No, I've not been working heavily with snot green on my Dark Angels over the past week. Instead my body has been working full time on producing its own snot green analogue in addition to generally making me feel quite miserable. While this has given me a lot of time at home, it hasn't been productive painting time. As a rule, I tend to avoid painting when I'm at risk of sudden convulsive coughing and sneezing, at best it is off putting for painting. At worst......well your paint job might take on rather more abstract qualities.
Back in the saddle now and I'm trying to be disciplined with Tuesday's as my dedicated painty and blogging night. The dedicated part is less about the painty and the more about stopping to actually do the blog update. I suspect I'm not the only blogger out there who keeps painting until they feel they've got something they're happy blogging about, rather than just stopping and going "hey, this is where I am at." I think there is a certain honesty in the latter approach and I'm going to try from now on to stop around 9pmish (just in time for Alice Cooper on Planet Rock) and take photos of whatever stage my model is at, warts and all.
Back to the models.
Starting with the image above, hopefully you can see I've started applying the mid tone red to the Plasma cannon. I've done this for all the weapons and generally the colour is all over except for those areas in shadow, which I've left as the darker red.
I've also started working on the plasma coils and so far all I've done is base with enchanted blue, painted on a mid tone of ice blue, washed with asurmen blue and given it a quick dry brush over with the ice blue. Its a start for the plasma coil, but there is more to do to get the intensity on the coils right.
I've also applied my mid tone to the bone details of the armour, again working to keep the colours consistent with the light and shadows. I've also applied some of my mid red to the company badge on the knee pad, again working towards the light and I've also started building the detail up on the eyes. This picture also shows one of the issues with working from fully assembled models (which is kind of necessary when you're doing zenithal highlighting with an airbrush), is getting to the detail. Some sacrifices need to be made with the detail at this point and certain areas can be left alone.
That said, some of the detail is just plain fiddly to get at and a steady hand is needed, plus patience to deal with mistakes when they happen.
And they will happen.
I think this is a good "warts and all" picture on the melta, as it shows the application of the mid tone red is quite messy really, even though it doesn't seem that way to the nekkid eye. This will get neatened up a bit as I apply the final highlight and a red wash to tie the transitions together. I've also given all the metalwork (that's not gold) a healthy wash of Baddab Black.
The mid tone bone highlight has gone onto the Chapter badge as well. I'm kind of making these up as I go, so I'm still not entirely sure what the finished result will look like. I think the detailing on the lower wing needs tidying up a bit, just so the highlighting makes more sense.
Funnily enough though, the detail on the little symbol hanging from his belt looks better in this photo than it does to the nekkid eye. Funny how these things work.
if there is one thing i can guarantee about when i take pictures, it's that anything i feel warm about the quality of i'll suddenly feel dismayed as every slipped brush hair appears.
ReplyDeletethat said your "messy" midtone gives a lovely "aged paint" look to the Melta.
Thanks Matt. I'm now looking at the Melta paintjob in a whole different light. Expect a certain amount if revisionism (sp?) in my next post.
ReplyDeleteI think they are coming along nicely. I've never really gotten into painting green for some reason. It's just one of those colors I've never had to paint a whole model in.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a plan when it comes to getting them to the level you want. Just keep working towards that and when you find something you like that may not be to the "standard" you have in your mind, don't be afraid to leave it like that. It's how you develop a style.
Ron, From the Warp
Thanks Ron. It's difficult to avoid lots of green with Dark Angels (unless you go pre-heresy) and I do find the very dark green harder to work with than lighter tones for something like the Salamanders. I don't know why that is, because I can do dark blues just fine, but there is something about the green end of the spectrum my eyes struggle with.
DeleteThat's a helpful comment on style and it (in combination with Matt's comment) has got me thinking about how I may approach the final stages of painting.
It's something I've been working on myself recently. The whole idea of how much do I paint on a model and exactly HOW should I do it as it relates to my "style."
ReplyDeleteRon, From the Warp
And here I was worried that you'd suddenly gone off Dark Angels! So I'm relieved to hear its just a cold :)
ReplyDeleteGet well soon!