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Here is my first squads of Astra Militarum. I tried to use all my skills. Even did the eyes on guardsmen! Has some airbrushing, edge highlight, etc.... I may do more on the bases, make them jungle them to help them tie in with my nids if I ever do a battle. I like the idea of a muddy base though and its refreshing to keep it simple. Thoughts?

I try to work on something new as far as technique with each army. For this one its going to be faces/flesh tones. I May need to add another color and work on my highlights. Right now its just Ratskin Flesh, AP Soft tone wash, Pale Flesh Highlight, Reikland fleshshade wash. White for eyes, black dot for pupil. Should I add a midtone step, like maybe a Bugman glow or something before going from Ratskin to Pale flesh?


Also Unsure on the shoulder markings, I want to do a differnet emblem for each type of guy. Spade for lasguns/sgts, Skull for Spec Weapons, Diamonds for HW Team, Aquila for officers, I ordered some 101st Airborne decals and plan to use the Clubs on tempesus, maybe Hearts on Bullygryns. Also, the # is supposed to be the regiment correct? I only have so many decal, and thought about mabe doing different numbers on each type of units (as you see with the GL). Maybe have this be the Company or Battallion or something. Thoughts?

C&C Welcome!

https://imgur.com/a/XRQtrNE

Hello, please add actual pictures to your first post as per the guidelines of this subforum:

3) This is a forum to actually show off pictures, so threads created here must contain at least one picture within the post itself. Simply posting a video or a link to another site without including a picture in the post is not acceptable, and threads like that will be moved to the regular painting and modeling forum.

 BrookM wrote:
Hello, please add actual pictures to your first post as per the guidelines of this subforum:

3) This is a forum to actually show off pictures, so threads created here must contain at least one picture within the post itself. Simply posting a video or a link to another site without including a picture in the post is not acceptable, and threads like that will be moved to the regular painting and modeling forum.

Oops! Updated. Apologies.

Visible mold lines in first pic, grenade launcher guy(helmet, under shoulder pad on off arm); eyes need major work, they look like they're on something.

eyes instruction to look natural: paint skin tones, black in the eye socket, once dry white in the socket leaving a thin black line around the eyes, dot the iris black(you can shift slightly left or right if they are looking), flesh wash the eyes if the whites in the eyes are too white.

EDIT: things I thought you have done very well, decals, most people, that's including some very able painters aren't able to do them to a point that it looks painted on; basing, great choice on turf and rock grain selection, again most people just use 1 or 2 different grain of sand, making it look unnatural, they don't realize it requires 3+ different grains to make it work.


Tip of grenade launcher barrel could be sanded down, looks a bit too rough after being drilled.

 Big Mac wrote:
Visible mold lines in first pic, grenade launcher guy(helmet, under shoulder pad on off arm); eyes need major work, they look like they're on something.

eyes instruction to look natural: paint skin tones, black in the eye socket, once dry white in the socket leaving a thin black line around the eyes, dot the iris black(you can shift slightly left or right if they are looking), flesh wash the eyes if the whites in the eyes are too white.

Argh, i see it now. I triple checked these guys. Grrr.

Yeah, the eyes are a pain. So black for the eye, then white, then black again. Ill give that a try. Maybe they are on adrenaline...

Thanks for the critique.

You could have at least said something positive, Big Mac. If this was a commission advertisement, then fine.

As for the eyes, you've done a decent effort on some of them but I just don't think its worth it. Cadians are such massable models that I don't think the effort and time on doing properly-done eyes is worth the hassle.

I can see you're going for a nice and quick method with the heavy washes, but I think they actually look great. If you want to churn out Guardsmen this is the way to do it. Individually there is work you could do, such as tidying up the sergeant's stripes as you appear to have gone over and that detail sticks out, but as a squad they are an effective unit. A full Cadian army painted like this will look great on the tabletop, and at the end of the day that's worth something.

 Oppl wrote:
You could have at least said something positive, Big Mac. If this was a commission advertisement, then fine.

As for the eyes, you've done a decent effort on some of them but I just don't think its worth it. Cadians are such massable models that I don't think the effort and time on doing properly-done eyes is worth the hassle.

I can see you're going for a nice and quick method with the heavy washes, but I think they actually look great. If you want to churn out Guardsmen this is the way to do it. Individually there is work you could do, such as tidying up the sergeant's stripes as you appear to have gone over and that detail sticks out, but as a squad they are an effective unit. A full Cadian army painted like this will look great on the tabletop, and at the end of the day that's worth something.

Its fine. Im not one to ask for Critique and then get pissed off if someone gives me a critique. I missed the sgt stripes. In person I can barely see, but this camera when zoomed does not hide anything.
I agree with you about the eyes. I might just go with leaving them blank or maybe just hit them with a dark wash to get the effect. On guys with helmets at least. Sgts and officers I can probably do the eyes on as its easier to see them.