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.

toothpaste I tend to use a dab of liquid soap, although actually I do seem to remember toothpaste being recomended way back in the day, what's the reasoning there?

monkeytroll wrote:toothpaste I tend to use a dab of liquid soap, although actually I do seem to remember toothpaste being recomended way back in the day, what's the reasoning there?

Toothpaste is designed to be every so slightly abrasive. When used over metal models it removes all the left over residue from pressing... Leaves it smelling minty fresh too... Just remember to wash away the TP thoroughly after. Then leave to dry in the sun

Amazing work vent. I love the smell of minty fresh metals!

Day Two: before undercoating I needed to fill in some of the gaps in the back cape of the Miniature. Some of you may remember the Ultramarine Master of the Chapter I did for Ricky Chang awhile ago which had terrible pock marks in some of the recesses in the cape and above the left knee. In the end I went with black in the recesses of the cloak, but was never happy with it.

As this guy is from the same set I thought he might and indeed he did have similiar problems. I didn't take any photos of it, but it was just really watered down green stuff smoothed over with a rubber-headed sculpting tool... I dunno if I got everything, but it'll start showing when I add some color... I then Undercoated in Black.


All parts have been undercoated separately. As with all characters I start with the head.

The head is basecoated with P3 Menoth base. Roleplayer uses quite extensive black lining in his miniatures, but I prefer using darker colors of the one used as base. Hence I've started to line using washes. I'm going to go ahead with all three GW washes, this is just the Sepia, I might use a touch of black if the Devlan Mud wash doesn't cut it...


Next for the head: More lining and then the eyes...

Next for the Body: Red stuff!

More work on the helmet.

There's darker brown washes in the lines. I'm undecided whether I want to add a touch of black and have another line... I think I'll do another thinner line with Devlan mud rather than black. I'm not totally sure what I want to do with the head rivets yet. I thought maybe a very dark grey... But maybe they'll stay cream... Not sure, not sure, not sure...

The eyes came out quite nicely on this guy, which is a hoot, because I've had a couple of coffees and I thought my hands would be shaking like a banshee. My eye recipe for green eyes:
Black Undercoat
Dark Angels Green. Over 75%
Goblin Green. Over 50% moving towards the front
Scorpion Green. Thin line along the bottom
1:1 mix of Scorpion Green and Sunburst Yellow. Over the thin line of Pure Scorpion Green.

Working on the red of the armor as I took these shots. It's raining and cold which doesn't make for good drying... ^_^




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Small addition to the update; just the base red and some starting lining on the armor. It's all I can be bothered doing today... Lazy I know, but I'm tired...

Awww my third post in a row with no responses... I feel so unloved... It's a good thing I'm shallow enough not to take it personally

I have started to highlight the red. It's a little hard to see but I'm using a technique that is meant to be like blending... I haven't quite perfected it yet, but it's getting there. I think it needs a lighter color to help it out. So far all I've used is pure Scab Red and a Scab Red with a touch of Dwarf Flesh to lighten it up... Maybe tomorrow a touch more Dwarf Flesh... ^_^

Started on the cream for the body as well. P3 paint is bloody good. Even watered down to a good thin consistency it only took three coats to cover the black. Much better than the Scab Red did yesterday... I'm slowing going to be replacing a lot of my GW version paints...

I'm going to start the lining for the cream later this afternoon. Tomorrow is more red work and possibly the first layer for metallics. Still not sure what I want to do for the weapon... Green might look nice; like Thomas from Minivault uses for his Blood Ravens...

I would have posted a response sooner but you have me at a loss sir. Your painting is great and it is a blast seeing it come together. I just wish I could paint as well as you do. No worries though I will still be watching closely!

tony_nids_10 wrote:I would have posted a response sooner but you have me at a loss sir. Your painting is great and it is a blast seeing it come together. I just wish I could paint as well as you do. No worries though I will still be watching closely!

Aww thanks Tony, I like your stuff too, and one day I hope to be able to do more with GS than fill gaps with it

I have no doubt you will Vent! Just do some overly elaborate side projects that waste a ton of time that should have been spent on your army Thats what I do

tony_nids_10 wrote:I have no doubt you will Vent! Just do some overly elaborate side projects that waste a ton of time that should have been spent on your army Thats what I do

lol, you make it sound so appealing... ^_^

---

I'm at the point where I'm not totally sure how this miniature is going to come together. I have questions about the shield colors, the weapon colors, how the red is working, the cape, etc... Experience says these problems will go away when I keep working on the miniature but it's still annoying... The lack of good light for taking photos has exacerbated this too... *grumble grumble*

Done today:

More red work; had an issue with the weapon arm front and needed to fix it, but has left the blend a little stagnant. The breastplate is looking a little weird as well, might have to have a closer look at that...

The first coat of metallics are on. Nearly everything that is silver will soon be gold, or bronze. Only thing that won't get another pigment color is the key, but that will be weathered with washes. I've also made the flexi-armour joints silver with heavy black in the recesses. I know Roleplayer leaves them black, but they'd be voids in this guy...


Yes, I know the right knees pad icon still has a touch of black in it... But it's all going to be gold... And there's gonna be a big ass shield in front of it ^_^

I really think that once you get more painted up it will really bring it all together. I think whats happening is all the black is leaving you with not enough contrast and that looks off. Maybe?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I would have no problem letting you paint anything of mine

Thanks Tony. Soon as I started on the gold I felt better...

I hope to get a chance to paint tomorrow, but I might not. I'm going to watch some provincial Rugby in the afternoon before I watch the All-Blacks beat Australia; winning the Bledisloe cup and the Tri-nations... ^_^

Very small update today... Actually all this was done after yesterdays update, but I'm going to the rugby and won't get a chance to work on stuff today... I wanted the gold to look quite old and worn so I've used applied washes to darken parts and only given the edges very light washes...

Recipe:

Andrea Base Gold over the Base Silver of yesterday
Sepia Wash all over
Flesh Wash over 90% leaving edges
Another Flesh Wash over 80%
Devlan Wash in the recesses
Black Wash in the recesses, but over less of them.
All washes were 1:1 water / mix (In fact everything I do is watered down...)

After the Washing I touched up the very edges and raised bits with Andrea Light Gold...

Not much of an update, but the real world comes first... Occasionally ^_^

Omg day Seven... Kill me now! Hehehe, nah it's not to bad really... Rainy Sunday afternoons were designed for painting me thinks; especially in winter... Anyway, he's finally starting to come together; adding more color always seems to help.

Worked on today:

Armor: Did a few touch ups on the red armor; hopefully lifting the brightness in places and correcting a few blends in others. I don't think I can risk adding anymore paint to the red, it's already pretty thick so this might be the final red, except for touch ups... ^_^

Seals and Parchment: Green for the seals was a no-brainer. Connects with the eyes, and gives a change from the browns and creams. I'm not totally sold on the color of the parchment yet. Looks a little to similar to the cream. Maybe another layer of sepia to tone it down a little. Maybe even a slightly watered Flesh wash over it...

Leather: I'm really bad at leather. Like Catastrophic bad. I have a lot of trouble with it. I've tried blending it, I've tried drybrushing it. Hated them all... Hence I usually cop out with the wash heavy method you can see.

Sweet Zombie Jesus... I'm a slow painter

RECIPES:
Green Recipe:
Dark Angels Green Base
Goblin Green touch ups
3:1 water / Scorpion Green touches.
Green wash
1:1 Water / Sepia wash to darken the recesses.

Parchment Recipe:
Bleached Bone. Many layers.
x2 Sepia washes (Maybe another)

Leather Recipe:
P3 Knacksack brown
Devlan Mud x2
Highlight with thinned Knacksack brown (You'll be able to see wear it goes as the wash will be lighter)
Sepia wash to tie the highlight down.

Now I'm at a real loss of what color to do the cloak and the waist buckle thing. The Buckle needs to a light color. Either Gold or Cream. The cape I'm thinking purple... So help me pick! Tell me what you think it should be! Chances are I'll just do what you tell me... I'm weak like that... ^_^



Oh, and there's extra photos... What can I say, I'm a camera whore! ^_^

Looks sweet so far. For the buckle I'd say either bone or gold for the actual skull with green laurels. A bit obvious maybe but ties with the purity seals. As for the cloak I'd tend towards black, but that's probably just out of the bad habit of mine of going for black/red clour schemes. Purple would probably be a nice touch though, maybe a very dark,almost black shading with quite a bright highlight, a kind of velvety look if you get what I mean.

This is educational. Normally I don't like clogging nice threads with arb posts, but I guess we all need a bit of ego stroking.

Hurrah Hurrah for fine brushwork!

Oh wow.....

You know vent, Im going to have to try ant adapt some of your technique for myself... especially the eyes!!
Man they look amazing!

Im seriously in awe of your painting xD Ive nearly been painting as long as you, and mine cant hold a candle to yours!

As far as the buckle and cape go, I agree with monkeytroll. gold/cream buckle, green laurels, and a deep purple for the cloak!

All the details really do make the difference. I really like it alot vent. Thanks for the recipes too!

OMG... Green Laurels!?! I didn't even think of that as a possibility! Excellent stuff! Thanks guys! Ahhh forums rock ^_^

It continues! Small steps seem to be the way for right now... Silly work getting in the way... What do I need money for... Silly rent, food and lifestyle... Bah ^_^

Today:

Cloak started. Took some advice and made the inside cream. I think it frames the front of him quite well. The back has the basecoat and some washes on it. Still need to highlight it and probably add some gold trim in there somewhere. Cream might of looked nice, but I am partial to purple...

Buckle thing done. Gold and Green. Still can't believe I didn't think of green for the Laurels!? Looks good too. It's a shame the shield will cover 95% of it ^_^

Weapon started. I wanted the weapon to look like a relic and went with this very light grey. Going to rim it with a watered down blue wash and probably feather some white onto the sharp points. I don't know if I like the silver of the mechanical part with the white blade parts. They're very similar, maybe redo them in gold?

I've been playing around with maybe leaving the shield off as well... Going through my bitz box I found a nice storm bolter that might work... and there's a few other things I could try... I might have to model some choices...

ooooh wow. That cape is turnin out awesome

Wow vent... just wow! Feel like giving lessons

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments.

As for feeling like lessons; hopefully the good ones rather than the ones which made you feel like time was standing still ^_^

That all depends on how the paintin tutorial you should be working on comes out

I like the updates Vent. Great painting as well! I am a huge fan of that helmet design. I look forward to seeing what it looks like completed.

^ Agreed! Love that helmet.

Thanks guys

I've been waiting for it to happen. With every miniature I do there is a moment of disaster. Sometimes it is a minor thing easily correctable, other times it is catastrophic and deserving of a Simple Green Bath and stiff toothbrush. Today was a middle of the road affair with the cloak encountering the side of a paint pot which had spilled leaving a massive coat of green all over the purple. Acting quickly (And modestly... HA!) I used needle nose Q-Tips to soak up as much of the excess as I could with blotting (never wipe a paint spill, always blot). Then I used an eye-dropper to dilute what was left and blot it again. I did that a couple more times. Then I left it to dry. The result wasn't that bad. most of the green was gone, but there were flecks running throughout so I decided to recoat and start again... I went super thin with the paint and did three coats. The turnout is OK, slightly darker than the original, and slightly raised surface in places... Despite the setback I continued with doing detail work over the entire figure (I would normally go and destroy things...). Anyway, here is today's breakdown...

Gems: I use to have massive trouble with gems, I'm talking shockingly bad; and while I'm not perfect at them, I've gotten better... I've never painted a green Blackstone gem before. But figured using the same basic principles as my red ones with mostly the same colors as doing the eyes would work, thankfully it did. ^_^ The trick with doing Blackstone gems of any color is to let the black do the job for you. Small lines of paint, with ever lighter and smaller lines over the same bit. Finally you need to do two dots, one the highpoint of the color (in this case pure yellow) and then a tiny dot of off-white on the other side of the gem in the black. The result is something that fools the eye into thinking you've got a full gem, when in reality you've done this tiny work... Requires a little but of practice, but I like them. OH! And after 72-hours a touch of hi-gloss sealer over the entire gem. Really makes it sparkle. These ones done have the gloss yet, but you get the idea...

Weapon: Finished it off. I wanted an off-focal point which wouldn't detract from the face, so the light grey with blue trim works well enough for that. It's the only thing which has that color on the figure, but it isn't a striking color... I'm not that good at power weapon effects so this was a cowards way out... Tee hee hee... ^_^

Cloak: As you can see I've also added some rather rough highlighting. Alot of people use white for raising a color, but I've found that all it does it sap color. I've used the same cream as the helmet to lighten and it seems to have worked quite well... I am unsure whether I wish to now risk a pattern over the purple. It already has so many coats of paint... Plus there's still a pack to go on there... I might wait and see how it looks with a pack before deciding...

Detailing / Writing: In case you can't tell it says Valor on his leg... I like the word Valor as it has go sharp points... I get a lot of people asking me how I do my writing. Short answer? I cheat! Mwahaha! I use a Steadtler Professional Pen 0.5 size... Is that cheap? Maybe. Does it get the job done? You bet!

Oh! I also attached the head! Just in case you didn't see that ^_^

I would say for a mid level disaster you managed like a pro! The cape still looks great and I am happy to see that head on!

Thanks Tony. I like him with his head on too... ^_^

No update tonight. Took some time to go see Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. Excellent film filled with nerdy gaming references which greatly appealed... Go see it...

Painting will resume tomorrow ^_^