Night Lords 18th Battle Company (Treadhead)

[Drudge Dreadnought]

Their look certainly fits the style of hatchet-man horror characters.

[Dan The Deamon]

So i decided to start a test figure for painting today. I based him off the Night Lords in the Index Astartes. They have a very cool purple armor with blue highlights. I failed at replicating the cool purple color so just started with a dark blue and some purple glaze.

I found out pretty quick that i have no idea how to properly do highlighting. What colors i put where i thought they should be i think i put them in the wrong order.

The highlights themselves are very subtle in the pictures. They only exist on the chest, shoulders, and thighs. I really wasn't sure how to place them anywhere else on the model. Any ideas?

A botched Lightning effect that should embarrass me from ever doing it again.

So all in all, i couldn't get the purple i wanted to start with and i don't know where to place highlights.

Help?

Edited November 14, 2009 by Dan The Deamon

[lord gunthar]

A very good job for your first model with this new scheme in regards for the highlights try blending the colours up to the brightest colour in the middle of the armour panel ( but only in the ones that dont have lightning in them ) that way you will have a shade on each armour panel and visible contrast.

My 2 cents.

Lord gunthar.

Edited November 14, 2009 by lord gunthar

[Drudge Dreadnought]

I do my highlights pretty quick and dirty. Just to dark color, then hit all the edges with a lighter shade, then the very edge of the edges with the lightest. I find doing some serious drybrushing first helps. I'd suggest something like dark color > drybrush with lighter color > wash crevices > highlight with lightest color.

[Brother Chaplain Ginn]

Dan whats up? Any updates? I've got the itch and I finished moving and finishing my floor tiling soooo... Games on. You coming out to VA/DC soon maybe for the holidays? LMK.

 

I know you have some updates... Gimme gimme. Dude this army is the heat. Tell James to post some stuff too!

[Sangarunya]

Hail brother!

Maybe you could work on the colour of the skull alittle bit too...I mean...try to find a couple of steps between the white of the skull and the rest of the helmet. Abone colour and a pale brown, for example. Tha will add a little of volume to the eyes and mouth...

All those little details turn a beautiful Night Lord into a great miniature!!!!!!!!!

Keep on the good work line!!!!!!!

[firestorm40k]

Hmmm, I don't know how helpful this is, but I would thoroughly recommend using a Wash, like one of GW's new ones. If you're going for the dark blue of Night Lords, I would basecoat the model a medium blue, then give it a wash with a Dark Blue wash (mixed with a bit of purple if that's the colour you're wanting).

 

Then I'd highlight the upper edges of the model with a lighter blue (perhaps dry-brushing would be okay, depends how neat you want to be - I find that adding the wash covers over a fair amount of 'untidy' painting!), then add a further wash of the Dark Blue/Purple.

 

I used this technique, albeit different colours, for these Imperial ships for Battlefleet Gothic: http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c274/fir...t/Lunar_Pip.jpg

 

As for the Lightning, I think starting with light blue then building up to the white, using a finer detail brush for each layer. Time consuming, but the eventual effect should be worth it.

 

Not much to go on, but I hope some of this helps!

[Dan The Deamon]

Thanks for the ideas guys, i'm working on painting the next one (hopefully in the right order) and i'm just trying to figure out where the highlights actually go now.

Here's what i did last night

I used three colors and pretty much just mixed them up for the armor.

Necron abyss for the darkest

Necron abyss/Liche purple 60/40

Liche purple and enchanted blue 50/50

liche purple and enchanted blue 30/80

Enchated blue.

I slashered some Asuremen blue all over his armor too.

Here's kinda what i'm going for.

Notice the purple tint on his shaded armor.

[Xavier Targhost]

Hi there champion of the dark gods :D

 

Im not the greatest of spellers but hope you understand anyway mate! :)

 

Humm.. looks good.. :) ( though i usaly dont paint mush blue )

Some ideas that i use myself.. base them black.. then some dark blue colour in a rough drybrush way then drybrush him with for exampe Ultra blu or some other pure blue colour to get all the details out and showing.. then wash him in darker blue and purple in a way that apeals to your liking.. then paint the extra colurs like brass and stuff.. ;) wash with darker brown... and for the skull "mask" bleach boone and some lighter brown wash there to and the some bleach bone on the more potruding plases like eye sockets rims and the like..

 

A simple and nice way to get some effect on your gorgeus models :D hope it might be of some use..

 

Salute and cheers on wickedly awesome models!!

[Yogi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFeN0oDkoog

 

Check youtube for things like this.. wet blending and such could possibly help you with the hihglights or even the purple thing.

 

Anyways Good luck and check out the tutotrials on youtube.

 

Yogi (Id help but Im about the same level so..)

Edited November 14, 2009 by Yogi

[Krait]

what I use for my night lords to get the purple effect is a paint that you should be able to get at your local arts and crafts store. The line is called Ceramcoat,.and I use Phalto blue over a black primer. It looks really nice with a ultramarines blue highlight.

[Dan The Deamon]

Well i started painting a group of 9 Rubric marines just to get some practice in highlighting and gain experience.

I think i may understand highlighting a little better and started playing around with blending. Now as i understand it 'wet blending' doesn't involve using wet paint on the mini. However this is how i've been successful getting highlights on this guy.

I need some C+C if you guys have a chance.

[Drudge Dreadnought]

Those highlights look good to me. How have you been doing them? And what's your plan for the metallics?

[Animerik]

The higlights on the last one looks spot on IMO. And the terror markings should maybe be started with a darker basecoat than white as mentioned. For the lightning just pratice over and over for some houers and I'm sure you will make them look ace. Looking forward to more.

 

Top notch!

[Dan The Deamon]

the Rubric Marine was painted like so

 

Black primer

Necron abyss basecoat

Regal blue

Regal blue/enchanted blue 70/30

enchanted blue/ regal blue 50/50

enchanted blue

 

For the terror marking i actually painted them in three stages. I started with Khermi brown, codex Grey, then bleached bone. I never used white. I'm not sure what looks wrong with them that keeps people bringing them up. Are they too plain, pale?

 

For the Rubric Metallics i'm going to hit the brown trim with some shining gold, two layers, and then a wash of either gryphonne sepia or ogryn flesh. I'm not sure what looks better as i havn't tried either.

 

Should i hit the edges or the armor plates with some sharp highlights like ice blue? or is that a different type of highlighting that they type i'm doing. Seeing as all of them are in the center or each armor plate. Will it look funny to do both?

Thanks for the replies Animerik and Drudge!

Edited November 16, 2009 by Dan The Deamon

[Danny Cyanide]

I'd try an edge highlight on the Rubrics, but not on the Night Lords! I think an Ice blue edge on the THousand Sons would add a magical look, and help differentiate them from the colour scheme of the Night Lords. Really good stuff so far! I can't wait to see some of your conversions painted!

[Brother Chaplain Ginn]

Not to give BS guidance but try to Google the Magmatrax turorial and check Brushthralls.com for some easy tips. Stick to your wet pallet as best you can and start writing down your mixes for consistency throughout your project.

 

I seldom do a several layers of the same coat like white or bone. I work from a fortress grey/schorched-beasty brown respectively.

 

Remember thinner is better and your going to start adding a mixing medium, future floor wax, vallejo glaze medium, small drop of liquid soap to act as a tension breaker in the paint mix. I like that your doing a test fig. I would recommend that you play with some of the base coat paints from GW. I think that will help a ton when working over black. The transitions to gold can look iffy so becareful you dont jump right into a shiny gold color. Might want to work over brass or a copper, your choice. Bright gold can look a bit out of place and usually needs a wash to knock it back a bit. That said I prefer metals over NMM.

 

 

Just noticed the Necron abyss so never mind that. One other thing I do when painting metals, even though not NMM i keep a White Dwarf with a masterclass article in it nearby for reference. You pay $7 an issue might as well use it. They are simple and usually well written. Besides that I actuall like the way the cover page font is painted in.

 

Keep going and I recommend a test squad. You know you can paint so go for it. Dont want to spend 8-10 hours on one guy when you can spend 12-14 and have a whole squad. Obviously youll take more time when you move onto the real boys.

[Yogi]

The blending on the 1ksons is looking good, you demon.

 

As for the regular highlights. I think light thin highlights should work.. but there's only one way to know.

 

Anyways good stuff.

[Innus Bade 9]

This army invites fear into the hearts of those faithful to the corpse emperor. Keep up the nasty conversions. I agree with Yogi using thin highlights will look better.

[HellChyld]

hey dan any updates on this its been a little quiet

[Dan The Deamon]

Yeah i've been keeping away from the regular updates i'm used to. I picked up a paintbrush and started screwing around with color schemes, techniques, and pretty much doing what i can to learn everything i can. I havn't been making updates because while it is a WIP thread, you guys don't want to see lame, sloppy painting, while I figure out how to do my models justice. There's enough awesome paint threads on these boards to keep me reading and learning for a long time whitout having to put my own stuff up too much.

Anyways, here's what i have been working on.

Zerk #8 w/ Personal Icon (still unfinished, should be some totems hanging from halbard)

Diversity shot for some giggles.

Paint scheme WIP #1

Paint scheme WIP #2

It's hard to see the highlights in the pictures i'm taking. I want them too look darker than a traditional NL paint scheme. Almost black in the Darker armor areas, but still highlighted with a rich cool blue. I will probably start the squads two at a time here in a little bit. I've been fortunate enough to get some games in at Dallas and thats kept my busy for a couple of weekends.

C+C?

Enjoy!

[Drudge Dreadnought]

That rhino is excellent. I really like the more spectral green highlights.

 

The blue on the marines is looking really good. I need to learn to highlight like that. Care to explain exactly what you are doing?

[Dan The Deamon]

Yeah sure,

 

I can't be much help on the armless marine. He was painted about a week ago and i forgot the order i used the paints. They were however, Necron abyss, regal blue, regal and enchanted blue mix, and some blue wash. I also used Badab black wash in the shadows and recesses. In the picutre you can't really see all the mistakes but he's full of them.

 

The guy with a jump pack is painted using Necron abyss

Wash with asurmen blue

then three stages of highlights

Regal blue watered down with Asurmen

regal blue and enchanted blue 50/50 watered down with asurmen

enchanted watered down with asurmen

enchanted blue.

 

Each highlight gets smaller and smaller and i try to keep them on horizontal areas of trim or armor edges. There's some spots on the armor I find myself having to bypass or else he will end up looking like TRON.

 

The biggest thing i've learned lately is when highlighting the higher your colors go, the less paint you apply, and you also apply it in less places. Seems like a no brainer but it never made sense to me before.

 

The Alpha rhino I LOVE. The depth that the green is taken is great. It was actually painted blue but with a couple of green highlights and heavy washing it really comes together.

[cathar the great]

The green highlights are sweet. I was going to do a similar effect on a Land Raider with red/orange highlights, but after seeing your Rhino, I might just change my mind ^^

 

Your pictures are very dark, though. I think if you took them with better light a lot more of your detailed work would show up.

[Dan The Deamon]

Updates. Did some more highlights and worked on some of the smaller details.

I altered how i take pictures with lighting but i still don't think it worked well. I've got the model surrounded by Truelight bulbs and i'm not using a flash. It might be my Zack Morris age camera...

I think i may be ready to start the squads like this. C+C before i get too deep?