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.