Devastator Squad - Part II

 

Sergeant Shiny Pants

Slow painting progress again from a complete lack of spare time, so there's little to show for this week. I did manage to block in the base colour (literally, the colour on the base) and recess shade the whole squad. This of course is always done after a coat of gloss varnish, so the model will look very different until the later matt varnish stage.

Comparing the model currently against the prior photo, it occurred to me that the varnishing itself may end up being one of the sources of my problems. Layers of varnish will almost certainly dull the final colours and mute the highlights, which will necessarily mean that if I want to bring them back to full then I'll need to glaze the highlights back again later. That kind of control I really only have with a brush, so I'm once again wondering if I should just switch up the armour approach again.

The gloss varnish has two purposes: to help when recess shading (and it really does help that a lot!) but also to seal the airbrushed paint and stop it wearing off so easily. I can't really glaze over the gloss varnish too easily, but maybe I could after the matt varnish stage - in which case it's not worth putting so much effort into the initial highlights as they'll just be corrected later anyway. Maybe that's the answer: simpler airbrushing, glazes later to push the vibrancy and contrast a little. That could end up making the gloss varnish step also of reduced value: mistakes on the recessed shading can be fixed easily later. All worth thinking about after this squad is finished, and it's probably worth looking at simpler test models later just to explore the different approaches.

For when a backpack needs more height.

The other members of the squad I tried to go up to Typhon Ash in full highlight, after which I airbrushed Blood Angels Red as usual. The increase in brightness is rather noticeable and will help show through later - but it also shows that particular "noise" common with airbrush spray. Multiple thin passes undoes too much of the previous work to the point where I might as well go back to non-Contrast paints if I'll keep doing that. This might not be such a bad idea now that I'm far more familiar with how to proper thin airbrush paints. In either case, the smaller models will almost certainly still need a glazing pass later to push the shadows and highlights again.

Black Legion continues to be useful over the gloss varnish to give a good black foundation to work from, so the next week will probably be spent using that to block in colours all over the models before moving onto enough details that I can glue the arms in place. Or I could work on the helmets. Or any of the other projects currently ongoing. Much to be done!

-- silly painter