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Hi guys.

I've started a new project, black templars. They have always been an army I really enjoyed the fluff of but hated the way they way the gw team painted them, I always thought that chapter on a 10,000 year crusade is bound to look a little more worn and torn. So my paint scheme involved a load of weathering pigments and lots of blood.

I wanted peoples opinions on wether or not I used to much weathering and blood, is it a bit overbearing or ok? Let me know what you think, it was my first time using weathering pigments so any advice would be fantastic as these are the first 5 done and I have about 55 more to go.

It does make them look a bit dark and not as cleanly painted, but that could just be the pictures.

You could probably fix that by highlighting their armour, eyes, trinkets (gold chest pieces, necklaes), and the headpeaices.

From what I can see, the amount of weathering is fine, and looks good considering black models can sometimes be a bit bland. However, the placement of the blood bothers me more than the amount - it doesn't seem very natural.
Try to consider where exactly those chainswords would fall on a foe, and imagine the spray that would come off and stain the armour. One technique I've seen work is to get a bit of paint on an old toothbrush and gently flick that where you want the blood to give a "splatter" effect. What's on the chainswords looks great, mind.

Weathering is good. but the blood is way overdone.
Also, when blood dries it is not that bright red.

Often times blood and guts do not look right on the models. What everyone has said about the blood is correct. I would tone it down make it subtle. Check out different blood spatter patterns also. If you do not want to get all technical just watch Dexter he will teach you spatters.

The weathering looks good, the blood.... less so. I'm not sure I've ever seen blood effects on a mini that I liked, so some of this is definitely personal bias, but right now it's distracting and muddles the otherwise solid paint scheme.

The blood and the eyelenses look the same, too, which is very problematic. Personally, I'd suggest you do a mini with just the weathering so we can see how it looks - right now the blood draws the eye away from the more subtle effects.

Yup, it is the blood. Some of it literally looks like you just made a broad brush stroke down the front of the figure.

Looks ok to me. put some better pics up please

The weathering looks OK but does seem a little like they are just dusty, maybe some paint chips on the edges that are going to get the most rough usage.
As for the blood, perhaps tone it down a little. You could try and make it look more like dried blood stains on the robes. And if I was an Astarte, I think I would at least wash the blood and guts off of my armour between bouts of combat?!

Yeah thanks guys, I thought it was a bit overdone as well. I apply the weathering powder using the technique you described Super Ready, flicking it from a soft brush onto the mini coated in fixer. Ill give it a go on the next one.

It's going to be hard to undo thats why I went to the forums for a second opinion. I usually do a really clean paint job on minis and this is a totally diferent style to my usual, going to take some tinkering. Ill try tone down the blood to start with and see how it looks.

Super Ready wrote:From what I can see, the amount of weathering is fine, and looks good considering black models can sometimes be a bit bland. However, the placement of the blood bothers me more than the amount - it doesn't seem very natural.
Try to consider where exactly those chainswords would fall on a foe, and imagine the spray that would come off and stain the armour. One technique I've seen work is to get a bit of paint on an old toothbrush and gently flick that where you want the blood to give a "splatter" effect. What's on the chainswords looks great, mind.

In the carnage of war, I don't have to kill the person in front of me to get splattered by his blood. The potshot that came over my shoulder is more than capable of doing that. Then as the headless body tumbles forward, the pressue of blood coming up through the arteries leading to the absent head cover me with gore..... I'm aware I didn't need to detail that, but there's not a heck of a lot that's "natural" about how blood sprays. It may be the blood pattern's don't look like splatters, but they don't have to.

that said, the blood really ought to have soaked into the fabric more. It looks like it just ran down some moisture repellant surface. If this is what Super Ready indicated, then I wholeheartedly agree with him/her.

I agree with the blood comments, but I like a mini with dusty boots to match the base..

My only suggestion would be to paint the tabbard crosses, it adds contrast the the centre of the mini and looks more complete..

Ok so tonight I'll do this:

-Remove the gloss varnish over the blood work and replace it with Satin or Mat to see if that dulls it down enough to be acceptable.
-Rehighlight some of the Templar crosses on the mini to make them look a bit more complete.
-Try and get a better picture of them.

On that last point my camera seems to really struggle to focus on these guys compared to other miniature shots I've taken. I'm having to focus the camera on something else at a similar distance then point it at the BTs or the camera just won't focus at all. Strange....

Anyway I'll take what you've all said on board and post back in here when I've redone the things I listed.

Cheers guys, the input is appreciated as always.

Can't wait to see the update..

Strange about the focus problem, maybe try shooting them against a pure white background (like an A4 sheet of paper behind them) and that way they are the only contrast point to help the camera lock focus?

Try a quick google for "knights hospitaller or knights Templar" for inspiration as to how a tabbard should look (the cloth they wear over the armour)...

I really like them, and its an original look for Templars, but I also think there's too much blood.

But you don't need to redo these mini's just yet, work on the next batch and see how you like them, and then come back to those mini's later.

a little over excessive on the Blood spatters, But that is a great idea on Bt's because their color scheme is very bland so adding that gives more of interesting feel. and they look great too!

- FrostTooth

Try painting the eyes and details a different color than red. There's a lot of red in random places on these guys and it's kind of muddy-ing. Using a light blue or green for at least the eyes would make them pop much better and make your blood spatters stand out more.

I like the blood. So what if blood isn't bright when it dries. These guys have obviously JUST massacred some fools.

What I'm not a big fan of in these models is that the eyes and the blood is exactly the same color. Maybe green eyes would make them stand out more.

All in all, though, I think they're cool and intimidating.

Have to agree with the others about the blood. I'm uncertain if it's the amount (which is somewhere in the Dragonage II region) or the deilvery though. Maybe a bit more of a 'splatter' effect would look good? Just something as simple as generating tiny flecks using a toothbrush could work (although there are probably other techniques, but I believe that was what I used when generating the blood splatter all over my previous Ork army.) Like your painting overall though, well done

I like them. For splattering blood, try holding the brush between your pointer and middle fingers at an angle away from the minis, then flick it at them. Be careful you don't throw the brush though