Welcome all to the 56th round of the Dakka Painting challenge. For those who haven't seen the challenge before, it is a community-focused friendly competition open to anyone on the site, regardless of your skill level or experience. Every round contributes towards a League table, which ultimately means nothing but is a lot of fun to keep an eye on and jockey for position with Dakka's other painters.
This month, it's the traditional Halloween Spooktacular! Bring out your scariest, creepiest and most terrifying minis and get them painted up for a smorgasbord of spook at the end of the month!
How To Enter - You may enter up to 5 MODELS as a SINGLE ENTRY, and are permitted one entry per member per month. If you enter multiple models, they should ideally be related in some way, such as part of the same squad, unit or scene if you are doing a diorama - You MUST post a 'proof' picture of your entry in the thread of the state it was in before you started working on it; this must be either unassembled, unpainted, primed or coated a single colour. Entries that do not submit a valid Proof Picture will not be eligible for voting. - After this, you may post WIP pictures in this thread and your own if you wish, and on completing the entry, you may post up to 6 final pictures IN THIS THREAD that will then be used for voting. Please note that pictures in a montage or collage picture will be considered individual images for this purpose, so while these types of presentation are certainly acceptable, please keep the image limit in mind when compiling them. For example, a collage of 5 images and one separate image would count as your 6 picture allowance.
So What Do I Win? - Points... and points mean... bragging rights for the next month! Following the vote, points will be awarded to every entrant. This year, the Points you receive will be equal to the Percentage of Votes your entry receives in the final Voting thread; if you get 10%, you get 10 points, if you get 6% you get 6 points, so on and so forth.
These points will be used to form a league table, which will be updated month on month as the results come in. The overall winner of the League for this year will receive a set of Dakka Dice.
How Long Do I Have? This challenge begins 1st of October and will end at midnight UK time on the 31st of October. After this, I shall compile the finished entries into a new thread, and voting will run for 5 days.
I'm on holiday at the moment and I've just ordered the last bits for my project which thankfully were restocked by my bits seller today and DIDNT sell out while I was on my flight. I'll post pics next week when I'm home but keen on this month's project
I have Lady Harrow’s Mournflight Warhammer Underworldsreadfane unit I could paint.
All the ghosties from AOS and WU:Shadespire I could repaint as I’m not happy looking at them.
I have boxes of “Stuff”,
But nothing is screaming fright night.
Edit: Nevermind, I think I may have an idea (I got the aliens vs. predator box set from Miniaturemarket a few years ago and it’s hidden in a special part of the basement. Alien, one of those great SciFi movie thrillers of time gone by.
Looking forward to seeing your take on some AVP models Theophony you got 1st or 2nd edition? The 2nd edition models are all unicast so no assembly needed but they need a serious scrub before primer.
I'm going to paint some more resident evil 2 board game models, not sure what yet, probably some bosses.
I have the Black Coach. I mean, technically two of them. But I'm only painting one....for now.
It's an older photo, but it checks out. I'll update with a more recent photo in a couple of days once I've done my Lasik and actually start to work on the thing (at least I hope it's a couple of days). One of them (I'm not going to name names...momma didn't raise no snitch It's the right one) has been based, primed black, and the blue has been airbrushed on.
Well I am having some trouble with this one as I really only have some Sisters of Battle tanks left to paint, but then I remembered I had three old metal eBay salvaged Escher Gang members to paint. Posting pictures later today.
Damn, don't have anything traditionally scary out here with me.. I guess this is the closest. Would be scary fast, scary loud and scary hard to control! My take on the dieselpunk fighter plane race cars. Still waiting on some parts to finish it.
Jamie Shred wrote: Looking forward to seeing your take on some AVP models Theophony you got 1st or 2nd edition? The 2nd edition models are all unicast so no assembly needed but they need a serious scrub before primer.
I'm going to paint some more resident evil 2 board game models, not sure what yet, probably some bosses.
Oh it’s the 1st edition, I unwrapped it, but never popped any of the chits or touched the models.
Plastic baggie goodness. I guess I’ll actually do the predators to keep it under the 5model count. If I get ambitious I’ll throw in the power loader which I also grabbed out of the dinged and dented bin.
Forgive the blue armed guy as he was a test of a contrast paint to see if a watery effect was possible.
Bellerophon wrote: Well I guess I'll have to go with some Eldar Shadow Spectres, since they're all ghostly and one of their special rules is 'Shadow of Death'...
Photo of all 5, the Exarch and Irillyth. I'll probably paint them all, then enter 5 of them.
Looking forward to seeing you do these. Maybe even inspire me to get started on mine!
I'll be delving into Shadespire for my spooky entry this month with the Sepulchral Guard. Determined to actually finish the whole group this time rather than rush one to completion on deadline day
Soooo, I got on a bit of a tear this weekend.
Started with this proof on the 2nd, bunch of werecreatures.
And then I got really inspired, and finished one while deciding the others don't fit well enough, so...final pics:
Dwarf Wereshark (doo doo da doo da doo doo)
Strong start Theophony. I love the purple tinted metal, but you could mix up the metallic tone for the smart disc to add more contrast. Great work on the skin too.
Jamie Shred wrote: Strong start Theophony. I love the purple tinted metal, but you could mix up the metallic tone for the smart disc to add more contrast. Great work on the skin too.
Agreed on the metal, the helmet in particular looks great. I think the skin tone on the back needs to be darker & greener, they have quite a distinct two-tone skin colour. Edit: which you appear to have on the thighs.
Little bit of progress from me, finished most of the base coats but loads of details to pick out. Excuse the extras, I'm rushing the G mutant out and don't think I will get stage 5 finished this month.
I will do another mini from Mierce which is perfect for the theme. The figure is gorgeous, it's the latest from them and the quality is
incredible, very little cleaning and almost no mold lines. Mierce constanty runs various deals and I got this one really cheap, a steal deal, highly recommend.
This thing is huge and it's the my biggest mini to date, I hope I'll make it till november.
Modock wrote: I will do another mini from Mierce which is perfect for the theme. The figure is gorgeous, it's the latest from them and the quality is
incredible, very little cleaning and almost no mold lines. Mierce constanty runs various deals and I got this one really cheap, a steal deal, highly recommend.
This thing is huge and it's the my biggest mini to date, I hope I'll make it till november.
Tegroth, Servile Hellion Of Dis
Nice buy!
Mierce range looks incredible! I'm always looking at their stuff but cant pull the trigger due to Eldar/HE commitements..
Hope after new year once I have display space I will treat myself to One of the big Dis demons.
To me Mierce has the coolest looking demons out there, raw and primal with no nonsense. I got another lesser demon, Malacant, which I'm saving for future
projects. One day I'll get the Lord of Dis, my all time favourite demon design, can't get any better than that.
Too late to join in? I've been out of these challenges for a while because I simply can't commit to finishing anything in a month, but for Halloween I will make the time.
Basecoated base and pitchfork, but that's it. Is that ok?
DV8 that is so cool , love the OSL on the top of the carriage on the wrought iron.
My predators are almost all done, just need a few touch ups and possibly some base detail work. Decided to try and get the power lifter painted up as I bought some new contrast paints. Still a long way to go.
I like the red tips on the power loader claws and that yellow is already looking good. Pretty sure the rectangular piece on top of the canopy is a casting post though.
Jamie Shred wrote: I like the red tips on the power loader claws and that yellow is already looking good. Pretty sure the rectangular piece on top of the canopy is a casting post though.
I wondered, but it looked kid of like a light so I painted it as such . Might leave it,
Jamie Shred wrote: I like the red tips on the power loader claws and that yellow is already looking good. Pretty sure the rectangular piece on top of the canopy is a casting post though.
I wondered, but it looked kid of like a light so I painted it as such . Might leave it,
How about a Space Marine trained in the art of using the Warp and his own mind to bring about untold distruction?
How about a trio of Librarians working in consort?
From left to right - Vanguard Epistolary Valestis, Chief Librarian Jonah Orion and Father Librarian Jonas Urelie of the Blood Ravens (Urelie playing the role of a converted Tigurius)
I hope these guys fit well enough for halloween - I reckon they look quite cultish and scary...Corvus Cabal guys for Warcry.
I dunno how many I'll get done, but I really like their design aesthetic so I'm looking forward to painting them.
Yay more Undead stuff from you Nev, I always really like how you paint them.
Wow how much stuff do you actual have DV8, lots to choose from there The wood is looking great so far.
A Dwarf wereshark is awesome Vejut
Good Luck Modock hope you get it all painted in time. I've had a few looks at Mierce miniatures before and am tempted by some but not made the plunge yet.
I've been thinking about my entry for far to long so as will all my Halloween entries i'm going to try and recreate some famous characters but with Orks. I'm going for these 2 this time.
Unbelievably, I have to pull out again What I thought was going to be two weeks off has turned into 6 weeks in Hong Kong, starting Thursday. No way I can get past priming my skeletons.
Wow how much stuff do you actual have DV8, lots to choose from there The wood is looking great so far.
The photo is actually pretty dated (over a year ago), although it accurately showed the state of my Black Coach(s) at the start of the month.
Insofar as my Nighthaunt are concerned, most of my collection has already been painted, so most of what's in that photo has since been completed (including the Coach, which I will photograph tonight).
Spoiler:
Nagash Kurdoss Valentian Reikenor the Grimhailer Dreadblade Harrow Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed Guardian of Souls Vampire Lord 2 Necromancers 10 Dire Wolves 40 Chainrasps 40 Grimghast Reapers 30 Bladegheist Revenants 12 Myrmourn Banshees 8 Chainghasts Black Coach
I should take a photo of it all this weekend as I reorganize my shelves a bit.
What I have left:
Spoiler:
Lady Olynder Black Coach (a second one, poor choices were made) 2 Morghasts (might be useable in Ossiarch Bonereapers, we'll see) 6 Spirit Hosts (lol) 10 Hexwraiths (double lol) 4 Glaivewraith Stalkers (triple lol)
I also won the Crypt Mausaleum terrain set from a tournament, so I may actually take a bunch of the above + terrain and use it to decorate the bases and board of my Ossiarch (assuming I do the army).
Bit of a late entry but I actually have to get these models done in time for a tournament at the end of the week. I'll be entering five of them so expect to see five!
Here is one of my Exodite Dragon Knights. They're scary, right? Right?
For something different I will enter the terrain piece I just created for a twitter competition which started this month. Theme was to take Halloween decorations and turn them into terrain, so fits the theme of this month. I picked a Necromunda setting
A late entry from me. A lot of this month was taken up with rushing to get finished for Armies on Parade. I'm painting a Primaris Chaplain. I forgot to take the proof before I put the first coat on his coat, but I think it still fits the rules, doesn't it?
Here to post final pics for my Blood Ravens Librarius Conclave! Featuring Phobos Librarian Vandal assigned to 10th Recon Company, Chief Librarian Jonah Orion and Father Librarian Jonas Urelie of the Ordo Psykana (roleplaying as UM Tigurius)
Here's my finished pics. Pretty happy with hot glue for slime but less so for blood, I ended up going back over the gator blood with my usual fishing line, ardcoat and bftbg recipe.
Feedback always welcome and appreciated.
Great work everyone, there are some superb entries and voting will be a challenge as always.
Well this is all I can get done while I'm out here in the US and A. I'll be back in blighty on the 31st, and there should be the decals I need should be waiting at home, so if I can get them on and weathered, I'll take new photos.
I've been really struggling with time this month (and the last few TBH) just always seem to have stuff going on, working away lots and when I am at home I'm normally pretty tired from 13 hr days etc so not been painting.
My challenge this month is going to have to be to finish 1 model in the next few days, heres where I've got to so far on Pennywise the Grot
P.S. I know I still owe you all an updated league table as well
Fraid I'm going to have to bow out this month. I've just had too much else going on and little motivation or inspiration to work on my Beastmen. Oh well, looks like another year without doing all the challenges.
Sorry to hear that, Zerg - hope to see you again next month.
Looking forward to seeing your Pennywise, MG, it's a great idea.
I enjoyed painting these guys - they have heaps of detail and the poses are so dynamic. I love the Corvus Cabal 'cos I reckon they look like the old plague doctors who wore the bird masks to protect themselves from the Black Death.
Anyhow, here are my finished Blood...Ravens?...er...Crimson Corvus.
Paradigm wrote: Suitably freaky, and that cracked leather effect is superb, how did you pull that off?
Thanks! Don't tell anyone, but it's basically drybrushing.
How you do it is you get a decent basecoat, the darkest it really works with is doombull brown, which I used here. Lighter colours work better, I can't get it to work with darker colours yet. Then you give it a drybrush with a much lighter tone (not white or anything, but maybe Tau Light Ochre. I honestly can't remember which colours I used here.) This needs to be a very light, but sort of very persistent drybrush. So you really have hardly any paint on the brush at all, but you go at it, over the whole area, and from a variety of angles - this is key. You might start to see the beginning of the effect. Do another drybrush with an even lighter tone, even lighter strokes, starting to create the gradient, so mainly hitting the parts you would normally highlight such as the raised ridges in the cloak. Next you give it a wash. I always use a paint called Smokey Ink from the Vallejo Game Colour range. It's a magic paint. I think you might be able get the effect without the smokey ink but it seems to be much better with it. Basically, this paint has a slightly gritty texture. Not as much as something like Typhus Corrosion, it's much more subtle. Drybrushing over this is the main thing that creates that cracked leather effect. I think the paint is catching the edges of the grittiness, but this might be nonsense, and someone with more idea what they are doing like DV8 or QAR might arrive later to laugh at me. Try to make sure this wash doesn't pool and stain the mini, as this method makes it very difficult to sort that out if it happens. Once the wash is dry, go back to drybrushing with a highlight colour, but choose a different colour. It can be something similar, but varying it is key to creating the interest. drybrush on another brightest highlight, again choosing a slightly different colour to the last brightest highlight. Wash again in a different tone. Then finally drybrush back up in a couple of stages, with yet more varied tones. Than you should be done, although you can keep going back and forth between washing and drybrushing, it seems the more you do the better it looks. There's really no skill involved. One tip though - do this bit first and paint around it, or paint in sub-assemblies. You're going to hit everything around it as you can't do a targeted, dainty drybrush.
I feel like I promised to do a guide to this about a year ago, or maybe longer.
Paradigm wrote: Suitably freaky, and that cracked leather effect is superb, how did you pull that off?
Thanks! Don't tell anyone, but it's basically drybrushing.
How you do it is you get a decent basecoat, the darkest it really works with is doombull brown, which I used here. Lighter colours work better, I can't get it to work with darker colours yet. Then you give it a drybrush with a much lighter tone (not white or anything, but maybe Tau Light Ochre. I honestly can't remember which colours I used here.) This needs to be a very light, but sort of very persistent drybrush. So you really have hardly any paint on the brush at all, but you go at it, over the whole area, and from a variety of angles - this is key. You might start to see the beginning of the effect. Do another drybrush with an even lighter tone, even lighter strokes, starting to create the gradient, so mainly hitting the parts you would normally highlight such as the raised ridges in the cloak. Next you give it a wash. I always use a paint called Smokey Ink from the Vallejo Game Colour range. It's a magic paint. I think you might be able get the effect without the smokey ink but it seems to be much better with it. Basically, this paint has a slightly gritty texture. Not as much as something like Typhus Corrosion, it's much more subtle. Drybrushing over this is the main thing that creates that cracked leather effect. I think the paint is catching the edges of the grittiness, but this might be nonsense, and someone with more idea what they are doing like DV8 or QAR might arrive later to laugh at me. Try to make sure this wash doesn't pool and stain the mini, as this method makes it very difficult to sort that out if it happens. Once the wash is dry, go back to drybrushing with a highlight colour, but choose a different colour. It can be something similar, but varying it is key to creating the interest. drybrush on another brightest highlight, again choosing a slightly different colour to the last brightest highlight. Wash again in a different tone. Then finally drybrush back up in a couple of stages, with yet more varied tones. Than you should be done, although you can keep going back and forth between washing and drybrushing, it seems the more you do the better it looks. There's really no skill involved. One tip though - do this bit first and paint around it, or paint in sub-assemblies. You're going to hit everything around it as you can't do a targeted, dainty drybrush.
I feel like I promised to do a guide to this about a year ago, or maybe longer.
Why would anyone laugh? If something works it's not stupid! My Sanguinius entry last month featured stippling and drybrushing quite heavily, as did my bust of Manfred Von Richthofen a few months back.
I think there is a certain stigma against drybrushing. It’s one of the first techniques that new painters learn, so often thought of a just being for newbies. Real painters use layers and highlights for a more controlled, perfect effect /sarcasm. It is, of course, just another tool in the chest of ways to get effects. It can be overused, there are places where you could use other tricks for better results, but it has its place.
I use it a lot personally, but have replaced it in some places in my schemes.
And yes, that worn leather look could have come straight out of life. So there is -ZERO- shame in whatever it took to get there.
Ta for the writeup, felt. Sounds kind of similar (though a tad more technical/involved) to my usual method for rough fabrics and leathers, so I'll have to give it a go at some point!
And yeah, drybrushing rules, it's just a tool and it has many, many applications beyond Baby's First Space Marine (though I'm sure we've all got a heavily drybrushed one lying around somewhere! ) Same with washes, I think, so many people talk about glazes as basically straight-up superior, rather than just as another way achieving an effect. Techniques are tools, and the more tools you have, the better!
Sorry, DV8 and QAR, I know you wouldn't laugh really! I meant more at my cod-scientific explanation of the bristles hitting the edges of the gritty pigments, which sounded sort of daft when I typed it. I thought someone with more knowledge than me would probably instantly refute the theory, and you two are two of the most knowledgeable painters I know. I hope you didn't take offence, I really didn't mean any and unreservedly apologise.
I think there is a stigma around drybrushing in some circles, but I've not seen it on this forum. I don't think anyone here would cock a snook at any technique, would they? It's a tool for the armoury, and the more tools you have the better. Done well, it's surprisingly effective, and more versatile than you'd expect.
Yeah I have no issues with dry brushing as long as it's not the only technique you have, which to be fair goes for any technique really. And that chaplain looks sick.
I don’t think I’ll be able to get better pics between now and the close of the challenge, so if we can just use the ones previously posted that’ll be fine. If I get a chance to take better pics, I’ll post them.
Very much a last second entry from me in the absence of anything better, I'll throw in Batman. Not that scary to Gotham's law-abiding citizens, but then, 'criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot.'
After a marathon of painting I managed to finish him or it.
The idea behind the color scheme is that he was a human once so the skin on the chest is his legacy or something like that.
Cheers Chris56, a lovely colour transition on your wings.
Holy gak Modock that is just amazing.
Well I've got something done, I was staring at it while putting the pics together and couldn't work out why it didn't seem quite right them I released I should of painted the face white! (Idiot) too late now.
My final Pics for Pennywise the Grot (open to name suggestions as always)
Well since we got an extra day extension I got a chance to post final pics.
My submission was the three Predators from the AVP 1st edition board game. Since I got a little extra time I got the power lifter started. It still needs some detail work, but isn’t part of my submission. Added it to one photo for scale and overall coolness.
.
readfane unit I could paint.
, love the 
.
that is just amazing.