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Mortarchs of Nagash

Vlad Von Carstein








Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush Paints
Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line
Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Over the weekend I managed to get my hands on a couple of the new Mortarch's and painted them up. Over the week I'll be posting up photos and have a meander through Gothic literary fiction and where the Warhammer Vampire fit in.

First up we have Vlad Von Carstein - the apex predator and patriarch of the Von Carstein bloodline, newly resurrected from the afterlife. This model has been on my hit list since it was first released. I like to view this model as a two dimensional piece akin to the early casts GW made where they were only able to produce two mould sets for their models (think of the original Njal Stormbringer, Ragnar Blackmane, or the original Vlad). Vlad heralded a new look for the Vampire range, moving away from the frilly, flouncy attired gothic horror to something all together more unique to suit the look of the warhammer world.

I went for the classic combination of red, gold and black. Sometimes it pays to do things simply and I didn't want to over complicate the look of the model with an unusual paint scheme. The armour was blended up from pure black with Com Art Medea grey, then white, washed with turquoise and finally re-applying these layers for a high sheen finish.

The cloak on the other hand had a very dull gradual blend as if the faces inside were writhing slowly in agony.


Bigger pics
W.I.P

Myles

The OSL on the bases looks incredible. Very atmospheric

Amazing, I love the cloak!

sloppy airbrush job

Mod note: Please keep comments constructive in this section - thanks.

That is really fast work on the Mortarchs! I love the gradient on the ghosts on the base, in particular

Nice looking stuff, they look hard models to paint.

How long did these take you?

Vlad's base rim looks awful.
Really detracts from the model.

Stunning work. I keenly enjoy seeing your stuff pop up in my Facebook ticker feed, its very nice to see something painted in a different way and at that, very well.

I have no idea what Alex is smoking, I never even looked at the base on Vlad before he pointed it out.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
Vlad's base rim looks awful.
Really detracts from the model.

Have to agree here. but non the less. the models are beautifully painted and to a extremly high standard I may add. Well done

Myles-
I noticed that with your models with a lot of black on them, you wash them with turquoise (noted in the Legion Battle Tank you did as well).
Can you explain what that does for the paint job? Why turquoise?
Keep up the great work, and thanks!

 Mr.Omega wrote:
I have no idea what Alex is smoking, I never even looked at the base on Vlad before he pointed it out.

And now that I have what are your thoughts? You don't have to be smoking anything to see it.
I may not have noticed it if I was viewing on a phone but on a desktop screen it really shouted at me before anything else.
In the second and last pics it's really noticeable for two different reasons.
Second pic really highlights the rough overpainting and stray static grass due to the glare from the lighting.
Last pic shows a huge gouge taken out of the edge of the base. Seeing the silhouette of a very familiar shape changed ever so slightly becomes immediately obvious.
It's basics like this that would make me ask questions as to whether a model has been pinned, prepped/primed correctly, photographed honestly or what other shortcuts have been taken.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:

 Mr.Omega wrote:
I have no idea what Alex is smoking, I never even looked at the base on Vlad before he pointed it out.

It's basics like this that would make me ask questions as to whether a model has been pinned, prepped/primed correctly, photographed honestly or what other shortcuts have been taken.

On a different forum, my prompt, simple reply to this would be three words long and end with a question mark.

Nonetheless. I wouldn't speak such, disrespectful, sneering assertions of my worst enemy's modelling skills.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
It's basics like this that would make me ask questions as to whether a model has been pinned, prepped/primed correctly, photographed honestly or what other shortcuts have been taken.

So to be clear you are accusing LilLoser of doctoring his photographs and presenting dishonest modeling work on these forums all because there is some errant grass and maybe a gouge taken out of a 25mm base? fething really?

How have you painted Vlad's sword? I can never get metallics so bright and reflective

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
It's basics like this that would make me ask questions as to whether a model has been pinned, prepped/primed correctly, photographed honestly or what other shortcuts have been taken.

So to be clear you are accusing LilLoser of doctoring his photographs and presenting dishonest modeling work on these forums all because there is some errant grass and maybe a gouge taken out of a 25mm base? fething really?

To be fair, the base does detract from the model a bit. Alex is allowed to voice his opinion. Please keep things calm guys.
I still think the paint job is very well done. A quick fix to the base would be all that is needed. Good job on the models, LilLoser. Please post more

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

So to be clear you are accusing LilLoser of doctoring his photographs and presenting dishonest modeling work on these forums. fething really?

Not an accusation at all. The sentence that you are referring to is both a generalisation and my personal critique process, it does not mention a particular individual or model, have a re-read.
The chap clearly has talent and presents his models well, he is also a professional and should be able to take my criticism constructively in order to improve.
The base is sloppy and immediately put me into fault finding mode.

Okay to clarify my oppinion about the " sloppy" airbrush Job :
The ghosts from nagash are just painted with 2 max 3 colours. The osl is Way to bright.The colour from
The armor plates Highlight is the Same in every plate, Not every plate waS highlighted but all at once.
Also something distracts me about vlads base.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

So to be clear you are accusing LilLoser of doctoring his photographs and presenting dishonest modeling work on these forums. fething really?

Not an accusation at all. The sentence that you are referring to is both a generalisation and my personal critique process, it does not mention a particular individual or model, have a re-read.
The chap clearly has talent and presents his models well, he is also a professional and should be able to take my criticism constructively in order to improve.
The base is sloppy and immediately put me into fault finding mode.

Oh, sure. I understand exactly what you are doing. Your generalization toes the line of not being an overt attack but it is heavily suggested isn't it? As was your intention, right? Because if you really wanted to only comment on the base work you could have done only that. See what Freytag93 did with his criticism of the base? He acknowledged what he thought could be improved on without suggesting that there could be other, larger problems with the pieces LilLoser is presenting. You, though, you just went for the jugular. Over static grass. Bravo, sir.

Carry on with sharing your opinion. When I see comments like yours I immediately wonder about the mental state of the people making those comments. I wonder if they are loved, if they are lonely, and if their fingers are stained with dusty cheese as they surf the internet and rage against those who make them feel small and inadequate. Not talking about you, though. Just making a generalization about how I process unnecessarily harsh criticism on the internet.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

So to be clear you are accusing LilLoser of doctoring his photographs and presenting dishonest modeling work on these forums. fething really?

Not an accusation at all. The sentence that you are referring to is both a generalisation and my personal critique process, it does not mention a particular individual or model, have a re-read.
The chap clearly has talent and presents his models well, he is also a professional and should be able to take my criticism constructively in order to improve.
The base is sloppy and immediately put me into fault finding mode.

Oh, sure. I understand exactly what you are doing. Your generalization toes the line of not being an overt attack but it is heavily suggested isn't it? As was your intention, right? Because if you really wanted to only comment on the base work you could have done only that. See what Freytag93 did with his criticism of the base? He acknowledged what he thought could be improved on without suggesting that there could be other, larger problems with the pieces LilLoser is presenting. You, though, you just went for the jugular. Over static grass. Bravo, sir.

Carry on with sharing your opinion. When I see comments like yours I immediately wonder about the mental state of the people making those comments. I wonder if they are loved, if they are lonely, and if their fingers are stained with dusty cheese as they surf the internet and rage against those who make them feel small and inadequate. Not talking about you, though. Just making a generalization about how I process unnecessarily harsh criticism on the internet.

Darktraveller777 I must categorically state that you winz the internetz

staju1985 wrote:
sloppy airbrush job

Says the guy with no avi and 24 posts. Grow up son.

I'm pretty shocked at the "constructive criticism" in here. Saying "your work looks awful" on work that OBVIOUSLY doesn't look anything short of "vastly more impressive than the average forum participant ever achieves" is nothing short of bs elitism that is not only misplaced, but contrary to the entire spirit of the hobby. What the feth do people like ya'll say to the new folks who turn out obvious crap, but benefit so greatly from positive feedback to help their artistic abilities grow? Ugh.

To the thread starter, amazing work. Wish I had half your talent as a painter. Thanks for posting!

okay.. and cause i dont have fancy fishglasses in front of my face and share them with the internet im not allowed to make any postings here?
ohhh wait i forgot.. ur only allowed to post in the showcase when you can prove that you waisted 1633 times ur time in the net?
sorry but... no words.
i also clarified my post later...

I wanted to throw this out there because I think Lil deserved some honest feedback after the above... bs.

Mainly (comments):

1. The freehand on Neferata's cloak is subtle but a nice touch to such a broad surface.

2. Your true metalics (especially your golds) looks fantastic; your silvers are still good but a little bright for me--but this is more of a personal taste thing.

3. square bases are notorious for being gak to work with (mostly because they are usually too small for the model going on it, forcing you to CRAM stuff onto to at least bring it up to the standard of the beautiful model on top). The base fits, the static grass is maybe a bit too static, but it was a good job for a such a crap base to have to work with in the first place.

4. I like the color choice on Neferata. The blue contrasts nicely with the rich red tones which are tied together with the purple of the cloak. Thumbs up.

5. Vlads cloak is awesome. Thumbs up.

Criticisms:
I don't really like the color choice for Arkhan (the model). He blends very easily with the mount, and when you include the blue OSL the entire effect is very grey. Although the grey blending on the mount (airbrushing?) blends quite well with appropriate highlights it extends to the bone of the mount as well, making it seem like the entirety of the mount is grey armored rather than consisting of supernatural effects, bone AND armor. My issue with Arkhan on top is that he looks like he's wearing the same armor blended the same away as the mount. You drop the OSL on the staff and ghosts, you end up with a very neutral over-all look with the rider almost fading into the back rather than popping from up top (like Neferata).

The OSL on the ghosts, as commented earlier, is I believe off. Its not that the ghosts suffer from the OSL, but rather how the OSL is sooo bright on the terrain under the model, but does not reflect off Neferata/Arkhan hardly at all. If you would have eased back on the over-spray on the terrain around the model, I think the earthy tones of the base would have soaked up more attention rather than be blended away into the OSL.

It's worth bearing in mind that on a desktop screen, Vlad is shown at (at least) 300% of his actual size. You'd never notice such tiny imperfections in the base in real life.

They certainly don't take away from what is a stunning set of paint jobs, that make most of us want to snap our paint brushes in despair.

Love seeing your work, sir, can't wait to see what's next...

staju1985 wrote:
okay.. and cause i dont have fancy fishglasses in front of my face and share them with the internet im not allowed to make any postings here?
ohhh wait i forgot.. ur only allowed to post in the showcase when you can prove that you waisted 1633 times ur time in the net?
sorry but... no words.
i also clarified my post later...

Ignore forever.

Click.


To the OP - you're doing quite nicely.