So here he is, completely finished, ready for the competition on Saturday. He was a blast to paint, simple as. Basically, he had lots of stuff that I don't normally paint. I really had fun and can't wait to see how he does.
From previous competitions, I know that the standard will be high. As an example, this squad won gold in the UK Golden Demon for 40k Squad. The painter, is from Dublin.
So, on with the model. The picture below is the shield he's carrying, which bears the symbol of the Nurgle fly. This was fun as the most freehand I usually do is a basic shoulder pad chapter symbol on marines. I'm planning a banner bearer for my marines so there'll be some freehand on that. You may remember, I said that I had a banner for him. The banner looked great (if I do say so myself), but it had a myriad of problems when I attached it to the model. It was top heavy, dominated the model and simply looked wrong.
Here's a shot of his back, with the skin and open wounds. This was my favourite part of the whole model. Unfortunately the pic doesn't show it up great, I'll try to get better ones over the week. It was really fun as, again, I don't get to paint much skin (noticing a pattern here?)
The axe, again was great fun (that's right, I don't paint much rust). There's not much more to say. I'll have a tutorial in a while, as well as some for things like the cloth, skin horns etc.
I already said that the standard will be high in this competition, and honestly, I don't expect to win anything. Nonetheless, I'm hoping for some compliments on him and I'm looking forward to seeing how he sizes up to the other entries. Regardless of how he does, I'm happy with how he turned out: he's definitely my best miniature so far. I now give you free reign: critique away!
Good stuff, man - really dig the fly on the shield, really helps tie it all together.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck in the competition!
Thanks. I do appreciate that!
ReplyDeleteHe looks great. I don't want to offend you in anyway as you are clearly a very good painter but I wish someone had given me more tips when I was younger. So try using more thinners in your paint to get a more detailed finish. Using paint retarder to wet blend is a good next step as this is how people get those amazing looking power weapons. Also try using an extra stage in your highlighting in between each paint, 50/50 mix is usual for this and you will be amazed by the final result, if you paint it on and it looks no different then that is a good thing as you won't see lines on the finished model. Please don't take this the wrong way, I just remember getting advice from Will Hannah(GW featured models) and Neil Thomasson(multiple GD winner) when I was a teenager and being annoyed with how easy it was to improve with a few tips.
ReplyDeleteI won't take it the wrong way! Part of the reason for starting this blog was to get advice on my own painting. I've only begun to take an interest in my painting beyond "get it done ASAP with no care for quality". Any advice I can get is welcome, so thank you. I try to thin my paints but sometimes old habits are tough to break! With regard to retardants, I've heard mixed reviews on them so I'll leave them for a little while. I do mix
ReplyDeleteSorry, my iPod decided I was done and published the comment! I do mix paints sometimes (the skin was all mixed paints) but I never tried it for edge highlights etc. I must try that at some stage! As I've already said, I appreciate all comments and criticism, so keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteRetarders are tricky, you can end up with a generic blob of colour if you do too much, the trick being to stop early on and use a clean brush which can be irritating. The reason I mentioned the mixing is because the best painters will glaze each colour, this is using about a dozen or so layers of thinned paint each with an almost imperceptible difference in colour to the next. Good luck with the painting in the future. Nice blog too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I do appreciate the advice, and the comments!
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