Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

That's good, I'd love to see them in the flesh! Good luck with it! How many are you planning on making, or are you just working on the go and seeing what happens?

You know I've never really liked those facemasks the bloodpact wear, I really hated the ones GW did on the Choas cultists for Mordheim.

But here Dante you've really pulled it off in a way that doesn't look cheesy or silly at all. They look intimidating and very much hannibal lecter inspired. Turning a concept from an illustration into physical three dimensional form without loosing the impact is veyr difficult and a real talent.

I also have to say that I love the chain axe trooper, fantastic pose and a really nice figure all round. I thought it looked good unpainted but it looks even better, amazing, painted. Wonderful work on the face and skin tones, the scar is particularly impressive!

Yes! New updates to my favorite project of yours.

The painting is really great -- what we have come to expect. I like the small touches, like the dried blood rivulets down the hand, and the Tanith emblazoned on the knife, suggesting the once loyal bendings turned corrupted.

The skin is brilliant, so subtle yet so convincing and realistic. The scar + blind eye combo adds a nicer decoration to the rest of the face, and contrasts well with the otherwise paler skin. Often people get it wrong by overdoing the bloodied skin, scars, SFX etc., but it seems tasteful (in a way) how you do did it.

Looking forward to further progress.

Peace.

sA

@ covenant - No solid plan but a minimum of 5 in mind. Will probably end up closer to 10 though. Just going with the flow at the moment.

@ Gundam-Mecha - Cheers mate. I know what you mean, I've seen some "blood pact" heads from a polish company that look terrible IMHO but seem to be quite popular. The faces are just so pudgy looking though, I'm trying to replicate the really evil, menacing look of the artwork. Glad you like it.

@smiling Assassin - Ta mate! I debated adding some more scars and blood spatters but I don't think it will look right. The axe head will get them and maybe the hand closest to the head but not keen on risking ruining the rest of the mini with it. Too often I've seen gorgeous mini's ruined by poor blood effects that are overdone.

Cheers,

Dante

Quick and dirty progress "teaser". Just 2 days to go until the comp so getting there. Still have the chainaxe and arm to do and need to finish the base and final highlight the fatigues.

Cheers,

Dante

I dig it man. Can't wait to see this bad boy finished up.

Superb work on the shoulder armor, Dante!

Looking forward to seeing the group photo.

Luverly.. it's tipping the balance for me to render some imagery on the Scythes as I produce each character. Being too Doctrine would end up with bland pieces.. thanks for inspiring me to do something graphic.

Here's to freehand, and such a fine example of it this is!

~ Tael.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

@Shas'El Tael - Yeah, since I only do one or two models every couple of months these days I like to try and inject some of the character from artwork into them. It's good fun and a good bit of practice for doing details!

Good news!....

Job done:






And a scale comparison shot of the "Dante Pattern Guardsman(TM)" along with a mocked up tank commander and old empire halberd from my attempt at doing an army when the new empire book came out. "You must be at least this tall to be Blood Pact!"


Quite pleased with how he has turned out. In the pics the arms were just popped in place, hence the gap between left arm and torso, they are properly in place now though so the gap is gone.

Unfortunately the lighting isn't great in a few of the pics so a lot of the work on the axehead and back have been lost in the images but you get the idea.

What I've learned from this model? I need to work on my metallics and freehanding more.

Anyway, let me know what you think. If anyone from here is going to Conflict Scotland tomorrow, I look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,

Dante

love it!!!! nuff said

Awesome. Great blood effects on the axe.

Is the base your own?

sA

Yep, the base was made using some different types of scatter and sand, some GS blocks and a few pieces of trimmed sprue to make extra blocks for the wall section. The razor wire is Eduard photo etch razor wire type 2.

Cheers,

Dante

Can't wait to see a complete squad of Blood Pact standing together!

Most impressive as usual, Dante!
When you get around finishing the gang (or at least 5 of them) I'd enter them at GD UK '09!

Good luck with the competition tomorrow!

That really is excellent. Well done.

Nice empire model btw. I really like the freehand on his tights.

Hello Everyone, first time poster here.
Dante:Nice models, really good work. I was wondering how you paint skin, as I am not to good at flesh, and I am trying to paint up some space marines.

Cheers,
Org.

Freakin' wow, I love it! The freehand on the shoulder pad looks great too! Tell us how you get on at Conflict Scotland mate! :]

Dante, that is just amazing!
Everything is just spot on.
You could have told me I was looking at a 54mm or larger figure and I would have believed it instantly.

Thanks for all the kind words and great support guys, much appreciated! Really has motivated me to get going with more of these guys in the coming weeks.

@Org - Welcome to Dakka mate. I think I posted this on the previous page but here you go:

"Hmm, wasn't so much of a recipe as a "I'll do this and see what happens" so it's quite complicated.

Basically the whole head was painted dheneb stone, then washed with 2 thin washes of baal red:devlan mud:griphone sepia. The skin was then highlighted with "juices" of dheneb stone. The areas round the eyes and mouth were then shaded with thin washes of hormagaunt purple mixed with a little charadon granite and tiny amount of dheneb. A final highlight of P3 menoth white/dheneb stone mix was then added."

I find I totally avoid GW's actual "flesh" colours these days, they're just too orangey for my taste. Dheneb Stone and Charadon Granite are probably two of my most commonly used colours now, Dheneb in particular is great for mixing into highlights for pretty much anything. Hormogaunt Purple is also nice to mix in for getting sickly tones.

Cheers,

Dante

Oh, I like the idea of making them a little bigger than normal, can I steal the idea'? Please!!

Dante:Thanks

EDIT:Also, where did you get the Blood Pact from? THe only place I have seen is in Gaunt's Ghosts.

Looks great, the base work is nice and subtle too, not stealing the limelight from the miniature. Really looking forward to hear about the results!

..not to say I wouldn't shoot this heretical scum any other day..(loads bolter clip methodically..)

~ Tael.

Brilliant! I hope the judges have taste and understanding beyond bright and pompous freehand exercises that you will be competing with. Alan Merret would so get this. See you at GD in September mate

I have been waiting for that small detail, like spikes and other non-practical chaos infantry kit. But he is a stunner anyway!

CMDante wrote:

I find I totally avoid GW's actual "flesh" colours these days, they're just too orangey for my taste.

I find that adding a drop of dark green sorts this out. You end up with a colder, greyer skin tone.

Hmmm well that was disappointing!

Made the first cut and then was dumped out by what I felt was very poor judging. The chap judging barely glanced at my entries before writing them off and (in my opinion) all the mini's left in the final cut were stark highlighted, gaudy bright coloured and poor blends and transitions.

I think my dark gritty style didn't do me any favours since my entries were some of the only ones there in that style. That and the fact the judge thought I had entered a barely converted bog standard trooper.

Ach maybe I'm just being bitter but think its time to re-evaluate my style for competition entries, think they might need to be a bit more stark and high contrast to stand out?

Cheers,

Dante

If you make a seamless conversion so then The guy cant tell its conversion you suceeded but not won. It does suck though.

Even though Shaman already posted while I was writing:

Converting a miniature in a way that it's hard to see that it's been converted does your skills honour. However, it does not speak for the judge, who should perhaps know that much about the miniatures that he can spot a conversion. Also, a gritty and dark colour scheme is much harder to achieve, in my opinion, too bad the judge didn't know that apparently.

Though I'm not really a competitive person myself when it comes to painting, I'd say go with the style you like best and don't change it just to please some guy with poor judging abilities. And when I think of some of the Golden Demon winning entries I've seen, there are judges who can value awesome conversion works and paintjob even when they're not all colourful etc.

I would expect a person who calls themself a judge in one of these competitions to have at least a base knowledge of what consists in the pack of "standard models".

The most realistic style -- such as your own -- is often overlooked, and, if just superficially glanced at, is completely not appreciated.

Peace.

sA

Was the judge blind??? How can you not know that that is a totally awesome convertion...

Like I said in email - bad judging, no reason to change the style - Alan Merret & co will see the genius in your work. I know from my limited one entry experience to GD that realistic and dark and gritty is more than welcome.