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Very nice work of these two, but they just increase my anticipation meter to the max as I wait for the others.

Had to jump in and subscribe to this one! It's really great that you are describing the process you use of basing and then washing. I've been learning as I go, and trying to refine my "order" of painting, so that's a great help to me.

The Chaos-Kraut wrote:Very nice, clean and significant look. Good work!

Bloodthirster wrote:Very nice work of these two, but they just increase my anticipation meter to the max as I wait for the others.

Thanks guys!

Lint wrote:Had to jump in and subscribe to this one! It's really great that you are describing the process you use of basing and then washing. I've been learning as I go, and trying to refine my "order" of painting, so that's a great help to me.

It's good to know that people like it - I always like learning someone else's processes too - you knever know when you can pick up a useful tidbit or two! Don't forget, feel free to ask questions if you want to, either here in the thread or via PM

PART FIFTEEN: A LITTLE FURTHER

Gah. These guys are taking me longer than I hoped - which is not helped by the fact that my painting time will probably only be about an hour a day until Friday. Still, I'll be able to make a little progress each day regardless. I spent a little time re-aging the warrior's armour today, which I will finish tomorrow, and got to do the lining of his cloak too. I did the purity seals on both models and I discovered that the ones on the warrior (one on each wrist) are impossible to paint text on as neatly as I'd like due to the way they're modeled into their crevices - you have to just point the brush at the surface and hope! I've also decided that I didn't like having such a huge swath of gold on the front of the shield, so I'll be breaking it up with a little red and white. This means that it will take longer to finish these guys but I think it will be worth the effort:



One thing that has really struck home when painting these two models is the comparison between the casting quality of Forge World and GW minis - the direct contrast of doing them at the same time has really hit it home. Even the tiny details on the Forge World henchmen are razor sharp, and by comparison the details on the GW model look like shapeless blobs. Mostly this is because resin allows for a much more detailed casting than metal does of course. Later on I'll try and get some extreme close-ups so you can see what I mean.

I love that little sword bearer FW henchmen,what is his role in the retinue,game wise?

They both are coming along well,sorry to hear about your lack of modelling/painting time,I get rather cranky if I don't get to paint my little plastic people(lol).

Anyway keep up the good work!

Deff Dread red Edition wrote:I love that little sword bearer FW henchmen,what is his role in the retinue,game wise?

I don't really know what he intends to use him as - though if he were mine, I'd use him as a familiar.

They both are coming along well,sorry to hear about your lack of modelling/painting time,I get rather cranky if I don't get to paint my little plastic people(lol).
Anyway keep up the good work!

Thanks, this blog is just going to slow down for a couple more days (more minor updates - not fewer updates mind you!) I still intend to get them all done by Sunday though, whatever it takes - I have other projects burning holes in my imagination!

PART FIFTEEN: THE LEAST PROGRESS YET(!)

As I suspected, I'll have at least one, maybe two more days of this slowdown before I get back up to full speed again, so in my spare hour today I focused on finishing off the white parts, including the new white trim on the warrior's shield, and the couple of skulls on the sword-bearer's sheath. I much prefer the way the new colour scheme is working on the shield - it gives it much more life.

To save a little time today I used a slightly more basic method for the whites - it's pretty easy:

Basecoat Astronomicon Grey (it covers metallics just as well as it covers black, BTW)

Wash with (all together now!) Devlan Mud (Note to self - must get some more of this on Thursday - almost out)

Highlight with Astronomicon Grey

Highlight with Astronomicon Grey + Skull White (1:1)

Highlight with Skull White

All I've got left to do really are the reds on these models, which I should get a good start on tomorrow:



As a bonus today, here's the comparison pic I promised:



The centre skull is the skull on the bottom of the scabbard from the FW bearer model, in scale with the skulls on the warriors shield. Notice how much sharper the detail is (keep in mind this is an extreme close up so that skull is only a few millimetres across), and how 'mushy' the metal skulls look by comparison. This is what I mean by crispness - it's amazing what resin can achieve over white metal!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update!

PART SIXTEEN: AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Ugh. Nearly no time for painting today - certainly not to do what I was hoping, but since some progress is better than no progress - and not wanting to let down my record of daily updates - I have started roughing in the colours on the final two henchmen. My plan is to finish blocking them off and give them their wash tomorrow, when I finish the other two, so they'll be ready and raring to go on friday:



However, there was a package waiting for me today, so I'm a happy panda after all:



Whatever could it be for?

PREPARE FOR NORMAL SERVICE TO RESUME TOMORROW

It looks like a boat,is it perhaps some uncharted seas stuff?

As for the rough mock up of the henchmens paint scheme,I like the layout can't wait for 'em to be painted up fully.

Those are sexy nice.
Rex now has some rules too.
How about a group shot (for the family album)

Deff Dread red Edition wrote:It looks like a boat,is it perhaps some uncharted seas stuff?

Soooo close If there's sufficient interest, I'll post some pics when it's done, but the project is in the early stages and is pretty niche

bubber wrote:Those are sexy nice.
Rex now has some rules too.
How about a group shot (for the family album)

Thanks - Call it suspense, but I'm saving the group shots until last - I'm so mean like that

PART SEVENTEEN: YOU'VE GOT RED ON YOU

As much as I like painting and shading red, (I do find it one of the easiest colours to paint), spending 2+ hours just on the robes of these guys is not the most thrilling time! However, I am prepared to call these guys done - there are a few little things that need to be tidied up, and I won't be sure until I examine the robes in natural daylight (It being just after midnight when I put down my brush ), but they are at least 99% finalised, and I can move on to the final, more interesting pair:



A quick note for anyone who has or wants to get the warrior model: There are a couple of things to be aware of - the first is that there's a mould line on the back of the shield that's so awkwardly placed as to be almost impossible to get rid of fully (did this really need to be a single piece casting GW? really?) - I recommend disguising it by painting a wood grain over it. The second is that there is detail on the sword grip that is abysmally shallow and poorly-defined - you'd be better to file it off completely and paint your own wrapping on instead, I've made do with some subtle drybrushing and inking, but you could even file it smooth and then carve in your own detail as well.

They look very nice.I can't wait to see a group shot of the whole retinue and lord together.Your reds look lovely and the overall paintjob is outstanding,good work.

Dang I cant make out the url on the package for that ship post a link please.
That looks like something some buddies of mine and I would like.
The paint on Rex is stunning btw.

This is awesomeness.

I love them all!

Deff Dread red Edition wrote:They look very nice.I can't wait to see a group shot of the whole retinue and lord together.Your reds look lovely and the overall paintjob is outstanding,good work.

inquisitor_lord_slade wrote:This is awesomeness.
I love them all!

Thanks for the compliments guys, I hope it's also a bit inspirational too!

sonofruss wrote:Dang I cant make out the url on the package for that ship post a link please.
That looks like something some buddies of mine and I would like.
The paint on Rex is stunning btw.

No problem: www.rodlangton.com - Rod's a great guy, and very helpful too. Also thanks

PART EIGHTEEN: YOU'RE SO VEIN

I had a little fun tonight, trying out something that I've wanted to do for a while, but never really had a good model to rest it on, and this one seemed perfect. After i did some of the basic work on the models, some of the white and bone colour on their robes, I went to town doing the psyker's skin, making him really pallid. Then I mixed some Tallarn Flesh and Mordian Blue to get a blue-grey flesh tone, and painted fine veins around his temples. The secret is to do this one stage before you've finished, then glaze over the top with a very watered-down highlight of your skin tone over the whole area. This really helps give the impression that the veins are just under the skin:



I'm very pleased with the way it turned out - even though it took me longer than I'd expected I think it's worth it

A quick update today - a fuller one coming tomorrow!

PART NINETEEN: THE PAPERWORK

Let me tell you, there's a metric butt-ton of paper on the book-holding guy, and I got a chance to paint it all up today, using a very similar method to the one detailed earlier in this thread, though this turned out to be all I had time for today, unfortunatley:



I'm still planning to finish these guys tomorrow - I don't know if I'll be able to, but I will darn well try

The mystic looks very nice,as does the other little guy.Good work,I want a group shot so bad(LOL).

This stuff just keeps looking better! Like everybody else I want to see a group shot as well, but patience is a virtue. The skin on the psyker is sick! Can't wait to see more!

Deff Dread red Edition wrote:The mystic looks very nice,as does the other little guy.Good work,I want a group shot so bad(LOL).

Stretch wrote:This stuff just keeps looking better! Like everybody else I want to see a group shot as well, but patience is a virtue. The skin on the psyker is sick! Can't wait to see more!

Thanks! - and because I'm nice - and because I spent several hours on them, today is your lucky day

PART TWENTY: THE FAT LADY SINGS

I managed to put in a good five hours today, and got the last henchmen finished off, and based them all too! I spent a while painting the pages of the open book carried by the book-bearer, inspired by the wizard-painting article in WD a couple of months ago. I did the design using my usual mix of Scorched Brown and Chaos Black, and then I retraced the borders and the drop-cap with Mechrite Red to give it a little life. I also then used Devlan Mud and tiny amounts of Chaos Black to make the tome look really worn, damaged and ancient:



I also stippled a little Devlan Mud around the hems of the henchmen to represent general wear and stains. Once that was done, I painted the bases with Scorched Brown, drybrushed with Calthan Brown, then with Dheneb Stone. For the flock I painted patches of Knarloc Green, then used PVA to glue on clumps of static grass. I went a little farther than I usually would with base foliage this time and glued tiny clumps of dark-green coarse-foam flock to represent small bushes. Then I neatened up the edges with Chaos Black, and they're done!



So, Twenty days later, and I'm done with this lot at last - I just need to wait for some suitable weather for spraying to give them a coat of Dullcote. It's been pretty fun, and a chance to work on some really nice minis. I hope everyone's enjoyed the regular updates, and all the comments have been very helpful in keeping me motivated too! Feel free to ask any questions, in the thread or via PM, and let me know if you'd like to see any particular photos or angles.

You have made my day!

Excellent,that's all I can say.I hope your friend likes them and I can't wait until you start another project!

Absolutely beautiful! Very very "traditional" take, but so nicely executed that it's far from boring.

It's amazing.... I must say. I've been watching this from the start, and you've kept me coming back every day.

Nice job here. Maybe a bit too much bright red for my personal preference but well executed and in such short time too!

I love the work you have done on the book on the bearers back, wonderfully done.

Looking forward to seeing more from you.

Cheers,

Dante

My favorite models are Rex obviously, the psyker, and the book bearer. How long did it take you to do all the scripting on the pages? And please start another project, seeing your work is keeping me motivated as the comments from us have kept you motivated! Can't wait to see some future projects

It's at times like these that I lament the restrictions the swear filter imposes on my ability to describe my true feelings. Bloody amazing.

these came out awesome , nice work on that book

Deff Dread red Edition wrote:You have made my day!
Excellent,that's all I can say.I hope your friend likes them and I can't wait until you start another project!

migsula wrote:Absolutely beautiful! Very very "traditional" take, but so nicely executed that it's far from boring.

crazypsyko666 wrote:It's amazing.... I must say. I've been watching this from the start, and you've kept me coming back every day.

CMDante wrote:Nice job here. Maybe a bit too much bright red for my personal preference but well executed and in such short time too!
I love the work you have done on the book on the bearers back, wonderfully done.
Looking forward to seeing more from you.
Cheers,
Dante

The Dreadnote wrote:It's at times like these that I lament the restrictions the swear filter imposes on my ability to describe my true feelings. Bloody amazing.

slann wrote:these came out awesome , nice work on that book

Stretch wrote:My favorite models are Rex obviously, the psyker, and the book bearer. How long did it take you to do all the scripting on the pages? And please start another project, seeing your work is keeping me motivated as the comments from us have kept you motivated! Can't wait to see some future projects

@Everyone (especially all those who have commented so far in this thread): Thanks for the great feedback guys - I'm glad you all enjoyed it! I will definitely be starting up another project in a couple of weeks - a kind of tribute to upcoming release of the new Space Wolves 'dex, and an experiment in seeing if I can sell my stuff on eBay. I'm looking for suggestions for what to do, so if you've got any ideas, I'd really appreciate hearing about them in this thread in the Painting and Modeling Forum (there's a pic of the base mini that I bought too).

@Stretch, Slann & CMDante: The book pages probably took about 20 minutes all told, and the rest of the text on him another 15-20 - painting good scripting just requires a paint of just the right consistency - unfortunatley I can't give exact ratios, since I just mix it until it 'feels' right. It should be thin enough to flow easily, but thick enough that you don't have to do two coats. Too thin though, and the lines will come out chunky - too thick and the paint will start to dry on the tip of the brush too soon. When I was learning this technique, I got an old blister pack, primed it white, and practiced doing fine lines. When I had that sorted out, I practiced 'jittering' the brush as I painted the lines to break it up and look like text. Hope this helps

@migsula & CMDante: Bright, traditional colours is the look I was going for The army he will be heading is a Grey Knights force, so I decided to make them brighter and warmer than the silver Knights so that they draw focus as the certrepiece of the army - If I toned them down too much I would be a little concerned about them being visually lost!

Been following this from the start and they look great all finished and together. Very nice work and well done in such a short time.

Metsuri wrote:Been following this from the start and they look great all finished and together. Very nice work and well done in such a short time.

Thanks! Though it felt longer to be actually doing it - it's probably the longest I've ever spent doing a single unit, even of my own stuff!

Wow. I'm lost for words. They look stunningly good. I'm now almost afraid of buying one as I know it won't be that good

Very nice. Now the group shot, please!

endtransmission wrote:Wow. I'm lost for words. They look stunningly good. I'm now almost afraid of buying one as I know it won't be that good

scarab wrote:Very nice.

Thanks for the compliments! Also, I'm thrilled that this thread has reached over 5,000 views - a new personal best!

scarab wrote:Now the group shot, please!

There's one above - or have I misunderstood you?