Captain Karlaen (Done)

Unimpressed with damage to his halo.

Another very quick post, just to round off this model. The NMM on the "wing" of the hammer turned out rather well, and is very simple to do.

• Averland Sunset (base).
• Druchii Violet (shade).
• Yriel Yellow (layer, use Lahmian Medium to thin it down). Applied to the outer edges. If the shade is too dark, then a very thin layer of Averland Sunset can be applied before this stage.
• White Scar (layer, again thinned down). Just added to the tips, with an extra layer / dot on the very tip.

That's it really. It's not difficult, it's just a matter of thin layers (as just about everything I do is).

The hair was a mix of browns and yellows, and sort of "striped" on. I tried to make it a little darker near where the part in the hair would be, just to give it a bit of depth.

The model is on display at the local GW store (or Warhammer store as it's called now). I may put on a replacement halo one day, as I still haven't found the one that broke off the ornamental cup on the back of his armour.

-- silly painter.

XVIII Legion - Salamanders (Done)

This is a bit of a shorter post, just to show off the model.

Light it up.

The model followed Painting Buddha's (https://www.youtube.com/user/paintingbuddha) guidelines for an Ultramarine, but applied to a Salamander.
And no, not the greatest picture. I'm also aware that the shoulder pads should be black, but that wouldn't show off sourced lighting from the flamer as well. On that subject, this model is definitely worth getting setup with a proper camera for one day, simply to show it off a bit. The lighting really worked well, and the glow of the eye lenses (or reflection of a pretend flame) give this Marine a true presence on any table.

I will likely hand paint legion symbols one day, but that's for later - to do so before I'm much better at that would simply ruin things. Or it's from before their Primarch was found.

Note the battle damage around the feet. There's more on the shoulder pads, and a few other areas. That really worked nicely, and was just so incredibly easy to do. Watch the Painting Buddha videos for how that's done, and also help their crowd funding efforts if you can.

-- silly painter.

Captain Karlaen WIP #2

Ok, so it's been a little while. Ooops. New job, fair bit of other things going on, and I simply never got around to putting up a few things.

The Salamander is actually finished, so I should do another post on that model soon.

Today is a much shorter post than usual, just something for record keeping before I mess it up.

"Give me a cookie!"

There's not much new to how I did skin tones long ago for one of the Death Company, just better brushes now. The photo, as usual, is not the greatest, particularly because it's a camera phone zoomed in, but overall the quality survived ok. The usual hint of red for lips, some white for teeth, and playing with various shades for the skin tones.

As with the Lizardmen (which still need to be finished!), having different coloured skin tones for each model will make them look more natural when placed together. So the key really is just to play around with the paints a bit and not to plan it all ahead.

The eyebrow needs a bit of work, perhaps just a thin lighter line. Karlaen, as is typical for many Blood Angels, will have lighter hair. The next time I do a face however, I might go with black hair, just because it looks fairly ok here.

-- silly painter.

XVIII Legion - Salamanders WIP #2

Fire it up.

Work progresses on the Salamander marine. Glowing red eyes are the theme of the day. There were originally yellow dots for lens reflections, but it was a bit too yellow, so a bit of Bloodletter glaze fixed that up. The glaze was also applied around the edges for the glow effect - it's not quite as I wanted, but I'm not sure how to improve upon it just yet.

Owing to the contrast of red and green, the eyes really are the focal point of the whole model. The idea of a reflection really does make it seem like the crazed eyes of a dragon attempting to burn what they see through pure thought - so it kind of fits.

The base was done by first applying Khorne Red, then highlighting up "veins" of fire through brighter reds, orange, yellow, and finally very thin lines of white. I won't go into more detail - there's plenty out there on the 'net for such things - but there are a couple of extras done. Once the base colour was complete (including some Nuln Oil to darken between the "veins"), a watered down layer of PVA glue was applied. I had read that this would increase the size of cracks later (which, as it turns out, worked rather well). A generous coat of Martian Ironearth was applied over the whole area and left to dry. As can be seen, the cracks are large and the paint underneath can be easily seen.
I didn't cover the Martian Ironearth with black while it was drying, so I must now darken everything (with Nuln Oil) by hand. Quite a tedious task, and a mistake I won't make in the future.

-- silly painter.

XVIII Legion - Salamanders WIP #1

Just burning to get more done (it's a Salamander's joke).

Having had the Betrayal at Calth boxed set sitting around for a while, I decided to start my idea of painting one model from each of the Legion colour schemes. Don't worry, the other 3 models are still being (slowly, as ever) done, and I'll post an update on them soon, but I really wanted to play with the greens of the Salamander's colours.

The base was done using Castellan Green, nothing much more to say about that really. Ensure a smooth coat and all (hint: the GW base brush is still great for that).

Highlighting was done a little differently for this model. I wanted a bit of front-facing highlights to indicate the light coming from a flamer that he'll be holding, so I decided to go for that. I had intended to try follow a few tutorials from Painting Buddha, but it didn't really happen (because I need a lot more practice).
At any rate, Loren Forest was mixed with Lahmian Medium to glaze up some highlights, running length-ways with each armour plate. I tried to make it more pronounced on the model's right side (which should be closer to the point of light).

Lamenter's Yellow was next glazed over the initial highlights. I find this brings out the green and makes it that much lighter, and used carefully blends in nicely as well.
To make the back areas seem more in shade, I then used the opposite approach: Guilliman Blue was glazed into various areas. Why yellow and blue glazes? Look at a colour wheel and it should be apparent, but also because green can be mixed from those two - adding one lightens the green, adding the other darkens it.

Nuln Oil was washed into recesses - not a green wash actually, it was deemed that a strong, and careful, application of black would make everything stand that much more.

It was after all this that I buggered up. I tried to put on a coat of purity seal to overcome a bit of tacky feeling and excess shine from too much Lahmian use. It didn't work - the purity seal frosted up, dulled everything, and generally made it look horrible. So I had to cover it with thin layers of whatever I could get my hands on to bring the look back. I think I've mostly recovered from that mistake, but I may make other components (e.g the helmet) look out of place later.
Following this, edges were highlighted very carefully with thin layers of Straken Green. I don't want the edges to be too brightly defined for this model, given the attempt at a bit of source lighting, but I'll need more practice before I'm any good at it.

-- silly painter.

Grey Knight, Blood Angel Chaplain, Captain Karlaen

Having finished a few models, it's time to think of what to start painting next. There are still seven Lizardmen riders to get painted up, but for now it's back to the basics: Space Marines. Painting three models at a time appears to be a good number for now, so I've chosen some that are interesting, but also keep the colour schemes different.

Karlaen

Legs away.

 I've actually had this model sitting on the desk for a while, mostly with the base coat and highlights done on the armour. The final edge highlight is still missing, but I've started to fill in some detail now.
The NMM attempt on the right leg detail didn't really turn out, but still looks acceptable. I judged normal gold paints to be too dull, and wanted a bit more pop - the tiny white highlights and yellow edging does this.
The pteruges had no actual black base paint applied. Instead:

• Kantor Blue (base)
• Dark Repear (layer) highlight
• Thunderhawk Blue (layer) edge highlight
• Nuln Oil (shade) (x2) to make it very dark

This gives a good "black", but with blue/grey hints to the highlights. The photo, as usual, isn't the greatest, but it gives a kind of leather feel to it. I intend to do something different for the cape.
To blow my own horn, I'm definitely improving when it comes to painting blood drop shaped gems.

Blood Angels Chaplain

Hop to it!

 New model, just released. It looks pretty damned awesome, so I just have to give it a go. In case anyone is wondering why a leg is missing, it's just so that I have easier access to painting some of the detail. As with all models I do paint now, I only assemble when it won't interfere with painting each component.
I'll likely stick to the GW colour scheme for the most part. I really like it, so no need to change it much.

Grey Knight

Let's dance.

I've had these guys waiting patiently for some time now. I figured that I'd go back to metallic paints again, after all that was learned from the Sanguinary Guard. Still not sure exactly what I'll do, but the inset writing has been done before anything else, just because otherwise it'd be difficult not to mess up the surrounding areas.
The writing was done fairly easily with:

• Retributor Armour (base)
• Seraphim Sepia (shade)
• Sigmarite (dry)

I'm not convinced that drybrushing is best in this case, so I might try Retributor Gold after the base, and simply apply a shade later. The shade really works well in this case, as provides an excellent contrast to the lettering, allowing it all to be read quite easily.
Grey Knights are interesting to paint, as they're typically given a blue hint to their armour. I'm not sure how I'll go about that yet - possibly using Drakenhof Nightshade will be sufficient. I'll have to experiment.

-- silly painter.

Model Roundup

Charge! To biscuits!

 Well, ok, it's not entirely finished. The base still needs to be done. Otherwise, the rider and his steed are now as one. Not much to say at this point - the golden headdress was just playing with several of the metallic paints. I should probably take a couple more photos at some point, perhaps once the base has been done.

Put the cookie down.

 The Stormcast Eternal was pretty interesting to paint. A lot of work to get a dark blue going (hint: multiple washes of Nuln Oil) but I'm overall happy with the colour scheme. The base still needs a bit of work as well - stones, maybe some patchy grass. I'll deal with that at a later time. I'm not likely to get onto more of these just yet; the intention was to determine a colour scheme, and later paint more using an airbrush (whenever I get one).
I attempted to give the shield a bit more emphasis by trying to paint some clouds at the bottom, tying in to the lightning bolts coming out of the hammer. It works ok, but I need a lot of practice on painting clouds!

You will give me chocolates.

The Skink Priest is now done, including the base. Actually, the base only took about 10 minutes. It was just Zandri Dust, with differing washes (Agrax was in there, but also Athonian Camoshade, and possibly something else). A bit of messing about with drybrushing (honestly can't recall which colours I used, maybe Underhive Ash, Tyrant Skull, and a light dabbing of Praxeti White in places). Being exact wasn't the point - weathered stone looks more real I find if you don't pay attention and just play around with a few things. I tried to have more Athonian Camoshade show through in cracks and recesses, just to show moss and lichen growing there. It really didn't take long to do it all, and yet gives a very jungle-stone appearance.

Not sure what's next, but it's likely to be back to a terminator of some description.

-- silly painter.