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Hey all!

So I've been dabbling in a few different things recently, and wanted some input before I continue on.

First up is a Tau Fire Warrior. I like him but my buddy thinks he is too dark and doesn't look like the models in the book. Personally I don't ever want anything of mine to look like something in one of the books, but to each his own. What do y'all think?





Next is a Kroot, and I really like the way he turned out. I am actually thinking of doing the Kroot mercs, yawn I know, but I just really like these guys, they are fun to paint.





Last up is a Dark Elf. I think he's unique and interesting, and I think once he is ranked up with his spear armed buddies the scheme will be ace. I dunno though, is he too "bright" for a "Dark" Elf?



And if you like photoshopped 80,000 point apocalypse battles in basement, head on over to my site! I've been working on this for a little while now, and despite not knowing anything about photoshop I thought most of them came out pretty cool. I took 85 pics from out Apoc game and the battlefleet gothic game and worked them in a little storyline to chronicle the 13 hours of gaming on a 17' foot table in our basement housing 14 superheavies. http://www.40kbasement.com Let me know what you think!

Ok, I'm bumping my own thread because no one told me if my dark elf sucks or not, but the guy asking about glue got a ton of responses, lol!

So I'd be thrilled if I could get just a little feedback before I start an entire army of these guys in that scheme.

Is it that bad? Has it been done many times before and I just don't know about it?

If I get another hundred views and no replies, I give up!

I really like the carapace of the Tau and the Kroot completely. I think the highlights on both the Pulse Rifle's black parts and the Elf's black armor could be less bold, or atleast built up more gradually.

No offense, I don't like any photo shopped battle reports (no one ever seems to do it well IMO) so I'll avoid commenting too negatively on that. The original pictures look good tho.

I meant to comment on this yesterday, but got swamped at work ^_-. People need savin and the like!

I really like much of what you're putting up here. I think your line highlights could use some work though. They're a bit chunky and there is really no need to pick out EVERY edge you see when you go about it. Just picking out a few high points or detail spots as you go about highlighting is normally more than enough to get the effect you want and not go overboard.

The skin on the kroot looks very nice. Is this also a two paint color? If so, the paints you used and the method of application here is spot on. I'd highly recommend using much the same technique as you have there with other surfaces.

As for the dark elf, this scheme could possibly work, but you're going to want more color build up/variation on that yellow. And again, the black seems overhighlighted and chunky. I'd build up from an orange, or even do a wash to help bring the yellow down a bit and add some details back into the figure. The metals are also VERY bright and definitely couldn't hurt to tone them down a bit with a heavy badab black wash.

Smashotron wrote:I really like the carapace of the Tau and the Kroot completely. I think the highlights on both the Pulse Rifle's black parts and the Elf's black armor could be less bold, or atleast built up more gradually.

No offense, I don't like any photo shopped battle reports (no one ever seems to do it well IMO) so I'll avoid commenting too negatively on that. The original pictures look good tho.

None taken! Believe me, I know they weren't done well, lol.

These were all test models, so highlights were a bit fugly.

I really like much of what you're putting up here. I think your line highlights could use some work though. They're a bit chunky and there is really no need to pick out EVERY edge you see when you go about it. Just picking out a few high points or detail spots as you go about highlighting is normally more than enough to get the effect you want and not go overboard.

The skin on the kroot looks very nice. Is this also a two paint color? If so, the paints you used and the method of application here is spot on. I'd highly recommend using much the same technique as you have there with other surfaces.

As for the dark elf, this scheme could possibly work, but you're going to want more color build up/variation on that yellow. And again, the black seems overhighlighted and chunky. I'd build up from an orange, or even do a wash to help bring the yellow down a bit and add some details back into the figure. The metals are also VERY bright and definitely couldn't hurt to tone them down a bit with a heavy badab black wash.

Hey, no problem, saving people is more important than replying to my whining, but I appreciate it none the less!

True, my highlights are thick, I used a larger brush than I needed, so it will be better next go round.

The kroot was khemri brown with a heavy wash of devlan mud, then straight khemri brown again for the highlights. In case you haven't noticed, I am having a love affair with devlan mud wash.

Yup yup, metal on the dark elf is bad, that will be remedied. The yellow is rough. I started with iyanden darksun, then golden and sunburst yellow. Both the regular paints are very thin. Are you talking about washing the shield or the robes, or both? And if so, with what wash?

Tau actually does look like the ones in the books to me, maybe its the desert scheme. I always have trouble highlighting black too, mine always look so cartoony. I always go back with the black to thin the lines abit. Kroot is awesome though, the best one I think.

It is pretty bright for a dark elf but hey I'm painting my elves orange and blue! I'll reserve judgement till I see a finished model.
Look forward to seeing more.

Oh yeah, the battle reports made me chuckle, look abit like starcraft to me.

jedi76 wrote:Tau actually does look like the ones in the books to me, maybe its the desert scheme. I always have trouble highlighting black too, mine always look so cartoony. I always go back with the black to thin the lines abit. Kroot is awesome though, the best one I think.

It is pretty bright for a dark elf but hey I'm painting my elves orange and blue! I'll reserve judgement till I see a finished model.
Look forward to seeing more.

Oh yeah, the battle reports made me chuckle, look abit like starcraft to me.

Hmmm... reverse highlighting with black.... might have to try that. I suppose I could always hit the highlighted areas with badab as well, just to tone it down. Time to ruin a test model I think!

It is pretty bright, but I always enjoy painting unconventional things, and I figured that was way out there. I'm going to try and get an entire rank done soon, so I'll post again when they are done.

Thanks for the chuckle, that's all I try to get out of that site! 80%, maybe more of what I do is not to be taken seriously. Besides, I enjoy any chance I get to see my screaming head on a mini on the battlefield.

Overall, the colors selected work, but IMO the thing that brings the figures down is the edging. Your lines are much too thick and in the case of the grey, also too light, though this might be exaggerated by the thickness of the line. really work on getting these nice and crisp.

For the edging on the firewarrior just edge the upward facing edges and verticle ones.
Check out the 'regular' tau in the codex- they used vomit brown base and bleached for the highlight IIRC, and the dirstional edging looks much better than doing every surface.

Dark elf = too bright unless you are after a bumblebee theme.

Kroot = spot on except maybe a blend on the rifle stock is needed.

My only suggestion is to use a darker color to highlight the black.
Otherwise these look GREAT
Especially the kroot.

I like the 'Tron' effect going on with the Tau's gun!

The Kroot looks really nice too .. love the spines on the head and the overall look of the rifle. Any space there to drill out the barrel?

love it, jut think the lines on the pulse rifle are a little thick.
just a quick tidy up and it would look ace.

The yellow on the dark elf does not cause a problem for me.

However, the black needs some work (on Tau and Dark Elf). The highlights are too thick, they look like stripes where highlights should be. In order to paint black like that, the highlights need to be smaller.

You can accomplish this by touching up larger highlights with your original black also, or by applying it smaller, usually with the side of the brush held at an angle rather than the tip.

Also, for the kind of black you are painting, it is best to have a second highlight color- a lighter one. You place very small spots of it on the corners or other extreme spots along where you've already highlighted.

Your highlights altogether are a little thick, but for the most part it looks just fine. Only on the black does it detract from the mini's appearance.



That said, these minis look very good. They do not suck.

For RNF, the Dark Elf is fine. If you want a little more detail, use some thinned bestial brown to shade the recesses. A good easy yellow formula for black priming is is Bestial brown base coat, blend up highlights with yellow, bleached bone edging/points. Also, a wash of thinned black wouldn't hurt to bring out some detail on the chain armor and soften those armor highlights a bit.

I say go for the waspish black/yellow pattern. Heck, try a model with yellow edging on the black armor or alternating black yellow chestplates! Very comic book bad guy! Maybe they are the Hive and their Supreme Sorceress is their Queen.

The Kroot looks amazing, spot on with the skin on him (or it?).

I like you colour scheme for the Fire Warrior better than GWs Vomit brown scheme. Your highlighting is the only real problem i see.

If it gets crispened (is that a word?) they will look much better, and the stark highlight comments will go away, as a stark highlight can be done on black no problem, providing the highlight itself is very, very thin and only on the extreme edges of the armour/weapon/shield etc.

Kudos overall, they definitely do not suck

Your kroot warrior looks really good, but with the dark elf, that chains on his rob could be dry brushed over with a dark colour, id use black but thats up to you, it would make him look just that big bitter.

Otherwise thumbs up from me.

BDA

Hey thanks everyone for all the comments, I got a lot of good info out of it.

I will be certain to use my smaller brush next time I post pics of my highlighting, lol!

I'll put more up when I get a squad or two done.

I'm glad multiple people did not think my stuff sucks. It's always nice to know!

MegaDave wrote:

I will be certain to use my smaller brush next time I post pics of my highlighting, lol!

Now now, Megadave. Post with the computer, paint with the brush.

You don't necessarily need a smaller brush (I use a #2 for a lot of my edging) you just need to use the right parts of it. The flat edge of a larger brush is great for hitting sharp edges on armor and guns, particulary for Tau.