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Thanks chaps.
Sounds good Graven, go to it.

And I'm done!
I could fiddle more, but won't really change the result.

Tasked with laying mines, the Mantis Warrior became aware of the sound of approaching footsteps. He waited, hidden by the foliage, until the enemy was within sight and then burst forth to eliminate the patrol before they could raise the alarm or trip one of his traps prematurely.

Many angles, should show all...

Notes relevant to the competition/modelling:
I tried to use parts for the model that were (or appeared to be) of older marks of armour/equipment. This was to keep with the aesthetic of Gitsplitta's Mantis Warriors and to represent the length of time that the Mantis Warriors have spent away from the Imperium on crusade.

The "beaky" helmet, to me, represents speed due to the streamlined look. This then harks back to being successors of the White Scars (the only other marine I have with a beaky is a White Scar), who like the faster modes of transportation. Plenty of purity seals to show that he (and the MWs) are loyal to the Emperor.

The studded shoulder pad, in the tranquillity camouflage pattern, shows that this marine was a veteran of the Badab war and, while his armour has been repaired and refurbished, he has chosen to keep the pattern on that shoulder as a badge of honour.

His bolter has been modified into more of a rifle than an assault rifle, and he carries a suppressor, to show that he is well versed in sniping from a concealed vantage point. The "many" grenades and the meltabomb, and the mines are all to show that he is also proficient in sabotage. Both of these to emphasise the Guerrilla warfare preference of the MWs. Most of the metals (in particular the knife) are dulled to avoid detection.

The pose, however, is to show that he can act when he needs to in a "sudden application of violence from concealment". Holding the knife to show that he can and will get stuck in as well as the occasional, subtle, stab in the back/slash of the throat.

I think that is all there is... all contained on a 25mm base.

Brilliant! Congratulations for a job well done.

What I like most about this little gem is how thoughtful you have composed it - yet it looks totally natural.

Thanks Casey.

 Hruotland wrote:
What I like most about this little gem is how thoughtful you have composed it - yet it looks totally natural.

Thanks. I'm glad it comes across as natural. I try very hard to give all my models a real and natural look in the posing and painting.

Nothing to show today. I've based Wych #1 in preparation of painting her (as she's on a slot-base). But priority is to finish a present for my Dad. In a similar vein as Mum's present, he's getting a bowl keyring (as well as a few other things).

Someones day is about to get f*cked up by a space marine rushing out of the foliage
Awesome looking model Dr H
Keep up the good work.
Regards
Mark

Nicely done doc

Posing's good and the basing is great, really pulled off the look you stated you were going for, good job!

I noticed the "13" on the leg, does that mean he will once the competition is over be one of the scientists' subjects?

Sorry not commented sooner.

Fantastic model and scene Doc, brilliant all round.

ayoku wrote:Someones day is about to get f*cked up by a space marine rushing out of the foliage
Awesome looking model Dr H
Keep up the good work.
Regards
Mark

Ha yeah. Thanks, Mark and welcome.

monkeytroll wrote:Nicely done doc

Posing's good and the basing is great, really pulled off the look you stated you were going for, good job!

Thanks MT. Good to hear.

shasolenzabi wrote:I noticed the "13" on the leg, does that mean he will once the competition is over be one of the scientists' subjects?

Well, Gits' said that any interpretation of a Mantis Warrior was fine; fallen to chaos, corrupted, whatever. So, a dead, brainwashed, ex-Mantis should be fine.

Camkierhi wrote:Sorry not commented sooner.

Fantastic model and scene Doc, brilliant all round.

No worries. Thanks Cam.

It is fantastic, but the foliage is staggering in its realism. Kudos my friend.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
It is fantastic, but the foliage is staggering in its realism. Kudos my friend.

Thanks Graven. I did much research into various leaves and grasses before.

Painting (for anyone interested):
The grass from a black basecoat was painted with an knackered old brush that is split and useless for anything you want neat. This is good for things like grass as the bristles get around the grass and lets you paint them quickly.
A "layer" of dark green over most of the length,
A lighter green over the upper 2/3^rds of the grass,
Medium brown over the upper third,
Light brown over most of the previous brown,
"Bone" over half of that layer to the tips.

Don't be too neat or even with the last brown layers, the unevenness of the coat will give the natural look.

The leaves were a bit more complicated. I wanted them to have a lighter underside to accentuate the two being flipped over.
The undersides were a medium green-brown (I just picked one by eye),
Then a highlight layer of that green-brown with some "bone" mixed in,
Final highlight (mainly along the central spine) of a dilute "bone".

The top sides were (from a black base) a mixture of gloss dark green and matt black. This gives the satin/gloss finish.
Highlighted with some of the gloss dark green, and a highlight of the central spine with the dilute "bone",
The dead-ish bits were done with the same paints as the grass, this time dry-brushed on in patches around the edges, Brown - light brown - bone (these are all matt paints, as dead plants loose their shine).

and that's it really.

More of the same: great posing, well accomplished composition with a very dynamic fell.

Vegetation is ace, could make a piece on it's own.

And the tut on the painting makes a great bonus on it all!

 Littletower wrote:
More of the same: great posing, well accomplished composition with a very dynamic fell.

Vegetation is ace, could make a piece on it's own.

And the tut on the painting makes a great bonus on it all!

Thanks LT.

I have saved all the leaves, part leaves, trees that I made at the time for future use, probably more so on terrain (when I get round to it) than on model bases as they do stick out a fair bit.

He isn't glued to that base, just pinned from his foot through the base, so if it does cause problems I can make him another base and turn that one into an objective marker or something.

I'm always willing to share how I do something. That's what I'm here for; learning and sharing.

After quite a while of thinking what scheme I should go with, and finding that there isn't many actual "official" paint schemes for Dark Eldar, I've started painting Wych #1.

The lighting is a bit harsh for her pale skin and she looks shocking in these photos, but you get the general idea.

I wanted to use a metallic black paint I have on a larger scale (I've used it on a couple of smaller parts previously) to really see what It's like and decided to do her armour pieces in this paint (I haven't painted it on yet if you think it doesn't look very metallic). The rest of her body suit had to therefore "match" with the black and I went with the predictable, and best colour for the job; red. I didn't realise that there was going to be quite so much red when I started painting, but there you go.

As her hair is up in pigtails/bunches I felt I had to do her in blond with pale blue eyes (not that you can see in the photos).
Still a long way to go.

Until then.

The red leather look is a great idea for deldar. Nice.

Lovely Mantis Warrior conversion/paint job.

inmygravenimage wrote:The red leather look is a great idea for deldar. Nice.

I think it suits her well.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Lovely Mantis Warrior conversion/paint job.

Thanks Warboss.

I think I can call her done after 3 attempts at photography and finding things I've missed...
And she's a tricky so-and-so to photograph with the pale skin and shiny metallics.



Let me know what you think.

This concludes this round of "first" models. This means that something a little more mad will be next...

I have a commission to do next and that will start over in my "money making" thread in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Too much to comment on as you keep on smashing out the updates... So will simply say - All is excellent

Lady in Red looks great, nice metals on the blade and armour!

Did you consider adding a touch of an alternative colour on the gun? Or a darker tone, maybe in the recesses on the barrel?

Great work dude.

 Littletower wrote:


Did you consider adding a touch of an alternative colour on the gun? Or a darker tone, maybe in the recesses on the barrel?

Thats the only thing that came to my mind also.
For the rest awesome paintjob on this scary lady.
Really like the red of the armor in combination with the pale skin.
Just out of curiosity the flames on the base are those a Dr H trademark, and do you do them on all your models?
Keep up the good work!
Regards
Mark

Ruglud wrote:Too much to comment on as you keep on smashing out the updates... So will simply say - All is excellent

Thanks Rug'. Glad you approve.

Casey's Law wrote:Great work dude.

Thanks Casey.

Littletower wrote:Lady in Red looks great, nice metals on the blade and armour!

Thanks LT.

Did you consider adding a touch of an alternative colour on the gun? Or a darker tone, maybe in the recesses on the barrel?

ayoku wrote:Thats the only thing that came to my mind also.

I did think about adding a colour to the gun. But was concerned that it would distract attention away from the rest of the model (as it is all red and black). and the head/face should be the focal point. I was in two minds about doing the tubes at her neck in green or leaving them black or red.
The gun also serves as a touch of metallic black on the right side of the body, as the red hand and foot add red to the left side. I do see what you are saying though. It's a tricky balance.

For the rest awesome paintjob on this scary lady.
Really like the red of the armor in combination with the pale skin.

Thanks Mark. That's one of the contrasts I wanted to stand out (the other being the red/black).

Just out of curiosity the flames on the base are those a Dr H trademark, and do you do them on all your models?
Keep up the good work!
Regards
Mark

It's strange that you should mention it, as I recently had a PM about it from someone that didn't appear to like it much.

The rims came about from the unique composition of the "army" that I'm building. Whereas most armies that others build are united in their race/species and colour schemes, mine is a mixture of the different races/species, with strange kit-bashes and unique constructions thrown in. On top of that, even within the same groups of individuals, there are all different colour schemes.

This means, on a table, there is nothing that ties my army together and should I be fighting someone who's army is the same as one of my own models, it would be easy to get them mixed up. So I needed something to both tie my army together and make them mine, and to differentiate each individual from every other army out there. (Not that I'm going to be playing anyone soon or regularly, partly as I don't know anyone that plays IRL and partly as many would refuse to play an illegal army. But you need to plan for these things.)

I did originally look into using a plain colour for my base rims when I came to do my first models. I wasn't even going to do any modelling on the bases even. They were going to be painted just as a shadow of the model (so that they could work on any background). But then I discovered my basing technique and then needed to decide upon a base edge.

Black was the obvious choice for a nice neat finish, but like all the other neutral colours it has seen widespread use.
Any more original colour choices couldn't be used as any one is likely to clash with one or more of the various colour schemes within my army.
So a design of some kind, was therefore necessary.

I ended up with fire as it is a perfect representation of entropy, which is the cornerstone of the fluff behind my army. It's also fairly simple to paint on.

The cartoon-y, rather than realistic, appearance of the fire, while keeping it easy to paint, also represents that I have a less than serious approach to the game, and others shouldn't take my army and it's illegality too seriously.

I am surprised though, that it doesn't get many comments. So I assumed that most people just ignore it, or just write off my models/army as silly and do their own thing.

So, it's only for my army. Pieces I sell / commissions, don't get it as they are not for my army.

It's a tricky balance.

It's indeed tricky
Been looking at the gun again still cant get my head arround it on the one hand it looks really cool on the other hand its missing something.

I ended up with fire as it is a perfect representation of entropy, which is the cornerstone of the fluff behind my army. It's also fairly simple to paint on.

The cartoon-y, rather than realistic, appearance of the fire, while keeping it easy to paint, also represents that I have a less than serious approach to the game, and others shouldn't take my army and it's illegality too seriously.

I am surprised though, that it doesn't get many comments. So I assumed that most people just ignore it, or just write off my models/army as silly and do their own thing.

So, it's only for my army. Pieces I sell / commissions, don't get it as they are not for my army.

Completely clear on the flames on the base something different then the black and brown base rims ^^ and i must say its cool

Regards
Mark

Wychy-wych looks good.....and now...on with the cutting and the chopping That's what we're here for after all

You know, I'd always assumed the flames were a representation of the fact that you are going to hell for the illegality of your builds



.....and someone actually PM'd you to take umbrage at how you painted your bases Sheeesh!

Happy to have cleared that up for you, Mark.
Thanks.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Wychy-wych looks good.....and now...on with the cutting and the chopping That's what we're here for after all

Thanks MT. I'm looking over my list of things to do and thinking about what will be next (it could even be something that I haven't thought of yet, it's that undecided).

There will be some cutting and chopping over in my other blog soon, that's in the planning stages.

You know, I'd always assumed the flames were a representation of the fact that you are going to hell for the illegality of your builds

That is also likely. See you there...

.....and someone actually PM'd you to take umbrage at how you painted your bases Sheeesh!

He did compliment me on my painting of the models. I think it was more to do with the contrast of the effort I've put in to the model and then spoilt it with the lack of effort on the base edge.

♫♫ Ooh, Ooh, wychy woman, see how high she flies... ♫♫

Never was a fan of Don Henley.

I am a fan of what you did with the base. Some time ago I noticed that a very accomplished painter/converter would have sand on the sides of his bases. I though, "Hmm, that seems a bit sloppy from this guy." But rather than rush to judge, I asked him why he did it. His response was that it made the thing easier to pick up, because he prefers to pick the minis up by the bases. I know that those slant sided bases are normally near impossible to pick up. Having the paint there should give a similar result.

Thanks Red.
And should it wear off, the simple fire pattern is easily re-done.

Great looking mantis marine . If anyone questions the 13 you could always say it's the number of years he has been on his penitent crusade before he got indoctrinated

"Burn the witch. Burn!" no don't she looks great as well, I likes me some red leather

 Theophony wrote:
Great looking mantis marine . If anyone questions the 13 you could always say it's the number of years he has been on his penitent crusade before he got indoctrinated

Thanks.
He's forever remembered as "the one who tripped before we got going"

"Burn the witch. Burn!" no don't she looks great as well, I likes me some red leather

Well, she will fit in nicely with your recent infinity models. Thanks.
Of course you do, who doesn't...

Well, nice looking DE lady of doom.

Now to see what you cook up next Dr.H, or shall we say, what the Scientist cooks up next?

Very nice job on the mantis warrior. great use of the little details; Mines. gun ect make it spot on for the intent of the comp.