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.

noise farty?

What the heck is going on in here?! LOL Im glad you guys have kept yourselves entertained while ive been away not doing anything productive>_<!! LOL. Actually thats not entirely true. What i mentioned before about filling in the ranks, was a total lie. I cant stand to do another green mother ing catachan let alone 10- 20 more. I tried...it looks awful, im rushing it. Its time for a break. i got over 100 troops, etc etc, Ive been doing this army for years now. So, once i finish the special characters (Priests, Straken), this last sentinel and my final executioner, ill be switching over to something that has been brooding in my mind. A new army. A huge decision on my part. I will take everything ive learned doing this army, and put it towards my next decided project. TAU. Yes. Before you say anything let me 'splain. They fit all the criteria im looking for. Alien. Exotic. Open Ended Color Scheme. Non-Horde. Armor. Everything i haven't had in my current army. Ive got a strong theme in my mind and this blog will shift its focus to my burgeoning Tau army. Ill be doing a tester model here, actually several, before finalizing it and all of your input will be greatly appreciated. Im a bit nervous!! The theme, in my mind, is basically orange. Everything bright orange. I don't wanna give away more than that. So thats whats on deck! But for now, before i get ahead of myself, ive airbrushed the base coat onto my 3rd sentinel...he's well on his way. Here that is. Also, PS, the finalized version of my tundra cadian is posted to the 40k comp thread Check it out
Action Pose Sentinel

>

ok so a tau...well.. it will certainlx benifit from your painting skills and a burnout due to painting masses of the same mini won´t happen here...orange is a nice color when in a glass^^ as my morning juice^^ it will be a really freshing colr to be seen done by you after all that green^^

as for the sentinel...well he looks nice and dynamic but after mentioning the new big thing in the clouds it is a bit .....................................well...guess your feeling that too^^

by the way... will you be opening a new thread for the taus?

gosh how many times have i typed tau today?^^

vik

Hey, I have a Tau Walker Broadside I'm not doing anything with...

i like the look of it running into combat

ahh tau.. funny thing is once i get my ork army painted i will switch over to a imperial guard horde army. well at least a count as bring in the kroot!

Ok so, here is the first test mini (ignore the sloppiness in certain spots please). Its just base coats, Blazing orange for the armor, and a P3 orange for the cloths, then a red wash (which is still wet in the pic). This is the idea im going for...ill play this one out and see the results. I think youll either love it or hate it. Im envisioning light greys for the weapons and grenades, and probably that jade color for markings. Red lights for the eyes. (not certain yet on that) Also, Not sure about the hoofs. I hate that part of the model. I think its really poorly designed. I dunno what anything is. Where the armor stops and cloth begins and what is actually his hoof. Anyways, more work has been done on the sentinel. Ill post more WIP on that when its necessary So input fellas? On the scheme?
DELETED PIC CHECK PGE 16 FOR SAID SCHEME
Also, tried three tones for the base...i think i like the lighter the best. PS the bases will be cvered with plasticard that has textured panelling to look starship floor tiles. I dont have the proper tool yet to cut a circle out of the plasticard, so the current base is just for color testing

I have the same problem with the Tau i am painting. you never know where the things stop and began

Yeah, makes you wonder why they need an armor plated combination codpiece and assplate huh?

well to befare its only the crack thats protected...... are the Tau homofobic?????? is that what GW tries to tell us??????

yes this is all well and good but the color scheme? LOL

seriously... i am not too sold yet on the scheme...somehow the glossy paint doesn´t speak to me...the cold cadian was a much more apealing scheme...but as you stated it is a test mini and your real deal mini will look much different...as for the base... what about metal or for that matter grey? the blue of course is a complementarry color but somehow not really making an impression... to tell you my true concern... what would you say if you addept the cold cadian scheme on a tau mini? somehow the blue fishfaces will look better in my view with that scheme...lightewr tones...subdued and smooth... that orange somehow screams more at me...i know probably not really helpful to come out at you with that...have you considered some other colors and schemes?

I like the orange armour, but I think the cloth part needs to be darker to break up the colors. Right now it looks a bit like a prison jumpsuit.

But if you had the cloth black, I think it punch it up. Like so:

thats actually selling the mini better...

I think maybe the reason you can't tell where one thing starts and another begins is because the two oranges look identical. At least in the pics they do from here.

I don't know very much about color theory, but I do know that your eyes know what looks right before your brain agrees.

I second Jake on this one, especially after he sketched in the black for contrast. The strong contrast between the armor and cloth IMO is central to the design of the Tau "look and feel". I think the designers always meant for that contrast to be there. Unfortunately, I think it is because of this design limitation that your freedoms and artistic license have to be limited to within it's limits. You don't have to use black per se, but whatever contrast color the cloth is, the recesses in the armor plate may have to match it, or be similar.

for me the tau have a definite japanese feel to them... so why not go a different route and give a wooden look a try... like old samurai armor was made from wood... that armor plates could be wooden looking and then some light cloth underneath...guess this is a bit crazy...hmmm...have to think that one ip and store it for my future self^^

RSJake wrote:I like the orange armour, but I think the cloth part needs to be darker to break up the colors. Right now it looks a bit like a prison jumpsuit.

But if you had the cloth black, I think it punch it up. Like so:

that picture actually sold me on the orange alot better than anything ive seen so far for the tau. I think its a keep However i would suggest a blue or a green for the lenses and for the gun i would suggest it be black as well with orange highlights.

Anyone else thinking treat o treat tau or is it just me

These are all great ideas. @ Vik, painting them in the theme i used for my cadian is a good idea, however i painted that guy over the course of a week. I dont know ifi can hang with that kinda dedication. :( But it would work perfectly! Let me post another few wips of this orange and if you still dnt like it ill chuck the idea. I should note, that, the two oranges look identical because of the baal red wash. Once i reapply and begin highlighting, they will go their seperate ways. The cloth will be a much lighter creamier orange. Like creamscicle As far as the black goes, its looks nice, but also has been done and is a little bit obvious for my style, but thanks for sharing that, and irt certainly helps me see all of the possibilities! Please keep em coming and will post soon another update, and i promise if it sucks ill ditch it, but gimmie the benefit of the doubt
some of my sources of inspiration on this theme.

It was just a suggestion. I can't wait to see how your idea comes out.

I'm not very familiar with Tau in general, just snippets that I have gleaned here and there, but I have thought for quite a while that Fire Warriors with Flame Painted armour would look pretty good! But at this scale, flames like that would be hard, and for more than one model it would be very impractical. I have seen it on Space Marines, but I don't know what the difference in size is between the marines and tau.

Anyway, keep the good stuff!

no fair going sex sells for your orange scheme^^ that is like backstabbing^^

i had an idea... you made your cadian with blue as a hint to the cloth....if warmer feel is your thing with the tau then why not substitute the blue in the schmee with a orange or red wash? i know you built up the colors so no wash used but i think you know what i mean...

and i actually do look forward to an update as i think benefit of the doubt is always to be considered...after all i too have ventured the orange road once...:





oh and even a further ideacame across my mind... if you ever want to go into another army built consider this: DA SM...bonearmor...you know you are menat to do this...your able and almost certainly willing^^ that cadian armor is still bugging me like heck^^

And a good suggestion at that Jake! Your input is invaluable, and your mock up saved me the time of painting it to see what it would look like!! We are in stage 1 of even planning this army im just having fun flexing my imagination with this scheme. And what i meant by obvious, is that, its a naturally good looking scheme, it popped into my mind when i was thinking out the orange, and i moved past it only because i know myself and my strange love with flamboyant color schemes. Essentially its not bizarre enough LOL. Anyways like i menteioned, ill go one step further with this theme before liustening to you gentlemen and changing it up

I actually like that scheme Vik! nice rivets.
Let the man paint!

i think that if you want that bright orange armor it would look good dusted browns to make it duller/look like it was used, or use a darker armor like viks, just my oppinion

thanks for your input fellas! Vik that cadian looks AWESOME I love the glasses especially. OK, heres an idea, what abouttt....Using an ice blue for the cloth like i did with the cadian? Except i cant do it the same way, that was so painstaking i can only do it one guy. But essentially that but a more army painter approach...?

hmm blue and orange arnt that off of a color scheme seeing as opposites attract, hmm i'd have to see them side by side just to compare though

so you want to barter with me about your paintscheme...ha!! got my fist foot in^^ hmmm i think this seriously needs a test mini as we have to see the two colors together on the mini...for the numerous minis of that army a simpler aproach is fully justified...simple in your terms is a weeksload of paint in my terms lol....

Redish orange with black looks the best!

i dont dig the orange.. sorry but then again you did prove us all wrong with that other model.......

you know my orks used to have orange trousers and white shirts... that was the last time i paint while the dutch soccer team was in the final of the world championships. its a tricky color but it can work..... you know i might switch my ork army back to those colors.....

but i am rambling i will give you my two cents when you finished this mini including base before i say anything about it

I like Jake's version much more than plain reddish-orange and I think orange with ice blue will be just too kitchy.

PS:
And i just found this pic on the internet:

This one looks nice, well, from my point of view.

this one is my favorite, they didnt make orange too abnormaly bright and their grey looks nice too