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Well, I got sidetracked on my way to Age of Sigmar models, because I wanted to test out the new Retributor and Liberator gold paints before I got around to the new models. So it ended up being the Sanguinor who got painted -- there aren't many models more gold than him

Retributor Gold is actually an awesome gold. It has great coverage (2 coats for opacity against brown), and is way better than Balthazar as a basecoat for gold, because it's a lot less coppery. Liberator gold is right in between Auric Gold and Runefang Steel. I really like these two paints.

In case anyone's unfamiliar, this is a Finecast model. And if ever there were a BADLY cast model, this was it. It had so much greenstuff, filler, superglue and liquid greenstuff on it that it wasn't funny. The wings were all pitted; his armor looked like a crater, and half the blood drops looked like the got shot off. I would have returned it, except I bought the model years ago, and it sat in a blister for ages. GW would have probably swapped it anyhow, but by the time I popped it open, I wanted to paint him, so I said, "what the heck" and spent a few hours making him presentable.

So, here we be! As always, thank you in advance for any comments and criticism!

Edit - new picture with front & back, along with a couple of painting fixes that bugged me

that sword and the wings are sweet dude. the backpack is sure messed up (the model not your paintjob!) awesome work man

Thanks, Zen!

I actually emailed Games Workshop with the picture, and they're going to send me out a replacement part for the mucked up jetpack, even though it's all finished and such! =)
A CSR fella called me within minutes of sending an email, got the batch number, and promised a replacement. Very cool of them.

I originally didn't think the backpack would look that bad, but the deformity is *highly* visible against the head.

wow. Everytime I see your work up here, I get a little excited more excited than I should.

wow, that is a bright gold, looks yellow to me.

I have used the retributor gold and I think it is my favorite GW paint, however I have not used the liberator gold as I think it is too bright for anything I would use it for.

the deformities are definitely noticeable, GW would have probably sent you one, but I understand the urge to paint something new.

anyways, happy wargaming,

-Mikey

 Talys wrote:
Well, I got sidetracked on my way to Age of Sigmar models, because I wanted to test out the new Retributor and Liberator gold paints before I got around to the new models. So it ended up being the Sanguinor who got painted -- there aren't many models more gold than him

Retributor Gold is actually an awesome gold. It has great coverage (2 coats for opacity against brown), and is way better than Balthazar as a basecoat for gold, because it's a lot less coppery. Liberator gold is right in between Auric Gold and Runefang Steel. I really like these two paints.

In case anyone's unfamiliar, this is a Finecast model. And if ever there were a BADLY cast model, this was it. It had so much greenstuff, filler, superglue and liquid greenstuff on it that it wasn't funny. The wings were all pitted; his armor looked like a crater, and half the blood drops looked like the got shot off. I would have returned it, except I bought the model years ago, and it sat in a blister for ages. GW would have probably swapped it anyhow, but by the time I popped it open, I wanted to paint him, so I said, "what the heck" and spent a few hours making him presentable.

So, here we be! As always, thank you in advance for any comments and criticism!

I am definitely loving your painting skills, I would chop off your hands and use them as my own good stuff and keep it up...

Very nice. Love the subtle shading on the wings.

Nicely done! I've been enjoying looking through all your completed BA models - makes me want to get back to painting.

You should start a PM Blog.

 Darth Bob wrote:
Very nice. Love the subtle shading on the wings.

I really love the shading on the wings too! They are beautiful.

Thanks, everyone!

@Eggroll - I've considered building a website/blog. But this is kind of my day job (well, not really, but it's related enough), and I don't want to make my hobby feel like work Thanks though, never know, I might one day!

Lovely work Talys, I especially like the way you handled painting white which I find very difficult. The blending on the sword is also stunning!

Do you ever enter your miniatures into competitions?

 Minimachine wrote:
Lovely work Talys, I especially like the way you handled painting white which I find very difficult. The blending on the sword is also stunning!

Do you ever enter your miniatures into competitions?

Thank you Most of the blending on this model is done by feathering a glaze using that two of the new GW glazing brushes (one with the glaze, another with just medium). It's a a variation of standard 2-brush blending, but without water -- water works great on colors like blue, but I find that even the tiniest drying mark looks like splotchy grey and is awful on white.

Maybe I'll write up how I did it in the P&M forum, as it's really not hard, looks pretty good, and anyone can do this with just a little bit of patience.

 Talys wrote:

 Minimachine wrote:
Lovely work Talys, I especially like the way you handled painting white which I find very difficult. The blending on the sword is also stunning!

Do you ever enter your miniatures into competitions?

Thank you Most of the blending on this model is done by feathering a glaze using that two of the new GW glazing brushes (one with the glaze, another with just medium). It's a a variation of standard 2-brush blending, but without water -- water works great on colors like blue, but I find that even the tiniest drying mark looks like splotchy grey and is awful on white.

Maybe I'll write up how I did it in the P&M forum, as it's really not hard, looks pretty good, and anyone can do this with just a little bit of patience.

Similar to juicing at all? That's what I use for most of my blending and it seems to do the job except on large areas where I rely more on layering but probably struggle a bit more. I'm not sure if you've watched any of the Painting Buddha youtube vids but Ben Kommets uses this technique he calls one brush blending which is incredibly efficient & effective, but I've tried it myself and there's a real knack to it I'm a long way off mastering.

I posted a detailed guide here, Minimachine:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/658371.page

In my opinion, blending by feathering a glaze is by far the easiest way of blending that there is, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to try to start wet blending. It's not always the best solution, though. It's a poor way to blend 2 colors that are even moderately far apart, such as an orange highlight on a red model, without using an intermediate step, which takes away from its appeal (because then you lose any possible time savings).

Plus, it just takes a long time for glazes to dry. If you get good at wet blending with acrylics (without the use of drying retarders...), it goes really fast, so if NMM is your thing, you can zip right along, as long as you know what you want to do.

When I paint white feathers with glazes, I do like 20 wings at a time (like, 2 boxes of Sanguinary guard). That's about how long it takes for the first pair to fully dry.

 Talys wrote:
I posted a detailed guide here, Minimachine:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/658371.page

In my opinion, blending by feathering a glaze is by far the easiest way of blending that there is, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to try to start wet blending. It's not always the best solution, though. It's a poor way to blend 2 colors that are even moderately far apart, such as an orange highlight on a red model, without using an intermediate step, which takes away from its appeal (because then you lose any possible time savings).

Plus, it just takes a long time for glazes to dry. If you get good at wet blending with acrylics (without the use of drying retarders...), it goes really fast, so if NMM is your thing, you can zip right along, as long as you know what you want to do.

When I paint white feathers with glazes, I do like 20 wings at a time (like, 2 boxes of Sanguinary guard). That's about how long it takes for the first pair to fully dry.

I just read your guide Talys and its a very interesting method you use! I can't recall reading about your particular variation on the two brush method before, do you use a glaze with the first brush rather than a slightly watered-down layer coat (as I think most painters would) to achieve a smoother blend or is it because the blend you require for white is very delicate?

Also you mention that the method is poor for colors which differ greatly in hue, and I presume also brightness. I'm curious, would you normally use layering or perhaps wet blending for that sort of task?

Well, you probably didn't read it anywhere, because it's original

I don't mean that nobody has done this before (I have no idea), but I didn't read it anywhere; it's just something I figured out by experimentation while trying to make easily reproducible, nice-looking white wings that don't take forever to do.

I use a glaze -- or, if you will, lots of acrylic medium and a tiny bit of pigment -- because the tiniest amount of pigment contrasts against white (this is also why it's so hard to make white models look nice), meaning any type of line is a sharp contrast and looks jarring. Therefore, I want to achieve a very gentle blend.

It's also important that I can do, like, 500 feathers and have them all turn out the same without a ton of back-and-forth work. A pair of wings has a LOT of feathers (if you look at Sanguinary guard, for instance), and if you're painting 5 SG = 10 wings = 20 sides -- it's a lot of feathers that I want to look unified. If you look at white wings, the best ones have feathers that look like light hit it consistently, which requires the shading have really similar gradients -- and that is easier to say than do quickly with most methods of blending.

This method works really nicely on white because white glazes easily to your target color. But apply a blue glaze to yellow paint and the results are....? It's hard to say, because a lot depends on how transparent your blue is and how it dries.

If I wanted to go from a color like dark blue to white, I'd definitely wet blend it without a second thought. If there were enough space, I'd do an intermediary shade, because it's just a lot easier that way.

 Talys wrote:
Well, you probably didn't read it anywhere, because it's original

I don't mean that nobody has done this before (I have no idea), but I didn't read it anywhere; it's just something I figured out by experimentation while trying to make easily reproducible, nice-looking white wings that don't take forever to do.

I use a glaze -- or, if you will, lots of acrylic medium and a tiny bit of pigment -- because the tiniest amount of pigment contrasts against white (this is also why it's so hard to make white models look nice), meaning any type of line is a sharp contrast and looks jarring. Therefore, I want to achieve a very gentle blend.

It's also important that I can do, like, 500 feathers and have them all turn out the same without a ton of back-and-forth work. A pair of wings has a LOT of feathers (if you look at Sanguinary guard, for instance), and if you're painting 5 SG = 10 wings = 20 sides -- it's a lot of feathers that I want to look unified. If you look at white wings, the best ones have feathers that look like light hit it consistently, which requires the shading have really similar gradients -- and that is easier to say than do quickly with most methods of blending.

This method works really nicely on white because white glazes easily to your target color. But apply a blue glaze to yellow paint and the results are....? It's hard to say, because a lot depends on how transparent your blue is and how it dries.

If I wanted to go from a color like dark blue to white, I'd definitely wet blend it without a second thought. If there were enough space, I'd do an intermediary shade, because it's just a lot easier that way.

Much obliged for your willingness to elaborate Talys. Its a great technique and its really nice of you to share it. Actually it seems a bit unusual as I think most people would normally start with the darker color and then progress to white rather than the other way around, maybe beginning with white mixed with a tiny amount of blue. I like your method though, and the importance of continuity between wing feathers wasn't something that occurred to me but it makes sense you have to get it right or the overall effect will look odd.