Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I agree that the eyes on Warlock 1 do rock, especially compared to the other two. I wanted to have different colours on each of them, but I don't think it works too well. I can certainly go and change them, that's a fairly quick job.

Yeah, the bases are finished, but they do show poorly in the shots. They're better when you can see more of them, but again, maybe I should think about another option for them... : )

On the other hand, the 'locks are just a fun little project at the moment - I know that I'm not putting in anywhere near as much time into them as the Farseer, so I should be thankful that they don't look as if I've painted them with a blunt stick! lol As I said a few posts ago, I SHOULD be concentrating on another Golden Demon entry... but I'm not and I'm fine with that : ) lol


Automatically Appended Next Post:
eyes changed on Warlocks 2 and 3 : ) Not quite as bright as on 'lock 1, but they're significantly smaller too, so they do lack some punch because of that. Gold hilt and the gems done on 'lock3s sword too, so I'm ready to start doing the blade, so tutorial to come!
However, it's also time to head into town (and maybe have a cooked breakfast... lol) with my entries for the competition!

@finnan
sure, with pics it will be even better! thanks a lot for being willing to share your secrets!

and i hope you win that store comp!

...and the results are in:
I won the Lord of the Rings category with my Cirdan and the 40k category with the Bonesinger - yey me!
I put my entries in at about 10am, and when I went back at 1:30pm, there was a grand total of four entries - somewhat anti-climactic, but there you go. Another two entries were added at the last minute from someone who was playing a game with them, and they got the Fantasy prize (even though my Wardancer was better lol).
All in all, I'm pleased with the result; the models are still in the store so they can be on display for a while, so I'll probably collect them next week. : )

Right - I'll chuck in a dvd and get on with this sword, so updates later

Woot, well done! Despite the slim pickings of competition!

Sword recipe:
basecoat of Skink Blue - yes it's a drybrush paint, but thin it down and it's a lovely general paint, nice and bright. It might take a couple of layers depending on how much water was added, but it's fairly quick.

Highlighting with white: I used Ceramite here, but I can't really tell that much difference between it and Skull White to be honest. I thinned it down at least 1:5 paint:water. To get it to the stage in the photo, it took 35 layers. Now, before you have a heart attack, to do 35 layers took 5 minutes. Because the paint's so thin and because I put it on in thin layers, it dries almost immediately so it doesn't take long to build up all those layers : )
I started the white half way up the blade and did a stroke towards the tip where the white was going to be the most solid.

Next I added some Temple Guard Blue to just deepen the blue up a bit. You could probably skip this step as there's not a huge difference between the Temple Guard and the Skink, but it just helps keep a smooth transition going. I did the Temple Guard in the last quarter of the blade, again aiming towards where I wanted the blue to be strongest.

Last in was a couple of layers of Hawks Turquoise (Sotek Blue in the new paints) right at the tip to again deepen the colour up, and that's it : )

Hope that helps. The shots aren't great, but you can see the change in each one.

All three Warlocks done - yey : )
I'm really quite pleased at how they've come out, especially considering how quickly I've done them, and how they fit into my Craftworld colour scheme. Absolutely awful shot of them with the Farseer - the joys of Macro setting... I'll see if I can't get a better shot of them tomorrow.
Already made a start on the Autarch with some blocking in of orange on the fabric areas + a wash of yellow to really give it some grunt. Also now starting to think of Rangers (and having them blending into the bases somehow... ) and of Harlequins...
: )

Dude, those swords are AWESOME!

They all look wicked mate =)

alright im gonna give that a try!!! it looks amazing!!

btw gratz on your wins! next up is GD?

yeah, Golden Demon is the next goal. I still have a fair bit of work to do before I'm ready, but at least I have a couple of entries ready to go : )

Wow, I know you have a slow method for painting Finnan, but it's absolutely justified when I see this calibre of miniatures grace Dakka, you have such an interesting style that is both subtle yet makes a really big impact when you take the time to 'really' look at what you've achieved, as said probably a hundred times in your thread, but your blending is phenomenal! your colour choices are spot on and different to the normal craft worlds/chapters/etc.. every update brings something fresh to our tables!

thank you.

thank you very much for your kind words nerfest : ) I think it's a perception issue more than anything else - I tend to assume, with my painting and my drawing, that everyone else can do what I do. As much as I say it's a matter of practice, I also know it's to do with talent, something which I just don't think about very much, but which I am very grateful for, and I think I should probably be aware of that a little more than I am.

Anyway, enough self reflection! Today's offering, and a little bit of a break from all that orange and yellow, the first of my Rangers. A bit of fun as well as a test-model really, and, as you know *really* quick for me. He's come out okay, if not great. I wanted his cloak to be blending in with the rocky base, and I did a bit of drybrushing on it - as always, I'm not a huge fan of it, so I think next time I'll stick to blending the highlights instead.
I figured that the Craftworld red for his armour might stick out a little too much if they're trying to be stealthy, so I went for green instead. Usual thinning and blending of Dark Angels Green over my usual Charadon base. The a highlight of Scorpion Green on top of that - I think I could probably do a stronger highlight that I have.
I stuck with the Craftworld faceplate, what of it is on show, and basic Burnished Gold with a couple of washes of black for the rifle (which I think I'll do differently next time). so all in all, okay for a quick job : ) enjoy

The ranger is great. The color choices work perfectly, and I laughed aloud when I saw his orange faceplate. Perfect

Ranger looks good, but I actually think he would look great in the deep red that you have done the previous robes in. Maybe lose the orange trim on the robes for a little more "stealth." I don't know. Obviously my opinion is personal taste and shouldn't sway your hand, I just don't think that green and grey will compliment the rest of your Eldar as well as another scheme could. He does look good for a test mini, though and I do like the little orange helm peaking out.

i'm kind of figuring that the Rangers have to be a bit more independent of the Craftworld in order to do what they do, so it doesn't matter quite so much that they're not in complete Craftworld colours... the red and the gold would certainly work well together (I'm thinking gold for shooty weaponry on whatever warriors I do...?). I could certainly give the red a try.
The great debate is on! Stick to the red or go with the green?

I also ordered some .5mm masking tape the other day, thinking that I could use it to mask off some diamonds on the Harlequins - tried it on the 54mm Ranger today, and even .5mm looked massively chunky! So either I do a diamond pattern by hand (not something that I relish doing), or go for Plan B, which is to try and make the Harlequins look as if they're wearing iridescent fabric and armour... here's a hint: I'm leaning towards Plan B lol

Love the sniper

would they look better in red Cutthroat, or keep them green?

Red!

I like the green a lot, but the red would look pretty good too, I think.

Personally I think the green.

As the rangers are a stealthy squad I imagine them to be hiding in undergrowth, bushes ect...
Plus the way you have done your paintwork, this could be futuristic camouflage, sort of chameleon/ predator like.

And you have the faceplate to unify it with your craftworld.

I vote green.

P.S love the paintwork!!

okay, so not the best photos in the world, so try clicking on them to get the bigger versions up. A little work done on the Autarch last night, but not enough to take shots of, and I just based and undercoated the next Ranger. What I did work on was a Harlequin. I was aiming for iridescence, and I've kinda done it, but in another way from the one I was intending!

I wanted a bright, shiny blue by going from a dark to light blue quite quickly. What I did instead was get something more like a magpie's wing, by going from dark purple, to dark blue to turquoise to light green. The shots really don't do it justice - the colours are stronger than they appear. I'm actually quite pleased with it, even if it is quite subtle. I plan on doing the areas I left white in shades of bright blue, so I anticipate that the iridescence will drop out quite a lot. I'll have to give the brighter version a go on the next Harlequin. I've just done the kneepad and thigh so far, and I did the rest of his torso and limbs in the purple tonight.


definitely rubbish shots - click on them and zoom in to get a better look.

I have been hoping you would come back to the harequins for some time, as I have admired your shadowseer since I first saw it many moons ago.

Irridesence looks nice, subtle and I look forward to seeing more of the model and hopefully the squad!

thanks Reanimator : )
yeah, the iridescence is subtle, so I'm a bit concerned about it dropping out with the brighter colours, but I'll just have to see what happens with it. The plan is to do a squad; i received a box of Harlequins today, so I've got them and the old ones I already had. Got my eye on a Shadowseer on Ebay and that'll round them out nicely. I still have in my head that when in battle the Harlequins will be dark, shadowy ninja-type Eldar, and won't be over the top colourful. We'll see what I come up with : )

Wardancer Eldar!

Finnan i'm really impressed with how much you've done since i checked this blog last, the quality here is always astounding. I really wanted to thank you for putting up that harlequin picture though. I have been trying really hard to get that exact magpie effect, (oddly i've been coming up with something that sounds like what you were aiming for with the shiney blue.) Do you have any tips as to how you got it? I will be following your description, but any extra tips would be great.

thank you J-paint : )
i did some more work on the Harlequin last night (but not much!), and I think what I need to do is overshoot on the highlighting - do more purple so that when I go over it with the blue, there's more left showing, and the same with the blue so that all the colours have room to be seen, otherwise the areas that you have to paint is just too small to work with.

That sounds logical to me, did you come to that conclusion last night after trying it or is this hypothetical at the moment?

no, I figured that out last night. It makes the miniature look VERY purple to start off with, but it gets toned down when the blue goes on.

Looking forwards to pictures, like i say, i have a vested interest in this =p

lol I'll make it a priority then... although I doubt I'll do any tonight as I'm shattered and I have a parents evening tomorrow night so I won't be home until late : (