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Nice colours on the mage! Also like the hood on the CC Earth Warrior!!

As for the face, sorry, but I tend to think I suck at painting faces!! So I'm not in a position to give an advice!

@Yggdrasil: Thanks! The Earthwarrior is coming along nicely. On the general Tau front, I have managed to get some free hand symbols paint on the sides of the latest units helmets, and I must say, my freehand has improved a fair amount. No pictures, sadly, but I should have some up when my mom gets back, as she borrowed my camera.

BTW, what does Yggdrasil mean? It rolls off the tongue wonderfully.

The gemstones have been worked on on the Mage, the skin has been worked on, and I have generally made good progress, considering the fact that I am a little tied up with commission work and the like ATM.


I am quite happy with the energy swirling around his feet.




C&C welcomed!

Tim, that looks awesome.

If you stick that in your flgs with an advertisement, it should get some interest going. It was the first step I took and has helped a fair bit. Best of luck!

Ifalna wrote:Tim, that looks awesome.

If you stick that in your flgs with an advertisement, it should get some interest going. It was the first step I took and has helped a fair bit. Best of luck!

Thanks! It is always nice to get positive comments.

Quick question for you guys: My Birthday is coming up soon, and i am trying to decide what to ask for: I am greedily looking at the full set of Isalnd of Blood Skaven, which I have found on eBay for $40, from multiple sellers. Or, I could get a box of river trolls for my WHF orc army( which I have been meaning to photograph and put up here soon, though be prepped for some not-so good paint jobs, it was my 1st army
). Or, I could buy myself 2-3 Tau Battlesuits. What do you guys think?

_Tim, questioningly.

1. Island of Blood FTW! The models are really nice, plus they pack a lot of them inside! Especially for 40$... Would you mind sending the links lol?

2. Yggdrasil is the World Tree in Norse Mythology, which acts as the link between the Underworld, the plane of mortals, and the plane of the Gods...

3. As for the mage, it is indeed very promising! My only advice would be to try and soften up the shadings & highlights.
For instance, on the cloak you jump almost directly from pure black to pure white. Is sure adds a lot of contrast (which is good for this scale) but it's a bit too sharp IMHO. On a side note, white clothes rarely have black shades, rather bluish, brownish, greyish or even purplish ones...
Look at his scarf belt :


Or attached file (end of post).

The Bleachd Bone / Brown scarf could also be a bit more worked on, by blending the highlights some more...

But, as I said, it's already on a very good way!!!

@Yggdrasil: I see what you mean about the cape, I have been considering going back over it with white, then giving it a bluish wash, then slowly layering white back on. On the robe, the contrast is not quite as stark as it looks in the photo, I was using a borrowed camera so the photo came out to dark. I will have to go back in and retake some the the photographs.

The ribbons do need a a bit of work, I am just having trouble figuring out how to get the transitions between the washes and highlights smoother on such a small surface area. Blending is tough.

As for the ribbons, I have found some useful tricks while painting my current entry for my local GW competition...

You can find the pic here : http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/140052-Right%20side%20view.html

If pure blending is hard, you can try some small strokes, as visible on the picture, it renders a nice effect when viewed from a bit afar!

Also, try to paint the parts in your darkest colour, then apply layer after layer of watered down paints (the lighter tones), almost translucent, by pulling them towards the light points (edges, top, ...) : the many layers will, in time, create a smooth blending...


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Also, for a quick shading : basecoat in Dheneb stone (as it seems from the picture), heavily washed with Devlan Mud (very dark) or Gryphonne Sepia (ligher and more "yellowish"); then highlight with Dheneb stone again... Easy & yields nice results!

GAHH!

The High elf Mage is giving me nightmares. I have, in the last 3 days, tried 4 different ways of shading/highlighting the stupid ribbons on the model, and no matter what I do, they still look like crap. So, as there are now 5 layers of paint, not including washes, on the ribbons, I am just either 1: going to have to strip the that part of the model, or 2: just toss the model in the bin. I cannot strip the model, as stripping it would most likely break the ribbons/staff. So, it looks as though I will have to go with 2. It sucks, but it s just not worth my time/sanity/eyesight to keep slaving away over such a small, yet crucial, bit of a model.


I also reviewed all the painting projects I have that are still ongoing.
My WHF Orc army: I still have to paint 8 savage orcs, and base 7 already painted ones.
The SW project
The High elf Mage project
My Tau army
My CoD terrain
Aaand the runebound commission.

I am going to have to give the SW project the chop, and the High elf Mage project the chop. The runebound commission is almost done, and after that, I may just give Blackdog Painting studio the chop also. I really have managed to take to many things on at once, and this painting service thing is making me pretty burned out, as so far I have painted about 50 figures that are 1/2 the size of a Night Goblin, twice as slim, and have no raised details, so that is rapidly sucking the joy out of painting.

_Tim, choppingly.

No!!! Don't let it go!! Just post a pic ans we could see about what's to do to save him from the maw of Chaos!!

Yggdrasil wrote:No!!! Don't let it go!! Just post a pic ans we could see about what's to do to save him from the maw of Chaos!!

To late. Even if I could fix it, it is still not worth my time/dad griping at me the whole time I am painting the figure. Clean whites, I have learned, are my main weakness.

Here is the promised photo of the High elf mage. Please take a gander at it, and tell me what I should do.


I also trotted out my horde o' orcs, and got pictures of them all. They are a very raggedy looking horde, as I have been collecting/painting them since I first started the hobby 3 years ago. As such, the painting on them is very inconsistent, and some of the paint jobs look quite bad. Also, many of the orc boyz in the big unit of 50 still have unfinished shields, badly/half-way painted/unpainted small details such as talismans, choppa handles, eyes, and other things(many of them are just sloppily painted compared with my latest lot of savage orcs). This is largely because I have painted the unit over 2 years, and my style has changed a lot. As such, I have been very tempted on multiple occasions, to strip them of their paint, 5 at a time, and paint them all to my new, clean and crisp, standard. It would be a lot of work, but it would pay off, as I would have a whole unit painted up to a consistent standard I can be proud of. I really need your guys' opinion on this!

The pictures are organized first to last, so the first bunch of photo are all BFSP models. They were the first I painted, so don't expect much.
















C&C Welcomed!

Loving the spiders Tim! Not enough people add colour diversity to units that it would look fantastic in, but you have hit the nail on the head there for sure! Orc force looks great considering you have been working on it since you started up


He HE mage is looking good, but it might do with being brightened up just a bit further. The white shadowing is very grey and the white highlight not quite fully white, but that could just be the photo (?) Another highlight on the flesh and blue areas and the eyes finished off would leave it looking really great. Sorry to hear about Bdog though, maybe you can take it up again when you get some more time?

Ifalna wrote:Loving the spiders Tim! Not enough people add colour diversity to units that it would look fantastic in, but you have hit the nail on the head there for sure! Orc force looks great considering you have been working on it since you started up


He HE mage is looking good, but it might do with being brightened up just a bit further. The white shadowing is very grey and the white highlight not quite fully white, but that could just be the photo (?) Another highlight on the flesh and blue areas and the eyes finished off would leave it looking really great. Sorry to hear about Bdog though, maybe you can take it up again when you get some more time?

Thanks for the compliments! Even though my orc force is a bit raggedy, I am still proud of it.

The photo is a little bit green tinged, as my lawn is just outside the window I take photos in front of. I should get to do some work on the High elf mage done today, as I got my RuneBound commission 1/2 done, and I am taking a week long break from commission work.

I also like the different hues in the spiders, as well as the purple for Fanatics & catapult, the blue in Orc boys... That way they more than stand out, without be out of place...

That's a great army overall!!!

As for the mage it looks better, just follow Ifalna's advice, a far better painter than I am...

Yggdrasil wrote:I also like the different hues in the spiders, as well as the purple for Fanatics & catapult, the blue in Orc boys... That way they more than stand out, without be out of place...

That's a great army overall!!!

As for the mage it looks better, just follow Ifalna's advice, a far better painter than I am...

Thanks a bunch, Yggdrasil. I really am glad the multiple colors worked out as well as they have.

For the first time ever, I painted the eyes of a model, and they actually didn't make the model have googly eyes. Eyes do really add something to a model, don't they? Yep, the high elf is coming along nicely, as the cape and the ribbons are pretty much done. I may not be totally happy with them, but they look as best as I can do, at my (current) skill level. I am not rushing myself, as I will be able to get to my FLGS in about 9 days, so I have some time to spare.





To all my Tau fans: I am going to my FLGS to get a battlesuit or two in 10 days, so please forgive the lack of exciting updates other than the Earthwarrior.

I really dig the Earth Warrior, hows work coming on them?

Eyes are better than mine!!!

Also, the blue shades on the cape are less sharp than previously, so that's much better!!

tekk_45 wrote:I really dig the Earth Warrior, hows work coming on them?

Thanks! He is still WiP, I should get photos taken when he is done.

@ Yggdrasil: My eyes are better than yours? Weird, I always have aspired to be as good at blending as you, just goes to show, we all have our strengths. Of course, I just noticed that the left pupil is to big, so back to work on that...

The mage has been based, and the energy around his feet is almost done. All that is left to do now is some minor details/cleanup work. I am also trying out a darker background for my photos, what do you you guys think of it?

YAY! The mage is finished! Man, it feels good to have that out of the way. Now I just need to write a brochure, and take him off to my FLGS.

Looking back, I could have done this a lot faster if not for real life getting in the way. As the last 5-6 update posts have all ben more and more elf, I will be getting a Crisis suit soon, so that should add some more interest into this thread.
Tell me what you think, guys and gals!

Ok, nice mini in the end!!!!

I still think you could improve it a bit more though, by having the shadows ... a bit less dark...

As on the elf & skaven pics I linked to earlier.

Still, I definitely could be tempted to have some minis commissioned if I saw them on a shelf!

Yeah, the shadows were a bit dark...however, I think it is pretty decent, and should be helpful. No going back now, as it is sealed.

_Tim?

P.S. I am soo tempted to start a DE army!

Some_Call_Me_Tim? wrote:
P.S. I am soo tempted to start a DE army!

Haaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Same for me...

Yeah, the crew hanging onto the sides of the Ravager look great, like they are about to jump down and start chopping heads.

Here are some pictures of my painting station. It is really nice and comfy, even though it is in a renovated shower stall!






I (finally!) ordered my copy of 8th edition 2 days ago, but it looks as though I won't be getting it in time for the weekend.

_Tim?


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Here is my wip brochure. Tell me what you think.
"
BlackDog Painting Studio
The model you see next to this brochure has been painted up to my highest quality: “Hero” Level, involving multiple layers of subtle highlights, advanced painting techniques on the gems, and, if you look oh so carefully, even the eyes have been painted in!

The cost? $5.25!

Want to learn more? Head on over to my site at www.blackdogpaintingstudio.webs.com, or Email me at @ runescaper12@yahoo.com.

I also offer a 20% discount on orders of 40 or more figures! "

This is just the text, it will be on a parchment paper patterned print out page.

I guess you could add some examples of price :

"Desperately need that 30-strong regiment painted for next month's tournament? I'll just take 60$ for them, painted to a nice gaming standard!"

I have been working on these NG Big Bosses for the past 1 and a 1/2...Tell me what ya' think!



_Tim?

Love the purple & the yellow triangles!
It needs some shading & wear on the weapons, and you can consider them done!

Here they are, all painted up. I am really happy with the blades, and the highlighting on the purple cloak.



_Tim?

nice stuff

Yup, they're nice!!!