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Hi!

In my first post - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/460979.page
I received some great feedback on my first painted model.

So I took everything on board and dived straight into my second Black Templar.

To my dismay I found myself incapable of breaking from the same pattern I used on my first attempt!
Though i think i improved slightly by not going so heavy on the white shoulder pads and i also tried my hand at layering dwarf bronze, burnished and shining gold for the first time,
It still more or less looks exactly the same as my first one

On that note I am thinking of replacing my GW metalics. I'm thinking Vellajo as I'm currently painting with their Game Colour line but is there something else that's worth looking at?
also i have noticed that after applying the transfer it has a really glossy shine to it that just unsettles me to the bone! is there any way to get rid of that shine?

Next I have decided to make some drastic changes in my prep and painting for No.3
I have had a few idea's with Involving Blu-tac which I think will help alot and as suggested in the previous thread by a number of people I'm going to try working backwards on my highlights.

Either way for those who would like to see here is my second model

Looks really good! black is a pain in the ass to paint because its so hard to highlight well.

You gotta finish the bases on the models though. Makes em look way better.

My only thing:

The arrow on one shoulder pad. Isn't that a symbol for a tactical squad marine? IIRC, BT don't have tac squads.

It might be just me though (I don't play SM, nor know much of them, but if I did, it'd be BT.).

Dr. What wrote:My only thing:

The arrow on one shoulder pad. Isn't that a symbol for a tactical squad marine? IIRC, BT don't have tac squads.

It might be just me though (I don't play SM, nor know much of them, but if I did, it'd be BT.).

I'm fairly sure the arrow symbol just means troops, which is why you see it on tac marines. It works on BT initiates for the same reason, because they are troops.

Yeah I didn't have much choice with the arrow. It's an AOBR kit & the arrow is a part of the plastic. it covers a big area so i was worried I would make a mess of the shoulder pad if I tried to shave it off.
If I had a choice I would have had the arrow much smaller and in the lower front corner of the pad

My advice? Stop.

Take what you are doing and paint your entire army right now. You have crisp edges for the different colors, good highlights and details picked out.

Looks like you got the issue with the shoulder pads worked out and a clear "dullcoat" will get rid of any shine on your model (I like Testors brand, comes in a bottle & spray can).

You also really should put a clear coat on the entire model to protect the paint when finished. I use a gloss clearcoat (Future floor wax) then a dullcoat (Testors).

I second. For a tabletop gaming standard, this is great. Base this dude and you are ready to go.

ZatGuy wrote:My advice? Stop.

Take what you are doing and paint your entire army right now. You have crisp edges for the different colors, good highlights and details picked out.

This. This all the way. Just paint your whole army (and then of course show us). Spend more time on lovingly painting the HQ units and the big flashy models like ven dreads and sternguard. These are the models people will look at and focus on. If you've seen 1 tac squad you have seen them all. Truth of the matter is that once you slam em down on the table top no one will notice a few missed highlights or a little wayward streak of red.

Snrub wrote:

ZatGuy wrote:My advice? Stop.

Take what you are doing and paint your entire army right now. You have crisp edges for the different colors, good highlights and details picked out.

This. This all the way. Just paint your whole army (and then of course show us). Spend more time on lovingly painting the HQ units and the big flashy models like ven dreads and sternguard. These are the models people will look at and focus on. If you've seen 1 tac squad you have seen them all. Truth of the matter is that once you slam em down on the table top no one will notice a few missed highlights or a little wayward streak of red.

Just be sure the ones with the flaws in the paint job lead the charge and die first. Practice makes perfect, but what you have there is quite good already. An army painted to that standard would be a pleasure to face against on the table.

Artists are often their own worst critics. Instead of looking at all the flaws (which jump out at YOU) look at what you did right. Try to do better on the flaws the next time, but don't beat yourself up over them. After all, you are painting a miniature designed to be viewed at arm's length on the battlefield. The fact that we get as much detail on the little guys is frankly amazing as it is.

I think not enough people post pictures of "average joe" armies. I look at some of the minis on these forums and feel inadequate. There is a huge amount of really amazing stuff. But at the end of the day, I'm happy with what I have done. I'm not going to win any golden demons, I don't do tricks like OSL or NMM. But I've got a painted army, and it looks good.

this being your second model (every??) you shame most painters out there... like 80% of them!

i think what you have there is a very usable quality and you need to become comfortable with painting first.

next thing would be batch painting i guess...

once you've painted your army you should have learned yourself a nice control of your brush, and a good standard to measure yourself to...

good choice with the AoBR kit btw... they absolutely hate orks!

That looks really, really good.

I can't remember what my second ever miniature looked like, but I can say for certain that it was nowhere near as good as yours.

I do have one bit of advice. It looks to me like you painted the white on the shoulder pad straight on to the black, and used a fairly heavy coat. I suggest painting the area grey first, and the painting it white, using thinned down paint in several layers. This will make the end result smoother.

No need to rush it, though. Get comfortable with painting your colour scheme first, and then start refining it.

Dr. What wrote:The arrow on one shoulder pad. Isn't that a symbol for a tactical squad marine?

Yes. The upward-facing arrow is the codex symbol for a tactical squad.

Thanks for the feedback everybody!

Getting so much good feedback on my first two models has been a great boost to my confidence in painting my mini's
and I am taking to experimenting with new ideas with much more enthusiasm.

Though it is bitter sweet in a sense as on one hand I want to keep learning and developing my painting skills.

While on the other hand I just want to start smashing them out to paint up an army asap.

But i guess i may be over thinking things as the two likely go hand in hand

Either way I unfortunately have to put my new found passion on the back burner for 5 weeks as on the 19th I go on a 5 week trip to Europe to visit my family & see the sights

(Little does my partner know i am secretly scoping out GW locations across the continent! I plan to spring the visits on her at random and laugh triumphantly as she follows me through the doors rolling her eyes )

But before i go i have decided to confront my irrational fear of bright colours by having a crack at a Flesh Tearers SM
(i know their scheme isn't really that bright haha)

I am about half way through the lil guy and will post the pics just before I go.

couldn't finish my Flesh Tearers SM before leaving! will complete him as soon as I get back and post pics.

Hi,

I decided to go back to this figure and clean it up a bit, in doing so i managed to make the winged skull icon on the bolter a bit worse off though

Using a scratching tool i made out of some fine wire and an old hobby knife handle i scraped away the excess layers of white paint on the shoulder pads in an effort to give it more of a battle worn feel, once done i gave the scratched white surfaces a wash with Secret Weapon's Parchment Wash followed by a dab here and there of very watered down Vallejo Off White

Afterwards i painted the Tac Squad arrow red by first dabbing the surface with red ink then giving it one coat of very diluted Vallejo Bloody Red followed by a layer of diluted 1pt Bloody red 1 pt Gory red. I then dabbed a bit of Secret Weapon Soft Black Wash on the arrow to give it the same battle worn feel as the rest of the pad.

The Black Templar Cross on the other pad got a bit too scratched off for my liking so i dabbed select spots within the cross with Secret Weapon's Heavy Body Black.

Select metallic surfaces such as the rings around the Backpack Exhaust were hit with some of Secret Weapon's Armour Wash.
I then proceeded to wash every black surface (highlights inc) with Secret Weapons Blue Black Wash and capped it all off with a Matt Varnish