Horus Lupercal (WIP)

Arming himself for the Heresy.

Time for a more dedicated post to continued painting of the Warmaster. There's not a whole lot to actually say - for the most part it's continued with the same as before, just more done now.

As can be seen, the left arm is actually glued into place now. If it comes off then I'll pin it in place; the superglue being used isn't the best batch ever produced.

Last time I was unsure about the studs on areas of the armour. I've ended up with a simple approach of:

• Leadbelcher
• Black Templar (contrast, blobbed on top of the stud)
• Leadbelcher (mostly in the lighting direction)
• Ironbreaker (fewer studs, in the lighting direction)

So far it seems they aren't overtaking the model in terms of focus, so I'll continue with that method. The use of a contrast paint here helps to really darken things down, and it also pools mostly about the edges, giving a kind of natural shading. Nuln Oil could easily be used as well, but might require two or more applications to get the same effect; contrast is being used as a bit of a shortcut in this case.

The mace ended up using the "Sanguinary Guard gold" approach, which was intentional for two reasons: it again ties back to Horus' closeness with Sanguinius before the Heresy, and also helps to differentiate the weapon from the armour (which is more of a brass or bronze than gold).

• Balthasar Gold
• Reikland Fleshshade (gloss; I'd use Seraphim Sepia instead if that came in a gloss)
• Gehenna's Gold (first stage highlight)
• Auric Armour Gold (edge highlight)

The silvers were similar to the usual:

• Leadbelcher
• Nuln Oil (gloss)
• Ironbreaker
• Stormhost Silver

And the rest of the mace grip:

• Warplock Bronze
• Castellax Bronze
• Sycorax Bronze

No need for a shade owing to how small the areas are, but I would use Agrax if I felt the need for a larger piece.
Furthermore, the mace had a little blow dryer done to straighten it out. I wasn't sure if I was willing to risk that, given that it could crack or otherwise damage the paint, but the slight bend was annoying me too much. No damage fortunately, but I really should be more careful in future resin model preparations.

Just because it's good to do a roundup, the armour detail is:

• Balthasar Gold
• Reikland Fleshshade (gloss, or normal for deeper recesses)
• Sycorax Bronze (first stage highlight)
• Runelord Brass (edge highlight)

With the base colour:

• Abaddon Black (several thin coats to get this really smooth)
• Dark Reaper (built up slowly with thin coats)
• Russ Grey (edge highlight)

The wet palette makes this very quick to do now. It will hopefully show more in future photos; the shadows and white balance easily hide it in most.

There's some small detail on the legs, with light rays being depicted that are normally a different colour to the rest of the detail (at least from most reference models I've looked at). I've been playing a bit with that, so I'll jot down some thoughts in case it goes anywhere:

• Retributor Armour (too yellow)
• Liberator Gold (nicer, but still too yellow)
• Reikland Fleshshade (gloss, helps tone it back)
• Ironbreaker (kind of drybrushed across the top)

I'll probably fill in the rest of the leg black before deciding whether to stick with that, or redo those areas completely.

Going forward, I've started to black in some of the left leg, and will continue with that until it's completely smooth. I'll likely get the thigh finished first, and then just work down from there. Once the left leg is entirely complete, the same for the right will have to be done. At that point I'm not sure about getting the right arm done, or trying to attach the model to its base. While painting on the base might be slightly trickier, it does help with motivation and would allow me to start harmonising Horus and the base. I've some time to think about it though, so I'll see what I feel like later on.

-- silly painter.

Sanguinary Priest (continued)

Could just be turtling.

The Sanguinary Priest is coming along, but nowhere near where I had hoped to be by now. It's all the little details really - figuring out how to paint them takes a hefty amount of time.

Oh, and the picture is a little blurred. Rushed the photo, didn't accurately focus the camera.

The metallics are the normal, mostly. Balthasar Gold, Gehenna's Gold, Auric Armour Gold. Shoulder pads have some Agrax Earthshade (gloss) on the wings, which actually works ok. I wanted something different than Druchii Violet, for no particular reason. A little Carroburg Crimson for ornamental chalice handles, but that's not very visible. It was just to give them a little extra colour.

Corvus Black definitely works as an excellent base to highlight from, normally by using Eshin Grey. The more traditional black can then still be used very thinly to darken as required. Need to keep that in mind for future Death Company marines, but the more immediate use will probably be boltgun casings.

Another note is that after continuing with Corax White, and a contrast paint of Apothecary White, this works quite well. It's probably very suitable for future painting of wings (again, something Death Company will have), though perhaps I would mix in just a touch of a blue. The final contrast leaves a colour similar enough to Grey Seer in recesses, and Ulthuan Grey on raised areas, so each of these can be used to fix mistakes later on.

A note on blood in vials: techical paint (Blood for the Blood God) works as a base, but I finally figured out how to create a "level" of blood (i.e the capsule/vial/whatever isn't entirely full): a very thin line of red mixed with white, running along the "top". It really only works for side-on views, but for that it works really well. Perhaps later I'll show this with a photo of the back of the model.

There's a very small strip of rope wrapped around the top of the flask, hanging from the left hip. A minor detail, but excellent to continue experimenting with to get that golden rope appearance. I'm a bit further with that, using:

• Steel Legion Drab
• Balor Brown
• Agrax Earthshade
• Tau Light Ochre

It could use a little brightening still, but I think it works better than my usual approach of basing with Averland Sunset. Perhaps a glaze of Lamenters Yellow, but I'll hold off on testing that until I find something larger to play around with.

Not shown in the photo, but the green vial on the backpack (presumably some kind of combat drug cocktail) ended up as:

• Caliban Green
• Vulkan Green
• Kabalite Green
• Kabalite Green / Ulthuan Grey (tiny mix to use as the "level" in the vial).

Rather than try to show the "empty" space in the vial any other way, that was left as pure Caliban Green showing. It's quite a dark paint, so there's no need to do anything else. Only the "filled" space received highlight colours. While somewhat more muted in tone than the neon show in the reference photos, it still gives an excellent contrast to the red elsewhere on the model.

Not much else to say other than new tools that I've been playing around with. I'm getting better at using a wet palette, which really helps to layer blend. Paints don't dry as fast (or at all), and so some mixing can be done to really speed the process up.

Another little tool recently released is the Citadel paint pot holder. Basically a bit of rubber that can hold pots and prevent them from accidentally being knocked over. Invaluable when using shades and contrast paints. It's also useful to stabilise a pot when trying to remove dried paint from a lid. Much easier and faster to use than a 3d printed alternative I have, I can highly recommend getting one.

Final note: I've been slowing doing little bits & pieces of Horus. I'd hoped to have one arm glued on by now, but keep delaying it. Not long though, and I'll prepare better photos then.

Still looking for his armies.

-- silly painter.

Sanguinary Priest (continued)

Mostly 'armless.

Colours are a bit off in the photo, which is because I'm playing around with a lightbox, and haven't fully sorted it out yet. More diffusion required, and the white balance needs adjusting too, but if I wait to do that then this will never get written out.

Not much has actually been done, but enough experimenting that I wanted to note down how I achieved the effects. The halo collar was entirely coloured with washes and glazes, no layer paints of any kind. I could go back and do something more, but at this point it's not really worth it (and because I haven't decided what more to do).

• Corax White (just the base coat)
• Lamenters Yellow (glaze)
• Casandora Yellow (wash; I just wanted an excuse to use that wash again)
• Fuegan Orange (wash; again, just wanted the excuse, limited to more recessed areas)
• Druchii Violet (wash; gold colours look better with a bit of violet)
• Seraphim Sepia (wash; just to tie everything together)

I let a few colours bleed into the lower collar areas, but otherwise kept that white. This keeps the focus on the halo itself rather than the entire collar, and also that area will be hidden somewhat by the helmet or head later on.

The flask on his left is something I spent far too much time with. I wasn't sure if I wanted it transparent or not, and ultimately went with "mostly not". So while it's still towards the red end of the spectrum, it's not blood-red. I did want the neck to be darker, hinting that the bottom of the flask is filled with something. Ultimately, the following:

• Shyish Purple (contrast)
• Gal Vorbak Red (base, thinned, more layers towards the bottom)
• Screamer Pink (layer, more towards the bottom)
• Bloodletter (heavily applied to shift away from pink, more to red)

Shyish Purple is a very dark purple. I'm considering it for part of Horus' cloak, or perhaps for Tyranids. It's so dark as to almost not be effective as a contrast paint, but I like the shade of purple regardless.

Lahmian Medium and Nuln Oil (about 3:1) were mixed and added into recessed areas of the armour to give it a bit more contrast. Ulthuan Grey turned out rather well as a highlight, but it's very subtle. Don't want to do much more - white is such a hard colour to work with that I could easily mess it up.

Next steps are to start filling in some metallics, and highlight the flask stopper slightly.

-- silly painter.

Sanguinary Priest (WIP)

Low hanging jewels.

Diving right into it, the cloak I wanted to have some kind of texture. It shouldn't be too bright, shouldn't have hard edges, and should be a little dirty in places (the predilection for "my" Blood Angels to not have dirty armour in the middle of a battle does not extend to their cloaks). I also wanted to play with contrast paints some more. So ultimately, the red cloth is as follows:

• Grey Seer (base)
• Blood Angels Red (contrast)
• Agrax Earthshade / Lahmian Medium (1:1 mix, mostly in recessed areas)
• Astorath Red (dry, concentrating on raised areas, or where armour is directly pushing against the cloak)
• Sylvaneth Bark (dry, around the hem)

And that's really it. The last stage doesn't really show too well in the picture, but it gives the appearance of the cloak having been brushed against the ground quite heavily, and not just freshly back from steam cleaning.

Armour is even easier:

• Corax White (base)
• Apothecary White (contrast)

There are more stages to go as well. I may use some thinned Nuln Oil in deeper recesses, and I'm uncertain whether to use Ulthuan Grey or White Scar to highlight with at this stage. I'll pick an area for the former, to see if it's actually lighter than how the armour already appears or not. Overall though, I'm quite happy without how Apothecary White works for white armour, even if it's not something I paint much of.

I'm experimenting with my lighting setup a little. Once I have that organised, I should be able to better white balance and take much nicer photos.

-- silly painter.

Horus Lupercal (WIP), Sanguinary Priest (WIP)

One eye is colour blind.

Still having some trouble with getting the lighting just right, but it's late and I wanted to get something written out. So the above picture will have to do.

Small progress on Horus after a bit of a break. Mostly just filling out the belt and remaining torso armour plating. Nothing new in terms of colours, so far it's just a continuation of the same I've used before.

I've been thinking for a while about how to paint the studs, for example those seen on the pauldrons. Most variations of Horus have them as silver, however I'm slightly concerned that it will be too bright and take focus away from the rest of the model. On the other hand, the rest of the model isn't really there yet, so it could actually balance out once the model is finished. Perhaps it's worth seeing if Leadbelcher can mix well with black, or otherwise blob some contrast over the top to tone it down somewhat.

I'm also still deciding on the colours for the mace (Worldbreaker). I could strictly speaking glue one of the arms on now, but I'll wait longer until the mace is nearly finished, and perhaps more of the left leg, for reasons of ease of brush access.

Hanging pretty low there.

Purely for additional experimentation with Contrast paints, I've also started on a Sanguinary Priest. It's the white armour that I'm interested in. The above is a test on areas that are actually hidden behind robes, so they're intentionally a little darker than normal.
The armour is:

• Corax White (primer, and then base paint for a smooth finish).
• Apothecary White (contrast paint)
• Basilicanum Grey / Contrast Medium (1:1)

That's really it. The recesses where shaded naturally from the paint. It's somewhat more grey than exposed armour should be, so future steps will just use Apothecary White, and then some white or light grey (perhaps Ulthuan Grey, or White Scar in a pinch) for edge highlights.
The robe seen here is:

• Mechanicus Standard Grey
• Blood Angels Red (Contrast)
• Druchii Violet (Shade)
• Mephiston Red / Dryad Bark (1:1) for edge highlights

Actually the last step is Mephiston Red with some pigment added in, but the pure pigments can't be bought anymore, so the equivalent now would be to mix in Dryad Bark (something I've done for the airbrush paints). On the outer garments I'll probably just drybrush Mephiston Red directly for the last step, both to change the texture and make it a little brighter.

Choosing the right base prior to applying Contrast does make a noticeable difference, so it's important to get that right. I may use something slightly brighter for the outer garments, and the outer garments should be done before the armour. Otherwise it's going to make fixing mistakes very difficult; white is an unforgiving colour if mistakes are made in red.

-- silly painter.

More Stormcast (finished)

Sir Glowhammer

There's actually three done, but they do look very similar. Three at at time is basically confirmed to be best for me at this point. It just seems to be easiest to manage.

Weapon handles are a surprisingly simple formula:

• Mournfang Brown
• Tuskgor Fur (edge highlight)
• Agrax Earthshade

The short sword scabbard I was hazy on some details about from before (because they weren't written down properly - shame!) so instead I chose to experiment with some new purchases. I didn't want the same as Blood Angel armour, so the result in this case is:

• Gal Vorbak Red
• Carroburg Crimson
• Word Bearers Red 
• Wazdakka Red (edge highlight)

Seems to work ok in the end, so it will probably be the basis for whenever I paint a red Word Bearers legionnaire.

The shield deviates from the last batch of Stormcast by using Grey Knights Steel for the lightning bolts. It's a subtle thing, but worth it. The hammer is a mix of Leadbelcher, Ironbreaker, Nuln Oil, and Liberator Gold in places. The clouds I'm not entirely happy with this time, but the basic approach is do drybrush colours together, going darker in the process instead of lighter:

• Celestra Grey
• Administratum Grey
• Eshin Grey

I did go back over some areas with mixes of colours to make starker edges, or blend it together slightly. More practice needed, but ultimately I still think something on the bottom of the shield helps to balance out the model.

Hammer glow was drybrushed, but I couldn't remember what I had used last time. Again, always write this down - that was the whole purpose of this blog! I don't know if this is better than before. It's certainly different; not better or worse, just different:

• Imrik Blue
• Skink Blue
• Wrack White
• Grey Knights Steel (to blend back into the hammer head)

The last paint was not drybrushed, but I figured thinned down it might help to soften a few edges. High pigment opacity with that paint though, so be careful trying this.

The white cloth next to the short sword is standard purity seal parchment detailed before for Blood Angels, so I won't bother recounting that here.

Using some spare bases from the shattered realms set, these were first primed with Corax White from a spray can, and then covered in Basilicum Grey in selected areas. That didn't have quite the hue I wanted, so pulling out the old Guilliman Blue glaze helped give it just the right colour. A more pure grey just stood out too much, so the subtle blue helps tie things together more. The "earth" in between was Gore-Grunta Fur and Agrax Earthshade. It's a little too red, but I don't have many contrast paints to play with right now, and I wanted to see how it worked. Thinned contrast paints do work well as glaze replacements.

The painting speed of these models has definitely improved. Mostly that's just experience: I know what colours to use, and how I want the model to look. The airbrush also saved a good deal of time, and I'm starting to get the hang using one (at least with blue).

-- silly painter.

More Stormcast (continued)

Preparing for war, with all the trimmings

Painting in batches of three is definitely working much better so far. I'm progressing surprisingly fast for my normal speed, but then I'm also not doing other hobbies right now. Doesn't matter; painting motivation comes and goes in waves, just like any other hobby.

Much of the model is starting to be filled in now, and I could probably start to think about gluing the shields in place soon. The gold armour trim is:

• Retributor Armour
• Reikland Fleshshade (Gloss)
• Reikland Fleshshade (normal, to bring down the shine in deeper recesses)
• Liberator Gold (not yet done, but will be used as a highlight)

The tabard (basically anywhere purple) is:

• Naggaroth Night
• Druchi Nightshade
• Xereus Purple (higlight)

And I may do a little more edge highlighting in select areas, just so separate the cloth a bit. Chances are this will be:

• Daemonette Hide

The silver scales on the loincloth are fairly easy, but can be more than it might first appear. Only the first two stages are done so far, but the intent is for them to be:

• Leadbelcher
• Nuln Oil (Gloss)
• Nuln Oil (normal, only in the deeper recesses)
• Ironbreaker (highlight raised areas)
• Stormhost Silver (additional highlights on the most raised areas)

Steady progress for tabletop ready models, which will hopefully be done in another week (work pending). I've also thought about really going to town and adding some subtle blues to the silver scales, as reflections from the armour, but they're only tabletop quality and I'd rather not spend months in getting them finished. I'll save such details for character models.

-- silly painter.