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HOLY #@*$

Took the words right out of my mouth, GREAT work atropos907

I would be honored to be cut down by those guns congrats!

(the most painting ive seen at a LGS for necrons is a boltgun metal coat then a layer of ink)

UIHHHHHHH!

That's - just - incredible....

You are a god-like airbrusher...

Thank you, that my eyes were allowed to see something so awesome.

-The C-K

Damn, WOW. Best monilith I seen, and just WOW!

Gonna post more stuff?

Howaghhhaaghtaah

(That was me drooling at the awesomness)

*jaw drops, then falls off*

that makes my monolith looks like a piece of &*%$.

buh... buh....

thud...

Sorry, that was just my Jaw hitting the floor

Necrons, the Galaxy is yours for the slaughtering! What a beauty!

Beautiful, and I dont think I could have found a better example for advocating using an airbrush for 40k models.

Some of the techniques you likely used I have planned for some chaos models, but its going to be a while before I get the practice in for the level of execution you have displayed here.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And- for advice (forgot in the first part)

Most will never know or notice, as the flames look really good as is. But, they are a bit stencil-ish. Softening up the lines some, maybe adding an extra layer with one more shade and using some candy coats(glaze/ink in 40k speak) could really make those flames pop and add a sense of depth to them.

*Jawdrop* ......

Absolutely Magnificent

As I said im probably going to call this one done. Im frankly tired of looking at it and more tired of how it collects dust when sitting out.
Thats one bad thing about airbrushing. The paint is so thin you have to protective coat it. and if you do slightly too much dullcoat it collects dust like crazy. If you use a gloss coat you have a hard time taking a picture of it without glares and it looks a little funny glossy.

Thanks for the critique Mistress of mini's, I would use candy colors on it but at this point cannot afford more paints. If monitary situation improves I plan on testing some of the autoair candy's on my upcoming hammerheads or tigershark(scratch built ). Im still debating how to paint the tigershark... Ideas are welcome. The flames look stencilish primarily because it is really hard to strike a balance at this scale. People keep telling me they make stencils small enough but frankly the ones I use do not exceed 1.5" by 2" and keeping flow at that scale is hard making softening things up hard. Even doubling scale would make this look better because one of the reason real fire looks good on autobody is the minimum scale of the spray is not very large compared to the scale of the flame so you can soften edges without wiping them out. Im still searching for a paint that flows well and continuously for this scale work(read pencil lines), but with acrylics that is really really hard. At some point I may try to soften the flames a bit but as I said, sick of looking at it in the studio(bathroom) right now.

I also stated this took about 80 hours. That was because a lot of time was developing technique. I could probably replicate this in 20-30 now.

Also If anyone knows of a "master" airbrush artist at (or close to) this scale please tell me! I have been looking for over a year, havent been able to find anyone and so had to go it alone. Its one of the main reasons I wrote a tutorial on what Id learned. So if you find said someone dig him/her up and let others know. There are so many things that can be improved upon and tricks that I havent had the time to figure out. The most important... the best paints to use at this scale and exactly how to prep them for spraying. Ive tried many paints, many thinning mediums, and a few filtration methods but they all seem to have some steep tradeoffs.

Thanks guys

Outstanding....

that's amazing.

Toy or art? I say art, should be under glass.

EzeKK wrote:HOLY #@*$

That's exactly what I said when I saw it.

wow.

Deep bows... will you paint one of mine?

I don't like you anymore...

First, let me just say that I'm incredibly impressed with the airbrushing. It's obvious that lots of time and talent went into that thing. Second, let me say that I have negligible painting experience, and am a complete and utter nub in almost everything, ever. I do, however, have my own sense of aesthetics from which to comment.

I may be alone, here, but personally, I think it's way too busy and way too soft. It doesn't look like a monolith to me, it looks like a cartoon. A very, very, VERY pretty cartoon. If it's truly just a practice piece, then I can't wait to see what you do with some moderation. The glow/OSL effects look snazzy to no end and could seriously pretty up a lot of models. Too many feathery blends and softened edges detract from the realism, I think. And no, not just the "this is what this imaginary object is supposed to look like" type of imposed realism. I thought the pictures were photoshop renderings, at first, not actual pictures of a solid object. That may not hold true in person, I admit.

Again, for me it's a bit too much (very high quality) van art, not enough futuristic war machine. But as a showcase of technique, especially experimental technique, it's quite impressive. Hope to see more of your work in the future (after a bit of a break. 80 hours? I hope you spread that WAY out, for your sake...).

i like

just a question, when doing the flames did you use the arc shapes and spray layers and glaze each as you went?

also, how you painting warriors?

oadie wrote:First, let me just say that I'm incredibly impressed with the airbrushing. It's obvious that lots of time and talent went into that thing. Second, let me say that I have negligible painting experience, and am a complete and utter nub in almost everything, ever. I do, however, have my own sense of aesthetics from which to comment.

I may be alone, here, but personally, I think it's way too busy and way too soft. It doesn't look like a monolith to me, it looks like a cartoon. A very, very, VERY pretty cartoon. If it's truly just a practice piece, then I can't wait to see what you do with some moderation. The glow/OSL effects look snazzy to no end and could seriously pretty up a lot of models. Too many feathery blends and softened edges detract from the realism, I think. And no, not just the "this is what this imaginary object is supposed to look like" type of imposed realism. I thought the pictures were photoshop renderings, at first, not actual pictures of a solid object. That may not hold true in person, I admit.

Again, for me it's a bit too much (very high quality) van art, not enough futuristic war machine. But as a showcase of technique, especially experimental technique, it's quite impressive. Hope to see more of your work in the future (after a bit of a break. 80 hours? I hope you spread that WAY out, for your sake...).

I think you entirely, missed the point of this piece. Realism definitely wasn't the objective. There are already a ton of common looking Monoliths out there (I know, I own 4). This Monolith is one of the most unique and coolest I have ever seen!

That is beyond insane
You ahve inspired me to pick up the air brush and try again

atropos907 wrote:As I said im probably going to call this one done. Im frankly tired of looking at it and more tired of how it collects dust when sitting out.
Thats one bad thing about airbrushing. The paint is so thin you have to protective coat it. and if you do slightly too much dullcoat it collects dust like crazy. If you use a gloss coat you have a hard time taking a picture of it without glares and it looks a little funny glossy.

Thanks for the critique Mistress of mini's, I would use candy colors on it but at this point cannot afford more paints. If monitary situation improves I plan on testing some of the autoair candy's on my upcoming hammerheads or tigershark(scratch built ). Im still debating how to paint the tigershark... Ideas are welcome. The flames look stencilish primarily because it is really hard to strike a balance at this scale. People keep telling me they make stencils small enough but frankly the ones I use do not exceed 1.5" by 2" and keeping flow at that scale is hard making softening things up hard. Even doubling scale would make this look better because one of the reason real fire looks good on autobody is the minimum scale of the spray is not very large compared to the scale of the flame so you can soften edges without wiping them out. Im still searching for a paint that flows well and continuously for this scale work(read pencil lines), but with acrylics that is really really hard. At some point I may try to soften the flames a bit but as I said, sick of looking at it in the studio(bathroom) right now.

I also stated this took about 80 hours. That was because a lot of time was developing technique. I could probably replicate this in 20-30 now.

Also If anyone knows of a "master" airbrush artist at (or close to) this scale please tell me! I have been looking for over a year, havent been able to find anyone and so had to go it alone. Its one of the main reasons I wrote a tutorial on what Id learned. So if you find said someone dig him/her up and let others know. There are so many things that can be improved upon and tricks that I havent had the time to figure out. The most important... the best paints to use at this scale and exactly how to prep them for spraying. Ive tried many paints, many thinning mediums, and a few filtration methods but they all seem to have some steep tradeoffs.

Thanks guys

I hadnt thought about scaling and flow control for the flames, very good points.

And all the tricks from prep to paint are something I hope people start sharing more often. Small scale airbrushing like this is something only a few of us seem to be into. There some crossover with the guys that do the Gundam style models and things like that, but all in all we seem to do alot of individual trial and error. Which, as you noted can get kind of expensive when you're blowing through fancy paints

Wow, I'm in awe... I don't think I can even begin to fathom the skill it takes to do something like this...

Seriously good. Pants off to you!

Oops - I mean HATS off to you. hats.

I've always believed that art is 10% talent and 90% practice. More often than not, artists are simply those people who are willing to put a couple hundred hours into learning how to make art.

You sir, have obviously spent a lot of time honing your craft. Nicely done.

As far as the particular aesthetics of the piece, the first thing that came to mind is that early scene in Cars where the trio of tricked-out neon rice-rockets roll up on the sleepy semi truck. In that vein, I say give that pylon some hydraulics and a funky-ass baseline!

CatPeeler wrote:I've always believed that art is 10% talent and 90% practice. More often than not, artists are simply those people who are willing to put a couple hundred hours into learning how to make art.

So THAT'S why i'm only 9/10ths as good as my friends.

again Dakka Dakka takes conversions and painting to a whole new level. God i love this site!!!

Don't give Dakka any credit for the work itself - we did nothing but worship loudly enough to attract the best.

Brilliant work, atropos907. Frankly it hurts my eyes, and I only hope you can make out the compliment in that.

Awesome Monolith!

I have written in previous posts (on other threads) that I have been impressed by peoples paint jobs...but this...I have no words to descrie how good it looks.

I would love to see some more of your other work.

Fantastic job.