Updates

Well, I've been really busy with my studies, but I've still been painting. Here's some updates.

Something a little different :)

So, this is something I've been working on at the Academy. It's for my 3D Art Pipeline final assessment. A little different, I know, but I hope y'all like it. This is why I havent been posting much :)

Stay tuned for more Night Lords - Curze is almost ready!

Curze progress

After 10 gruelling hours of grinding this non metallic gold - finally finished. Also finished the cloak, but won't be attaching it until the rest is finished.
I gotta tell ya, I'm having a great time painting the primarch.

Curze progress.

I've spent maybe 6-8 hours on the gold trims on his armour. It has at least 6 steps and still another... 4 to go!
I'm really enjoying painting the Primarch of the VIII, the level of detail and sheer coolness value is immensely satisfying.

On a side note, I got a couple of paint racks from back 2 basix. They're amazing.

Curze

Curze is next! Just finished the preshading and base-coat. Looking very tidy!

Sevatar Finished + updates

Painting Sevatar has been a magnificent experience. One of my favourite sculpts of all time. 
I lost a bit of inspiration for a while - starting a new degree (computer animation) has been taking up a lot of time, so I've been a little lacking in motivation. I'm starting to fall back into a rhythm again however, so you will be seeing more work from me very soon.

I've also been working on my recon squad, moritat and destroyers.

A bit of progress...

I've been away for a week, so I've been unable to do a whole lot. I obtained a destroyer squad and a deimos patter vindicator for the night lords and I've been working on my recon squad.

I also built myself a Moritat, pictured in the last frame. Slinging a pair of volkite serpenta, he is pre-shaded and ready for basecoating.

Seam lines on rhinos :/

This is how you remove them.

They are so ugly and really detract from the model. They had to go.

On the importance of preshading - an airbrush lesson.

If you're like me, you probably bought an airbrush because you don't want to waste time doing that most boring of tasks - undercoating and base coating!

An airbrush can be so damn helpful that it will revolutionise your painting workflow so that not only will you get more work done in a smaller period of time, you'll also probably start to enjoy those menial tasks.

If you're like me, you also got straight into airbrushing without a thought for the layering of paint and the slightly odd way in which you need to highlight using an airbrush.

This is called pre-shading.

Here is an example of models that have not been pre-shaded -

Note the flatness of the armour. I'm showing you this on my night lords because pre-shading is so much more important with darker colours. Lighter colours can easily be washed and a great effect can be achieved. Dark blue for example, however, is not a forgiving colour. 

My method for pre-shading with an airbrush is simple and effective, allowing for a dark colour of your choosing to go over it flat without too much hassle.

1. Start with a black undercoat.

2. Using a smaller nozzle (I recommend a 0.2mm or 0.3mm), carefully apply a light-medium grey to areas you want to highlight. 

In my case, it is from the top, down, as I like to achieve a semi zenithal highlight effect to my flat armour panels.

example

3. Being extremely careful, use your 0.2 nib to highlight those grey areas to white.

example

These models are now fully pre-shaded and ready to basecoat. For my Night Lords, I like to basecoat with a 2/1 mix of vallejo model air french blue and signal blue. I find those two together are probably my favourite colour for night lords. Add a drop or two of thinner with it to make sure that pre-shade comes through - signal blue is quite dark and I find its' pigments ro be quite overbearing if not kept in check with some light dilution.

Here are both of those squads fully basecoated.

I hope you enjoyed my lesson. Stay tuned for more midnight clad antics.

Progress report

So Sevatar is coming along nicely. The display base is shaping up well.

I based my recon, heavy support and special weapons squads and they are now ready for priming and basecoating.

On the recon squad, I decided I really dont like the look of those flimsy sniper bolters with their long barrels, so I started switching them out for the Umbra Ferrox pattern bolters with the sniper scopes. They look a little more hefty, as you'd expect from a space marine legion.
You can also pretty clearly see my conversion work on the autocannons - barrel removed, muzzle brake reattached and chaim bayonets added. I also cut the ammo belts into magazines because they didnt fit onto the backpacks properly.
If you look closely enough, you'll also see some repositioning of legs etc.

I have my terror squad on the way - mkii crusader pattern armor with the terror squad chestplates and helmets. 5 of them will be getting volkite chargers which I plan to convert from my remaining 5 calivers. One will have a flamer and the rest will get some nice bits from the mkiii power weapon kit.

After that, I plan to do a total conversion of my storm raven into a fire raptor gunship and requisition a Javelin pattern land speeder.

Sevatar - progress pics

Obviously this is the best non metallic gold I've ever painted. The trick really was to start with a dark green-blue and highlight with aqua, before highlighting with my standard non metallic gold colours including a sepia wash to soften the green/gold transition. I'm super halpy with it and I'll be using that technique for all further attempts at nmm gold. Now to perfect my silver....

Sevatar WIP

I probably should have finished the other 3 squads I have waiting for me first, but I was too excited for this model.

Raptors - Finished!

May I present my Night Lords raptors -
Finally finished!
A tedious squad to paint, but as always, a labour of love.

Unboxing - SEVATAR!

I am absolutely stunned with the quality of this model!
I cannot wait to paint him.
Unfortunately, one of the wings on his helmet was snapped off half way up and the dagger in his right hand is missing the blade. I'll leave the helmet as is and the dagger hand will be replaced with either a pointing hand or one holding a bolt pistol.

In other news, the raptors are finished, I've just been really busy with some stuff, so I haven't had a lot of time to post them up. I'll do it tomorrow :)