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CnC very much welcome I do very little painting so any help would be great thanks for taking a look.

Fluff: Tau Sept Vior'la Advanced Guard Detachment: Their colours are contrasting and bright against the environment this is in strong contrast to the general rules of engagement but the Vior'la AGD see the benefit of having their warriors strategies hidden in plain sight. The obvious targets presented to the enemy of bristling fire warrior gun lines give AGD scouting parties, such as pathfinders who don suitable camouflage, time to set up and remain operating longer undetected. Shock and awe teams of battle suits also catalyse their ambushes with the bright flair of their armour, from de-cloaking xv25 stealth teams to deep striking xv8 crisis teams.











AGD PXC Hammerhead (Digital disruption reactive armour enabled).
(Head Fluff: Shifting noise pattern of the armour creates a difficult to discern target when moving/ turning in groups and formations, hiding in plain sight like a zebra or WW2 navel camo.)









Tutorial on how I did the camo: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/595861.page

Thanks again!! Please leave CnC (how ever harsh/short it is appreciated!)

Hey dude, good to see your fireblade painted. He certainly looks the part
I reckon some Tau lettering would look good on the ribbon streaming from the handle of his blade or even on the side of it's sheath.

You've done a good job painting both him and your Hammerhead, my only critique I have to offer is that the fireblade's skin seems a bit dull and could use some lighter shading. Also, while I do like your camo effect the black shape on the front of the vehicle is quite prominent (that's just my taste though).

hope I don't sound overly judgemental as you've certainly done a good job

You have quite a bit of skill as a painter--please don't misconstrue what I'm about to say.

But these aren't really doing it for me.

First off, Sindex's blade hand. I think the holding of the sheathed knife is a pose that doesn't really work. If he was holding it back, it might work, of if the blade was bare, or if it were sheathed on his body, but brandishing a blade still in the sheath doesn't look natural. In addition, the upper arm is way too thick for my tastes. I think the huge arm armor looks clunky and way more at home in an Imperium army.

The digital camo looks okay, I guess, although the pattern is a bit large. Personally, I dislike camo on Tau. I know it's fluffy, but it humanizes them way too much. The bold, vibrant colors seen in the main codex and in most of the work done by the Citadel team give the army an air of freshness and dynamism, which helps them stand out from most of the other armies. Factory fresh paint jobs and bright colors make the army seem excited to be there. Mute, drab colors and battle damage make the models look beaten-down and wary. While there's nothing wrong with such a scheme, it just doesn't fit with the army. The odd color choices, coupled with the sept markings, also serve to mark the army out as other, as alien.

You've done a great job with the paint application, I just don't think these models fit in well with the Tau design scheme.

All that being said, it's always possible you don't LIKE the Tau design scheme as GW laid it out and wanted to do your own thing in a more humanized, realistic, battle-hardened kind of way. If so, job well done!

Ahh, tau. This is why you're WS2. You take the blade out of the sheath and THEN brandish it towards your opponent, not the other way around...

I also agree that there is a bit of disjointedness. Some parts look beat up and dirty, while some parts look clean, and there doesn't seem to be an obvious reason why. It sort of looks like the battle damage was applied randomly, but it's kind of hard for me to say exactly why it appears that way.

What it might be is that it sort of looks like you applied wash to just the recesses of things, which leaves the raised parts too clean for the dirtiness of the dirty parts, and you can see the occasional wash line. Perhaps things might go better if you thinned the washes a little bit and then applied the wash to the whole model, and then went back and highlighted the parts you want to be whiter. Otherwise, it sort of looks like a splotchy base coating error, rather than a thin coat of grime. Especially without much highlighting.

I do like the conversion work, though. You do have a good eye for balance and presentation.

Xendarc wrote:Hey dude, good to see your fireblade painted. He certainly looks the part
I reckon some Tau lettering would look good on the ribbon streaming from the handle of his blade or even on the side of it's sheath.

You've done a good job painting both him and your Hammerhead, my only critique I have to offer is that the fireblade's skin seems a bit dull and could use some lighter shading. Also, while I do like your camo effect the black shape on the front of the vehicle is quite prominent (that's just my taste though).

hope I don't sound overly judgemental as you've certainly done a good job

Thank you for your comment! Yeah i really agree with the knives and ribbon comment ill go over those and free hand it some details. I think i may have forgotten to highlight the face and the black cloth ive also noticed i didn't paint the hooves so, i think my assembly line of FW and this guy may have got muddled lol! thanks for pointing it out i will have a look over him and touch up any bits i missed! Camo is clunky i'll admit it was an experiment (see tutorial link) on future vehicles ill try harder.

Jimsolo wrote:You have quite a bit of skill as a painter--please don't misconstrue what I'm about to say.

But these aren't really doing it for me.

First off, Sindex's blade hand. I think the holding of the sheathed knife is a pose that doesn't really work. If he was holding it back, it might work, of if the blade was bare, or if it were sheathed on his body, but brandishing a blade still in the sheath doesn't look natural. In addition, the upper arm is way too thick for my tastes. I think the huge arm armor looks clunky and way more at home in an Imperium army.

The digital camo looks okay, I guess, although the pattern is a bit large. Personally, I dislike camo on Tau. I know it's fluffy, but it humanizes them way too much. The bold, vibrant colors seen in the main codex and in most of the work done by the Citadel team give the army an air of freshness and dynamism, which helps them stand out from most of the other armies. Factory fresh paint jobs and bright colors make the army seem excited to be there. Mute, drab colors and battle damage make the models look beaten-down and wary. While there's nothing wrong with such a scheme, it just doesn't fit with the army. The odd color choices, coupled with the sept markings, also serve to mark the army out as other, as alien.

You've done a great job with the paint application, I just don't think these models fit in well with the Tau design scheme.

All that being said, it's always possible you don't LIKE the Tau design scheme as GW laid it out and wanted to do your own thing in a more humanized, realistic, battle-hardened kind of way. If so, job well done!

No misconstruction i appreciate the critique nothing can be to everyones taste as an artist its important to recognise that and i enjoy reading critical comments that are constructive, much more so than 'WOW' however cnc needs a balance of good and bad or it goes no wear. Ive toyed with the knife my self and several people have commented on it in person, i was going with the real model and how the knife is a symbol to the tau not just a weapon but i agree than overall it may need to be unsheathed i think i'll make a plastic card blade similar to my riptide and add the sheath to the waist.
As for your critique of GW tau it was excellent, you hit the nail on the head, for them but maybe its just not for me. Reading about the Tau i still see them as a battle field army i see them fighting, not driven like an imperial army but none the less cleansing worlds of orks, protecting their homes, i see them fighting to the end in a fashion that they would get muddy they would get shot/blown up, maybe when attacking they hit and run but i see them still as proud and steadfast enough to defend to the end my force is an advanced guard force its bright colours are meant to be prominent, but fighting has its tolls ect. So i do enjoy adding in that to the models. Almost all my models are battle damaged grimy ect that's just how i like it.me and a friend often joke that 40k is grim dark but we take grim dark then beat it with a stick for a few hours then use that stick to paint our models lol. Thank you it was great to discuss that.

Ailaros wrote:Ahh, tau. This is why you're WS2. You take the blade out of the sheath and THEN brandish it towards your opponent, not the other way around...

I also agree that there is a bit of disjointedness. Some parts look beat up and dirty, while some parts look clean, and there doesn't seem to be an obvious reason why. It sort of looks like the battle damage was applied randomly, but it's kind of hard for me to say exactly why it appears that way.

What it might be is that it sort of looks like you applied wash to just the recesses of things, which leaves the raised parts too clean for the dirtiness of the dirty parts, and you can see the occasional wash line. Perhaps things might go better if you thinned the washes a little bit and then applied the wash to the whole model, and then went back and highlighted the parts you want to be whiter. Otherwise, it sort of looks like a splotchy base coating error, rather than a thin coat of grime. Especially without much highlighting.

I do like the conversion work, though. You do have a good eye for balance and presentation.

Lol very funny Well to be fair he is meant to be holding it up as a symbol not as a weapon a sm may stab as hard as he shoots but a tau has girly arms but in those arms is a pulse rifle
Any ways see above i will mostly likely unsheathe the knife. Im not sure what you meant by randomly damage, the HH only has chipping on the out most edges of the front and the underside leading edges and engine, same with mud is only apply underneath and to the doors where they would have touched the floor when opened. As for the CFB he has some shrapnel/blast damage to the arm guard and corresponding leg plate. I don't see that all as unduly random.
I don't know if its the photos or just my style but ill list how i paint white armour:
-prime white whole model (i don't under paint my tau)
-wash white/water 50/50 whole model
-wash nulin oil/water 50/50 whole model
-paint in red and black areas
-wash nulin oil/water 75/25 into recesses and shadowed areas
-add in detail colours
-high light upper most surfaces and leading edges with white/water 75/25
-add in battle damage, dry brush some silver on edges, paint scorches in black then centre them with silver keeping in mind angle of fire/ reaction pose at the time.

Thank you for the critique tho, you've caused me to evaluate my process from the ground up.
I have quite a painterly style its probably not to a lot of ppls tastes but i hope to develop that style and make it my own, i like to see effects created with paints and brushes over the polished but powdery quality of airbrushed models how ever striking, or the strong colours and edges of traditional edge highlighted graphic and illustrative models like GW own paint jobs. For me my style mixes the use of paintily brush work and washes with hand painted details like the eye scar and freckles to the tiny green yellow red power gauges on the cfb back pack and the hh fuel cells.
Im quite new to painting models even tho ive collected and converted, played and pondered warhammer for many many years i was always fearful and slightly uninterested in painting until recently.

Thank you all for your cnc i hope more people can lend a critical eye and i can improve on this with time.