blue across the gemstone.
• Sotek Green across about half the gemstone.
• Ahriman Blue as a sort of edge highlight.
• Abaddon Black, or Nuln Oil to darken the opposite side. This step isn't always necessary, especially for smaller gemstones.
  
• Corax White for a reflection dot.
• 'Ardcoat gloss varnish at the end.

The blues tending more towards aqua are a bit of a running theme for these models: I used Talassar Blue, Aethermatic Blue, a little Baharroth Blue, and some Guilliman Blue (the old glaze paint) for the power field effect on the weapon. I tend to give it more colour towards edges and points, and use stripe motions or drybrushing for a weapon in motion. The model shown here is not swinging his weapon, so it's a smoother appearance.

And the cape. I played around on another model to try get a feel for how to paint soft material, and initially tried stippling, dabbing with a drybrush, and glazing, but in the end most of that was simply wasted. Cloth does not highlight with smooth transitions like hard surfaces, so drybrushing works really well. It also doesn't desaturate from reflectivity, so the choice of highlight colour really matters too. In the end I'm going with:

• Dryad Bark / Mephiston Red (1:1) through the airbrush, all over the cape. Most of this is going to show through, so two coats to give an even finish might be needed.
• Word Bearer's Red, drybrushed very gradually and slowly built up in desired areas. Really take some time with this step: rushing will ruin it. Dabbing motions can also be used if the paint isn't quite so dry.
  
• Mix a very slight amount of Ulthuan Grey with Word Bearer's Red (and not much at all is needed - if in doubt, use less Grey) and drubrush this onto more prominent folds.
• Agrax Earthshade stippled, dabbed, and glazed into deeper recesses.
• Druchii Violet stippled, dabbed, and glazed across mid-tone areas to give some variation.

The capes will be matt varnished before being glued into place. In the photo above it's simply staying there, but isn't yet glued. The varnish step will help to differentiate the texture from metallic gloss that much more.

I'm not sure yet quite how to paint the top-knot. Red as a primary colour seems like it might be suitable, but too bright or saturated and it will take attention away from the rest of the model. There are still small details like the vents on the back that need finishing, the weapons, and various other items of interest. The base I will do as white marble.

In other words, still a lot to go on these models - at least two more blog posts, perhaps even three, but there is progress.

-- silly painter.