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Hey guys,

Thought id put up a post of my captain that just won the 40k class at my local store.

all i need to do now is work on my army on parade for games day now!!!

sorry about the pics was taken with my phone

Nice!

I'd tone down the gold a bit. Maybe do some more base work as well.

I really like it. I'm just starting a Salamanders army myself, but the painting will be nowhere near this good!

I think pictures dont do him justice because he looks very WIP

Agreed, Johnny. With a few exceptions (most notably the knurled portion of the glaive's handle, which looks great), everything looks more or less completely flat. I can see some evidence of washes, but they appear to have done more to streak and mottle the surfaces than give the illusion of shadow. Perhaps clearer photos under better lighting would show more of what I'm not seeing.

There also appears to be a fine orange peel texture to the whole piece, likely due to a grainy priming/undercoat. The base doesn't really do it for me, either. The material used is coarse enough to scale like railroad ballast or very coarse gravel, but it's not laid or colored like I'd expect either of those materials to be. Consider mixing a bit of that into finer grained sand or ballast for more random, natural looking groundwork, and keep the top and sides of the stone slab clear. Rocks simply don't pile themselves up that way in nature.

It's a perfectly decent looking model, mind you, and you deserve congratulations on winning your competition. There is, however, plenty of room for improvement.

congratulations on winning your competition.
however, i do have some pointers.

the black you used for the face and some other details just looks flat on black and lacks highlighting.

the green has some edge highlights but it can use some more overall highlights to define shadows

the gold is pretty good but it can use an extreme highlight of silver to illustrate the reflection of pure light.

i like the purple on the model, its the right color to use as its the most contradicting color to the green, but its a different hue and saturation and the pictures make it look black.

also your primer seems a bit grainy. if your using sprayprimer (which i think you did) it means your holding your can too far from your model. instead try really short sprays, closer to your model and take your time to evaluate the result.

finally the base, you didnt paint it at all... the sand can work as a rocky/volcanic environment, but you left it blanc, which kind of ruins it

i hope it helps its not that your model is bad, because if it was, you wouldnt have won your competition, but there is always room for improvement!

Grats on the win :3

Some of the parts seems hastily done though.
The gold on powerfist and wrist didnt fully cover the green.
And the purity seal is also green? or im seeing things?

Thanks for all the comments back.

I must admit the photos make the green & purple alot darker than it is and makes the gold alot brighter to.

I am going to add highlights to him aswell just need to practise it abit more hence why I didn't do it for the competition lol.

The base was just put on for the comp so I didn't really do alot only just wanted to have something on the base.

As for the head he actully has a wash over the top but due to the quality of the pics it just looks like it just black and also the eyes are red aswell but you can't see them :/

Once again would like to thank you all for your comments & when I get him back from the shop display case I'll do some highlighting & get some better pics

Ukblackdragon wrote:The base was just put on for the comp so I didn't really do alot only just wanted to have something on the base.

just the more reason to make it impressive!!! rip up some cork mats and build an impressive base! then dont forget to paint it!!

Ukblackdragon wrote:As for the head he actully has a wash over the top but due to the quality of the pics it just looks like it just black and also the eyes are red aswell but you can't see them :/

if you have a black face wich is really just black, a wash wont do it any good! successive layers of lighter colors will bring much more definition to his face and will show his expression. its a lot harder, but it brings your model alive!

ok ill work on the highlighting on his head and also re-do the base iv got some slate and that so ill build it up abit.

cant wait to see the result!

Wow he looks amazing

nice looking model. what inspired you to use purple for the cloak and banner? I'm working on my own salamanders captain and have been trying to decide on cloak colors

varl wrote:nice looking model. what inspired you to use purple for the cloak and banner? I'm working on my own salamanders captain and have been trying to decide on cloak colors

take a color-wheel and take green, then to straight across (180 decrees) and you will find that the color that will contradict it the most will be red!
that color will stand out most against the green of the mini's
but since you will already have red accents (eyes, maybe the powerweapons, flames) you might wanna go with a complementary color like yellow, or blue. you dont wanna go yellow for the same reason you dont want red. and blue is really cold and hard. you can soften it out by saturating it a bit, by adding white.
or you can go for a mix of your main accent, red, and the blue, to make some sort of transaction from the red to the green. and then you will get purple. i'd make it a light purple for the same reasons as with the blue

I am assuming this is also a first attempt as your referencing a GW class?

I agree with the suggestions above.
I'd also add you to google "how to paint high elf gems." That will likely pull up a guide on how to paint gems and lens in general. It will put some pop on the lens on the helmet and the gem on the shoulder pad.

You also missed 1 of the power cables on the halbred, unless this was intentional. Its a good solid mid level painting, that can easily be taken up a notch by highlighting the armor, cloak, and skin. You referenced washing the skin, for dark skin you really want to highlight as well to get the natural look.

Suggestion on base work: molten rock, or lave basing. Very very easy to do and looks sharp. Molten rock is as simple as going to home depot, getting slate, and smashing it in a pill case with a hammer. Then put it on a base, prime black, and start layering dark grey, up to white. You will achieve a nice, molten look. Then if you wash part of it, it creates a nice contrast. I did an entire army in about a few hours.

Lava basing is not that hard, you just need to green stuff the base, then add in some slate or rocks. Then its just painting. It works in theme with salamanders very nicely.

DijnsK wrote:

varl wrote:nice looking model. what inspired you to use purple for the cloak and banner? I'm working on my own salamanders captain and have been trying to decide on cloak colors

take a color-wheel and take green, then to straight across (180 decrees) and you will find that the color that will contradict it the most will be red!
that color will stand out most against the green of the mini's
but since you will already have red accents (eyes, maybe the powerweapons, flames) you might wanna go with a complementary color like yellow, or blue. you dont wanna go yellow for the same reason you dont want red. and blue is really cold and hard. you can soften it out by saturating it a bit, by adding white.
or you can go for a mix of your main accent, red, and the blue, to make some sort of transaction from the red to the green. and then you will get purple. i'd make it a light purple for the same reasons as with the blue

wow, that's a pretty helpful breakdown of the thought process that goes into selecting a color. thanks for that

im not a really good painter, but i understand the techniques and theories behind how to be a great painter


Automatically Appended Next Post:
*edit*
not to hijack this thread, but if you look at my blood ravens, they have red armor, and the perfect contradicting color is green, which you will find in their eyes, force weapons, gems etc... im using a light purple for robes and loincloths to kind of tie them together, because if i did cream colored it will blend in with the cream of the shoulderpads

varl wrote:nice looking model. what inspired you to use purple for the cloak and banner? I'm working on my own salamanders captain and have been trying to decide on cloak colors

I just wanted a different look to other people's models most use reds or blacks n I also just general like the colour purple lol

When iv done all the highlighten on him some point this weekend n try get a better camera I'll post more pics up the purple isn't as dark as it looks on the above pics

more soft light is the key!!
maybe pick up a cheap camera tent