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Thanks again LT. Ja, and the rust is the easiest part.

Thanks York'.
The rust is easy, but multi-stage (can't quickly give you translations to GW colours as I think in colours not names, at the most I can give Humbrol numbers, see below):
First, basecoat in a red-brown (you can see it in earlier pictures),
Then a black wash to deepen the recesses and shade details etc.
Then mix some more red-brown with a little more red in... AND add some fine grit to the paint (I use finely crushed dried paint, but fine sand or similar will do), use this to add texture to the surfaces/corners,
Highlight the texture with orange, and maybe a few blobs here and there,
Add a red wash to certain areas (not all over) and/or some brown to tone down the orange if you got carried away at that stage,
Then a blue-purple wash in other areas,
For these two washes don't be afraid to splash it about and rub some off with your finger, it's all about giving an uneven colour across the whole piece.
Maybe some more orange highlights if you like, keep them small.

Then, usually I will do some dry-brushing of gunmetal and silver to show the rust being worn off the metal, but I'm not doing that for these as they are all about the rust and decay.

For a more in-depth tutorial about rust have a look at my Sprue-hut tutorial. There is a whole section about painting the rusty roof with paint colours, numbers and GW translations.
==>https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545398.page#5935106 Still the most exalted tutorial on DDakka.

Yorkright wrote: ... Cloak turned out very grimy on the champion and the plasma marine.

Yeah, I wanted the cloth to look rough and dirty. Thanks.

Horns done, teeth done, skulls mostly done:
Some of the shading on the white on bone doesn't show up well in the photos, I've done my best to adjust them.














Next to do is the rotting flesh on the various plague grenades (and other hanging heads),
Then brass bits,
Then smoke,
Then anything I've forgotten,
Then bases...

Thanks for the tips Doc, I just finished putting together the lord of contagion I may try some of those rust techniques with him.

My favorites are still the grenade thrower (1st guy) and the plasma dude with the one eye. His pic really showed that eyeball off this time .

Coming along really nicely Doc colours look suitably disgusting.

Nice blending on the horns too.

No prob' York'.
Rust, like wood, can have much more variation in colour/tone than you might expect without REALLY looking at it.
Ask someone that hasn't had cause to study rust, what's the colour of rust? and they will generally tend to a single colour: red-brown, or orange, etc...
But pull up a Google for rust and look closely at the specific colours involved and you will see reds, browns, orange, yellow, blue, purple, black (even other colours if more materials are involved)... sometimes all on the same piece.

Patchiness and unevenness in the finish is something you want for rust (and wood; see the Hut tutorial), unlike how you might normally paint a model; which is usually all about a smooth even finish that you may then go on to weather.
It's very forgiving, just keep poking and splashing paint on it until it looks right.

Thanks Theo'. I do like number 5 myself (plasma), just something about that blank stare of the one eye.
Getting the right angle for photos of these is really challenging. The final photoshoot is going to be a pain.

Thanks OMN. Good of you to say about the horns, from some angles it looks like I've just dry-brushed black on the tips, but they are all carefully blended from bone through brown to black. They will get a satin varnish at the end though, that'll make them look nicer.

No updates without photos...
Progress on the grenades and various skulls/heads:
I say "progress" as I'm not entirely happy with a couple of them, need a bit more "green-ness"... maybe. Going to see how I feel about them tomorrow.


Onwards...

Not really into Chaosy minis, but that rust effect is...erm, amazingly rusty... good job

...REALLY looking at it (rust)...

Staring at rust? You need a Dr. Or a hobby. Ahh, OK, you are one, and got the other. OK then, forget what I said...



Looking greater yet!

Thanks Ruglud. I've also not been much of a fan of GW's chaos aesthetic of spikes and skulls (although they put skulls on pretty much all of their mini's), as well as the quite regimented armies; to me, neatly lined up troops do not say "chaos".
But these nurgle mini's (together with my additions) are pretty close to how I see the forces of chaos, in a more mainstream way... you've seen what I really believe a chaos force should look like in my personal (mad) army blog.
Superficially the same as non-chaos, but actually corrupted and deformed. Not just with added spikes.
I certainly prefer these models to those of Dark Vengeance. The details on these seem to have meaning, whereas the DV mini's were just covered in meaningless spiky details that just made them busy/fussy looking models.
However, I've not come to the bigger / leader mini's yet, I may still change my tune...

But a good opportunity for lots of rust, and that's always a good thing.

Thank you LT
I am trained to study things closely, and have always had that mindset.
I saw a programme once that was about artists, and compared them to non-artists. One point they made was that when a non-artist looks up at the sky (a clear blue sky) they see it as just blue; a single blue colour from one horizon to the other. An artist will admire the range in blue shades, and that is why that when they paint a blue sky and spend hours blending shades of blue, it looks like the sky and not a blue area.
They went into more detail in the programme, but they did point out that this can be learnt.

And thinking like that will really help with painting your models. This is why we blend, highlight, shade, dry-brush and weather our models.

Thanks.

I added more greenness to the heads and I've verdigris-ed the brass (like the rusty metal, it's more verdigris than brass):














Ta.

Tentacle cups and smoky bits...
Finally remembered to paint the tentacle cups that I added to the two of them.
And I've painted up the smoke for the three that have some, gone for dirty black smoke.
And I've attached the fly to the squad leader / champion; he calls it "Polly". (and just in time for talk-like-a-pirate-day)



Plasma glow / smoke and slimy bits to do, and I'll probably start on the bases tomorrow too.

It has been a little while since I dropped in and i'm glad it's taken me so long! it meant I had more to look at and admire! I haven't been overly fond of the newer GW models but the Nurgle stuff has for the most part interested me quite a bit, and to see it done so well is amazingly cool! the rust as already said is brilliant and gives them a real corroded aspect they need, it would be a great technique to use on the entirety of a model with some 'brushed off to silver' as a highlight of sorts? but to juxtapose the dry heavy rust have some rents in the armour leaking a fluid of some colour (or colours)

each and every one you've done so far is a small work of wonder and I am waiting to see more done soon! bloody good job dude!

Yup agree, these are above and beyond, really amazing work.

Really nasty. Really lovely. Can I suggest lime green, rather than purple, for plasma glow?

Very nice rust effects, just need oozing puss to totally complete the nastiness

Thanks Nerdy. Great to hear. Yeah the sculpts are not bad, as mentioned earlier.

A fully rusty model is a cool idea. I'll have to file that away for the future.

Thanks Cam'.

Thanks Graven'.
You can suggest anything you like... (nah, I do like to receive suggestions)
Can't do bright green as the planned goo is to be a bright green/yellow, and I think the plasma should be distinct from that to avoid confusion.
Why "rather than purple", is that the typical Nurgle plasma colour?
For plasma I typically do blue, as I like blue and it also fits with how I see superheated plasma from a science perspective (the hotter stars get the bluer they get and stars are big balls of plasma).
and, well... see below.

Thanks Shas'. Yes, puss and goo to be added as the final step (as it runs over everything else).

As I said, plasma... to me... is blue.
This also helps to make the plasma gunner stand out on the tabletop as the blue contrasts with the green/brown of the whole squad.
And however hard you might try, you can't make plasma "dirty", and this is shown nicely with the clean, bright blue.

The flame has been painted as flame, just using blues instead of reds/orange/yellow. Hot on the inside, almost smoky on the outside.


Bases are underway, and goo to follow...

Stellar job on the plasma and flames.

Blue is good. I just have purple in my head as a contrasting colour I guess.

Great job with the blue glow effect, very energetic.

Love the plasma gun and effect! Well done!

Thanks Gits'.

Thanks Graven'. Fair enough, green and purple is a good combination. Hadn't thought about it, it was always going to be blue for me...
When it comes to things like this, plasma, purity seals, etc. I always have a set colour that they are and I don't consider how they would match the rest of the colour scheme.
They are kind of constant. You get to choose what colour your armour is, maybe even your gun and your favourite hat. But plasma is plasma, purity seals are always made with the same wax, mud is always brown... except when it isn't (red mars, for example)...
If they clash, they clash, it's more "real world" to me that way; a little less perfect.

Thanks Theo'.

Thanks enDo40k.

Big bags of grass... are what I've been playing with today.
These chaps are very near finished, so no full shots, just sneak peeks to show the method.

I started the bases with a layer of water-filter charcoal,
I then added a sprinkle of crushed dried-paint to break up the uniform structure of the charcoal and add a few "rocks",
That was then painted as muddy rocks: Brown, dry-brush light brown, d-b' sand, d-b' light grey. (see first picture below),
Then, starting in the photos below, I added a line of glue (with added brown craft paint) and sprinkled on the "dead" static grass using an empty washing-up liquid bottle as an applicator,
Then, added more glue around this line and added the "summer" static grass.
Done.



The difference between the dead and summer (the brightest of the 4 bags I bought) is not so stark on the models as I'd hoped.
Once the glue has dried, I'll have a look and see if I can do something to deaden (dead-ify) it some more and then paint the base edges black and they're done.

Proper photos soon...ish.

Very cool idea.

Oh man, awesome stuff in here. I'm loving the matte and dusty look on those DG.

Some weathering powders on the bases can go a long way to make it look more lifeless and dusty.

Bases look good, just throwing this out there make the grass around their feet look like its dying or withering away. It looks a little to healthy if the death guard where tromping about.

Looking forward to some proper photos.

Thanks Gits', and I got it to work in the end.

Thanks Meph. They're not all matt, there are a few glossy and satin finishes to certain parts... for added "eww!"
If I had weathering powders, I may have tried them. But some brushing over it seems to have worked fine.

Thanks York'. Yes, that was the idea. This is why I added the grass in two steps.

The "dead" grass now looks distinct as I brushed over it with some brown and then "bone" paint. This may have also removed some of the "summer" grass that might have stuck to the "dead" grass when that was sprinkled on (and therefore making it more green). Whatever it was, the grass now looks like I intended; dying around the marine's feet and leaving bare, dead earth behind.

Somewhere close to 70 photos later, the final show is ready (I went through the photos so you don't have to see all 70)...

The squad:


#1; the grenade guy.
Mostly minor changes; fixes to casting limitations (something done to pretty much all of them, as was adding / improving the damage to their armour), added a 3rd "eye", some smoke for his grenade, and changing the metal tabard for part cloth.

One thing my mum said while I was showing her the grass was "is that a cigarette butt under his foot?"
If you look under his rear foot, there is something that looks just like a butt. Not intended, but it just goes to show how disgusting these guys are; not only are they filthy, disease-ridden, plague carriers, they also smoke and litter with reckless abandon.

#2; the champion.
Quite a few changes; the fly was moved from attached to a horn to sitting on his shoulder, the things dangling from his hood were removed and many tentacles added, and his arm was reposed.


#3; "there goes the hernia" guy.
Repositioned the gun arm to be aiming, changed the tentacle / tongue from the belly to spilling flesh and removed the teeth from the armour break, changed the smiling face on the left shoulder to a skull, and added some tentacles.


#4; bell guy.
Reposed the sword arm, added a tentacle and swapped backpack to make him less bell orientated.


#5; plasma guy.
Added plasma flame, swapped backpack, moved sword, and added tentacles.


#6; Spiky dave.
Changed tongue from shoulder pad mouth, changed tentacle on left leg, added tentacle with bell to backpack, moved sword to stick through (new) hole in cloak, and changed horns on helmet for spikes.


#7; Smokey pete.
Moved a few minor things, and added smoke.


And there you go. My first nurgle miniatures ever, with my first use of static grass.
The second set of models from the Dark Imperium set, there'll be something primaris next time.
Let me know what you think, zoom in on the photos, and vote on them (it doesn't take long to click on 10 and 10).

I'll have these up in my Etsy shop soon, so dust off your wallets.

Nice job with the dying grass about their ....feet? Hooves? Appendages . They have turned out great

They look great Dr H, the bases are exceptional with the bright vibrant grass contrasting with the dead and dying vegetation behind the DG.

The figures are stunning... but those bases really send them out of this world! Congratulations... excellent work!

Thanks Theo'. One of them, Grenade guy, certainly has a hoof. The other's have kept whatever they have inside their boots (which have a distinct hoof-like look).

Thanks York'. Glad it comes across.

Thanks Gits'. Yeah, it just helps to sell the very nature of "plague marines".

And they are now up in my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/559980071/death-guard-plague-marine-squad-unique?ref=shop_home_active_1

With the added effort in the conversion and basing of these, I feel it's time to push for a bit more of what I'm owed for my time.
The price seems eye-watering to me, and I'm selling them... but time is money and these took over 38 hours...
So, open up those wallets and fight off the moths.

Spiky Dave rules! Love them. Charge what you would bro. Lots of work there.

Awesome work! Those guys look like if you pick them up they will give you some form of disease, and add Tetanus with all that rust!

Well, I'm thoroughly revolted...

... iin the best possible way