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Hey Dakka,

Maybe its cause I have a limited imagination or something but I have been trying to figure out a way to do a borderlands style paint job on an army. I havent the fainted idea of what army to use or the conversions necessary. The closest I have gotten is painting orks flesh colored and making them look like psychos.

Just wondering if anyone else has done something like this or if you guys have any thoughts to contribute.

Bright colors, black washes, and a white prime should get you close to that cel-shaded styling, but I can't say i've ever purposely tried to do a project of that nature, personally.

Look through the gallery, there's a guy with Tyranids in Comic/Cell-shading optic.

I think you'll most likely have to use a black Sakura pen (or similar)on every nook and cranny of the miniature to create that strong black line cel-shaded characters have.

An example of the mentioned Tyranids:


This is my own attempt. In no way as jaw-dropping and effective as the Tyranids, but I like the result

Vivid colors, relatively strong (and, ideally, smooth - blends, not a lot of edge highlights) contrast, and stark blacklining are what you're after. Nard's 'nids (one is pictured in the spoiler above, but he has tons more in his gallery) are a good example, but you could employ the same technique on just about any army. Orks are an obvious candidate, as their scrap-tech aesthetic resonates well with that of Borderlands and they have a lot of hard edges and sharply defined features to pick out. Something like Eldar would be trickier, as you're basically just circling gems and lining joints - too many smooth surfaces to drive the effect home.

On the blacklining, a micron pen would likely do the trick. A Sakura Pigma 005 is pretty fine and the ink has a bit of flow - with repeated passes depositing enough for capillary action to kick in, I've yet to meet a panel line that I couldn't get ink down into. Oil or enamel washes are another option. After a gloss coat, apply a pin wash (to save on cleanup) or just cover the whole model (to save time), leave to dry, then come back with a thinner-dampened cloth to wipe away all but the recessed lines.