Legion's Plog

[Legion]

Here goes nothin'!!

I really enjoy the painting side of this little game we play. I'm not the greatest painter in the world but I like to think that my stuff hovers around table top quality.

From my days playing VC in older editions and playing an Undead warband in Mordheim, I only have a handful of painted models and thought it's high time I get my butt in gear and get some stuff painted. My most recent addition to my VC was my varghulf:







I'm going to be giving the "tree" a coat or 2 of gloss varnish and then a spray of matte to make them (hopefully) a little more resilient. I'll also be magnetizing the base by clipping away some of the peg holes on the bottom and gluing on some rare earth magnets.

Just as an aside. This plog won't be overly active as I tend to switch b/w model ranges often to keep my interest in painting up.

Currently I'm working on:
Assembling:
40 Skeletons (old version)
40 Zombies
Painting:
Avatars of War Vampire

And that's on top of getting one Necron unit a month done, and painting my DoC, WoC, and Beastmen. Yeah, I'll be busy painting 'til I'm old and grey. :slapface:

 

[Malikos]

Great basing and painting on the varg. Looking forward to more!

 

[Chaos_Born]

Trust me Legion, your painting beats tabletop quality over the head with a stick and dances on it's grave

The tree looks cool, is it just some twigs you found and stuck on or is it from a range?

 

[Legion]

Thanks for the kind words!

@Chaos_Born - The "tree" is just part of a dried up native plant (what some might call a weed ) I found in my back yard. I had gathered some actual shrub and tree branches (nabbed an oak twig that's just killer looking!) but they were all WAY to big and breaking them down would not have made them look any better. I will have to go around and look for more of that type of plant.

As an update to the plog, here is the list I plan on working on:

Lvl 2 Vampire w/ Talisman of Endurance, Gold Sigil Sword, Enchanted Shiled, Heavy Armor, Dark Accolyte
30 Skeletons w/ Full Command, Spears
32 Zombies w/ Standard, Musician
5 Dire Wolves
5 Crypt Horrors
2 x 1 Spirit Host
Varghulf

Comes to 1000pts on the head. I figured it'd be best to aim for creating a smaller force so I have something that's attainable in a shorter period of time. That and we tend to play more small games anyway.

 

[Santawraith]

Loving the vulghulf he is just awesome.

Looking forward to more of your work.

Check out the monthly challenges In august we have a crypt horror challenge and since your doing osme crypt horror's.....

 

[Legion]

@Santawraith - Thanks for the kind words boss!

A quick update:
1) Magnetized the base of the varghulf w/ plans to make a case to put him in. I have a case that was designed to carry V-spins for fishing. I just need to get some metal glued to the bottom and I'll be ready for transport!

Shot of the bottom of the base:

Used rare earth magnets and clipped the "tubes" off using my sprue clippers and then smoothed the area out w/ a chisel style X-acto blade. Used a combination of superglue and extruded polystyrene to put the magnets on. Used the polystyrene as the glue melts it and it makes a killer adhesive that turns rock hard. Just be careful you don't breath in the fumes! Whew!!

Here it is hanging out on the fridge w/ some of the kids' toys:


Also, did a bit of work on my AoW vampire - just the skin and started the gold on the armor:


Going to redo some of the leg armor to put some other color in there besides all gold (like a lacquered armor). Just need to figure out what colors I want to use!

Check out the monthly challenges In august we have a crypt horror challenge and since your doing osme crypt horror's.....

Unfortunately, this is the one part of my list I have to get models for yet.

 

[Monkey's_Uncle]

That Varghulf 'aint too shabby mate.
I personally don't like the model any much, but the paint job is fine for tabletop standard (In fact, it's far better than what most of my friends pump out when they're trying for high quality).

The skin on the vampire isn't quite smooth enough I feel, it's all fine up yo the last highlight layer where it jars slightly, can I recommend a glaze of blue or purple just too tone it down slightly?

Looking forward to seeing the rest of 'em.

 

[Legion]

Thanks for the constructive criticism Monkey's_Uncle!

Now, when you say "glaze" are you actually referring to a wash? I know there's actually a method of glazing that uses a glaze medium to make a very translucent paint that sticks more to the raised surfaces of the model and does more of a staining of the lighter colors. But, I've noticed some people refer to washing as glazing as well.

I do have a pot each of the old Leviathan Purple and Asurman Blue washes. I'm assuming that I should probably even water those down a bit if I was to use them on the vamp's flesh?? Any and all tips would be greatly appreciated! I'm always up for a little schooling!!

 

[Monkey's_Uncle]

Now, when you say "glaze" are you actually referring to a wash? I know there's actually a method of glazing that uses a glaze medium to make a very translucent paint that sticks more to the raised surfaces of the model and does more of a staining of the lighter colors. But, I've noticed some people refer to washing as glazing as well.

A glaze is essentially a very thin wash, you can use mediums to thin it down (this has the effect of keeping the intensity I believe), but thinning it with water works fine.

The objective of a glaze is normally to stain the colours underneath and blend them in a little better. Basically you want to thin down a wash until it's more like coloured water and then 'paint' it all over the specified area.

I recommend trying it on a spare shield or something before doing it on your miniatures, as it can take a bit of practice to get the consistency right.

 

[Malikos]

I have such a hard time getting multiple magnets on one base, they always want to jump over to the others. Then super glue gets everywhere and I'm done. Looks like you got it down though, that guy can some excellent fridge scaling skills.

Looking forward to more of the Vampire.

-M

 

[Legion]

@Monkey's_Uncle - Thanks for the info on glazing! I will for sure do some practice runs w/ both the blue and purple washes that I have. *crossing fingers*

@Malikos - I think it helps that the varg is on a 50mm base. Being in the corners, the magnets are far enough apart that they won't attract to each other and the glue/polystyrene sets up quick. I did 2 in diagonal corners first and then I did the other 2 corners after the glue/polystyrene cocktail cured enough for my liking (a couple hours). I MAY have gone a bit overboard making it work as a kitchen magnet ... MAY have ... :tongue: I probably could have kept it to 2 since they are just there to keep it from sliding around in the box I'll be using to transport it. If it was a metal one, well, the extra momentum from the weight of the metal may have required the 4 magnets. I'll probably put 4 on the bottom of all my metal monstrous stuff that are on 40mm bases (trolls, beasts of nurgle, fiends, etc.) just to be safe.

 

[Monkey's_Uncle]

Surely putting one huge magnet on the base would be better?
That way it would simplify pivoting in the movement phase.

 

[Legion]

Surely putting one huge magnet on the base would be better?
That way it would simplify pivoting in the movement phase.

Well, the magnets are only for keeping the model stable while in transport. I usually play on OSB tables that are covered in some type of cloth to simulate grass so hopefully there won't be any issues during the movement phase. I'll just have to keep the varghulf far enough away from all the other magnetized stuff.

 

[Legion]

Ok! After much procrastination and working on 5 billion different things (I told you this was going to be painfully slow ), I finally got some test models done for washing the vamp's skin.

Pink Wash:

Light Purple Wash:

Dark Purple Wash:

Blue Wash:


All washes were made w/ a single drop of paint and 5 drops of water. None of the test models really turned out that great. The skin tone didn't come together at all and all of them have bright colors in the recesses where it's supposed to be the shade color of the skin (Reaper Dusky Skin Triad Dusky Skin Shadow).

Ummm ... I'm not really sure what to do now. Do I try the GW washes thinned down? Do I just need to add more water to the mixes I made? I'm not really liking the bright colors in the recesses. Any help from some better painters would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Forlorn]

Ok! After much procrastination and working on 5 billion different things (I told you this was going to be painfully slow ), I finally got some test models done for washing the vamp's skin.

Ummm ... I'm not really sure what to do now. Do I try the GW washes thinned down? Do I just need to add more water to the mixes I made? I'm not really liking the bright colors in the recesses. Any help from some better painters would be greatly appreciated.

You have a couple choices. You can have regular looking vampires or dead looking ones. If you want the more modern "alive" vampire use Ogryn flesh over white that's been washed with badab black. My apologies for not knowing the new paints and names.

Dead looking vamps perhaps a flesh tone with a bit of grey mixed in?

I think you're over thinking things. Go simple. Drop down a base color and wash over it. I think you'll like the effect better. Plus the skin is going to be such a small area (face, hands) don't go overboard.

 

[Legion]

I think you're over thinking things.

Actually, I think I'm using the paint incorrectly. The Reaper triads have a shadow color, base color, and a highlight color. I think I'm using to much of the highlight where I should just be putting it on the very raised edges ... maybe?? o_o

Not very good at the whole skin thing. :frown: For now I guess I'll just leave the skin as is. Also did a little work on the gold (washed w/ Gryphon Sepia) and painted in some of the leg armor w/ the Reaper Ultramarine triad shadow color:

Still a few spots I see I missed w/ the blue on the leg armor (it's amazing what a close up pic will reveal!). Hopefully the rest of the model goes a bit smoother than the skin.

So what does one do while they are figuring out ways to rui ... errr ... paint a model? Why, you work on something else! Here's an old metal banshee I've had for YEARS and am now finally getting around to painting:

I'm a bit *meh* about the paint job. I'm not great w/ blending and all that (see vamp) so I basically just did a blue-green basecoat w/ a drybrush of skull white. Still a few things to work on - details on the sword (hilt, pommel, gem, decoration on blade, and blade highlights) and some static grass on the base.

 

[Forlorn]

I think you're over thinking things.

I'm a bit *meh* about the paint job. I'm not great w/ blending and all that (see vamp) so I basically just did a blue-green basecoat w/ a drybrush of skull white. Still a few things to work on - details on the sword (hilt, pommel, gem, decoration on blade, and blade highlights) and some static grass on the base.

I like the look of the Banshee a lot. Goin back to the skin...I've never been a fan of layering colors. IMO if you put down a base color and wash that color you'll get a shaded effect. I'm guessing that's not what you really want?

 

[Legion]

Goin back to the skin...I've never been a fan of layering colors. IMO if you put down a base color and wash that color you'll get a shaded effect. I'm guessing that's not what you really want?

I've done the basecoat and wash for some models and it turned out ok. I figured since this will be my main vamp, I'd try to make her look a little better. I've done some layering on my orcs but they lend themselves better to that technique w/ all that muscle. It's the subtle highlighting that really throws me for a loop when I try to layer - the "when" and "when not to" really.

Maybe a wash of 1:1 Badab Black:Water will help ... maybe? Will have to test that out on the flip side of one of my skinks.

 

[jediguru]

Thanks for the kind words!

@Chaos_Born - The "tree" is just part of a dried up native plant (what some might call a weed ) I found in my back yard. I had gathered some actual shrub and tree branches (nabbed an oak twig that's just killer looking!) but they were all WAY to big and breaking them down would not have made them look any better. I will have to go around and look for more of that type of plant.

As an update to the plog, here is the list I plan on working on:

Lvl 2 Vampire w/ Talisman of Endurance, Gold Sigil Sword, Enchanted Shiled, Heavy Armor, Dark Accolyte
30 Skeletons w/ Full Command, Spears
32 Zombies w/ Standard, Musician
5 Dire Wolves
5 Crypt Horrors
2 x 1 Spirit Host
Varghulf

Comes to 1000pts on the head. I figured it'd be best to aim for creating a smaller force so I have something that's attainable in a shorter period of time. That and we tend to play more small games anyway.

I'm actually working on a very similar list at the moment. nice work by the way.

 

[con-fusion]

Ummm ... I'm not really sure what to do now. Do I try the GW washes thinned down? Do I just need to add more water to the mixes I made? I'm not really liking the bright colors in the recesses. Any help from some better painters would be greatly appreciated.

I don't qualify as a "better painter", but I think you may want to use glazes instead of washes.

I think what you did was prime white and wash with your shade tone. This left the shade tone in the recesses and a slightly darkened white in the raised areas. Then, when you washed again, each of your wash tones settled in the recesses and only slightly changed the color of the raised areas, effectively leaving the raised areas off white. Is this correct?

The way to change the color of the raised areas without changing the color in the recesses is to glaze the raised areas. I mix my glazes (and, admittedly, I've only been doing this for a month) by adding 1 part paint to between 8 and 12 parts medium (I use flow extender, but I see no reason why matte medium wouldn't work). The result is very translucent . I then carefully apply this mix to tint the areas I want to pick up that color.

 

[Legion]

I think what you did was prime white and wash with your shade tone. This left the shade tone in the recesses and a slightly darkened white in the raised areas. Then, when you washed again, each of your wash tones settled in the recesses and only slightly changed the color of the raised areas, effectively leaving the raised areas off white. Is this correct?

Ummm ... No. I used one of Reaper's triad paint sets called Dusky Skin. The basic concept is that you have your shadow color, your base color, and your highlight color. There was no washing involved. It's all just painting on layers. Monkey's_Uncle just suggested I do something to make the layers blend a little better but I'm not really sure what to do. I tried using some different home-made washes but that obviously did not work at all. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't dilute the paint enough and that's why the bright colors ended up in the crevices. The only thing I can think to do now is to thin out some Badab Black or maybe even thin out the shadow color of the triad to make the colors blend more. Though, I think that will just make the skin look to dark.

 

[con-fusion]

Ummm ... No. I used one of Reaper's triad paint sets called Dusky Skin. The basic concept is that you have your shadow color, your base color, and your highlight color. There was no washing involved. It's all just painting on layers. Monkey's_Uncle just suggested I do something to make the layers blend a little better but I'm not really sure what to do. I tried using some different home-made washes but that obviously did not work at all. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't dilute the paint enough and that's why the bright colors ended up in the crevices. The only thing I can think to do now is to thin out some Badab Black or maybe even thin out the shadow color of the triad to make the colors blend more. Though, I think that will just make the skin look to dark.

Interesting. I've never seen these triads. I'll have to take a look. Do you layer them or wet blend?

 

[Legion]

Interesting. I've never seen these triads. I'll have to take a look. Do you layer them or wet blend?

I got mine from TheWarStore. They have a large selection of triads.

As for how I applied them, I just layer. I wouldn't even know where to start when it comes to wet blending. I know there are wet pallets out there and lots of tutorials on how to make your own. I've read some of the "how-to"s on the technique and basically went, "Huh!?" o_o

 

[con-fusion]

Heh. I know what you mean. I went huh, bought a wet pallette, tried out the two-brush technique, and generally went back to layering, but with thinner and more smoothy blended paints... though I've really move away from both techniques recenty.

Anyway, I just realized that I could zoom in on the Dark Elf, and see the difference. From the zoomed out perspective, it looked like you had painted with a wash. Zoomed in, it's clearly layers with three colors. Regardless, it could still benefit from glazes to smooth out the transitions and add depth and a sense of translucence to the skin.

I'm just starting to use glazes, so I'm not the best source for an explanation. Luckily, experts abound and are very prolific at writing. I personally learned a bunch from Ghool. See the following:

http://handcannononline.com/blog/2011/09/09/tutorial-basics-glazed-over-washes-and-glazing/

http://handcannononline.com/blog/20...is-plus-that-equals-additives-and-their-uses/

http://handcannononline.com/blog/20...is-plus-that-equals-additives-and-their-uses/

To get an idea just how far you can take this glaze thing, see here:

http://handcannononline.com/blog/20...peed-demon-speed-painting-troopers/#more-3246

For your situation though, I would say controlled glazes applied with a #1 or #0 brush to the upper layers of the skin could work wonders. The key is to tint the highlights. Washes are too thick to do that, and ultimately settle into the recesses.

 

[Legion]

Thanks for the links con-fusion. I took a quick gander through them but I think I'm going to really have to sit down somewhere quite and really read them as there's a LOT of info to take in. Sort of intimidating ... but the results sure do speak for themselves.

As for the whole glazing thing, I've seen another video where someone used Liquitex Glaze Medium to color some white highlights that were drybrushed on. I'll have to maybe look into getting a glaze medium and toying around w/ that on my skink victims to see if I can get something to work out for the skin color I'm using.