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Fraid I'm going to have to bow out this month. I've just had too much else going on and little motivation or inspiration to work on my Beastmen. Oh well, looks like another year without doing all the challenges.

Sorry to hear that, Zerg - hope to see you again next month.
Looking forward to seeing your Pennywise, MG, it's a great idea.

I enjoyed painting these guys - they have heaps of detail and the poses are so dynamic. I love the Corvus Cabal 'cos I reckon they look like the old plague doctors who wore the bird masks to protect themselves from the Black Death.
Anyhow, here are my finished Blood...Ravens?...er...Crimson Corvus.







Good luck to everyone and see you next month.

Great work all around Chris... very cool base.

Awesome work Chris

I'm 99% done with my WL. Pics to follow tomorrow

Finished pics of my Dark Angels Chaplain. He's wearing a scary Halloween mask, obviously.

Suitably freaky, and that cracked leather effect is superb, how did you pull that off?

Wow, great stuff this month!
I got my spooky skeleton done in time!

It's a Bone Devil to fight against all my DnD characters:



See you all next month!

All set. Nothing groundbreaking, but another round of nighthaunts to add to the legion.

 Paradigm wrote:
Suitably freaky, and that cracked leather effect is superb, how did you pull that off?

Thanks! Don't tell anyone, but it's basically drybrushing.

How you do it is you get a decent basecoat, the darkest it really works with is doombull brown, which I used here. Lighter colours work better, I can't get it to work with darker colours yet. Then you give it a drybrush with a much lighter tone (not white or anything, but maybe Tau Light Ochre. I honestly can't remember which colours I used here.) This needs to be a very light, but sort of very persistent drybrush. So you really have hardly any paint on the brush at all, but you go at it, over the whole area, and from a variety of angles - this is key. You might start to see the beginning of the effect. Do another drybrush with an even lighter tone, even lighter strokes, starting to create the gradient, so mainly hitting the parts you would normally highlight such as the raised ridges in the cloak. Next you give it a wash. I always use a paint called Smokey Ink from the Vallejo Game Colour range. It's a magic paint. I think you might be able get the effect without the smokey ink but it seems to be much better with it. Basically, this paint has a slightly gritty texture. Not as much as something like Typhus Corrosion, it's much more subtle. Drybrushing over this is the main thing that creates that cracked leather effect. I think the paint is catching the edges of the grittiness, but this might be nonsense, and someone with more idea what they are doing like DV8 or QAR might arrive later to laugh at me. Try to make sure this wash doesn't pool and stain the mini, as this method makes it very difficult to sort that out if it happens. Once the wash is dry, go back to drybrushing with a highlight colour, but choose a different colour. It can be something similar, but varying it is key to creating the interest. drybrush on another brightest highlight, again choosing a slightly different colour to the last brightest highlight. Wash again in a different tone. Then finally drybrush back up in a couple of stages, with yet more varied tones. Than you should be done, although you can keep going back and forth between washing and drybrushing, it seems the more you do the better it looks. There's really no skill involved. One tip though - do this bit first and paint around it, or paint in sub-assemblies. You're going to hit everything around it as you can't do a targeted, dainty drybrush.

I feel like I promised to do a guide to this about a year ago, or maybe longer.

Thanks for the guide, felt - I can't wait to try this! That cloak looks incredible.

 feltmonkey wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:
Suitably freaky, and that cracked leather effect is superb, how did you pull that off?

Thanks! Don't tell anyone, but it's basically drybrushing.

How you do it is you get a decent basecoat, the darkest it really works with is doombull brown, which I used here. Lighter colours work better, I can't get it to work with darker colours yet. Then you give it a drybrush with a much lighter tone (not white or anything, but maybe Tau Light Ochre. I honestly can't remember which colours I used here.) This needs to be a very light, but sort of very persistent drybrush. So you really have hardly any paint on the brush at all, but you go at it, over the whole area, and from a variety of angles - this is key. You might start to see the beginning of the effect. Do another drybrush with an even lighter tone, even lighter strokes, starting to create the gradient, so mainly hitting the parts you would normally highlight such as the raised ridges in the cloak. Next you give it a wash. I always use a paint called Smokey Ink from the Vallejo Game Colour range. It's a magic paint. I think you might be able get the effect without the smokey ink but it seems to be much better with it. Basically, this paint has a slightly gritty texture. Not as much as something like Typhus Corrosion, it's much more subtle. Drybrushing over this is the main thing that creates that cracked leather effect. I think the paint is catching the edges of the grittiness, but this might be nonsense, and someone with more idea what they are doing like DV8 or QAR might arrive later to laugh at me. Try to make sure this wash doesn't pool and stain the mini, as this method makes it very difficult to sort that out if it happens. Once the wash is dry, go back to drybrushing with a highlight colour, but choose a different colour. It can be something similar, but varying it is key to creating the interest. drybrush on another brightest highlight, again choosing a slightly different colour to the last brightest highlight. Wash again in a different tone. Then finally drybrush back up in a couple of stages, with yet more varied tones. Than you should be done, although you can keep going back and forth between washing and drybrushing, it seems the more you do the better it looks. There's really no skill involved. One tip though - do this bit first and paint around it, or paint in sub-assemblies. You're going to hit everything around it as you can't do a targeted, dainty drybrush.

I feel like I promised to do a guide to this about a year ago, or maybe longer.

Why would anyone laugh? If something works it's not stupid! My Sanguinius entry last month featured stippling and drybrushing quite heavily, as did my bust of Manfred Von Richthofen a few months back.

Yea I wouldn't really care how you did it. What matters is the end result.

And that result looks very convincing!

I think there is a certain stigma against drybrushing. It’s one of the first techniques that new painters learn, so often thought of a just being for newbies. Real painters use layers and highlights for a more controlled, perfect effect /sarcasm. It is, of course, just another tool in the chest of ways to get effects. It can be overused, there are places where you could use other tricks for better results, but it has its place.

I use it a lot personally, but have replaced it in some places in my schemes.

And yes, that worn leather look could have come straight out of life. So there is -ZERO- shame in whatever it took to get there.

Ta for the writeup, felt. Sounds kind of similar (though a tad more technical/involved) to my usual method for rough fabrics and leathers, so I'll have to give it a go at some point!

And yeah, drybrushing rules, it's just a tool and it has many, many applications beyond Baby's First Space Marine (though I'm sure we've all got a heavily drybrushed one lying around somewhere! ) Same with washes, I think, so many people talk about glazes as basically straight-up superior, rather than just as another way achieving an effect. Techniques are tools, and the more tools you have, the better!

Sorry, DV8 and QAR, I know you wouldn't laugh really! I meant more at my cod-scientific explanation of the bristles hitting the edges of the gritty pigments, which sounded sort of daft when I typed it. I thought someone with more knowledge than me would probably instantly refute the theory, and you two are two of the most knowledgeable painters I know. I hope you didn't take offence, I really didn't mean any and unreservedly apologise.

I think there is a stigma around drybrushing in some circles, but I've not seen it on this forum. I don't think anyone here would cock a snook at any technique, would they? It's a tool for the armoury, and the more tools you have the better. Done well, it's surprisingly effective, and more versatile than you'd expect.

Yeah I have no issues with dry brushing as long as it's not the only technique you have, which to be fair goes for any technique really. And that chaplain looks sick.

I finished the base of my entry just before bed last night but didn't have time to snap any pictures, I'll have them posted when I get home from work.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get better pics between now and the close of the challenge, so if we can just use the ones previously posted that’ll be fine. If I get a chance to take better pics, I’ll post them.

Very much a last second entry from me in the absence of anything better, I'll throw in Batman. Not that scary to Gotham's law-abiding citizens, but then, 'criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot.'

After a marathon of painting I managed to finish him or it.
The idea behind the color scheme is that he was a human once so the skin on the chest is his legacy or something like that.

Tegroth, Servile Hellion of Dis

Goddamit everyone!! Why is your have to be so good...!? Grrrrr…. *sigh*…

My work pales in comparison to everyone's entries..... But none the less here is my humble contribution:

I'm gonna need an extra day or two, I'm so close to finishing these fething warp flames

Finished!

I'm going to be slipping mine in with perhaps a minute to spare based on what I need to finish.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Quick proof of completion, I'll take some more (better) pics tomorrow:

Got some finished. Not the whole warband but more than my usual one

Maharg wrote:
Got some finished. Not the whole warband but more than my usual one

How did you do the rusty swords?

Well done to everyone that finished an entry

Cheers Chris56, a lovely colour transition on your wings.

Holy gak Modock that is just amazing.

Well I've got something done, I was staring at it while putting the pics together and couldn't work out why it didn't seem quite right them I released I should of painted the face white! (Idiot) too late now.

My final Pics for Pennywise the Grot (open to name suggestions as always)

Final submissions. I really need to get a better light source for the photos.

I underestimated the amount of work 5 models takes, gonna be giving this a miss. Kinda embarrassed at this point not being able to get an entry in.

Great entries all, Modock, Feltmonkey, Chris56 and Para you guys have knocked it out of the park!