Blood Angels Champion - Part II

 

The chest is watching you.

The "Bladeguard" without a shield is painted enough to be fully assembled. I really wanted this done for motivational purposes, but it also helps to better guide the colour scheme, which I haven't yet fully decided upon. The photo is colour adjusted slightly because the gloss varnish reflections washed the colours out too much: the reds are perhaps slightly deeper than in actuality, but it's not too far off.

Airbrushing this model I returned to the tried & true formula of:

• Mephiston Red / Dryad Bark (1:1) base coat.
• Mephiston Red initial highlight.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet second highlight.

Knowing how to thin the paints, build up layers, and control the airbrush more than I once did, the end result was pretty inspiring, but I didn't focus on that being the final steps. I would almost certainly adjust things later with a brush anyway, so I was focused on a foundation to build upon. I went back with a paint brush to add glazes in a few places, but it was relatively minor and didn't take long. With that in mind, it was gloss varnish and shading time.

The shading I did not bother with even trying to panel line. If I'm going to clean up later, why bother? Also there's so much detail that it would've been pointless anyway: just give an overall wash and fix up later if necessary. As it turns out, with one drop of flow improver to one drop of the shade paint (Crimson Carroburg, the more Contrast-like version) and everything just kind of worked. A few minor places weren't quite how I wanted, but even they weren't bad. Using the normal acrylic versions of the airbrush paints and I had everything fixed up, re-highlighted, and even basic edge highlighted in about 20 minutes (speed painting for me).

By this stage there are three rounds of working on the red armour highlights, and yet it's still faster than before. I'm mostly working with glazes and very soft reinforcement of what is already there, and even then the primary reason for not doing everything at the end is that I want to keep the visuals with me as I paint other areas. Painting it last would mean I lose track of the mental end picture and would be making far too mistakes from trying too hard. Lean into layering and glazing to keep the model looking nice, and each subsequent step will be shorter and easier.

I've decided on my normal gold recipe for armour trim, with Castellax Bronze for the filigree and detailing. This should provide colour variation and interest without clashing colours. Cryptek Armourshade mixed with flow improver in a 1:1 ratio gives shading without going too dark. I'm not sure what to do next with that - I don't want to go too bright or colourful, but it needs something to pick out highlights and for definition. Studs are Doom Metal (TTC) with silver initial highlights, but I need to go back in there and push the highlights more while also respecting the volume of the leg. That just means the studs closer to the middle will be highlighted more brightly.

There's obviously a lot of blocking in yet to do, the base needs some attention, and more besides, but I think the pose is striking and this will become one of my nicer models in the end.

-- silly painter.