Crimson Paladin II - Part I

 

Making sure to step over the drain.

Just a fairly quick post because I managed to get a fair bit of airbrushing done in a single day and I'll be busy for the next week. I recently assembled the next of the Crimson Paladins and this time out I decided the arms should be fully attached from the start. It was to much hassle last time.

Painting-wise there isn't much to say. From the experience before I know that a wash stage will help define everything more, but that some manipulation as applying over the gloss varnish will increase shadows, and glazing later with Evil Sunz Scarlet is going to help make everything pop. The airbrushing was done with this in mind. I still used three passes (Dryad Bark / Mephiston Red, then plain Mephiston Red, then Evil Sunz Scarlet) but I didn't try to be very neat.

The first coat is to give the whole model a base colour to work from. This is also mostly the shadow colour, even if the wash will darken it more later anyway. I used my "new workhorse" airbrush with a 0.35mm needle here and made sure to apply many thin coats to get a smooth finish and to avoid clogging the nozzle.

Next was the first highlighting stage which again used the same airbrush, and mostly from a Zenithal angle. Basically I just sprayed from above and occasionally a little from the side, but not from underneath. It's similar in colour, but trust the process: the later wash will darken everything, and glazing will brighten again in select areas.

Finally I switched to the CRplus Infinity airbrush with a 0.2mm needle and build up the final layer more selectively. I know there's some good reviews about the workhorse type airbrush, and it's indeed perfectly fine, but once you're quite familiar and comfortable with airbrushing then that extra quality kit really comes into play. The trigger action is definitely better, the paint flows more smoothly, and it's easier to clean afterwards. I intend to buy a newer Infinity at some point, eyeing off the Giraldez model, as soon as there's some kind of spare money for such things.

At this point the reds don't give much contrast really. Shadows are there, highlights are there, but knowing that I'll be refining it later made the broader airbrush application now that much faster.

The base on this model is actually two thin layers of green-stuff. I was playing with a new texture roller which has a manhole cover I liked, which I then needed to turn into an actual base. With the slightly higher base these older kits are visually comparable to the new Cataphractii  models too, but there's still one more trick to make the Crimson Paladins seem taller. The previous one had this done, and it's the head. It sits too low in the torso normally. I'll try get all the helmets done in one go, but a little bit of green-stuff to extend the faceplate down and a little more on the base to make it sit ever so slightly higher and it makes all the difference.

That's about it for now. I did more airbrush of other models too, and I guess one of those will be for next week.

-- silly painter.

Custodian Wardens - Part VI (Showcase)

 

Bodyguards looking for body oil.

Finally, done! It wasn't that there was an awful lot left to do, it's just that between work and horrible weather I've never had time or motivation to actually get them done. All finished at last though, standing tall and proud.

It's worth noting that these are large models, larger than Primaris possibly even the newer terminators. They're very imposing but it's really hard to get a feel for that without seeing them in person. A full squad in the middle of another force and you start to get a sense of how mean Custodian Guard can be.

In rounding out the weapons I fell back on my normal black weapon casing formula with with a slight twist:

• Corvus Black base coat over all the black details.
• Eshin Grey to build up initial highlights.
• Abaddon Black glazed into shadows.
• Ulthuan Grey / Eshin Grey (roughly 1:2, but depends) for edge highlights.

I played with the mixes of paint between stages and there was a good deal of back & forth before I had it just how I wanted. Generally the Ulthuan Grey was never used pure: it's too bright on its own and I wanted definition more than anything else.

Silver details are for the most part mixes of Doom Metal (TTC) and Iron Hands Silver. Everything else is covered fairly well in previous posts for the weapons.

The gemstones gave me pause for a while. I was originally going to paint them in a blue or teal colouration, but I decide that was going to stand out too much. One or two gemstones maybe, but all of them and the warmer tones of the armour will clash with the cooler blue too much. I then considered purple but again felt that I wanted more harmony and so went with basically red.

• Gal-Vorbak Red base coat.
• Wazdakka Red around most of the previous coat, but leave a small circular edge darker.
• Wild Rider Red as a crescent generally on the lower part.
• Fire Dragon Bright as a smaller crescent.
• Gal-Vorbak Red / Doom Death Black (TTC) in a circular shape opposite the crescent.
• Doom Death Black (TTC) glazed higher in the circular shape.
• White Star (TTC) reflection dots.
• 'Ardcoat over the gemstone to seal and make it gloss.

That's quite a lot for items to small. With everything on the wet palette it's much easier, and the TTC paints were chosen specifically for their thinning ability and slightly longer drying time. They have a matt finish but that gets pained with a gloss varnish anyway.

For the knuckles I decided they were simply far too small to bother going so far with and so I used Omega Blue (TTC) there and a few other places. That particular paint is quite vibrant and what else to say - it was a spur of the moment thing and I just went with it.

These are definitely worth the investment to paint them up to a high standard, and the marble basing suits them very well. I have a few more Adeptus Custodes in the backlog still, including Ixion Hale. I'm sorely tempted to start on his assembly. Maybe I'll just go find the box and see.

-- silly painter.

Impressions

 While I'm back and getting very close to finishing the current work in progress squad, I decided to write up something that's been on my mind for a while. This relates to how miniatures are painted and what the end goal is.

I've seen a good deal of talk about how to make something look realistic, how to make reflections behave as they would in real life, or how a particular highlight should be done. There's a certain element to that: a viewer will notice immediately if something doesn't "look right' - a blue reflection from a fiery battlefield would look peculiar for example. It's also somewhat untrue given the scale.

When painting miniatures then the viewer is probably going to see them under different lighting conditions to which they were painted, and under different lighting to the setting in which the model is placed. Already this is at odds with realism: the angle of lighting alone is going to differ depending upon where the model is facing, where any overhead lights are, etc. Size plays a role too: sunlight diffused through cloud layers will be noticeably different to direct overhead sunlight on a cloudless day. The sheer distances involved make volume interactions differ on a small miniature compared to an eight foot tall armour plated killing machine.

Ultimately, painting for realism is not the actual goal. Painting for the impression of realism is far more popular. Taking this further and instead it can be painting for an impression.

Early on the folks at the 'Eavy Metal team learned that contrast is key. The photography and magazine printing technologies of the time required a high level of contrast to make the miniatures show up properly in publications and showcase them to customers. The human visual system keys on contrast for object definition and recognition: contrast of colour, contrast of brightness, contrast of depth, it's the difference that matters. This is the entire concept behind edge highlighting: define the outline to make viewing a model easier.

Freeing the mind from the shackles of realism and focusing on painting to form an impression lets you play with the model and guide a viewer in many different ways. Cylindrical objects painted as panel modulation suggests height over shape, edge highlighting can accentuate OSL effects, or by their omission create an impression of shadow without actually needing to darken an area. Exaggeration of lighting can make a flat surface curved, or a curved surface flat. I typically don't align the direction of light with a helmet so that I can focus the viewer's attention on the head more easily - abandoning realism gives the flexibility to adjust perception of the model.

It's not just highlights and shadows, but the very colours used can do this too. Painting a specific vampire in moonlight allowed me create an impression of a night scene without making the model dark. It's quite high in value in places, and then the yellow eyes stand out extra against the blues and purples otherwise used. If the model was truly at night then barely anything would be visible.

Going beyond this to the very brush strokes used, the choice of blending or not, and there's still a world of artistic possibilities to explore. I saw a post once of a model that didn't win a competition, yet was undeniably one of the most visually striking models on display. It simply wasn't painted as what is normally expected. Miniature painting won't come into its own as a more widely accepted art genre until that range of expression is opened up.

What does this have to do with my own painting? When it comes to painting Marines then it impacts which colours I'm choosing, and other than Blood Angels it impacts how "far" I'll go. Does the model look like what I was going for? If so, I can leave it there. Blood Angels are the exception - I'm trying to be less exacting when I paint them, but their whole core ideal is artistry to tame the rage within, and I like to depict that with my approach.

Food for thought at any rate.

-- silly painter