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Hey all,

Here is my first paint job - Deathwatch styled scouts (well just the one silver arm really)



black boots, black armor - very dark green fatigues and cloaks...

then here is my heresy mk v attempt... dont say a word about the legs - I KNOW IT SHOULD BE THE ONE WITHOUT KNEE PADS - my bad - it was late - its done now

the painting has potential and the sculpting is clean and nice.
try to use contrasts to make areas "pop". one thing i like to do when painting is this:
-spray black, make sure it covers ALL of the mini
-drybrush entire model with catachan green or scorched brown

this way all the detail will pop out and painting becomes easier and some details are already done! straps, pouches, belts and boots look good as is. the drybrush also makes black areas less flat but still black.
try it out and keep posting!

The sculpting is WAY better than I could do. The painting is clean but lacks some depth. I would suggest some drybrushing. A great start. Keep it up!

ender502

thanks for advice... yeh im not so hot with the painting yet... i used an ink/wash to darken crevases and shadowed areas - doesnt really come out in the pic... i actually wanted the scouts to be a bit dull - they're scouts damnit - not supposed to "pop" - they supposed to sneak about in the shadows...

the highlighting - i tried that on another model - while trying to figure out flesh (aaargh) im going to need a lot of practice.
drybrushing - tried a bit of that - but im not very good at it.

their rifles are actually drybrushed as is their silver arms - though its barely noticeable... practice i guess.

thanks though for the words!

ironKing wrote:thanks for advice... yeh im not so hot with the painting yet... i used an ink/wash to darken crevases and shadowed areas - doesnt really come out in the pic... i actually wanted the scouts to be a bit dull - they're scouts damnit - not supposed to "pop" - they supposed to sneak about in the shadows...

the highlighting - i tried that on another model - while trying to figure out flesh (aaargh) im going to need a lot of practice.
drybrushing - tried a bit of that - but im not very good at it.

their rifles are actually drybrushed as is their silver arms - though its barely noticeable... practice i guess.

thanks though for the words!

The key to dry brushing it to have as little paint on the brush as possible. Way better to do 100 strokes of the brush than 30. Well, that's an exageration but you get what I mean.

When doing Camo, I would suggest looking at Migsula's Imperiual guard. They have a great camo scheme yet DO "pop." I know it sounds wierd....

ender502

The scouts are looking good, but the lighting is making it hard to pick out much of the detail work you've done.

I have to counter the idea to drybrush, I've done it myself but also have learned that actually painting the metals normally tends to give you a cleaner more satisfactory result. I would definitely do a few black washes of the metals and then highlight with the base metal color you've used here.

As to highlighting, you really don't have to highlight to the 'pop' (I really hate that word at this point x.x), just enough to give your models a bit of depth. pick out a slightly lighter color, or mix your base color with bleached bone or white (in VERY small amounts if you use white) and use that to breath some life into your models.

They are looking good, and are a great start! Keep it up and try new techniques any chance you get ^_^.

ender502 wrote:
The key to dry brushing it to have as little paint on the brush as possible. Way better to do 100 strokes of the brush than 30. Well, that's an exageration but you get what I mean.

When doing Camo, I would suggest looking at Migsula's Imperiual guard. They have a great camo scheme yet DO "pop." I know it sounds wierd....

ender502

a link?? plse?

http://www.pbase.com/migsula

That's his pbase account. Or at least one of them. He does great work.

ender502

Honestly, I have to advise against dry brushing everything. Which is wierd, because I used to be a huge proponant of it. What I am doing now is easier and less messy, and looks a bit better (though I do dry brush a bit).

My general practice is to prime black, then add a base color just a little darker than I want it to end up. I try and leave the black in crevices, but even if I get some of the darker color in, it isn't a tragedy. Then I whip out the detail brush and a color that is a shade or so lighter than what I want, and edge just about everything with it. Then I lick the end of the brush and apply a muccous glaze over the central parts of the item, to get a general fade from the bright edges to the center. You can also use water if you are not a barbarian mountain man like me.
A lot of the time, that is plenty. I sometimes add a third highlight, but not always. Look at my "Paterno's Lions" thread in WIP. The tau are done with two layers, the marines with 3, the third only being on places where light would reflect. It is faster than dry brushing because it is easier to control, and it doesn't give that dusty look, but a more smooth transition.

If you look at the scouts though, their cloaks were dry brushed to look rough and clothy, with only the brightest highlights painted in. the rest of them use drawn on highlights.

Wehrkind wrote:
It is faster than dry brushing because it is easier to control, and it doesn't give that dusty look, but a more smooth transition.

If you look at the scouts though, their cloaks were dry brushed to look rough and clothy, with only the brightest highlights painted in. the rest of them use drawn on highlights.

I think it really depends on the look you are going for. I like drybrushing because it does give a dirty and worn look. What I like to do is have no less than two layers of drybrushing that get progressively lighter in color and consistency.

I do suggest you try blending and bright lining. They may give you results that you really like.

ender502

Wehrkind wrote:Honestly, I have to advise against dry brushing everything. Which is wierd, because I used to be a huge proponant of it. What I am doing now is easier and less messy, and looks a bit better (though I do dry brush a bit).

My general practice is to prime black, then add a base color just a little darker than I want it to end up. I try and leave the black in crevices, but even if I get some of the darker color in, it isn't a tragedy. Then I whip out the detail brush and a color that is a shade or so lighter than what I want, and edge just about everything with it. Then I lick the end of the brush and apply a muccous glaze over the central parts of the item, to get a general fade from the bright edges to the center. You can also use water if you are not a barbarian mountain man like me.
A lot of the time, that is plenty. I sometimes add a third highlight, but not always. Look at my "Paterno's Lions" thread in WIP. The tau are done with two layers, the marines with 3, the third only being on places where light would reflect. It is faster than dry brushing because it is easier to control, and it doesn't give that dusty look, but a more smooth transition.

If you look at the scouts though, their cloaks were dry brushed to look rough and clothy, with only the brightest highlights painted in. the rest of them use drawn on highlights.

yeh i guess i will try that highlighting / edging technique - will give the scouts a going over and post again - hope i dont wreck them... im going to drybrush their cloaks and hoods - to get the rough clothy effect... then i will edge their boots and armor and do the old spit thing on their cloth parts to fade the cloth highlights...

btw one of my many nicknames is "mountain man"... then there's "crusty sailor" and a few others written in the black tongue which i'll not utter here

"Barbarian mountain man" is one of my wife's appelations for me. When she isn't calling me "Irish cream" that is.
Apparently Allentown is a far cry from the shining beacon of civilization that is Hong Kong. We don't even know how to eat dog properly. :-P

whu is in hongkong

no, really... who IS in hongkong... hahahahahah

really though - whats with the Hong Kong comment? im south african, rough coarse unpolished cape town dwelling guy... we eat dried strips of meat for fun and chase around oddly shaped leather balls - although the latter involves a lot of running into each other.

bygones. gonna try some tekni-cues on my guys tomorrow. oh and maybe im just being a dumb brute - but i cant seem to find any scouts on that guys site?

thanks all

IronKing-

Had you considered guitar wire as exposed cable? It comes in different widths so you can use it for a variety of projects.

ender502

ender502 wrote:IronKing-

Had you considered guitar wire as exposed cable? It comes in different widths so you can use it for a variety of projects.

ender502

hahaha - i just spoke about guitar wires in your post about librarians - i find it impossible - keeps bouncing away. but then i only have old steel strings off my guitar - maybe if i got a thick wirewrapped nylon it would work.

I couldn't be bothered to get guitar wire just for this, so what I did was just get a length of stiff-ish wire and a longer length of more malleable wire, clamp them in a jeweller's saw (with one end of the malleable wire free) and just coil it around tightly by hand. It worked well enough.

ironKing wrote:

ender502 wrote:IronKing-

Had you considered guitar wire as exposed cable? It comes in different widths so you can use it for a variety of projects.

ender502

hahaha - i just spoke about guitar wires in your post about librarians - i find it impossible - keeps bouncing away. but then i only have old steel strings off my guitar - maybe if i got a thick wirewrapped nylon it would work.

use the one with a SINGLE metal core. this you can bend into shape and it will stay in shape. it wont pop out
my tip for effective drybrushing is using a big artists brush, one about 10mm wide with pig bristles. biol some water and dip it in the hot water for ten seconds and it will become some and ALOT better. these brushes are dirt cheap too! wash them with water and soap after each paintingsession though.

did a touch of drybrushing on the dark green part of scouts - it looks a little better - but the pics dont show it up so no use posting...

started with my first 5 deathwatch style marines... will post as soon as im done.

that already looks better than most people. I am sure you will make a great painter one day. Just keep pushing yourself and practicing until you find the techniques that work best for you.

Well done. Very good idea but you should improve the sculpting work. Anyway VERY good if it's the first time