Blood Angels Librarian Dreadnought - Part IV

 

Hey goa'uld, I can do that too!

(There will be grammar and spelling mistakes, but if I don't get this written out now then it'll be another week before I have the chance.)

There hasn't been much time for painting progress, but I have filled in some dreadnought details. This makes the model look far more complete than it really is - there are still arms to do, the power plant, the base, final edge highlights, decals, etc. It's nowhere near complete.

I actually decided to brighten up the edge highlights of the blue. This was just mixing a little more Baharroth Blue into the mix still on the palette and very carefully applying it to the most prominent edges.

Not too much to say about the yellow details. Again, I might highlight the motif on top with more white to give it a more reflective appearance, but that's a step for another time. Averland Sunset, Yriel Yellow, Phalanx Yellow. Same as used on the side cabling, although those were shaded with Agrax Earthshade and Seraphim Sepia.

The keys and Librarium symbol are plain Grey Knights Steel right now, with a slight Drakenhof Nightshade (barely visible). I'll do more of those details after the varnishing stage probably. The background is a little more interesting and was some experimentation with metallics in volume highlights. Warplock Bronze and Balthasar Gold, mixed in varying degrees and glazed. I like how it shows so far, but I'm aware that varnishing will change it considerably. I had intended to see if it would be something that might be suitable for shading, but I don't think I'll use in future - I'll stick with shade paints for the moment in similar situations.

The eyes on the helmet I debated leaving alone, but with more details done it was apparent something needed to draw attention back there. To that end I'm going for a glow effect, but it won't be anything particularly special: white (Corax White here) and a Contrast paint (Aethermatic Blue most likely).

The chained book cover is Lupercal Green. I mixed in a very, very small amount of white to highlight the upper edges mostly to see how the colours would mix rather than for any visual difference; the detail is too small for highlights to be noticeable.

Scrolls and paper used very similar colours to the normal approach for purity seals, but some slight variation:

• Steel Legion Drab as a base coat.
• Zandri Dust mixed into the previous colour and built up to pure Zandri Dust for initial highlights.
• Agrax Earthshade glazed into recessed areas.
• Seraphim Sepia glazed over selected papers to make them appear more aged.
• Ushabti Bone built up for further highlights.
• Pallid Wych Flesh glazed over more as appropriate.

The last steps used a small amount of Lahmian Medium to build up the glaze. Particularly for brighter or whiter colours, using a medium to thin it to glaze consistency gives a much smoother result than water. At a guess, water separates the pigment too much and leads to chalkiness, whereas a flow improver simply thins without changing too much else of the chemistry.

Lastly for the details so far: the winged blood drop icon. I wanted that to be white winged, but not with black shading. Blue is still much more indicative of sky, angelic, heavenly, and so I still wanted blue tinted recesses. To that end:

• Corax White, with multiple thin layers to get an even, opaque coverage.
• Apothecary White / Talassar Blue / Contrast Medium in a 1:1:2 mix, and heavily applied all over.

That's all. There's a much greater glow in the photo than in real life, and there's no real need to edge highlight anything. Contrast paints excel at this kind of task. If I were to continue with many more of these symbols I would play with the paints and dilution more, but for now it's ok. I can always knock it back further with Apothecary White later on.

Next steps are to fill in some metallic areas around the torso, perhaps some cabling, and then start to look at next pieces of the model. There will be a general harmonising at the end along with filling in the last details in one go (e.g gemstones) but it's about time to start more assembly.

-- silly painter.

Blood Angels Librarian Dreadnought - Part III

 

'tis but a scratch!

Back to very little for painting again. This is a little frustrating, but I'll see if I can adjust to take more advantage of the precious free time I have, to be more efficient in my approach. This alone is a shame - I enjoy taking my time to paint a model, but I have far too many to get through to be quite so picky right now.

The metalallic parts are simple enough to need to explanation, and they 're not exactly the focus of the model. I will do more on them later for oil stains, lubricants, that sort of thing, but I'll try not to go overboard. I refer to them as "background framing" and don't really hold the viewer's attention - as a result, they can be rather simplistic without the overall quality of the model diminishing.

The "head" (or helmet, or sensorium, who knows) is a base of Balthasar Gold, some sepia tones washed over that, and highlighted with Gehenna's Gold. Just enough to glue everything in place. I'm still thinking over the eyes and if I'll leave them as they are, or do the whole Librarian psychic eye glow thing. Depends if I'll need to draw more attention there once the other details are filled in.

The blue sarcophagus is the most outstanding visual difference since the last update. I knew I wanted a darker blue, tending to black, in shadows but didn't want the cobalt blue of an Ultramarine for highlights. This keeps Librarians different and their own separate group. I ended up going with:

• Night Lords Blue / Black (1:1 ratio). I also started moving more towards pure Night Lords Blue in those areas not within shadow.
• Kantor Blue transitioned as first stage highlight, which was done through a combination of glazing and mixing on the wet palette with the previous paints.
• Macragge Blue as a second stage highlight. Some care needs to be taken here, and it was again mixed with the previous step first. The real catch is that Macragge Blue is a step up in brightness, but also a deviation in tint from the other blues. It definitely benefits more from glazing for this reason, otherwise it's very difficult to get a smooth transition.
• Druchii Violet used for recess shading. While I considered Nuln Oil or Agrax Earthshade, The red hint from violet gives a deeper and richer shade without desaturating. Just a fancy way of saying it looks more interesting. Also, Blood Angels. Perhaps a darker green would be suitable for Salamanders or Dark Angels.
• Baharroth Blue mixed with Macragge Blue for edge highlights. Baharroth Blue on its own is far too much of a colour shift (it has more green in there) and looks completely out of place. An alternative to mixing is to edge highlight with Baharroth Blue, then glaze back over it with Macragge Blue to pull it back into an acceptable range.

For now the edges don't quite "pop" as much as I would like, so I may bump the contrast just a little more after varnishing.

And that's about all for now. Next I will likely start to fill in more details, particularly as the parchment should use very similar colours and should be relatively easy motivational wins. I will plan to simply get a small selection of paints and finish off details as I go around the model (with the arms yet to be properly started!). I'll leave armour edge highlights until after varnishing as that seems to be a good harmonising step.

And the moment I've been dreading is soon here: Legions Imperialis. I don't want to buy masses of those models to just sit in boxes, so I might simply buy one box at a time and paint it up before I allow myself to buy another. It will cost more in the long run perhaps, but it will keep the backlog more manageable.

-- silly painter.

Terminator Squad - Part VI (Showcase)

 

Astartes Firestarter

Having now finished the Terminators and had a chance to compare before/after photos of the final edge highlighting, I've realised that the difference doesn't really show up on photos. This actually confirms what I suspected: the finish of the paint matters just as much as the pigment, and the lighting conditions and camera sensors have a habit of washing out some of that. The paint is ever so slightly more satin than the matt varnish, which makes the largest difference in the final edge highlight stage. Good to know.

That smile....

Overall I'm not the most impressed with the armour shading. I've done a lot better. I did learn a thing or two about the new approach tried here at least, and that will definitely feed into the next squad. The contrast between highlights and shadows simply isn't enough, but I'm fairly certain I can fix that in future.

With that much armour, quite why a low, stable stance is needed isn't clear.

Edge highlighting at the end has some benefits: it can be seen how the overall model needs to be adjusting. Doing it too early can be a bit of a waste in attempting to show off every single edge. Most often I actually needed to define the bottom of the left pauldron and keep it more distinct from the rest of the arm.

"Space Hulk Stance"

The bases do add some height. It is noticeable compared to other models, but I think worth the effect in also making the Terminators seem slightly larger.

Unfortunately the weapon targeting lens is a bit of a mistake. Not in the colours or technical approach, but it sticks out and draws more attention than I'd like. I should have left them alone here, or made them much darker at the very least. Perhaps one of the darker metallics underneath the gel paint.

More targeting lenses!

One of the more wise decisions was not attempting to paint details in a multitude of colours. Keeping things simple is not only easier to paint, but doesn't clash with the rest of the model. There are a few special details on most models, but they're the exception that proves the rule: less is more. Don't try to make the model "busy", or it just ends up messy.

I bought a Terminator Chaplain (because that model really looks cool), so between these models and that purchase the count is now at 4.5. I'm almost certain to break the count for the upcoming Legions Imperialis, where it's hoped I can paint those things much, much more quickly. I don't go for speed painting, but neither do I intend to put quite as much detail into that smaller scale.

-- silly painter.