Necron Royal Warden - Part I

 

When Skynet develops a sense of bling.

Another quick post, courtesy of a weekend spent getting a few things done before headed off for another trip. In general it seems one week out of each month will be going that way.

I had a sudden bit of inspiration to start on a colour scheme for Necrons. I have some awaiting assembly, and have been thinking how to make them both interesting, and fast to paint. These models should be fast to paint - they're basically metal skeletons in 40k, and spending weeks on a single one doesn't feel right. I have half a notion to sell them off as well, so I don't want to invest too much time in painting them up. Really hoping that the airbrush, some Contrast paints and a few washes will do 90% of the work for me.

One thing I don't want to do, is paint them silver. That's just boring and the same as everyone else. I want something a little more unique - but also metallic. Think I've come up with an idea that's definitely Necron, but my own style:

• Castellax Bronze base coat (and I think this one of the Air range that's going soon, so I'll need to look into picking up some while I can).
• Valdor Gold highlight (by accident I did this after the next colour, but it should go first).
• Relictor Gold as colour shifted highlight. This isn't really brighter than the previous, but is more of a yellow than a brown and so gives that highlight impression. I'm very used to simply going up through tones of what is essentially the same colour, but using a slightly different hue is a technique I very much want to practice more of.
• Mortarion Green Clear in shaded areas, or more lightly applied where I just want some more interest. I might be a little heavier on it with future models, but again the use of a filter colour really adds so much extra and I want to explore this more going forward.

Gloss varnish layer (from Vallejo's Premium airbrush range) just because I've experienced the metallic paints wearing off too easily. This does lose a little bit of that metallic look and messes with the filter colours through all the secondary reflections, but I need to seal the paint and basically just have to deal with it.

Not a technicolour dreamcoat.

There are of course edge highlights yet to do, and that will most likely be Cryptek Alloy. I'm still deciding on which shades, Contrast, or oils to use on various details and exposed "bones" (e.g the forearms) but again don't want anything too fancy. The whole aim is for a low effort approach to clear more models from the backlog.

-- silly painter.

Crimson Court, Vellas von Faine - Part I

 

That's not creepy at all.

Next up for the Crimson Court we have Vellas von Faine. There's not much to say about her yet, but I thought it might be good to show a very early stage and just how bad it's looking so that it can be compared to later results.

I decided early on to use purple armour done in a similar style to Prince Duvalle's. I also on purpose will make most of it the one colour rather than various metallics like in the reference. The scheme used by Games Workshop is really very well done, but I wanted everything to match up. It actually not easier to do this - I have to use purples but still paint and shade it all slightly different to make it uniform without being the same. Even the clothing I will likely make a very dark purple-grey.

The skin tone this time is going to be the same as done with one of the Sequitors. I liked the result, and it gives more interest than yet-another-pale-skinned-vampire.

I tried some white ink through the airbrush to give a zenithal highlight. It didn't work. I then used thinned down White Scar, which gave much better coverage, but the speckling from the ink is still....excessive. I had thought to try some contrast paints to see how it would work, but the speckling is too much. Actually, thinned Naggaroth Night (the base purple used) glazes just as well and still shows the gradient underneath. I will mix in black later to darken some areas and start to build up tone contrast. At least I can see the details.

The eyes are White Scar and Blood Angels Red (Contrast). It looks creepy, especially with the teeth. I like it. The photo has provided a good reference of where to start placing later highlights, and I'm hoping they won't detract from that red glow. This model will no doubt not wind up looking as awesome as I hope, but at least it's provided some entertainment so far.

-- silly painter.

Crimson Court, Ennias Curse-born - Part III (Showcase)

 

Seriously, the hair looks more like his head is on fire.

I'll be honest, I'm putting less effort into a lot of models at the moment. The flip side is that I'm also completing a lot more, and really learning how various paints and colours work together. Experimentation is high, motivation to finish to a high standard is not. With that expectation in mind, this model actually came out better than I thought.

I'll do a quick fire list of what was done extra:

• Boots highlighted with Tallarn Sand using stippling or scratchy motions.
• Straps highlighted with Tuskgor Fur, again with stippling or scratchy motions.
• Trousers highlighted with Gorthor Brown, you guessed it: stippling or scratchy motions. I also spent a little extra time to highlight folds in the clothing with a second layer.
• Some red around the mouth, more than just the lips to give a bloodied, demonic look. Really makes him look more evil.
• Hair was Corax White, coated with Apothecary White and while that was still workable, quickly switch to Basilicanum Grey to blend in some parts to be darker. I like of like this for extremely white hair.

The hair in particular being white draws all the attention to the face. I paint quite dark in general, so those little bright areas do stand out all the more for it.

The wings I really couldn't decide on for a long time. Looked at images of bats, looked at other models for inspiration, and nothing was really working for me. In the end I just decided to go with what I had originally painted with the airbrush and give the wing membrane a red/brown tint to balance out the boots and trousers. All of the following steps were done quite thinly; the airbrush done originally still shows through and gave a remarkably good foundation to work from.

• Barak-Nar Burgundy mixed with Abaddon Black and applied to shaded areas, particularly on the underside.
• Barak-Nar Burgundy used to blend out the previous step, and for some of the upper side shaded areas.
• Gal Vorbak Red as a striped highlight, most of it being applied below but some on the upper side too.
• Word Bearers Red striped again as a highlight, mostly on the above of the wings.
• Rakarth Flesh mixed into the prior colours and used to highlight the wing bones. Only a very, very small amount of Rakarth Flesh is needed for this (I used too much actually).
• Agrax Earthshade, thinned a little with water, and glazed over the whole of the wings.

And other than the base (which was done similar to the previous Crimson Court member), that's basically the model done. I ended up using a very small amount of varnish on the wings, just because they were likely to received some wear & tear from handling, and on the edge of the base, but otherwise I left it alone. I'll just have to be careful - even if there's not much movement once the model goes into storage boxes.

Permissable purchases now stand at 9. I was gifted a model however, and so I'm trying to decide if that should count or not. Still a model I guess, so back to 8.

-- silly painter.

Crimson Court, Ennias Curse-born - Part II

 

Far too much hair gel.

I have been struggling to get any progress done on this next model in the Crimson Court, mostly because I couldn't decide on how to go about doing....any of it! The trousers, the boots, the armour, all of it was just drawing a blank for a long while. Then I started to think of effects for leather, and lead me down the path of thinking of different base coats for Contrast paints. Normally the Contrast range is applied over something like Grey Seer, Wraithbone, or Corax White. These all end up with very bright edges, and it's not what I wanted - but somewhere along the way I decided to try Zandri Dust, and then I basically hadn't used Snakebite Leather in a while so decided to give that a go. It about here that inspiration started flow for the clothing on this character.

When applying the Snakebite Leather I quickly saw that a light tan on the boots would really fit. Normally I go for darker boots, and it seemed kind of obvious now that in this case they should instead be lighter than the other clothing.

All of the clothing I consider to only be in a foundation stage right now. Contrast gives a good base to work from, but generally I don't use it as the only step. Here it gives good variation across the boots and pants, which I will then later go back in and drybrush or stipple highlight. So with that said, the boots:

• Zandri Dust across all of the boots.
• Snakebite Leather over all of the boots.
• Agrax Earthshade added to really define the shape.
• Gore-Grunta Fur on the straps.

This entire approach, minus the Agrax Earthshade, has been used on all of the armour straps as well. It will mostly definitely need additional highlights later.

The pants are:

• Zandri Dust.
• Snakebite Leather.
• Basilicanum Grey.

I looks a bit messy right now, but that should be fixed later with appropriate highlighting that will hopefully also give it some texture.

The armour I knew was always going to be more of a bronze with brass edging, and it's always fun glaze in highlights with metallics. The downside is that I like the effect too much and did it too soon - I can't really apply a varnish now or else it will all be ruined. I'll have to varnish the non-reflective surfaces by brush later on. At any rate, the armour ended up as:

• Warplock Bronze base coat.
• Brass Scorpion initial highlight. This is a slightly reddish tone, somewhere between bronze and brass.
• Runelord Brass for a further highlight, generally glazed in.
• Skullcrusher Brass as final edge highlights in select areas. Using this paint can seem a little strange as it has a yellow tint rather than the red/brown of previous steps, but using that slight colour shift for edges or long pointed areas (e.g to the left of the head) can really help those parts stand out and give much more interest to the model.

I'm still yet to go back with a shade, which I intend to do in select areas (armoured box, for example). It doesn't really need this step, but I think it might help with brightness contrast to better see some details.

I'm still waiting for inspiration for the wings, but hopefully not too much longer before I can wrap it all up.

-- silly painter.

Luna Wolf - Part II (Showcase)

 

Looks very determined to use that bayonet.

After putting in a lot of effort, I managed to complete the Luna Wolf in a single week. For me, this is extraordinarily fast, particularly because I had no prior exploration of colours to work with for the Luna Wolves. Thinking of what colours to use often takes me longer than the actual painting.

Looking back on this model however, once the initial airbrushing was done and the first metallics applied, the majority of it was finished. Even the crest is nice and simple:

• White or light grey undercoat.
• Blood Angels Red (Contrast) over the "fluffy bits".
• Shyish Purple thinned and pooled at the bottom of that area.
• Druchii Violet shaded at the very bottom.

That's it! I could add some orange highlights along the top, but felt that carried too much risk of messing it up and I kind of liked the darker look in contrast to the white / light grey armour.

The base of the crest, i.e the metal component, is likewise very simple:

• Warplock Bronze base coat.
• Runelord Brass highlight.
• Canoptek Alloy edge highlight.

I played with another model trying to find the right metallics, but none were desaturated enough for my liking. Silver is too much desaturated and I wanted to keep the brass hue, so in the end Canoptek Alloy just seemed to fit perfectly. I think I'll be using the above 3-colour combination again the future as I really like how it turned out.

On the theme of metallics still, the backpack I really enjoyed. The side ball-shaped components in particular I played with and it just kind of worked. There's so much grey on the model that a slight colour shift away from silver really helps make the overall model work.

• Iron Warriors on the metal area.
• Warplock Bronze, thinned to just about glaze consistency, and of course glazed over the top.
• Runelord Brass, again thinned to glaze consistency, applied to highlight certain areas.

I also did sort of the reverse for highlighting across some detail to the top of the backpack. Same colours, but using the bronze and brass to go darker further from the top. Glazing the metallics is key, and the effect is quite subtle but eye-catching. Actually these colours and their transitions might work well with melta-gun muzzles, or any other heat blasted metal (I never do go much for the typical purple to yellow heat effect that seems all the rage these days).

The helmet eye lenses took me a moment to consider, until I realised there was only one way to paint them: the same as the Eye of Horus details on Horus.

• Jokaero Orange
• Yriel Yellow to highlight.
• Bloodletter (the old glaze paint), drawn to the back of the lens mostly.
• Carroburg Crimson dotted to the back of the lens.
• Nuln Oil very corner dot.
• White Scar reflection dot with a very fine detail brush.

I could have done more of the red and black of the lens, but the colour I'm overall happy with. It's certainly visually striking. I had always intended to paint some kind of gang markings on the helmet (Luna Wolves tradition from Cthonia), and a small mistake in painting the left lens was conveniently covered up in this fashion using whatever red was on the palette. While doing this, fine detail brushes don't hold much water and can dry out easily, but it helps to only put a very small amount of paint on the tip. Don't put paint any further, or it will draw too much water out and make it more difficult to use.

I have a new leather approach:

• Zandri Dust across the leather strap.
• Snakebite Leather (Contrast) over the top.
• Gore-Grunta Fur thinly over the top of that.
• Zandri Dust to add some scratches.

Contrast paints are good at this kind of approach, and while there are approaches that can give better results, the speed of this was well worth it. If this were a character model, or for a more serious competition, I might makes the scratches a bit brighter, but if I were to paint a whole army then the above is an excellent alternative.

Bugger this Sons of Horus thing, going back to being a Luna Wolf!

Gloss varnish and fineliner pens can be a useful combination in sketching out a freehand design. It's easily cleaned with water, or a very (very) small amount of solvent if necessary. That allowed me to draw out the Luna Wolf insignia on the right shoulder pad. I didn't do the best job of it, but at this point I'm also rushing to get the model finished in time. I can afford to cut a few corners. I also wrote the Legion number XVI across some battle damage that wasn't turning out proper, just to cover it up.

On the note of battle damage, I'm still getting used to applying that and weathering. Very small scratches along some edges worked well - but very small, nothing too large. Mostly just stippling black and Adminstratum Grey around areas that might see a bit more wear & tear. Verminlord Hide was drybrushed around the feet, but I never go very far with such things. A few stones and a skull on the base, and that's about it.

Just for the sake of it standing out, the little targeting lens (or whatever it is) on the helmet is a combination of a black, silver highlight, and Soulstone Blue. I sometimes avoid the normal gemstone look when I want a more opaque glass look to it, and the technical paints work very well for this pupose. Contrast paints work well too, but don't give the gloss finish.

I could happily paint an army with this scheme. It's not a whole lot in the end, and perhaps less work overall than for the Blood Angels, but the model itself is also less detailed that you might think. No shoulder pad trim to slow things down, no Imperial Aquila, and and oil wash is very simple and effective on a predominantly light grey / white model.

Strictly speaking I do have another week to get this model done, so I could have really gone to town on it, but there are other models that need painting and I think I found it more entertaining to develop an approach that could be used across an entire army. Maybe it will inspire someone else to make a Luna Wolves army one day.

-- silly painter.

Luna Wolf - Part I

 

Tight-rope training.

With the upcoming Horus Heresy game not far away, the local Warhammer store is having a bit of a painting competition where the painters from two towns get to show off their stuff. I say competition - more of just a bit of fun. An excuse to get everyone interested in the new models I'm sure, but I think this is how marketing should be done. And I get to paint up one of the new guys ahead of time, see their size, get a feel of how they paint up.

To start with, yes they are nice to paint. The design lends itself quite well to simple and complex schemes, with just enough edges to help define the shapes, but large panels for those nice transitions. It's not overwhelmed with detail, and there aren't many hard to reach areas. Also, there are slight notches to allow the arms to be aligned with weapons, making gluing the arms in place and later attaching the gun a much easier process. I've been looking forward to such a simple thing, and I'm excited for these models based on that one design choice alone!

The armour design has updates just about everywhere, but still feels older than the more classic Space Marines (Mark VII armour). Games Workshop has been doing very well with the armour designs lately. I actually looked at some artwork for Horus Rising, and design cues for the backpack can be seen in cover of that book. As for the size of the model, I haven't based it yet, so no comparisons there. I expect the increase in size over other models in the Horus Heresy range can be explained by the reduced production capabilities resulting in bulkier armour (thicker armour to overcome material shortages, or loss of more advanced manufacturing facilities). Less stringent recruitment policies to replace losses might also play havoc with physiology: larger marines, but less agile perhaps.

So with this fun little competition, the aim to paint up one model in a legion of choice. Blood Angels would be the natural fit for me, but that's also a problem: I would be painting it by numbers, and that misses the opportunity to explore something new. On the suggestion from a store member, I ended up with Luna Wolves. White is a very difficult colour scheme to work with (worse than yellow!) and this also allows me to play with scratches to reveal Sons of Horus paint underneath (if there's time). The idea is that this particular character followed in Loken's footsteps and has reverted to Luna Wolves heraldry in protest over the Heresy.

How to paint white though? Whites are not equal. They are almost always shifted slightly to blue or yellow or brown, and this is enhanced with the shading used. Luna Wolves though, that seemed more of a grey. White Scars might shade with brown, Luna Wolves are definitely close to Nuln Oil. With that in mind, I picked out some paints and got to work:

• Mechanicus Standard Grey for the base coat.
• Dawnstone for a first pass highlight.
• Administratum Grey for a second pass highlight, focusing more on the upper areas of the model, but still applying around the feet a little bit.
• Deathshroud to add some shadow, and give more depth. The idea is to nudge the shadow/highlight contrast a little more.
• White Scar (thinned in about a 1:1 mix) to just push the highlights some more, and really focusing on the upper areas of the model.

Putting down the airbrush, a mix of all the greys was used to then apply edge highlights. So Administratum Grey was used for the darker areas, but mixed with some White Scar for lighter areas, and even more White Scar (nearly 90%) for the very brightest edges. I didn't use quite pure White Scar, which then still leaves me some wiggle room to add reflective dots if I want to later on.

After a gloss varnish I then went in with odourless mineral spirits (artist grade) and black oil paint. I foolishly used household white spirits before, and the fumes from that turned me off entirely. I didn't smell any from the artist grade - I'm sure there were, but they didn't seem to be problematic. I was still in a well ventilated room, of course. The oil wash here was used because I didn't want any staining when doing the recess shading. Staining is very visible on white, so figured the ability to completely wipe off mistakes would be worthwhile. Short version: it worked great.

The only part I'm not entirely happen with is fairly difficult to avoid when dealing with white: that speckled noise pattern so characteristic of using an airbrush. I used multiple greys to soften the transitions in an effort to reduce this problem, but some of it has still shown through. It does give a kind of gritty feel, and that suits Luna Wolves, so I'm ok with it for now. 

-- silly painter.

Space Marine Heroes 2 - Part II

 

If that's the hammer, I'd like to see the nail.

This post is fairly short and is just being used to keep track of another attempt at the yellow of Imperial Fists. There has only been the airbrushing so far, with no edge highlighting or recess shading done yet. Why an Imperial Fist? Yellow is a difficult colour that needs practice, and the model just seemed to really fit for them. Doesn't have to be anything more than that.

This time around I tried to undercoat with a red base (actually the Mephiston Red / Dryad Bark mix I use to base Blood Angels with) and then given a zenithal highlight of (thinned) White Scar. Over this I applied Averland Sunset. The intention was to try give some depth to the yellow, and see how much of the undercoats would show through. Did it work? Yes, but not to the degree I wanted. Thinning the yellow more wouldn't have given good coverage, and any less would have given too much. I'm not convinced this approach works with yellow, so I'll avoid the undercoat next time - or try again with a much brighter zenithal.

One point to remember is that Averland Sunset worked brilliantly for fire based OSL, particularly over the red. It's not a bright yellow, somewhat more mustard instead, and would perfectly suit the glow of a fire.

Moving on with Flash Gitz Yellow for an initial highlight, then finishing with Phalanx Yellow to bring back that near-white pizzazz that is iconic of the Imperial Fists. At this stage some of the depth was lost, so a shade of Angron Red (the best of the clear range of Citadel air paints, in my opinion) was sprayed from underneath to add that back. In future I should probably do that step before the final highlight, but it doesn't matter much.

Next there needs to be some edge highlighting and recess shading. The edge highlighting will be Dorn Yellow, which will hopefully convince the eye of the yellows being brighter overall, without actually being brighter anywhere except the edges. For recess shading I'm considering Seraphim Sepia, however that is more of an earthen red that's better suited to e.g Lamenters. An orange shade is likely a better contrast to help outline the model.

The rest of the Terminators are all highlighted and shaded, with most fully assembled. A couple of heads remain to be done yet. A thin layer of gloss varnish still works wonders and made the shading step much easier, and also helps protect the airbrushing. I'll see how these turn out before deciding if it's going to be a permanent addition to my painting steps.

-- silly painter.