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I've been painting miniatures on and off for about 18 years and has mostly been done on the basis of "that'll do". For a bit of fun, myself and Arakasi have started going to the Masterclasses being put on by GW to see what we could learn. The first one was the Tank masterclass, which covered transfers and vehicle weathering (more details in my guard blog). All of it great fun and very useful for my Guard force. So when the opportunity came up to attend the 'Eavy Metal one last weekend we jumped at the chance.

Forgeworld clearly want things to look good on the tabletop and fairly realistic with lots of weathering, chipping and stains while not taking forever to paint it, which fits my current style nicely, but wasn't all that great for doing one off figures or special things for other people.

The Forgeworld guys were joking that if Eavy Metal ever did a masterclass it would take all day to paint one jewel. By lunchtime we'd done the white leg and nothing else... so they weren't far off! Each of the figures on the Greatsword box cover took a day... and that's their basic standard. A character would have between 3 and 5 days solid painting done on it... for a competition you'd be expected to spend even longer. If you've seen Eavy Metal miniatures in person, the highlights are over the top and don't always look all that realistic. The reasoning behind this is quite clever when you stop to think about it. When you take a photograph, the colour contrasts are toned down slightly so the extra level of highlights are there to counter this.

So what did I learn from the weekend? Basically I need to practice lots and take my time. I've always looked at the WD articles and meant to go back and give them all a try, but never do. On the long drive home from Nottingham I decided that as I don't really need another army and that I'm excessively fickle, I should actually take the time to go back and re-learn how to paint from the ground up.

Currently I just make up things as I'm painting, so the lighting is never quite right, so the other half of this re-learning experience is to research things properly, so expect lots of reference images to go with the painting.

For a starter image, here's what I did on the masterclass. As you can see, we didn't actually get to finish the model as there was too much to go through. Mine is ahead of most though as technically we skipped red... I was just messing around while waiting for the Eavy Metal guys to carry on. I think it's come out nicely though and, surprisingly, matched the recipie they suggested using. It needs some more contrast to get to their standard though.

The black slashes in the white leggings just look wrong and should have been dealt with as shadows... still. Lesson learnt and filed away for next time.



I think the first thing to look at should be shiny black armour so I can do some more of this figure.

I took a look at your gallery. You have forgotten more about painting than I have ever learned. While I understand and respect your desire to achieve the highest standard you are capable of, you are already "sitting at the front of the class" so to speak.

That was an interesting read. I actually have wondered what it must be like to sit with people that paint at that level. Now I have a better idea, albeit via 3rd party.

Subbed because I'm interested in seeing where this goes.

You actually beat me to a write-up by 4 days. When I saw this just now, I was scared I just doubled up on your post! Looking forward to seeing where this goes - may even follow along in practice and not just in spirit - depends on how my Orks progress I guess (BTW - Your Great Sword looks *much* better than mine!)

Interesting thread i also agree your painting standard is awesome in particular your vehicle weathering(damn you)is top drawer.Its refreshing to hear a skilled painter admit they still have lots to learn,cinsider me subscribed.

Have to say I prefer non-'eavy metal style of painting - probably for the reasons you stated - takes a lot less time and looks better/more realistic in the flesh.

Though it would be interesting to see you paint the same model in 'EM and your normal style so we can get a better idea of where the differences lie

I apologise to all 5 readers for forgetting about this thread! Thanks for all the compliments
It's time to resurrect it as I'm starting to get too many painting questions over in Panic's Pimp my sorcerer thread.

The original plan to start re-learning with black armour went out the window when I joined Panic's competition and my pet inquisitor started coming together. I need to set up my lightbox somewhere at home properly so I can take lots of step by step photos as I'm going without having to rely upon natural lighting

First up we've got the WIP photos/evolution of my Inquisitor:



And here's the first photos of paint


Imperial Monkey was asking how I did the eyes to make them look bruised. I started off with the scarring, which was thinned Dark Flesh. After this were a few layers washes of Dark Flesh, Gryphonne Sepia and Leviathan Purple. What's not really visible in that picture is the red/purple wash on the lips and a red wash on the nose. They were probably a tad too subtle.
Simply adding a little bit of purple wash in the eye sockets adds a bit of life to the face.

I quite like Silver's idea of comparing my old style with the Eavy Metal style. I've plenty of guard models kicking around that need painting... so I guess that can be added to the list of projects to do.

So what's on the schedule so far?
1) Finish the inquisitor
2) Try and finish the Hybrid that I'm also doing for the competition... though this one is doubtful as there's still loads of greenstuff work to do (photos tonight)
3) Finish Gits' GMS Marine. It's nearly done... I just need to do the weathering on him
4) Finish Graven's GMS marine... it's about 50% done
5) Finish the Secret Project
6) 1/48 scale Spitfire for my dad. This should be a nice little project doing a historical paint scheme. It also means I can revisit all the weathering techniques and (hopefully) airbrushing
7) Compare and contrast Old style Vs Eavy Metal style Guardsmen
8) ... pick something from my Scorpions or Guard to build. There's plenty of half finished items in both armies

Looks stunning from the very start...

You should link that thread in your sig : I would've come earlier!

It's only just started, so I'll add it now

tonight's painting session will be... Gold!

Silver is better

Obviously not in it's first incarnation though ;p

endtransmission wrote:Obviously not in it's first incarnation though ;p

That goes without saying

I managed to get more than just the gold done last night, which probably says I'm not doing the gold enough justice...

Sorry about the shonky photos, I just thought a quick update was in order


The gold is an attempt at the MNMM (metallic non metallic metallic) style used by the Eavy Metal team:

Shining gold/scorched brown mix
wash with Gryphonne sepia
blend back up to shining gold
blend up to shining gold
paint watered down scorched brown into the shadows
paint watered down scorched brown/black into the deepest shadows
finish with very thin Mithril silver highlight

OMG...

Definitely outstanding...

When I scrolled down to the first picture of the Inquisitor I actually went "ooooh" out loud The painting on the robes is fantastic and subtle too! Nice.

Sadly, the light is actually doing me some favours in those photos as the sun was coming straight at the model... I'll try and do a lightbox update over the weekend so you can actually see what's paint and what's actual shadow

Somehow I missed the gold pics the first time, then only on my iPhone... now that I can see them better - it is coming together really nicely! For some reason it reminds me of a Greatsword though...

I can't imagine why :p

As I promised, here's a better photo of the Inquisitor so far.



There are a few things I need to sort out:

1) Staff colour. Most likely brown, but this may look dull compared to the rest of the model
2) The psycannon. More metal might look out really boring, but I can't think of anything else...
3) scrolls. I need to find a very thin pen to start scroll work.
4) Sword. Metal or glowing blue?
5) Eventually weathering the robes

The Hybrid is still being worked on, but I'm not sure he's going to be finished for the competition... the greenstuff is taking too long to cure.


Next up is Gits' GMS so far. I really need to finish this and Graven's soon as they have been sitting around half finished for ages!


And finally, because I need some advice on colours, I can reveal a Sekrit Project I've been working on for Arakasi. He's plotting to build a Dark Eldar army at some point in the future with a really interesting theme, but I'm not going to reveal that to you as that's his sekrit. I joked that his Scourges should be painted like canaries, but when I got home our local wildlife provided some excellent inspiration. My only issue is that I can't work out what colour to paint the guns. Black looks boring and other colours would out of place next to them... bone is about the only colour I can think of. What do you lot think?

Nice progress! I don't think the black is a good choose for the trim marking of the =I=s cape thug. The cape being fairly dark to begin with, I think you'd be better going towards lighter shade than the base. A golden hue perhaps.

Looking forward to more.

migs

Thanks for the suggestion! It would certainly make it more obvious that there is a trim on the red (I assume you mean on the red?)

Dude,

it is inspiring to know that there are actually some people out there with the time to indulge in what for me is merely a fantasy...


keep it up! ...please...

Nice stuff. This looks like it'll be an interesting read.

For the DE guns how about leaving them black but ading extreme highlights in a blue or turquoise?

Love the hawkmen...



Hawkman Brian Blessed approves

Genius! What a great way to improve one's painting. I'm also very impressed with the way you put together the Inquisitor. Did you ever describe how you made that happen?

bone weapons on them would look great!

Fantastic paint work, your pimped sorcerer is epic!!! could be the winner

Your painting is awesome. The white of the cloak is fantastic, and i really really really love the bird wings on your DE.

And i hate to be this guy, but the helmet on the base of your inquisitor has a mould line running down the side Dont hate me!

If you are trying the gold freehand on the robes I'd suggest a mix of shining gold and bronzed flesh for the base coat.
I used that mix on the banner on my rogue inquisitor from UKGD 2006. The addition of Bronzed flesh dulls the shine and makes the paint cover far better.
Subtle highlights can be made adding shining gold and mithrill to the mix.

If you are great at fineline stuff you could go for a black pattern with thin golden borders towards the red background colour.

Those scourges look awesome,keep up the good work mate.

Thanks for the encouragement, it's nice to see some of my inspirations reading the thread and commenting

monkeytroll wrote:For the DE guns how about leaving them black but ading extreme highlights in a blue or turquoise?

imperial monkey wrote:bone weapons on them would look great!

I'm not a huge fan of the Tron look, so I think I'm going to stick with the bone idea for now. I need to put together a test model first though so I can try it out in safety without having to repaint parts of these guys. I'm wondering if a white base with thin washes might be better than starting off with a beige and working in the shadows and highlights? Much like Migsula's style... or if this will just look out of place with the thicker colours of the current paint job?

JB wrote:Did you ever describe how you made that happen?

I didn't list the parts for the inquisitor, no. They are: Chaos Sorcerer body & chest plate; Grey knight power armour left falchion and hand; grey knight power armour psychic hood; grey knight power armour staff; grey knight power armour armourless head; forgeworld space marine bionic left arm; Cadian grenade throwing right arm; Cadian hostile environment flamer fuel tank (on his back); empire general's cape; forgeworld RT era bolt pistol and various sundry pouches, seals and gubbins. There's very little in the way of chopping, other than getting rid of the chaos symbols and making the cloak and psychic hood fit... it all went together nicely. The only greenstuff was around the top of the cape to blend it in properly.

matrim wrote:And i hate to be this guy, but the helmet on the base of your inquisitor has a mould line running down the side Dont hate me!

There's no hate, I'd spotted that in the photo too. The actual mould line was shaved off, but there is a tiny crease in the model to one side of where the line was, which I hadn't spotted before undercoating. I'll go back and fill that in, or add some more battle damage

jrn wrote:If you are trying the gold freehand on the robes I'd suggest a mix of shining gold and bronzed flesh for the base coat.
I used that mix on the banner on my rogue inquisitor from UKGD 2006. The addition of Bronzed flesh dulls the shine and makes the paint cover far better.
Subtle highlights can be made adding shining gold and mithrill to the mix.

If you are great at fineline stuff you could go for a black pattern with thin golden borders towards the red background colour.

Thanks for the tips. The gold on the main armour was mixed with Dark Flesh to start with; I'll give Bronzed flesh a try on the cloak and see how it differs in coverage. I'm not that great at freehand stuff, but it's something I need to try and learn... so what better place to try it out. I'll try your suggestion of thin gold lines either side of the black as that would certainly make the current pattern pop a bit more.