Trade Marine WiP Thread - Day nine!

[Vent]

These are cross-posted to another forum (Actually two of them) so you might not understand all the references ^_^

Hmmm... I'm not really any closer to a solution for the Ice Daemons... Might have to talk to the owner tomorrow at the club and see what he wants... But I am ready to start my Master of the Chapter that I'm painting for Roleplayer... I've decided to start putting up more of my WiP pics. Whether I take one at the end of each day or certain phases is still up in the air...

Anyway, day one.

Cleaned the miniature of excess flak, removed the mold lines, cleaned it with a little bit of toothpaste and given it an acid bath. While he was soaking I cleaned the head off, and put the base together. I made the decision to remove the funny little ear things and make the helmet more flat. With the face panel it looks slightly older, or it does to me. All of RP's minis are helmeted. So I wanted one that had a little more character.

The base is a simple cork and sand job. Roleplayer buys his bases, but I think this one should work so long as I use similar colors. I like to have a bit of height for character minis...


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Day Two: before undercoating I needed to fill in some of the gaps in the back  cape of the Miniature. Some of you may remember the Ultramarine Master of the Chapter I did for Ricky Chang awhile ago which had terrible pock marks in some of the recesses in the cape and above the left knee.

As this guy is from the same set I thought he might and indeed he did have similiar problems. I didn't take any photos of it, but it was just really watered down green stuff smoothed over with a rubber-headed sculpting tool... I dunno if I got everything, but it'll start showing when I add some color... I then Undercoated in Black.


All parts have been undercoated separately. As with all characters I start with the head.

The head is basecoated with P3 Menoth base. Roleplayer uses quite extensive black lining in his miniatures, but I prefer using darker colors of the one used as base. Hence I've started to line using washes. I'm going to go ahead with all three GW washes, this is just the Sepia, I might use a touch of black if the Devlan Mud wash doesn't cut it...


Next for the head: More lining and then the eyes...

Next for the Body: Red stuff!

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More work on the helmet.

There's darker brown washes in the lines. I'm undecided whether I want to add a touch of black and have another line... I think I'll do another thinner line with Devlan mud rather than black. I'm not totally sure what I want to do with the head rivets yet. I thought maybe a very dark grey... But maybe they'll stay cream... Not sure, not sure, not sure...

The eyes came out quite nicely on this guy, which is a hoot, because I've had a couple of coffees and I thought my hands would be shaking like a banshee. My eye recipe for green eyes:
Black Undercoat
Dark Angels Green. Over 75%
Goblin Green. Over 50% moving towards the front
Scorpion Green. Thin line along the bottom
1:1 mix of Scorpion Green and Sunburst Yellow. Over the thin line of Pure Scorpion Green.

Working on the red of the armor as I took these shots. It's raining and cold which doesn't make for good drying... ^_^



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Ha! Page fifty!! Hope you're all still with me... Here's to another fifty! ^_^

I have started to highlight the red. It's a little hard to see but I'm using Brother Michael's technique that is meant to be like blending... I haven't quite perfected it yet, but it's getting there. I think it needs a lighter color to help it out. So far all I've used is pure Scab Red  and a Scab Red with a touch of Dwarf Flesh to lighten it up... Maybe tomorrow a touch more Dwarf Flesh... ^_^

Started on the cream for the body as well. P3 paint is bloody good. Even watered down to a good thin consistency it only took three coats to cover the black. Much better than the Scab Red did yesterday... I'm slowing going to be replacing a lot of my GW version paints...

I'm going to start the lining for the cream later this afternoon. Tomorrow is more red work and possibly the first layer for metallics. Still not sure what I want to do for the weapon... Green might look nice; like Thomas from Minivault uses for his Blood Ravens...


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Phew, that's caught up. I'll be posting new WiP's as I do the others... Not sure why I didn't do one here. You guys give me some of the best feedback ^_^

[Sectiplave]

Love the eyes on that one, that is some really fine work there! I have trouble doing single colour eyes let alone getting some colour shading and shine on there too :O

[Vent]

Yeah; eyes for me are pretty hit and miss. I just took my time and was exceptionally careful with this guy... Oh and strangely enough the guide on the GW website was actually useful. go figure!

[Lazarus]

you work is spot on vent like always i am still way behind you in the quality of my models.

[Vent]

you work is spot on vent like always i am still way behind you in the quality of my models.

What are you talking about? Your Smurfs look really good! Better yet, you can play the game... I still have... Trouble with things... ^_^

[Vent]

I'm at the point where I'm not totally sure how this miniature is going to come together. I have questions about the shield colors, the weapon colors, how the red is working, the cape, etc... Experience says these problems will go away when I keep working on the miniature but it's still annoying... The lack of good light for taking photos has exacerbated this too... *grumble grumble*

Done today:

More red work; had an issue with the weapon arm front and needed to fix it, but has left the blend a little stagnant. The breastplate is looking a little weird as well, might have to have a closer look at that...

The first coat of metallics are on. Nearly everything that is silver will soon be gold, or bronze. Only thing that won't get another pigment color is the key, but that will be weathered with washes. I've also made the flexi-armour joints silver with heavy black in the recesses. I know Roleplayer leaves them black, but they'd be voids in this guy...


Yes, I know the right knees pad icon still has a touch of black in it... But it's all going to be gold... And there's gonna be a big ass shield in front of it ^_^

[Vent]

Omg day Seven... Kill me now! Hehehe, nah it's not to bad really... Decided to skip club today and paint... Anyway, he's finally starting to come together; adding more color always seems to help.

Worked on today:

Armor: Did a few touch ups on the red armor; hopefully lifting the brightness in places and correcting a few blends in others. I don't think I can risk adding anymore paint to the red, it's already pretty thick so this might be the final red, except for touch ups... ^_^

Seals and Parchment: Green for the seals was a no-brainer. Connects with the eyes, and gives a change from the browns and creams. I'm not totally sold on the color of the parchment yet. Looks a little to similar to the cream. Maybe another layer of sepia to tone it down a little. Maybe even a slightly watered Flesh wash over it...

Leather: I'm really bad at leather. Like Catastrophic bad. I have a lot of trouble with it. I've tried blending it, I've tried drybrushing it. Hated them all... Hence I usually cop out with the wash heavy method you can see.

Sweet Zombie Jesus... I'm a slow painter

RECIPES:
Green Recipe:
Dark Angels Green Base
Goblin Green touch ups
3:1 water / Scorpion Green touches.
Green wash
1:1 Water / Sepia wash to darken the recesses.

Parchment Recipe:
Bleached Bone. Many layers.
x2 Sepia washes (Maybe another)

Leather Recipe:
P3 Knacksack brown
Devlan Mud x2
Highlight with thinned Knacksack brown (You'll be able to see wear it goes as the wash will be lighter)
Sepia wash to tie the highlight down.

Now I'm at a real loss of what color to do the cloak and the waist buckle thing. The Buckle needs to a light color. Either Gold or Cream. So help me pick! Tell me what you think it should be! Chances are I'll just do what you tell me... I'm weak like that... ^_^



Oh, and there's extra photos... What can I say, I'm a camera whore! ^_^

[Carl]

Fine work.

Go Gold on the waist "buckle-thing".

[Sectiplave]

Looking good so far, I agree with you that the parchment colour on the purity seals needs to be adjusted, it's too similar to the shoulder pad colours, it's also similar to the burnished looking gold so it kinda gets lost a little in with them.

It might be a pain to change it now, but maybe the purity seal parchment should be a little lighter/whiter?

Yeah my vote would be gold on that buckle too. I think more creme colour would be a little too much.

[Vent]

Thanks guys. I went a touch darker on the parchment... I think it worked well...

I've been waiting for it to happen. With every miniature I do there is a moment of disaster. Sometimes it is a minor thing easily correctable, other times it is catastrophic and deserving of a Simple Green Bath and stiff toothbrush. Today was a middle of the road affair with the cloak encountering the side of a paint pot which had spilled leaving a massive coat of green all over the purple. Acting quickly (And modestly... HA!) I used needle nose Q-Tips to soak up as much of the excess as I could with blotting (never wipe a paint spill, always blot). Then I used an eye-dropper to dilute what was left and blot it again. I did that a couple more times. Then I left it to dry. The result wasn't that bad. most of the green was gone, but there were flecks running throughout so I decided to recoat and start again... I went super thin with the paint and did three coats. The turnout is OK, slightly darker than the original, and slightly raised surface in places... Despite the setback I continued with doing detail work over the entire figure (I would normally go and destroy things...). Anyway, here is today's breakdown...

Gems: I use to have massive trouble with gems, I'm talking shockingly bad; and while I'm not perfect at them, I've gotten better... I've never painted a green Blackstone gem before. But figured using the same basic principles as my red ones with mostly the same colors as doing the eyes would work, thankfully it did. ^_^ The trick with doing Blackstone gems of any color is to let the black do the job for you. Small lines of paint, with ever lighter and smaller lines over the same bit. Finally you need to do two dots, one the highpoint of the color (in this case pure yellow) and then a tiny dot of off-white on the other side of the gem in the black. The result is something that fools the eye into thinking you've got a full gem, when in reality you've done this tiny work... Requires a little but of practice, but I like them. OH! And after 72-hours a touch of hi-gloss sealer over the entire gem. Really makes it sparkle. These ones done have the gloss yet, but you get the idea...

Weapon: Finished it off. I wanted an off-focal point which wouldn't detract from the face, so the light grey with blue trim works well enough for that. It's the only thing which has that color on the figure, but it isn't a striking color... I'm not that good at power weapon effects so this was a cowards way out... Tee hee hee... ^_^

Cloak: As you can see I've also added some rather rough highlighting. Alot of people use white for raising a color, but I've found that all it does it sap color. I've used the same cream as the helmet to lighten and it seems to have worked quite well... I am unsure whether I wish to now risk a pattern over the purple. It already has so many coats of paint... Plus there's still a pack to go on there... I might wait and see how it looks with a pack before deciding...

Detailing / Writing: In case you can't tell it says Valor on his leg... I like the word Valor as it has go sharp points... I get a lot of people asking me how I do my writing. Short answer? I cheat! Mwahaha! I use a Steadtler Professional Pen 0.5 size... Is that cheap? Maybe. Does it get the job done? You bet!

Oh! I also attached the head! Just in case you didn't see that ^_^

[Sectiplave]

Looking great man, the seal looks much better now that it is darker than the shoulder pad, now onto the storm shield?

[Vent]

Looking great man, the seal looks much better now that it is darker than the shoulder pad, now onto the storm shield?

Honestly? I don't know... I might try and get another part in there. But in all likelyhood yes

[Lazarus]

how was the bronze done, i saw i think mitril silver base, did you just do a delvin mud wash on it. That head looks so sweet man.

[Vent]

how was the bronze done, i saw i think mitril silver base, did you just do a delvin mud wash on it. That head looks so sweet man.

Boltgun Silver > Burnished Gold (2 thin coats) > Sepia wash > Orgyn Flesh Wash > Devlan mud wash. Highlight with a 1:1 mix of gold and mithril silver...

Each wash should get smaller into the recesses.

[Sectiplave]

Ohhh I forgot to mention it last time, but the buckle came out very nicely, I thought you were going to do the entire thing in gold, but the laurel being green works better. Are the inside of the cape going to be darkened at all?

[Vent]

Ohhh I forgot to mention it last time, but the buckle came out very nicely, I thought you were going to do the entire thing in gold, but the laurel being green works better. Are the inside of the cape going to be darkened at all?

I'm thinking about doing some pattern, both inside and outside the cape, but I'm not totally sure...

No update tonight. Took some time to go see Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. Excellent film filled with nerdy gaming references which greatly appealed... Go see it...

Painting will resume tomorrow ^_^

[Lazarus]

if this is a blood angel army you are painting up, ether for fun or play. if you ever want to sell it i would buy i am loving these models.

[NeckFace]

looks to me its a blood raven maybe?

[Vent]

looks to me its a blood raven maybe?

This is a Blood Raven.

I might have painted minis to sell at our next bring and buy...

[Lazarus]

i would only be keen on a whole army 

[Vent]

i would only be keen on a whole army 

HA! The day I paint a whole army I play it...

[Vent]

I was late finishing today and the sun had gone down, so I pulled out my light rig, but alas all but one bulb was gone... The color is a touch washed out. Especially the red. So I just took a single photo of the shield work I've done today.

I know I said I was going to look for different options instead of the shield, but he was designed for a shield and everything else I tried there just looked funny... I was a little unsure about the color make up, and whether the cream was to much, but at the end of the day I am quite happy with the turnout. The red rim of the shields cream and gold is the opposite of the cream cloak framing the red armor.

There's no new colors on it. Gold is the gold, red is the red and cream is the cream...

Just the base to go... and maybe some freehand... OMG and the backpack... Gah... I hate Space Marine Backpacks... They're so boring...

[NeckFace]

all that great work done on the body and now its all covered by an over-sized storm shield

looking forward to the shots from other angles

[nik_]

Looking amazing!
I'm building a Blood Ravens army myself, so this is a real inspiration. Of course my army has  been and will continue to be speed painted with the aid of foundation paints, washes and the GW spray gun. Perhaps I'll see what I can do with the characters

[Lazarus]

if you can do bone that nice i would love to see u for a deathwing army.