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.