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Thanks a lot RiTides! It seems my iPhone 6+ takes 3264x2448 pics, which the downsampling algorithm obviously doesn't like AT ALL (and also is way too big to post at native size in a thread). So what I should do is manually resize to 1200x900 before I upload?

Ramos, really sorry for hijacking your thread, but that lovely picture of your beautifully painted army made me think of this

With my iPhone, I just email myself the pic, open in MS paint, and resize to 25 - 30% size and save as a .png. There are different versions of paint and you can also resize by pixels, but that range should work perfectly for the iPhone 6

Since I've resized it, I generally select "full sized" instead of "medium" when posting from the gallery, so that nothing else is done to it, but this process helps it look sharper either way!

PM me if you want further detail and we can go through it as much as you need . I think this is basically required for iPhone 6 users, and helpful for other cameras too. Hoping lego can fix it eventually but it's good to have a manual solution for the interim!

@ whale and ritides - thank you two so much for the tips - the whole blurry photo thing has been driving me bloody nuts for ages now. Cheers fellas
@Ramos - that army is awesome. Seriously beautiul work there

I'll never quite grasp the dakka gallery weirdness, but Im glad there are some people who do. Thanks you guys!


So for my part, I got the final colors on OTL's Dark Dragon!




Certainly picking one up for myself once they're available. Love dragons

Very pretty. Creamy smooth job on the horns.

Well you've got the hang of it with that pic!

Love the purple on the wings, and the base is awesome.

Thanks guys!

The basing is something Im particularly proud of. Since I started painting things for OTL, I've made it the unofficial "studio scheme" after seeing one of the GORGEOUS display boards they've had built. Glowy crystals and gray rock. The rail was something I experimented with when I painted the Beastman figures a while back, and I'm told its one element that constantly gets complements/questions when they take the minis to shows and conventions. With that in mind, I just had to bring it back for the dragon



So on to the next project!~
Assassins!


Object here is to do the Callidus in a white suit and the Vindicaire in snow camo. They're eventually going to match with a client's Space Wolf army, so snowy bases and the like. Very quick basecoating and washes here- Because it's white, its really a case of doing very little to the main color and making it shine on the details!

That dragon is quite nice, and I am very interested in seeing how the assassins work out. Stellar painting.

Your assassins ended up with a very even wash.. do tell how you did that. usually I get a more uneven pooling.

Agreed with SL

Thanks, youwas!

@SL & wy: I think the trick is to not glob it on too thick and actively mop up recesses and pools. I'm also thinning it down a bit with water and matte varnish so the color isn't so intense except in the recesses. The mat varnish is particularly important as it stabilizes the paint so you don't get tide marks and uneven coverage.

Wow, I didn't even really notice that when looking at the pic on mobile - very nice and subtle.

The Dragon is very nice Ramos, really like the basing.

 Ramos Asura wrote:
Thanks, youwas!

@SL & wy: I think the trick is to not glob it on too thick and actively mop up recesses and pools. I'm also thinning it down a bit with water and matte varnish so the color isn't so intense except in the recesses. The mat varnish is particularly important as it stabilizes the paint so you don't get tide marks and uneven coverage.

What mattte var. are you using?

Thanks Gir!

SL: I use Liquitex Matte- Super cheap for how much you get. I got a big 473 mL bottle of it for 13 bucks on sale. Use it to varnish all my minis too. Goes through the airbrush pretty easy with a little thinning.


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Hmh... So did some camo on the Vindicaire. Not quite sure how I feel on it. Camo just feels so unintuitive to me

RiTides Gators look fantastic! I am going to be SO ashamed putting them next to my half painted Circle Jerks

OTL dragon looks pretty awesome as well. Such a nifty little guy.

As to assassins, I think your camo looks fine. Add a third color blotch though that overlaps both base colors a bit, and it will come together a little more for you. I hated doing the camo I did in the... wow very distant past, but I found that third overlapping color is really what made it look "right" in my eyes. At least as camo; breaking up outlines on a model seemed about as natural as an oral bowel movement.

That looks like solid advice. It feels risky to do it probably, but the third color probably needs to be a darker one, right? I.e. like this massive camo pic:



Maybe not quite that dark, but this helps give contrast and make the whole thing not look like a blur.

Exactly. Even a dark grey/blue (Payne's grey even) would do the trick.

Add some spots of Space Wolves grey (or whatever the blue grey color is called. I'd avoid black, though he has enough of it that the point would be moot anyways.

Are you planning to do the equipment straps in black or leather?

Ok, so added a little bit of Shadow Gray as you guys recommended... I think its an improvement. Looking a little more urban camo than snow, but I thin it can work.




@SL: Straps are going to primarily be a dark gray, so closer to black. Pouches and one or two straps will be in a brown leather.

I think I would've preferred something not from the blue family of greys (not sure what the other type is called - the black greys?). I.e. like this eye candy:



If you wanted to try a test spot of it you could probably cover up the blue-grey with something that isn't black, but is still on that side of the spectrum... might just be me, though!

That is urban camo though, not arctic. Snow typically has blue/greys and browns.

I'd suggest doing camo on the for end of the rifle as well (at least). A big black box would stick out worse in snow then a bright orange one.

@RT: That makes sense. Pattern thats mostly white, just a touch of color there and there to break up the lines... Hmmm that makes a lot of sense...

@WM: I see. Well, for what I'm working towards, as per clients request, is something like this swatch he gave me of "snow" camo... Whether or not it really works in said environment is beyond me, though- I know a lot of things, but not much about camo!



So for the box on the gun- do you think it should be the same pattern as the suit or a different pattern but same coloration? ie like a tigerstripe or a more blocky camo?

I think the trick with that camo pattern (if you were going for identical) is that you started with the white, where the base color is actually the medium dark blue color (2nd darkest). Can be hard to tell on camo, which makes sense, but you want to look for the color that doesn't have blobs, making it the bottom. It is also a printed pattern for clothing, not a painted pattern for hard surfaces, as there is no masking order that would makes sense without having to spray like 9 layers.

Blocky camo (digital, marpat, etc) is not designed for guns or other solid objects, it is for fabric that has some motion to it. Presumably it wouldn't work on a skin tight body suit either. Tiger stripe would work, but be really hard to pull off on such a small level and still have the "torn" edges. I'd go with the same pattern.

Camo science.

Edit: Using some gauze and draping it on the gun might looks cool too. Similar to a gillie suit, which is used to break up the hard edges your brain sees.

"Camo science" blows my mind, apparently . Since the client wants blue, that makes sense! Based on the example pic, maybe one more shade layered in of an even darker blue?

Could make yourself insane by doing a winter p-dot camo scheme... Local Flames of War player did an autumn p-dot and well he's never been the same

@WM: Wow. Camo Science.



Well, I can definitely say I learned something today. And starting with that medium blue would have probably been WAY easier! I think I might bug the client about using gauze, though... I think my only fear is that it might ruin the rather nice lines of the model. Hmmm.... much to think about.



@RT: Maybe, maybe.... I just poked him to see what hed like to do. Could do from some dots of an almost black blue. Just tiny little dots of it.

@Alf: Oh god no... My mind nearly melted just looking at it.

Heres the Callidus so far- Just about finished with her, with just the base, leathers, and the metals to go. I figured that with the stock one a redhead/brunette, this one struck me as a blonde.

Looks good, although I could see going even crazier with the hair (two-tone braid, or red streaks, etc)

Ooh. Ghost callidus!