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The Ideas and conversions in this blog are brilliant!
Just found this and I love it, and the fluff for your guard is great!

Neeeeeed mooore!

Love the dolosians, especially the veteran.
Servitor looks really cool but the drill bit is a tad big imo.

Those guys look sweet.

 Sheep wrote:
I have the same pic in my ad mech inspiration folder, can't wait to see what you do with it.

Haha, I've got it saved in my AdMech inspiration folder too. And over the past months many pictures from this log have been saved in my imperial folder!

Love everything in this log. I'm not usually a fan of dark and gritty 'realistic' schemes, but you've added enough contrast and color to make it work. The emotionless masks also make for great stony-faced Veterans. Keep going with the conversions, they make your army unique and interesting instead of just another Cadian log.

More outstanding work J-paint!

Love the banner; totally appropriate for the Dolosian Guard. If you could get one for each squad that be awesome.

The servitor is fantastic. Terrifying and awesome. The subtle weathering is also great, along with the little details like the cable on the vet and the numbering on the servitor.

Can't wait to see more mate.

I forgot to mention it when I first saw it, but yeah, that servitor is creepy and awesome.

@comrade - A new favourite? that is good indeed ty panda!

@Moltar - Hahah that is a brilliant mental image, also it sticks with you, cant look at him the same now!

@LDD - Thanks man, the idea was a bit more support, less OTT 'MOAR GUNZ'

@Nerd - Dont tempt me Nerd, dont tempt me!

@dsteingass - Thanks, that is not a bad idea, hadn't even considered that, I will do it on the next one, see how it looks

@Gits - Your too kind Gits, really its all stolen ideas!

@leadlegion - Thank you kindly for commenting, means alot!

@HoeJarris - Thanks very much, I'm hoping to expand on the fluff slightly soon, stay tuned!

@Igandris - I do actually agree with you, then again his head isnt actually attached to his body so I think his drill being too long is a minor triviality

@Gianlucafiorentini123 - THanks, and dear lord your name was hard to type out!!

@Pekel - Thanks Pekel, is always good to know there are people lurking and liking what they see! Hope I can add more to your folder in the future!

@San - Thanks amn, I am indeed aiming for 1 per squad, should look pretty ott, (in a good way) all together! Btw your IFs are really tempting me to try yellow....

@Valhalla - Haha thanks man, better late than never!




Sooo I have to say I really am chuffed at the number of people who are taking the time to comment, really makes a difference (even if I end up taking half an hour to post an update because of all the replies =p)

So I have been moving house these past few weeks as I am beginning my PhD in October and was getting all settled, I have just got my internet set up, but I havn't been idle in the mean time, I have lots to share today!


So first of all I have had my first ever commission!!! I must admit I was incredibly excited when I got it. I was basically asked to do a squad of realistic female valhallans like the one I did for my own army, (but not paint them) so I just followed the same idea I used before and am pretty pleased, hope the fine fellow who asked for them is too!



Second of all I have been adding more dolosians slowly, here are three troopers who are mid-paint, I am very aware I rarely actually post WIPs considering this is a WIP thread!



Also have this sniper and standard who are very early WIPs:




Also I figure the dolosians are going to need someone to lead them, so I have come up with this for a platoon commander, what do you think?




Also some of you may remember that I intended to copy the heavy gun servitor idea based on a sentinel for my heavy weapons teams, and I have had a play around and so far have this:






Also all these Dolosians are going to need keeping in line, each squad in the army will have a commissar, it may be a stupid idea in game, but I have a good reason fluff wise, even though the Dolosians are one of the most reliable and fanatically loyal regiments according to offical documentation there are consistent demands, supposedly from Terra itself, that they are assigned a disproportionate number of commissars to maintain order, when questioned any further explanation is denied on 'confidential grounds'.



Finally in the WIP half of this thread I have begun work on a chimera to ferry around the (as yet unmade) Dolosian Vets, I have painted the interior first, because well, I was impatient to try a few techniques! (Sorry its incredibly hard to take pictures like this whilst also letting in the light!




And I have started adding stowage to the outside of it, Its pretty weighed down!!






Noooow on to the painted section of this update!!


First up is my minotaurs who have been begging to be painted for AGESSS now, and I have finally conceded, so even though they are FAR too big to be ogryn, here are my minotaur count as ogryns:










Then next up I had a go at painting different types of stubble, this first guy was an attempt at a shaved head, but unfortunately its far too subtle and is totally lost in this harsh light





Then this second guy was an attempt at facial stubble, this shows up much better, by the way excuse the ridiculous hat, it had to be done!!






Also I slightly tweaked my banner, I think the white stands out more?




So because i seem to have an obsession with chopping the heads off the beautiful DKOK models, I made this winter uniform dolosian, which annoyingly I REALLY like:





Now I thought it would be good to focus my mind to put up all my Dolosians so far, so here are all the painted Dolosians so far:



And all of the painted and yet to be painted dolosians:




Now to finish I have something ever so slightly different for you guys, I had got somewhat caught up in the space marine frenzy and have made this single Raven guard, which I have painted very roughly, just to see if I like how it looks, I think I do actually....

(Remember Its very roughly done! It was a spur of the moment thing):



Also altho it would be very impractical, if I ever did more raven guard, I would be unable to resist doing this to them! Of course its just the one wing so you dont get the full effect, but still, I think it looks pretty badass!

<--- Completely speachless.

(GS work on those tarp rolls is just amazing)

I wish I had your skill with GS. I would love to weigh down my Guard vehicles like that.

Im with Gits mate - speachless - i can see another period of dominating the Gallery front page coming your way! huge grats on your first commission - and on starting your doctorate!

Love the Dolosians. the fade on that power sword looks great and it really stands out against the under saturated palette.

The winter Dolosian is really well done. something about the pose you've got is really evocative...he seems so...tired....

the minotaurs look really nice and like they would be heaps of fun to paint. you've probably already said this, but how did you do the gore on the weapons?

the feather hat is totally fabulous (and everyone should be a little fabulous!). If it wouldn't result in my execution for heresy i would definitely try this with one of my Fists. the stubble looks great man, and your faces are getting better and better (the eye ball can NOT have been fun to do). i really liked the shading on the leather part of the hat brim as well.

The raven guard is a great model and your scheme is working well mate. as for the wing being impractical....this is a group of soldiers that bring hammers and claws to machine gun fights. impractical is in their job description.

+1 to what everyone has said before. Everything is amazing.

The super close ups aren't very flattering, but they never are. The helmet on the winter dolsion may be a touch too big, but its just so damn evocative I don't care!

@gits - Aw shucks, I am getting very proud of my tarp rolls! Such an odd thing to specialise in!

@Valhalla - You know It really isn't incredibly difficult, most of it is getting a good technique, I could do you a tutorial if you wanted?

@San - Thanks San, but i shouldn't think it dominates the gallery, is only a chimera! The winter Dolosian is annoying because I really didn't want to like him because doing more would be so damn expensive. The minotaurs really were fun though, they are so big you can afford to be a bit more sloppy, especially as you can cover mistakes with blood or dirt =p The gore on the weapons was surprisingly easy to do, for the old, dried gore it was literally half black wash and half dark red paint (the old red gore I think) applied in several thin layers in places you would expect to get bloody. For the wet blood I then left some of this dried blood towards the edges and added a brighter red (blood red) to the wash, finally after I had matt varnished the whole model I added a little gloss varnish to the brightest red bits to make it look like it was still wet, (Lots of people HATE this technique, but tbh it saves alot of time and if a personal preference thing really.)

When I impulsively first bought the feathered hat from bits and kits, I was determined to use it, even though its SO over the top, but the idea of a fist with one is priceless! The most dour, straight laced marines in feathered hats and feather boas would be almost worth ruining a model for the comedy value.

As for the Raven guard it was just a quick test, If my marine madness continues I might make a squad of assault marines, at least then the wings would have some justification!


@Sheep - Thanks Sheep, The problem is with the close ups is my camera can zoom in more than my eyes! Its only when I upload the pictures that I truly appreciate how well some things have come out! As for the winter Dolosian again you may well be right, and I thought about making a smaller crest to compensate but the idea of sculpting and then casting another crest was too much!

A tutorial would be excellent! After I get my painting skills to a point I'm satisfied with (probably never) I want to branch out into terrain and GS sculpting, if possible.

I actually meant that the cadian head is bigger than it needs to be, not the crest, its a regimental identifier.

But speaking of. . . one idea I had when i saw your new WIPS is armoured troops and SF, they should probably have a shorter version of the crest, one to fit in the troop compartment of the chimera (although the roof would be spotless with all that dusting), and secondly, for a more low profile silhouette on the SF sniper teams, just a thought

Damn, J! You've been working hard. Everything looks great! Glad to see those mino--errh ogryn get some love!

Man, that heavy weapon idea is brilliant, and also brilliantly executed! I wasn't quite sure how it would work but seeing it makes me want to try it myself :-) it could be the catalyst to get stuck into my Guard again later!

I am super impressed by your update and work j-paint. Top notch, and well done... and epic.

@Valhalla - Your wish is my command, hope this is helpful!

@Sheep - Ah the cadian head, yes, unfortunately there is even less I can do about that, at least it was the forgeworld cadian helmet, not the GW ones! As for the crests, whilst I'm impressed by the amount of thought you have put in, (normally something i'm a stickler for) I can't help but feel shortening their crests would de-masculine-ise (making up words as I go along) them! But I do love the idea of the perfectly dusted chimera roof, If I ever write proper fluff about these guys I will steal that, it can be part of a witty proverb about the Dolosians, written by a grizzled vet called Sargent Sheep!

@Moltar - Thanks man, yeah they were sorely overdue, they were glaring at me from the painting pile!

@Nerd - Ah its still a WIP atm nerd, but if It inspires you to return to the humble guard then I'm very happy! ...that said your not allowed to be distracted from the alpha legion, i REALLY want to see your take on them.

@Comrade ; Thank you kind sir!


So then guys, nothing too impressive today, just a quick tutorial on how I have been making my tarps/bedrolls/things that are all rolled up. But before we start I wanted to share a little project I've been doing for the better half, Bubble, who wanted me to recreate an ultramarine she has been reading about in a Graham McNeill book called Pasanius who is large even by astartes standards and so has to wear specially adapted terminator armour! So following the description she gave me and with lots of supervision...I came up with this, which may be a bit rough around the edges, but by the end I realised that I'd inadvertently made a truescale marine! anyway, here he is, expect him over in Bubble's thread at some point in the future:



Anyway, on to the tutorial! Lets get started! By the way if you are a bit confused at first bear with me, I have found the best and easiest way to make these things is to ACTUALLY MAKE THEM, you'll see what I mean as we go on!

By the way if any of this is unclear just shout, I will fix it in the morning, brain isn't working well enough to check at the moment! I may also put all the pictures in spoilers too, otherwise it takes up a crap load of space!

Step 1:

First of all you want to get a flat surface and cover it in water, for this first step everything should be as wet as possible to stop it sticking, first of all get your greenstuff and flatten it out into a thin sheet making you you flip it over regularly to stop it sticking, you should end up with something like this:


Step 2:

Now this is the vital step, leave it to set for 1 hour, this is essential as you'll see below:

Step 3:

Next up we are going to make a square or rectangle shape that will be the size of our rolled out tarp, (its best to make it smaller than you'd expect it to be size wise because the greenstuff is fairly thick and when rolled up it will take up more volume than real material..if that makes sense)
So first up make a gentle cut on one side:

if you have left it to dry long enough it will peel away cleanly like below:

Now do this for the remaining three sides, you'll end up with a rectangle of some sort:



Step 4:

Now we roll it up, try to use a gentle instrument, I have found that clay shapers, which you can buy from craft shops are perfect for this:




Step 5:
Now it is time to attach the roll to whereever it is intended, if you fancy you can glue it on, but I tend to find its still sticky enough that it stays on by itself with a little force:
#

Step 6:
Now it is time to shape the roll onto the surface you have chosen, I tend to start this by making indents where the straps would be, I do this with the flat side of a greenstuff sculptor tool, and it is literally a case of pressing firmly:

Now obviously the straps will be constricting the roll slightly so the first thing to do is indent the top and bottom of the roll where the strap would be digging in...the picture probably explains it better:

Now we need to make it look a bit more believable, so using a pointed clay shaper, (or a green stuff sculptor would work almost as well) I make two indents, one above and one below the join in the middle, like so:




Step 7:

The straps, now there are multiple ways of doing this, if you are fed up of GS by this point you could just use wire, like so:


Or we could be very eco-friendly little bees and use the off-cuts from the first part to make the straps:



And the final result:

That seems simpler than I would have thought. And it really does seem like something I can do. Great! Thanks!

Fantastic tut... going to have to try it!

Let me just say, that platoon commander build looks SICK!

Nice tut j paint. i learned!

nice tutorial man.

Glad to see you making Pasanius - Fists need more character models!

So I seldom ever post in this area of the forums (more just watch) but I have to say bravo all around. I love the Valhallans and the tutorial on the tarps. You have some great conversion talents and I commend you for them.

@valhalla - It really is incredibly easy, give it a go!

@gits - Please do!

@Lipsdapips, in that case sir, I hope you like him with paint below.

@Comrade - Good, then I'm happy.

@San - I agree, someone needs to really dive into the imperial fists like Graham has with the ultramarines, would be nice to see a bit more depth.

@Empchild - I am honoured then sir! thanks for dropping in! Tbh most of my stuff is fairly simply its just stuff that other people havn't got round to doing yet, but its nice to give people a leg up as it were.

So then just a small update today, have splashed some paint on the platoon commander, he's not the best painted I have ever done, but in terms of the colours I think they work really well, give him the regal look I was going for! Unfortunately the less than best quality painting is probably due to my hobby mind beginning to wander, Nerd's competition has got me particularly excited to try something COMPLETELY different......*evil muttering*....

Excellent as always. I rather like the colors. I've been thinking about purple myself. On my IF termies, I noticed that some of the purity seals didn't need to be red, for some reason or another. And I tried them in purple. I rather like the way it looks against the yellow. On my commander, I'd like to do his cloak in purple, but I'm afraid that much purple might not look right with the red trim.

Beautifully done!

wow..i have been a bit absent on tis thread... but boy has stuf happened here...!

I too aree...you GS skills are brilliant! bloody brilliant at that!

of all the amazing stuff I just want to point out one thing...as it is kinda something I probably will try out too for my own army.. the karskin sarge you equipped with that feather cap... tha is an amazing look...and a totally genius idea for the pose of that model.. such a wide reaching model truly deserves such a head! now we se way more clearly why this mini is so often seen in inquisitor army´s...!

@Valhalla - Oh yes, I can imagine the purple and yellow looks awesome! And hmm, it might be interesting to try, but unfortunately I think you might be right.

@Gits - Not the best, but it serves!



So then guys, a post you guys can actually meaningfully discuss here today! So as you all may know, the Dolosians have a slightly dark side, the planet of dolos was first brought into the imperium by the Alpha legion before the heresy, and they inadvertently kept some links and ties with them, in terms of high up commanders taking advice from the staunch and trusted loyalist space marines, known only as the legion...

So I have decided to model some of these Alpha legionnaires who are tugging at the puppet strings of my Dolosian army, I think the best way to describe what I have planned is just to share the musings I was having with Nerdfest on the matter:

'Well I have been having a think and I'm going to have them allied with my IG, my idea is that they are posing as loyal space marines and basically getting the Dolosians to do the hard work for them, so I will probably only have a very few alpha legion units, but pretty hefty elite ones, mostly infantry, perhaps in drop pods so they can just come along at the end of a fight and mop up/ get whatever they were after, in true alpha legion style...

In terms of the actual modelling, I will have to keep my conversions quite subdued, so they could be believably loyal, I think I will copy STC's style of painting them, (his original theme) just because its so bloody beautiful!


But my main idea to theme them slightly is to keep all the aquilas on the models, but instead of the two eagle heads, GS on three serpent heads, I think it would be very subtle, and to a guardsman very unassuming, but telling to those in the know? Might be a bit fiddly, but if it worked it would be awesome!

My other idea I was having for them is to use the sanguinary guard masks again....(I frigging love those heads!) as a tie in with my dolosian vets, it sort of hints at a shared history? maybe with hoods?? Or crests like the dolosians?'



Now please any extra ideas will be massively appreciated, I'm seriously excited for this project!

For those of you who do not know what I mean by STC's Alpha legion, I'm talking about this: It is simply the most beautiful paint scheme ever invented!




Further inspiration will come from images like this:

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120927195345/warhammer40k/images/thumb/0/05/Alpha_Legionnaire.jpg/250px-Alpha_Legionnaire.jpg


So what do we all think? Shall I use more sanguinary guard heads? hoods? crests? normal helmets? Forge world models? Dark angel robes?

yea, by all means use th masked heads... if possibl in combination with hoods too!.. I think your fluff is rather tasty... this sounds like a winning idea! you´ve won me over after the second sentence so to say^^...

using the masks would also finally explain why your guardsmen use these too!...