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Hey again,

Uploading pics from my Vampire Counts commission I am undertaking. Here are two ethereal contributions to the army. Some Spirit Hosts and some Hexwraiths! The customer and I decided to show the hexwraiths in their ethereal form to mix things up. It also compliments the Nagash model that heads the army. I tried to use the "army of the dead" from LOTR as reference while painting the hexwraiths.

Let me know what you think.
Edit: NEW Hexwraith photos with actual camera, not hasty iphone pics.





- VardenV2

The spirits look great, but I find the hexwraiths leave a lot to be desired. Maybe it's a bad camera angle, but they're very monochromatic. Heck, they almost look like they're made of green stuff. Maybe some lighter greens, yellows, and white would liven things up a bit, especially if you're going for the LOTR spectral army look.

 House Griffith wrote:
The spirits look great, but I find the hexwraiths leave a lot to be desired. Maybe it's a bad camera angle, but they're very monochromatic. Heck, they almost look like they're made of green stuff. Maybe some lighter greens, yellows, and white would liven things up a bit, especially if you're going for the LOTR spectral army look.

Updated the photos with my better camera and light setup. The photos were definitely not doing them justice. You were right, they did look like they were made of green stuff haha.

- VardenV2

Not familiar with VC. The bottom ones look lovely, but I'm not digging the mounted ones. They seem like they're just green, rather than spectral. I'm not really sure how to fix it, though.

The Spirit Hosts look really nice.

I'm not sure what techniques you used on the hexwraiths, but unfortunately they look like they are base coated with a bit of detail work done. They just don't seem finished.

Yeah those are really nice! Ghastly!

 Haight wrote:
The Spirit Hosts look really nice.

I'm not sure what techniques you used on the hexwraiths, but unfortunately they look like they are base coated with a bit of detail work done. They just don't seem finished.

I know what you are saying and I agree but I just can't put my finger on it. I used essentially the same technique as I did with the spirit hosts but for some reason they just don't look correct. Maybe it is the sculpts that don't lend themselves to the whispy ethereal nature I am going for.

My ideas to 'fix' them are as follows:

-Highlight with more white to exaggerate the light and dark contrasts.
-Wash with blue/green in the recesses to give a darker contrast
-Apply thin colored washes/glazes to certain areas (black on horses, tan on bones, grey on metallics) to give them a semi-transparent look as if they are warping in. It might mix the green supernatural look with a more physical appearance.

Any other suggestions?

- VardenV2