Karlina von Carstein - Part III (Showcase)

 

Come closer, I want to hit you with my cup.

I managed to find enough free time to finish Karlina to an acceptable level. I'd already decided that tabletop level was good enough, which seems to be an ongoing trend for me lately, but I'm not unhappy with the results. I played around with a few areas just for fun, with the most noticeable being the base.

I was originally planning on grey flagstones, but that just seemed too boring, and I didn't think it would fit with the model: a relatively bright upper body from the reflections, relatively light base, didn't see it working. Instead I went with cobblestones of the red-brown range that I've seen across various old cities. Doombull Brown was the main colour, after which I sketched the basic pattern in black, and then mixes of burgundy, black, Stegadon Scale Green, anything on the palette really. Even white mixed in for freehand edge highlights. The idea is to give each cobblestone variation in hue and value, which makes for a much more natural look. I don't think I achieved my goal unless it's viewed from directly above - perhaps the cobblestones could be larger, which would help view the pattern while also making the shapes rougher around the edges. Next time.

I did use Doombull Brown mixed with black to very lightly drybrush over the hem of the cape which would more naturally pick up dirt from the ground. It doesn't have to be much: when in doubt, do less. More can be added later if necessary, where it's much more difficult to remove it if applied too heavily.

The cup isn't quite as blue as I was going for, but I don't feel like glazing over it and pushing the colour mores more. It still looks like silverware and on the model is distinct enough from the sword. The colours are mixes of Grey Knights Steel, Iron Hands Steel, Stormhost Silver, and some black edging or glazing where appropriate. There are no formal steps here, it was just put those colours down on the palette and play around.

The rose is straight forward:

• Screamer Pink base.
• Pink Horror along edges, some volumes.
• Fulgrim Pink for specular highlights. This step is more than just dots of the brightest points, and instead shifts the rose more into a brighter pink colour.

Stegadon Scale Green for the vine, with some brighter colours from the palette mixed in to highlight. I'm not a fan of the outcome - I perhaps should've used a more dedicated green/brown paint, but it's such a minor detail that it doesn't really matter.

The last interesting tidbit is actually the skull detail (buckle, perhaps) on the leg. I decided to go for something a little different:

• Daemonette Hide base.
• Mix in black for shadows.
• Slaanesh Grey mixed in stages to highlight different areas. Use unmixed for the brightest edges.

And that's all - it's not the number of colours used that matters, it's the contrast to define the shape which matters for small details. I think it turned out well enough here, but I did use a very fine pointed brush and magnifier headset to get it done.

And that sums up this special edition model. I had a bit of fun with it, practised volume highlights, experimented on the base, but I'm glad it's finished. I won't be putting a varnish over the top as that would ruin the metallics, but it's also not likely to become a gaming piece anytime soon.

The count is now around 5 I think, but I'll say 4. Good thing I have more models to finish off soon, and motivation to save money right now.

-- silly painter

Karlina von Carstein - Part II

 

The helmet is really just a hair shaper.

With the theme of the year to complete works in progress, I decided to start with Karlina von Carstein. It's a different model to a Space Marine, there's no need to replicate steps across multiple models, and shouldn't take more than a week (hopefully, but been there before!) to finish.

With the basic tones of the cape done, I wanted to turn my attention to the armour, however assembling models is really motivating for painting. Getting the head ready for gluing in place seemed the logical step for this, so I needed to paint the face and enough of the helmet that I could do this step.

The face itself I wanted to give a cold appearance. This isn't anything to do with how soon she has fed, but rather a reflection of what I imagined the personality of this character to be. I wanted an older aristocratic Lady, cruel but not malignant, desiring status over slaughter. For this I went with cooler blue skin, but without purples or reds which might indicate anything more sinister. The face is also barely visible, so I wasn't interested in multiple shadow tones or a bewildering array of paints, just something simple to make it stand out a little.

• Kantor Blue over the entire face.
• Rakarth Flesh, built up or mixed with Kantor Blue to sketch out volumes. Occasionally more of the blue to re-define those shapes where things went too light (e.g under the eyelids).
• Deepkin Flesh, which is a naturally pale blue skin tone anyway, for highlights on the nose, cheeks, chin.
• Screamer Pink mixed with Rakarth Flesh for the lips.
• White (or close to it) for the teeth. Note this is closer to grey, as a pure white is too overpowering - even just straight Deepkin Flesh would be fine here so long as there's contrast to the rest of the mouth.

The eyes I kept black, mostly because they were getting frustrating to deal with and because I actually like the look. It worked with Horus, and works here to give a soulless expression; perhaps her eyes go black when the bloodlust of battle is upon her.

The armour I honestly wasn't sure about and tried a few things before landing on what I think is an acceptable result. The colours are indeed matching the boxart very closely, but the boxart was too light for my taste with this model. I wanted a darker, brown, polished look to the armour. I also tried to paint TMM as though it were NMM for no other reason than practice at how light behaves on reflective surfaces, and the painting lamp provided a good, consistent reference light source.

Originally I tried Warplock Bronze layered over with Screaming Bell. That didn't look right at all, but I mention it here because the result was a kind of orange metal look which is very suitable for steampunk vibes - or the kind of look I prefer for fuel tanks. It doesn't make practical sense, but visually it's immediate obvious what they are.

I next tried looking at some of the brass paints, which also didn't work at first because I'm used to layering and glazing rather than mixing paints. When it comes to repeatability across an army scheme I still find mixing unwelcome because it's difficult to get the ratios correct - but that doesn't matter to a single model like this. So in the end:

• Warplock Bronze base coat.
• Drakenhof Nightshade for recessed shading.
• Brass Scorpion mixed with Runelord Brass for a volumetric highlight.
• Brass Scorpion mixed with Warplock Bronze for volumetric highlights in darker areas.
• Runelord Brass for general edge highlights.

I still intend to apply some Canoptek Alloy along selected edges later, but that will have to be done sparingly because it's a pigment-heavy paint. It's also worth pointing out that the photo above looks odd because the lighting was at a different angle than I used for actually painting the model - so while it's confusing a little to look at, I think the purpose still serves. I could use a thinned varnish to knock back some of the glossy shine, but I'm not going that far with this model - I'll save the competition level finish for something like Horus Ascended.

I've started on some other materials with Barak-Nar Burgundy when it hit me that another feature of cloth material is that sometimes the shading is about saturation over colour shift. This basically means starting from a midtone it might be as simple as mixing in black for shading. Something to explore later as well.

The model is starting to come together now and at first glance there doesn't appear that much left to be done, but experience tells me that it'll still take me a few days at least. The sword and cup are likely to be done next just to round off the metallics, then the folds of the inner robes, the arms, the rose, before finishing off any other details and basing the model.

-- silly painter.

 

Karlina von Carstein - Part I

 

Cloak and dagger.

Needing a break from the dreadnoughts for a moment, I've decided to start some more models just for exploration of a few things. This is for motivational purposes more than anything else. Originally I was going to paint Karlina von Carstein far more simply - and I still intend to do the armour in possibly warmer metallic tones - but the cloak was too much of an opportunity to pass up. I've been experimenting with Contrast paints through the airbrush a lot recently, and I wanted to see if I could get a pattern showing through. Spoilers: mixed results.

The first step I took was a simple thinned white highlight. This isn't really a Zenithal highlight, but instead serves to sketch out how I want things highlighted. Sometimes this never makes any difference in the end, and only serves to better see the model - but that's still worth it in my mind.

With that much done, it was a bit of a painstaking process to then draw out some kind of pattern. I tried to go for something slightly fancy while avoiding any kind of tessellation which I felt would be far more difficult with the folds in the cloak, and also would give a much more mathematical look to what should be a cruel, aristocratic vampire. As I neared the end, I was somewhat worried that there wasn't enough contrast between the highlights and the pattern, and it would all depend on how thin the Contrast paint was.

My what a shiny cloak.

I used Terradon Turquoise to glaze the cloak. It was stronger than I thought it would be, and I definitely should have thinned it at least a little when going through the airbrush. The pattern was completely washed out in places, although in the right lighting it can still be made out. While this is a shame, I at least learned the valuable lesson of needing to thin that particular paint (others I find don't require it - this one does!), and also however much contrast I think I have beforehand: more is needed. Using the Contrast range as a glaze can overpower similar value colours underneath, so the more contrast in value then the more detail comes through afterwards. This is really noticeable as the original white highlights fade off up the cloak.

Need to get her head in the game.

I'm not certain if I'm going to try and go back over anything, or just leave it as it is. On the one hand it might look nice, but on the other I'm not entering this into competitions and I would really like to just finish off the rest of the model now. I'm pondering the armour colour, thinking that perhaps a red-brown tone to the armour would be suitable. I'd need to add some kind of dust and dirt of a similar colour to the hem of the cloak to balance it out a little, but I think it could work.

-- silly painter.

Crimson Court, Gorath the Enforcer (Showcase)

 

So you're walking down a dark alley at night and see this guy...

For something a little bit different I've always wanted to try a model with a very limited palette, focusing on shape and form rather than colour. That's when I struck upon an idea with this model: it wasn't motivating me for whatever reason, but I considered that as a vampire he'd but out during the deep of night where colours are far more muted and with perhaps a little moonlight to to tease out that magical atmosphere.

Feels a bit like cheating, but I kind of like the end result. It's incredibly fast to do, evocative, and the yellow eyes absolutely sell that this is an undead creature and not just a statue.

The first step I tried was actually to use oils. I need more practice with them, and this seemed an ideal place to get some in. It didn't work in one sense, but has lead me to the realisation of how I would like to use oils on miniatures: not as base colours, but instead as filters over areas. Oils make for brilliant glazes, depending on the medium they are mixed with. So I think in future that's where I'll start to practice more: glazes, filters, pin shades.

Although a failure for base colours, I did recognise during some testing that nice colours for a moonlit evil are black (of course), a dark blue, violet, and a light blue. In that order, oddly enough, from darkest to lightest. Using the violet as a midtone just works - I can't really explain it proper colour theory, but the violet has a higher value than the dark blue, and so acts as a kind of value and chromatic highlight to bring out the features. Black of course is used for deeper recesses and added contrast, and light blue is the opposite - used to highlight some edges and for zenithal lighting based on relative location to the moonlight. In this case, the moon would be behind and to the (model's) left.

Caped, but not a crusader. And a notched mace.

After allowing the oils to cure slightly (and then varnishing because I'm impatient) I set to work to redo the model. The oil colours still come through in the end, but an airbrush just makes everything so much easier to do for this kind of effect.

• Night Lords Blue as a basic dark blue. Kantor Blue would also suffice, but with the oils already giving quite a dark base to work from I went with Night Lords.
• Phoenician Purple mixed with Khorne Red (3:1) for a violet hue, angled from the sides and top mostly. Focus was more on left for this.
• Lothern Blue mixed with dirty water in the cup to then gradually add some highlights.

That's it for the airbrushing. A shade of black oil paint was then done to add some more depth in places and help define the shape. Mineral spirits (artist's grade low odour) really means you can just slap it on and it will settle in the recesses without worrying about tinting other surfaces.

Lothern Blue was then added in a few places for edge highlighting, but built up slowly rather than going for strong lines immediately. Using the same colour as the last airbrushing step just helps strengthen the colour without going too bold or bright. A tiny bit of White Scar mixed in on the palette also helps to make just a few of those edges really stand out, but the key behind all this highlighting is subtlety - I overdid it in a couple of places, and it's surprisingly easy for that to happen without noticing.

White Scar for the eyes and teeth, and some Iyanden Yellow contrast on the eyes to make them yellow, and that about wraps it up. There is some of that red varnish technical paint (Blood for the Blood God) on bottle at the hip - completely out of place, but basically I just wanted to. Call it a little experiment in perhaps one day doing a grey scale model, but then picking out points of interest in some hue (normally red) to catch the eye. A very common effect in cinematography. I can imagine a diorama with a horde of creatures in the night, surrounding a hero painted in red as they prepare to do battle.

Despite the speed at which this model was painted up (all told about half a day, but with a night break to let the oils cure) I quite like the end result. I like it much more than if I'd gone the traditional route. This simple experiment really gives so much more emotion to the end result. It's not just a miniature, it's almost a small scene from a larger diorama all on its own. A good way to wrap up the Crimson Court.

-- silly painter.

P.S - and that means 9 models in the running tally of how many I'm permitted to buy.

Crimson Court, Vellas von Faine - Part II (Showcase)

 

Reinforced neck to help hold up the hair.

Vellas von Faine is "done", even if I'm not happy once again with the results. I skipped a few corners, trying to focus more on presentation than finer technical points. The gemstones for example are not done in the usual style, instead relying on a more solid colour to make the detail stand out. By this stage there's not much point in going over exactly which paints were used where, and instead give a post-analysis of what works, and what doesn't.

I attempts NMM on the swords, which in general is a weak area of mine. It didn't work out quite how I wanted, but does work better than a simple steel metallic paint approach. The reflective nature of metallics would have stood out too much against the armour. If I were to do this again, I would go with NMM on the swords - but I would also research a lot more, and use a lot more reference photos to get it right.

The purple armour was just something I wanted to try. It worked acceptably well, but I might use a dark blue in the shadows to increase the contrast a little more. I purposefully did not use variation in armour colour, opting to keep it all the same, but a little variation in places might be beneficial. This would come in the form of ambient light, or  perhaps some OSL from an off-model source. Either a red tint, or a more blue one to perhaps indicate night.

The skin tone I'm not unhappy with, but the highlights could have been pushed more on the face. This is difficult once the model is assembled (it's not a painter friendly sculpt) and I would probably need to invest in a better brush, but it would draw a little more attention there. The red eyes work well enough, and don't think I would change that.

The hair is acceptable, but could use something more. Normally this would be used to frame the face, but the volumes are used to balance out the darker nature of the rest of the model. Instead, it would benefit from a similar OSL mentioned previously - a light source to help define the geometry of the model. A cold white (i.e a very bright, desaturated blue) would go well here.

The cloth is both ok, and terrible. It works, and doesn't. The colour is ok, very desaturated purple-greys, but ends up looking like it was badly airbrushed. Perhaps some brown on the bottom to make it looks more dirty, or a freehand pattern to give it some more interest.

The base I'm ok with. This was a simple Basilicanum Grey over white through the airbrush, followed by Wyldwood splotched in a few places, and finally Dawnstone used for uneven edge highlights. Neutral hues, some tonal variation, enough to look like a stone dungeon but not enough to detract from the model. It didn't need to do any more than that. If the model was more complex, then the base might need some more work to balance that out, but in this case there's not a lot I would change to it.

So there we have it, another model finished. Running tally of permissible purchases is now 8.5, and there still remains one more with the Crimson Court. That last model isn't fitting my current painting mood, so I suspect it will end up again being something I won't be entirely happy with, so I will try to use it as another test piece for experimental techniques.

-- 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.

Crimson Court, Ennias Curse-born - Part I

 

Usually just wings it.

Moving forward with the Crimson Court, I started to play around with Ennias' skin tone. It looks far better when not on camera - the glossy finish of the paints seems to really mess up photos and it just looks horrid. I'm hoping the later matt varnish stage will fix all of that. This is what happens when too much Contrast Medium is used.

Anyway, I wanted to try a different approach to skin tones and so instead of building up layers of highlights, I instead glazed layers of shades by using contrast paints. While less precise, it's also far quicker and takes advantage of the natural shapes sculpted into the model.

• I started with Rakarth Flesh as the base colour, not wanting any of the brighter tones normally associated with contrast paint undercoats. I was wanting to glaze later colours over the top, so much of the base colour would still show through and generally influence the final look.
• Snakebite Leather was the first contrast paint applied. This has a slight yellow hue, which seemed appropriate just for some entirely different ethnicity to which I normally paint. 
• About 1:8 mix of Volupus Pink to Contrast Medium was next. The whole idea of this was to give that subtle red tint that often accompanies skin tones, giving them a sense of warmth. This a vampire, so not sure "warmth" applies, but it's still useful when trying to trick the viewer into thinking of flesh tones.
• Adding a very small amount of Shyish Purple next, and glazing that across shaded areas. 
• Finally a very small amount of Rakarth Flesh, thinned, used to highlight areas and generally tie it all together again.

One of the niceties to come out of this approach is the variation in skin tone across the body gives it a much more natural feel. It might seem strange to say that, but really looking at people's bodies and skin is not identical in tone everywhere. Subtle shades do exist, particularly when considering secondary light sources and reflections, and this approach helped give that natural appearance. It's worth exploring more because in general I like the end result, but it needs to be more precise in application.

The eye I simply put some Black Templar across. Black eyes, to show the darkness within. Is it a cop-out? Yes. It also makes the model look slightly demonic, and fits with the whole wings thing.

There's still some more to go around the face, such as the mouth and hair, but as a starting point it's ok. The clothing will almost certainly use contrast paints as the foundation, and I'll build up the colours from there. The wings I'm not sure on yet - I've been thinking about those for a while now and still don't have any inspiration.

There will be a pause in painting for a couple of weeks due to travel, and I also need to replace my airbrush compressor.

-- silly painter.

Crimson Court, Prince Duvalle - Part III (Showcase)

 

"Really must cut my nails."

I was going to give this model a break and instead post about another of the Crimson Court, but several circumstances resulted in me simply finishing Prince Duvalle instead. First, I was kind of inspired to just get the NMM gold done (using the exact method explored on the Lumineth painted a while ago) and after that there really wasn't much left to do. Second, my airbrush compressor fell apart. Quite literally - internal brackets snapped and it simply started to shake itself to pieces. I do have a spare compressor, but it doesn't have an attached tank so I'll use it just to finish off what I was working on before saving up for a new one.

What else helped to finish this model was not using every shade of paint, but instead just mixing up "close enough" on the palette. For the gemstones I used a single purple (Genestealer Purple) and just mixed it with a blue on the palette, some black, and some of the light grey. No need to waste time getting out four or five paints when mixing directly on the palette will do.

This bring me back to repeat an old topic: characters are great for experimentation, and there's often no need to repeat exactly what has been done before. Different shades and tones of the same colour can be mixed together without worry, and this really speeds up painting while allowing for a unique piece that increases knowledge and skill. There are times, however, where repetition is wanted, namely when painting an entire army. I have a particular step-by-step guide when painting Blood Angels, and I don't like to mix paints when doing so because I want to repeat it across the entire army. Having multiple paints and layering them in a proven formula helps paint more quickly with the desired result in that circumstance.

Back to the gold NMM, it does detract from the face. A brass would have been more appropriate I suppose, but just wanted to paint gold. It was very close to being too much, but I think it's on the acceptable side of the equation: the model still draws attention to the face purely from the sculpt, and the gold doesn't quite overpower that. It also fits the idea of a prince using weaponry that while functional also shows off status and wealth.

The base is far more interesting. The toppled statue is a essentially multiple drybrush passes of greys with a hint of blue, while the flagstones are greys, purples, red-browns, even a green wash (Athonian Camoshade to be specific, it's a great shade for more earthen tones). The mix of colours doesn't really show up too much in the end, but it makes an incredible difference when compared to just shades of grey. I could of pushed the effect a lot more, but I decided to simply be content with "next time". Aside from that, brighter flagstones might have clashed with the statue, and I really want that to be the focal point of the base. The status also has inlaid gold just to break up the monotony a little bit, and I think that worked particularly well.

On the point of drybrushing, and brushes in general, I'm actively trying to use my good brushes more often. I rarely touch them because they are the good brushes and only used in special circumstances, but the net result is that they are barely touched and are essentially going to waste. Brushes are not for display and I'd much rather they get put to good use than just sit there! I still take care of them as much as I know how, but the point remains (pun intended): don't leave good tools unused if you can paint better with them.

In finishing this particular model, disaster struck. I was using Purity Seal (good weather and compressor troubles mean leaving the airbrush varnish aside right now) outside and dropped the model directly into dirt. This made the dirt stick to the model, and the fall itself broke the sword. The sword is now at a slight angle, and I was forced to scratch some paint off in efforts to remove dirt and debris (the hair in particular suffered). I think I managed to recover everything well enough, but it was still annoying. Accidents happen.

I recently bought another model, so the current tally of permissible purchases is now standing at 8.5.

-- silly painter.

Crimson Court, Prince Duvalle - Part II

 

"Damn, my hand is all dirty now."

Some more progress on this vampire prince, adding more to the armour, starting on the sword, and of course the skin. There's also the cape, which dark as it is gets very little visual attention but still helps to border the rest of the model.

The cape itself I thought about for a long while before ultimately going back to the Sequitors for inspiration. It's painted in very dark purple tones using oil paints. The actual paint used doesn't give rise to any particular textured effect, but my own use of oil paints gives very different tones and gradients compared to the acrylics, and it's this which results in a subtly different highlight and shading finish - this difference coupled with the sculpted geometry helps to say "not metal armour". The result is still darker than I wanted, at least under normal lighting, but I'm not likely to touch it more. The cape is a secondary component to the model - it's not actually a focal point itself but instead supposed to help guide the eye to focal points, and as such it might actually be more effective in that role with a simpler paint scheme.

The skin did not turn out quite how I wanted either, and I ended up doing a fair bit of lightening and adjustments just about everywhere to get to where it is. Originally I had intended a cold, pale appearance, but it just looked like a frozen statue instead. Pale does not mean cold, it just means desaturated, and it's a mistake to learn from. I suppose the end result is, at least, unique.

• Night Lords Blue over all the skin areas.
• Mix a small amount of Ulthuan Grey into the previous step, and highlight where necessary. Then add more Ulthuan Grey and keep highlighting. This was done in several layers, and by the end there were very deep recesses of Night Lords Blue that created far too sharp of a contrast in tone, and so they were glazed over to harmonise everything a little more.
• Side Note: mixing Night Lords Blue and Ulthuan gives a really nice colour, and probably would be excellent with various Horus Heresy era colours for Space Wolves.
• Mix a small amount of Rakarth Flesh with Night Lords Blue, and glaze this over mostly upper areas. This was an attempt to bring a little more warmth into the skin tone but didn't quite work as I'd hoped.
• Volupus Pink (Contrast) mixed with a lot of Contrast Medium to give a very light pink glaze, which was then used across most of the skin. This is a very subtle effect, but just enough to tip it over from code stone to a cold, undead flesh. Not wanting to risk ruining what was managed, I left it there.
• The eyes are a simple Ulthuan Grey with Aethermatic Blue. I wasn't going to try for anything else when access to the left eye was difficult with a brush.

Armour trim was another area that I needed some time to decide on. Gold would have been too bright, taken too much attention away from the face. Black is a bit of a cheat, but it is rather neutral and I was getting bogged down. So black metal it was.

• Corvus Black over all the trim.
• Dawnstone glazed as a first stage highlight. I used an overhead lamp to figure out the appropriate areas for this.
• Administratum Grey glazed as a second stage highlight, and edge highlights.
• Ulthuan Grey mixed into the previous step to really brighten it up to almost white, then used for the more extreme highlight points.
• Abbadon Black glazed into recesses and darker areas just to push the contrast a little more.

It still didn't grab my attention enough until I was looking around and spotted a model with a dark turquoise trim. This would have been much nicer than shades of grey, so I used Stegadon Scale Green and glazed that over the trim. It's barely noticeable, but does shift the colour ever so slightly away from grey and makes it that much more interesting. I probably would start from there, or perhaps Incubi Darkness, were I try this colour scheme again. It's all part of learning more about miniature painting, and I'm always pleased when I add to my pool of knowledge and experience.

The sword I went with the same approach used for Nekima. I won't repeat it all here, instead just search for that post. I'm going to borrow more from that model too for filling in the bones/tusks on the armour.

Still a couple of weeks left on this model most likely, but I've started many others in the meantime and I might post about them next. Skin tone exploration deserves a post very shortly.

-- silly painter.

Crimson Court, Prince Duvalle - Part I

 

You cannot unsee the pointy codpiece.

I've been wanting to start this particular model for quite some time, and I finally cleared enough models out of the way to start it.

To start with I had intended to go with a slightly more red tone, similar to previous fiery haired "dark" elf, but somehow this darker tone just seemed to fit the feel of the model so much more and so I just kind of went with it. More on how it was painted up in a moment.

I have a slight plan on how to go about the Crimson Court. I have an idea for all the models to use a similar armour colour, but equally every model being unique would make it all come together as a collection of individuals. Regardless, the whole leader vampire thing evokes Dracula comparisons, and the armour design used by Gary Oldman's Vlad the Impaler was somewhat iconic. That definitely inspired the look I'm going for here, and so a red main colour for armour it is. I've also been debating the magical qualities that might be present - the pose is one of summoning power, so it seems like there should be a hint of a green complementary colour somewhere - and the sword is an ideal interest point for this. I've done a black sword before, fading into green toward the hilt, and I think this would work here too. The skin I'll likely go for very pale, with either a blue or purple undertone. This would give that extra cold appearance, hinting more of this being an undead character. I'm also intending different skin tones for each of the Crimson Court, which in turn might influence the inspiration that I look to for each in turn.

The cape I'm caught on. Not purple, that would clash too much with the armour. Black seems too ordinary. I'm considering continuing with the crimson theme and go for a very dark red, but perhaps drybrushed or stippled to give it some texture. The armour trim I'm also not sure on yet, trying to decide between a golden look or black. The latter definitely works, I've painted enough to know that, but the catch is selling it as black metal. I'll need to think more that.

For highlighting reference, I pointed a desk lamp from above and took a photo. This naturally shows areas of highlight, especially after the primer is applied, and really made the process so much easier. When doing this kind of highlighting again, I'll definitely be following the same idea: take a reference photo to show where the highlights go.

In painting the armour I ended up using multiple paints, but really it could be cut down to about three. No reason that mixing the base tone with white wouldn't achieve a similar result. Still, I have the paints and it's a good opportunity to explore them and get a better feel for each.

• Barak-Nar Burgundy as a base coat over all the armour.
• Mephiston Red mixed with the previous colour and glazed to highlight a good portion. Mephiston Red is a very neutral red: it doesn't tend towards either the purple/pink side, or the orange/yellow end of the spectrum and so can be used to saturate without shifting the colour too much. A little was kept on the palette and glazed over areas there were becoming a little to pink as I went along.
  
• Pink Horror was again mixed into the previous step and smaller highlights applied. About here I started to concentrate a little more on the upper areas which are naturally brighter, but also to help draw attention more to the chest and face.
• Emperor's Children was the next colour to mix in and glaze. This was really only used for edge highlights, and thinned much more on the lower areas compared to the chest and shoulders.
• Fulgrim Pink mixed in again and used for extreme edge highlights, particularly on sharp corners and those areas I really wanted to stand out. This is an "edge" paint, so the pigment count is very high. It's quite a bright paint, and should be added with care.
• Following all of this, a little Abaddon Black was mixed with Barak-Nar Burgundy to add extra shadow and help define more of the sculpted shape of the armour. I never went to a pure black with this, instead keeping it a very dark burgundy to help push the contrast.

Over all I'm quite happy with how the armour turned out. I wasn't going for the whole NMM approach: shiny metal gives a lot of reflection and instead I wanted the shine of a hardened surface without necessarily being reflective. This gives a more menacing yet stylistic impression, fitting to the theme I'd like to convey.

There are enough other projects started right now that it might take some time to fully finish this particular model, let alone start on the rest of the Crimson Court. Updates on this model might be rare, or not, entirely depending on what motivates me at the time.

-- silly painter.

Stormcast Sequitors - Part V (Showcase)

 

Honourable colours.

Silver Lion Lady.

The push-fit Sequitors are now "done". Mostly because I say they're done, not because they're up to the proper standard - they were used for experimenting with oil paints, and mission accomplished. I also used the opportunity to try a different skin tone to normal, and with patterns on shields. Both of those worked out quite well I think.

The skin tone involved quite a bit of wet palette usage - it wasn't just one colour covering another, I did mix things before application. This is preferred because it's not easily exactly repeatable, and skin tones aren't exact copies either.

• Rhinox Hide base.
• Skrag Brown mixed, about 50/50, and used for initial highlights.
• Deathclaw Brown mixed into that, and used for secondary highlights.
• Cadian Fleshtone mixed in, only about as 10% or maybe 20% of the mix, and used for further edge highlights (nose, upper cheeks, brow).

A little grey was mixed around with whatever was on the palette for the shaved sides of the head, and quite obviously darker colours for the hair (don't recall what - it was just using whatever was available at the time and I didn't write it down).

Despite some of the vibrancy being lost by the varnish layer over the oils, the colours come out well enough. It took a very long time without that varnish to dry, and kept a gloss appearance in places. I suspect this partially from the local area being unsuitable to curing, and over reliance on linseed oil to smooth out the paint - but I still prefer that over smelly white spirits.

The white (actually very light blue-grey) helmets don't really fit, and I'm aware of that. Maybe a blue to match the armour, or a black would have been better. I was aware of that going in, and kept the colour so that it might fit with the few other models I've painted up, but seeing as I'm unlikely to really field them as an army perhaps I should just use what remaining Age of Sigmar models I have to play with colour schemes some more.

-- silly painter.

Stormcast Sequitors - Part IV

 

Oversized pauldrons and an oversized hammer.

Painting has been so very slow, and there are reasons for that, but some progress still. These particular models should still be done in another week, but it was worth some notes on what has been done.

First off, acrylics really don't flow well over oils. That much should be obvious. A varnish is required to over the top - and I obviously didn't apply enough here! Just another step to keep in mind when mixing oils and acrylics together.

The base was surprisingly simple, and quite effective:

• Grey Seer across all the stones.
• Death World Forest across the grass, or plantlife.
• Basilicanum Grey across all the stones.
• Athonian Camoshade across the grass.
• Longbeard Grey drybrushed over the stones.
• Nurgling Green drybrushed over the grass, with some extra patterning out onto the stones to tie it all together.

Other than smaller details, that's about it. I'm still working through the leaves - probably a mix of green, red, yellows for those.

The weapon I was concerned wouldn't work out with metallics on the haft, and a more blackened end to it, but actually I think it's turning out ok. The left gauntlet is metallic for no other reason than I thought it looked cool on one of the trio (and I wanted to use Grey Knights Steel), and so now they all have it. The Silver Hands, I guess. The haft of the weapon is also something simple:

• Wraithbone base.
• Gore-Grunta Fur.
• Carroburg Crimson.

I could do a final highlight step but honestly done feel the need to. The Contrast paint effectively does that - and this is a showcase of how useful those paints can be.

The helmet is a glaring omission of something yet to be done. I'll paint it like the other Stormcast that I've done, and it will definitely become a bright focal point - perhaps a little too bright, but I'll see how it goes. The metallic areas need highlights, or some more shading, and the right gauntlet needs some blue. Many small details to go - and yet I kind of just want to finish them off now. They were really only for experimenting with oils, so it's time to finish them and move back to a certain other model waiting for finishing touches as well.

-- silly painter.

 

Stormcast Sequitors - Part III

 

And _my_ wood splitter.

This post has very little new to it in terms of visuals, but I've been playing with oil paints and though it deserved some notes.

Right off the bat: the yellow I tried on a shield (not shown) absolutely sucks! I think that's true for yellow paint of just about any medium. It covers poorly, does not smooth out well, and any hint of some other colour contamination is immediately visible. With acrylics it's not so bad for me because I can just use multiple layers to build up a solid foundation. Oils don't try quickly enough for that, so an undercoat of white probably would help. I've actually stopped painting the shields on the other models to allow the oils to cure there slightly before coating with Purity Seal and going back in with acrylics.

Magenta, as kind of an opposite, covers sometimes far too well! Only the smallest amount of it is needed, and I suspect the same with red. It completely overwhelms what it's mixed in with, so need to really keep its usage minimal.

I've been slopping too much paint on in general to start with. That's ok, I wanted to get a feel for the paints to begin with. Having an unbiased initial approach done, I then looked at some info online for the "proper" way to use them on models. Marco Frisoni of course is one of the more popular sources to look for, and indeed gave me the invaluable tip #1: use two brushes. One to apply the paint, and a second (dry) brush to smooth the paint out. I did this on the weapon, and the blending is so much nicer, plus requires so much less paint compared to what I was doing: thinner paint layers should cure faster, obscure less detail, and generally respond better to the brush. It was this tip that has started to make using oils so much better already.

Thus far I've only tried detail painting in about one area of a single model. I suspect that I will much prefer acrylics for details - the level of control with the brush seems just easier for very small details, and the oils are kind of thick for that purpose. I will still try to find a face to paint with oils though, just for the anticipated exercise in frustration that will be, but I could be surprised.

I'm still using some old brushes for the oils. Needing to clean them with white spirits is probably not doing them any favours, but the brushes weren't in the best shape anyway. Better brushes might indeed make using oils much better - but I'll leave off that until I'm more comfortable with the medium. On the topic of white spirits: that stuff is still too smelly for me to be working with, so it will be for brush cleaning only! I'm aware this might make working oils on miniatures more difficult, but quite honestly if I'm that sensitive to the smell, it's not worth the health risk. I'm basically just having fun with oils, and don't intend to be using them to replace acrylics across my miniature painting hobby. I will, however, probably buy a canvas soon and play around with portraiture.

I think I've basically decided to stop with the oils on the Sequitors now. I painted the armour in blues just to see how it would look - the broad surfaces to work with seemed appropriate. I kind of just want the models done now, so forcing myself to continue with oils will have diminishing motivational returns. Large surfaces can be fun to work with though, so I had a thought on another model to use for experimentation: a plastic Contemptor Dreadnought. I have a spare - I can try to reposition it from the frankly horrible default pose, and then paint it up with oils. I want to start that now, but probably need to wait three weeks for reasons.

-- silly painter.

Stormcast Sequitors - Part II

 

His friends call him Mr Tickles.

For various reasons it's been slow going of late. Kinda sucks, so when I finally found a spare moment I decided to play around with oil paints again. No white spirits this time, simply because of the smell, but I did use some Linseed Oil in very sparing amounts to thin out the paints or make them easier to work.

The photo simply does not do justice to how good oil paints can be. They are really something else when it comes to organic shapes, the blending is just on a whole other level to acrylics. I can see why they're so popular with skin tones - it's hard to describe, but it's really the tints from mixing colours on the surface that make oils so great to work with. The downside is the extended drying (or curing) time - I had to wait a full day and it still wasn't quite there.

The cloak in the picture above uses a black, magenta, and crimson. I tried to keep the crimson on the upper surfaces, magenta as a kind of mid-tone, and black in shadows. It worked so well that I never wanted to use a matt varnish over it all, but it was necessary if want to later acrylic layers to stick. I used a bit of rattle can Purity Seal with the theory that it's not water based like some of the airbrush based varnishes and so might adhere better. It worked just fine, but it's a shame to lose some of the colour vibrancy.

I've half a mind to buy a set of oils and paint the other Sequitors in different cloak colours, and there are shields to consider as well. I don't know what other models to practice on basically. The armour I'll keep as acrylics though, just because I want to.

Might be another couple of weeks before I get to another post.

-- silly painter.

Stormcast Sequitors - Part I

 I know of no words to describe what is happening, no words of comfort, and the English language contains no words sufficient for the damnation of the Russian dictator who started this war, and all those who support him.

Ukraine fights not only for their own future, but for all of ours.

Can think of someone who deserves this to go where the sun don't shine.

Some Sequitors have been boxed up for a while, and I decided to give a go with inks on them. Just to see - and excuse to start yet more models being painted basically. The initial results are less than stellar, but I think I learned a few things about the inks and how to use them.

Starting off, I actually use an airbrush primer on these models. It works, but takes so much longer than a rattle can that I'll probably just keep using that in future. I might use the primer with a brush directly in future, just when weather doesn't permit otherwise.

Next up I used black ink (and I forget the name of it, but it's acrylic and not intended for this hobby) and it...did not work. So I mixed in white and...that didn't work either. It was simply too watery, didn't dry very quickly, and did not adhere to the surface very well (more on that in a moment).

So inks are not like normal acrylic paint. They're often used to give a colour shift, and so I decided to spray some white over the model first (White Scar) and see what that might do. The white speckles a little bit, to be expected, but this is just for testing.

Next up, a purple ink. It did indeed tint where he white was, but not much. So I tried a second layer, and that ended up a bit to heavy - again, too watery, didn't apply as evenly as it should have. It's about here that I started to get a feel of inks through an airbrush - light application only, more of a mist, and really let it dry between coats. This might work well, and the black (or something mixed with it) could easily be used for "opposite zenithal" shading. Something to keep in mind anyway.

Finally, I used some red in top level areas where the purple is. Everything turned a little pink, but there is a definite colour shift. The only downside was that I didn't wait long enough for the purple to completely dry, but that's alright - it's all experience.

Still other models in the background with slight progress, and I might get more done on them soon. There are distractions other than current world events though, so not sure when I'll actually get more done.

-- silly painter.

Lumineth Vanari Auralan Warden - Part III (Showcase)

 

Early toothpicks were dangerous to use.

A bit of a jump in steps, but the model was always about playing with, not replicating. Plus I wanted to just finish something to get motivation up, so this was it. I did not bother with being perfect, cut several corners (the eyes in particular could have a lot more work done, gemstones were done using technical paints only and without shading or anything), and generally consider it tabletop ready only. Really trying to save caring more for special characters. Or just Blood Angels in general.

The main idea behind this model was a more limited palette and seeing what differences I could show in texture. White on the cloth and armour panels, blues much the same. The "scales" were a mix of greys. I also tried a little NMM in places using an unusual combination:

• Thondia Brown (actually the base brown used everywhere on the model).
• Wild Rider Red on highlighted areas.
• Yriel Yellow glazed over most of the "metal", and then built up more on brighter points.
• Yriel Yellow mixed with some white on the palette for spot highlights.

I kind of like how that gold came out in the end. The brown base works here, giving it a neutral gold rather than shifting to any cold or warm spectrum in particular.

Tassels were a simple combination of Wild Rider Red shaded with Carroburg Crimson. Such small details don't need more, but I wonder if that would provide a good foundation for the top knots on the Allarus Custodes. It's worth thinking about.

And of course the varnish spray frosted slightly and really messed up a few areas, so in future I'll really have to look at a varnish that can be fed through an airbrush.

-- silly painter.

Lumineth Vanari Auralan Warden - Part II

 

Likes to sing the Blues.

Continuing with the theme of using free models for experimentation, the folds in the clothing worn by this model seemed an ideal place to try make clothing look like clothing rather than plastic. In other words, attempts at painting texture onto the surface. I took this a little further as well, and have used the same basic colours to try make a difference in texture for material, metal, and feathers.

White is planned, but this post will focus on the blue areas.

Firstly, the battle garment / cloak / dress. One of the difficulties in painting these is how to highlight and show folds without making it too smooth. There are a couple of observations that may help here:

Clothing generally doesn't give sharp, bright reflection points. Polished leather might, but even that will have less shine than gleaming metal.

The surface of clothing isn't uniformly smooth. Miniature painting generally needs to exaggerate stitching, fur, holes, etc, to make it visible at that scale, but the point remains that contrast exists even in lighter areas.

Stippling and drybrushing are the immediately choices that come to mind to paint clothing. The former was done here just for the experience. I've tried drybrushing before and while it did work to a degree, I basically wanted to see what I could do with stippling.

• Kantor Blue was used as a first step, giving the battle dress and even coat to work from.
• Shyish Purple (Contrast) was then thinned a little and applied over the entire dress. This was intended to give a little more shape and depth, but a normal wash would have sufficed, or even better stippling in a dark purple. Something to remember for next time.
• Teclis Blue was then striped and stippled across raised areas. This was done in multiple thin layer passes, building up a stronger colour on more prominent patches. Takes some time, and was looking a little out of place, but I should have continued.
• Kantor Blue glazed back over areas to bring them together more. This worked, but also muted the contrast severely. A different midtone should have been used, or the prior step given a lot more brightness.
• Lamenter's Yellow glazed onto larger areas just to try bring the ambient level out a bit more. Yellow might seem an odd choice, and it does subtly shift the colour, but that also brings back some contrast and sells the effect a little more.

The last step is worth reiterating: subtle colour shifting and help make cloth look far more interesting, just through the use of colour contrast. I should have remembered that from long ago painting the Cold One cavalry.

The feathers are simple so far:

• Kantor Blue base coat.
• Teclis Blue towards the outer edges.
• Drakenhof Nightshade over the whole area.
• Nuln Oil in the shadowed areas, and towards the base.

In hindsight, maybe some Druchii Violet would have been a more interesting shade than Drakenhof, and I may yet add that.

Blue shiny armour I've tried a little bit of NMM technique with. I'm not very good at that yet, but that's why practice is good.

• Kantor Blue base coat.
• Teclis Blue in selected areas to start showing reflection.
• Celestra Grey (being what I had on the palette from painting the whiter areas) for more extreme reflection points.
• Black from the palette to darken other areas and boost the contrast a little more.
• Glazing back and forth with all off the above to get it showing how I wanted.

Different end results with the same basics of Kantor Blue and Teclis Blue. Limiting to these has really helped think about how I'm going to give texture to the surface, and it's worth looking into limiting the palette further one day to push that even further.

I will probably end up using metallics for some areas, but haven't really decided yet. Going all NMM means more practice with that, but it just depends how motivated I am.

-- silly painter.

Lumineth Vanari Auralan Warden - Part I

 

Pointy ears, pointy shields.

One of the great things about free models of the month from Games Workshop is that they can serve as an experiment platform without needing to care if the results really work or not. Trying different techniques, different colours, is always motivational, but when you're looking to create a colour across an entire army then whatever is done first tends to stick just to keep everything cohesive. So this Lumineth model is going to serve as experimentation, mostly for Custodes as it turns out.

There will probably be quite a few small posts for this model as I want to track how each part is done, if I like it enough to warrant being on the Custodes.

The shield as it turns out has a nice pattern on the back that is perfect for playing with colours that might suit the leather gauntlets and weapon grips that many Custodes tend to have. The robes will also be a good fit for practicing cloth-like appearance, but that's for another post.

The leather patterning shown is:

• Mournfang Brown as a base coat.
• Doombull Brown applied on all raised areas, leaving the deepest grooves alone.
• Mephiston Red glazed onto central edged areas.
• Word Bearer's Red added to  highlight about mid-way along each interlocking piece.
• Mephiston Red glazed again as edge highlighting. I liked how it turned out, so keeping this in two steps will remain - it helps to shift the tone of the previous colour slightly.
• Barak-Nar Burgundy thinned down and added to deeper recessed areas, and glazed into the outer areas of each piece. As a base paint this can be tricky to work with, so it needs to be thinned quite a bit.

The last step can really help to shift from a red into a more purple appearance, and I suspect I'll use that for a bit of contrast on the Custodes. It gives that much extra depth. I might consider a wash of Carroburg Crimson as well, but that might be better suited to something with a little more sculpted texture, like the weapon grips.

The metallics seen on the shield were the result of some playing around with airbrush paints with a normal airbrush, to figure out how the armour on Custodes might be done. More on that soon.

-- silly painter.