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Well, I finally finished my 3 LR project. I just got back to doing 40k (forgot my old username for dakka) after a big struggle with depression (been better the last few weeks *fingers crossed* havn't been great the last two years, havn't been horrible since a year ago, so thats a plus). Anyway, this army of mine is black and ice blue. The sponsons are magnetized (something that when I first bought these things I never thought I'd be able to do). Everything is painted with the most detail I can muster (even the inside, from the hinges on the boxes to each individual hoze on the engine. Anyway, tell me what ya think of the paintjob. I know I am no pro, but I hope with a little bit of critique I can get better at it!

Thanks in advance!

-Ryan


Edit: in the background is 3 ten man squads of tacs that I am converting to sternguard with cloacks and tons of decals.

looking good!!
but their straight out of the factory clean!

some chipped paint, some dirt and a little bit of rust will make it look a lot more realistic

DijnsK wrote:looking good!!
but their straight out of the factory clean!

some chipped paint, some dirt and a little bit of rust will make it look a lot more realistic

Thanks! I don't know if I want to weather them or not, just not a big fan of weathering... idk if I see a weathering job a really like I might give it a try.

oh, and I do like what you did with that champions shield (and everything else there, amazing stuff) on your Blood Raven thread!

Ryan_A, sorry to learn about your depression but congrats on working through it - this crazy world is a baffling place.

Anyway, I'll echo DijnsK's comment re: factory-floor finish - very clean for the most part, but I think this can be improved in two ways.

First of all, bring the blue "up" with an edge highlight to make the colors pop. Do something similar with grey for the black edges.

Second, weathering. You can begin the process by determining how you are going to color the bases of your troops, then carry that color over to the lower portions of the hulls in a light dry-brush. From that point, you can determine how much of that color you want to carry into the recesses on the hull, and how high up the vehicle you want to take it.

I think the color selection is original and the placement is good.

Something about the way you have carried the blue into the recesses of the hull-panels feels "off" to me - I'm speaking about the front and back of the track-assembly. My preference would be to change the "walls" of the recesses you have painted blue to black. It might be that you just haven't gotten to that part of your base-coat clean-up: I am not talking about repainting the large blue panels black, but the thin "walls" where the blue meets the black - do you understand what I'm trying to communicate?

Great start on your force, and welcome back to the hobby.

Ryan_A wrote:oh, and I do like what you did with that champions shield (and everything else there, amazing stuff) on your Blood Raven thread!

haha thanks! im glad the link in my comments actually helps getting people to my blog
in one of my last blog updates i posted a picture of a rhino. i weathered it a little bit around the tracks and the tracks themselves.
the edgehighlighting was done by drybrushing the edges with the new citadel dry paints. it worked out great imo

Cool! love the color scheme

Scott wrote:Ryan_A, sorry to learn about your depression but congrats on working through it - this crazy world is a baffling place.

Anyway, I'll echo DijnsK's comment re: factory-floor finish - very clean for the most part, but I think this can be improved in two ways.

First of all, bring the blue "up" with an edge highlight to make the colors pop. Do something similar with grey for the black edges.

Second, weathering. You can begin the process by determining how you are going to color the bases of your troops, then carry that color over to the lower portions of the hulls in a light dry-brush. From that point, you can determine how much of that color you want to carry into the recesses on the hull, and how high up the vehicle you want to take it.

I think the color selection is original and the placement is good.

Something about the way you have carried the blue into the recesses of the hull-panels feels "off" to me - I'm speaking about the front and back of the track-assembly. My preference would be to change the "walls" of the recesses you have painted blue to black. It might be that you just haven't gotten to that part of your base-coat clean-up: I am not talking about repainting the large blue panels black, but the thin "walls" where the blue meets the black - do you understand what I'm trying to communicate?

Great start on your force, and welcome back to the hobby.

Thanks on all accounts. For the edge highlights, would something like white work, or should I try and find a lighter blue? I am covering bases of my troops with medium black bassalt, then dry brushing to tops of the bassalt with codex grey, finishing off with a dark flesh around the round edges of the base (side of the base). How would you reccomend me weathering based on that? Ill try to get a pic of the base up soon.

*thinking* "the blue into the recesses of the hull" trying to think what you mean...do you mean the part in back that looks like a backwards "P" that recessed on the back? Or the very thin wall where it goes up? I had painted all those parts blue, but Ill try it out in black if that is what you mean.

My force is just now coming together, so far I have painted 3 LRs, 1 autocannon dread, 2 six man sniper/m.launcher scouts, 2 MM/HF LS, Pedro Kantor, and a few other of my sternguard, I got 30 jump marines I havn't painted, 10 termies, 30 sternguad, and a few other little things to go.

Thanks for the help and support!
Much appreciated!

-Ryan


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BrotherGnaeus wrote:Cool! love the color scheme

Thanks so much! I originally had a raven guard army, but when they nerfed it in the new codex, I decided to switch to a Pedro kantor army (but I hate the color scheme) so after a few trials are errors, this is what I merrily decided on! Thought it was unique and eye catching. Thanks for the compliment!

Ryan_A wrote:Thanks on all accounts. For the edge highlights, would something like white work, or should I try and find a lighter blue? I am covering bases of my troops with medium black bassalt, then dry brushing to tops of the bassalt with codex grey, finishing off with a dark flesh around the round edges of the base (side of the base). How would you reccomend me weathering based on that? Ill try to get a pic of the base up soon.

You are welcome.

Plain white will be too stark. Take your base blue, add some white, and stir. If you want this edging to be consistent across all of your army, you will want to mix a large batch - say one paint-bottle's worth. It might be easier to take a look in your local store to see if there is a lighter version of your base-coat and just use that.

I don't claim to be any kind of expert painter - and I apply this dictum to myself - so don't take this the wrong way: you ain't gonna win a Golden Demon any time soon, so settle for what "gets the job done". Strive for improvement, but don't obsess about perfection.

About bases, and weathering:

The colors you are using on the top of the base are what I would apply for weathering to the model. The band of dark flesh you describe seems like a way to make the model stand "apart from" whatever table on which you are playing and should not be used.

Are you applying any texture - such as sand - to the top surface of the bases before you brush them with the basalt, then the grey? I hope so, because just painting the top of the base in the manner you describe will look poorly. Texture of some variety will make the models look like they are in an environment, versus just a toy on a stand.

Not everyone uses weathering. Some people prefer a pristine paint-job. I think adding the color of your base as weathering to the lower hull of your vehicles and up to the knees (at most) of your troops lends to the impression that they are at war in some environment. The "world" on which they are currently fighting is determined by your base. You want the grit of that world to dirty your troops to lend to the impression that they are "in the field".

Ryan_A wrote:*thinking* "the blue into the recesses of the hull" trying to think what you mean...do you mean the part in back that looks like a backwards "P" that recessed on the back? Or the very thin wall where it goes up? I had painted all those parts blue, but Ill try it out in black if that is what you mean.

I'm just talking about "the very thin wall where it goes up" to the black "surface" of the tank. I think it would look better if all of those "very thin wall(s)" were black.

Good luck!

Scott wrote:
Plain white will be too stark. Take your base blue, add some white, and stir. If you want this edging to be consistent across all of your army, you will want to mix a large batch - say one paint-bottle's worth. It might be easier to take a look in your local store to see if there is a lighter version of your base-coat and just use that.

I'll take a look at my store to see if there is a lighter blue in stock.

Scott wrote:
you ain't gonna win a Golden Demon any time soon,

NOOOO! My lifes work for nothing! lol, I know X D

Scott wrote:
The colors you are using on the top of the base are what I would apply for weathering to the model. The band of dark flesh you describe seems like a way to make the model stand "apart from" whatever table on which you are playing and should not be used.

Alright, so codex grey and some chaos black?

Scott wrote:
Are you applying any texture - such as sand - to the top surface of the bases before you brush them with the basalt, then the grey? I hope so, because just painting the top of the base in the manner you describe will look poorly. Texture of some variety will make the models look like they are in an environment, versus just a toy on a stand.

No, I am just glueing on the medium sized bassalt, I thought that was a good texture. I have some fine tan sand that I used to use, Ill try a model with a bottom layer of the tan and then a top layer of medium sized bassalt, then finisd with a drybrush of codex grey to see how that looks.

Scott wrote:
Not everyone uses weathering. Some people prefer a pristine paint-job. I think adding the color of your base as weathering to the lower hull of your vehicles and up to the knees (at most) of your troops lends to the impression that they are at war in some environment. The "world" on which they are currently fighting is determined by your base. You want the grit of that world to dirty your troops to lend to the impression that they are "in the field".

I agree, I'll give it a go on my rhino to see how I like it.

Scott wrote:
I'm just talking about "the very thin wall where it goes up" to the black "surface" of the tank. I think it would look better if all of those "very thin wall(s)" were black.

Alright, I know what you mean, ill give it a try.

Scott wrote:
Good luck!

Thanks much!

Heres a pic of my model's bases.

Re: the bases and weathering.

The black base-coat is not what you want to use when weathering the lower hulls of your LRs - just use the grey that you brushed over the black base-coat.