Risen from the Grave, my VC blog

[Grok]

Hey Everyone,

So this is the beginning to my Vampire Counts army. My goal is to make this a quick to paint force, hopefully getting 2.5k finished by January (ish). I envision it placed in a graveyard with a necromancers raising zombies and skeletons out of the ground. Blue is goign to be my pop color.

Please give me your thoughts on the models, these are the first 10.

 

[John Rainbow]

Looking really nice so far. Get used to painting those zombies though!

 

[jediguru]

That looks like a great start! Only 1,152,394 more zombies to paint.

 

[Grok]

Thanks for the compliments. Looking at the pics my light washed them out a bit, there is more shading then there appears to be lol. Once I get the unit all painted up i'll be sure to wait until daytime and take the pics outside in better light .

I actually really enjoy painting horde armies, its one of the things that drew me to VC, so im pretty pumped to paint like 150 zombies. Im sure by zombie 40 i'll be less excited, but for the time being wooo!

 

[Adam_Barrow]

Zombies are great fun. I knocked out ~80 last year for a tournament, and of all the units I did for those games the Zombos were the most entertaining. Just break em up into batches of ten or so at a time and you'll be finished before you know it.

 

[Alastor]

I love painting Zed Heads, got two or three different speed painting techniques that have a great finished result so I do them in batches of five it ten and it only takes two or three hours in total from start to finish.

 

[Grok]

Yeah I have been utlizing some speed painting techniques for these guys. My goal is to get about 20 or so more finished for my first unit of 30 . Converting the command models and the unit fillers, as well as removign mold lines has been taking a while.

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

First 10 look great mate and a nice choice on the leaves for basing.

In regards to the zombies they look great but seem a little clean and with basing taken into account they look really light, almost as if i was being mobbed in a park some lazy autumn afternoon.

 

[Grok]

In regards to the zombies they look great but seem a little clean and with basing taken into account they look really light, almost as if i was being mobbed in a park some lazy autumn afternoon.

Haha, thanks for the mental image. The lighting I used for the shot is really, really bad, which makes them brighter then they are. Once I get a chance I will try to take some better shots in less direct, more neutral lighting.

I do think the models are a bit too clean, painting things to look dirt is pretty tough . Im playing around with some different techniques on these models, but I may try hitting them with an agrax earth shade wash to darken them up a bit. I used Army Painter Mid-Shade and I couldn't decide whether I should leave them as is, or highlight up some of the extreme details. I went with the highlights, but lost some of the "dirtier" look.

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

I understand mate, I have had the same problem in the past but its an amusing thought none the less.

To be honest to dirty them up I would consider a very light earth tone dry brush in places to act as dirt, think it would really breath some "life" into the models.

 

[Grok]

To be honest to dirty them up I would consider a very light earth tone dry brush in places to act as dirt, think it would really breath some "life" into the models.

Hmmm interesting suggestion, definetely going to try that. I tried three different colors of washes and they make the models look less clean, but not necessarily covered in dirt.

Few things I am thinking. First, I am not sure if I should apply to extreme highlight to future models after the army painter product. Instead, I think I may apply it before I put the shade on, after I am done drybrushing, but just focusing on like the faces and maybe shoulder blades. Then if I like the way drybrushing an earth tone looks i'll also do that. Will most likely be faster then what I did for these test models, and speed is one of my goals .

 

[Adam_Barrow]

Have you considered the yellow GW glaze for this kind of thing?

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Highlighting would help certainly but don't give too overboard.

Remember when doing and dirt it would be darker/ thickest to where the dirt is coming from which is likely the edge of the cloth itself.

 

[Grok]

Have you considered the yellow GW glaze for this kind of thing?

I have played around with the glazes in the past, I don't think they will work for the look I want.