Night Lords 18th Battle Company (Treadhead)

[Hyaenidae]

You know that I'm a huge fan of your work, and that you've helped inspire me to push myself with my MM build...with that said, honesty time. The grey looks very nice, and the gold really compliments it, but the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

[Yogi]

Have to disagree with 1000heahtens. I really like that raptor as is. Edited April 2, 2011 by Yogi

[Quixus]

You know that I'm a huge fan of your work, and that you've helped inspire me to push myself with my MM build...with that said, honesty time. The grey looks very nice, and the gold really compliments it, but the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

I don't dislike the color of the horns, but I think the horns on the helmet are superfluous and detract a bit from the raptor look. While spikes and horns are typical Chaos decorations, Raptors should look more sleek and aerodynamic.

 

Great paintjob though.

 

BTW how will you use the MM Raptor in a game? As a Havoc? Or is it just a moidel for a show case? AFAIK Raptors are not allowed to take Heavy Weapons. Come to think of it CSM don't even have Multimeltas.

[sar mikael]

great painty job on the raptor, really like it. good model too. looking forward to seeing the whole squad.

[Yogi]

You know that I'm a huge fan of your work, and that you've helped inspire me to push myself with my MM build...with that said, honesty time. The grey looks very nice, and the gold really compliments it, but the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

I don't dislike the color of the horns, but I think the horns on the helmet are superfluous and detract a bit from the raptor look. While spikes and horns are typical Chaos decorations, Raptors should look more sleek and aerodynamic.

 

Great paintjob though.

 

BTW how will you use the MM Raptor in a game? As a Havoc? Or is it just a moidel for a show case? AFAIK Raptors are not allowed to take Heavy Weapons. Come to think of it CSM don't even have Multimeltas.

 

 

Flying thru the air with red horns on my head, jumpack on my back, my weapon? Flaming death.

 

Pretty sure thats a "liberated" GK incinerator.. so flamer.

[carnosaur93]

well... i gotta say the "stone" is absolutly amazing. but given the darkness of everything else in the army, i would agree on toning the red down just a tad...

also, that incenerator made me think of something you asked a while ago; make your next army greyknights. think about it, eliteist army, loots of new plastics that you can chop and scale, endless bits everywhere, HUGE contrast. and best of all, you can make a guy like me love the new greyknights that i otherwise so awefully hate

Edited April 2, 2011 by carnosaur93

[Hyaenidae]

Oh, don't get me wrong, red horns are alright. Candy Apple red? It tears the eyes away from such a gorgeous paint scheme...

[Angel Descendant]

I love the granite idea. Evokes the image of raptors blending in as statues on a cathedral to swoop down on unsuspecting enemies.

[GooseDaMoose]

I have to agree with 1000heathens here, the granite armour is painted really well, amazingly realistic and the shock red horns just stick out as unreal and candy-like.

[Wicced]

nice work again dan!

 

the gargoyle style stone colour looks really good, but i must agree the horns are too bright and draw the eyes away from the rest of the fantastic paintjob.

so i'd say, tone them down a little...

[firestorm40k]

What an awesome take on firestorm's Taurus scheme. Love that you chose a stone-esque look.

I agree with Mr Malevolent :) Once again you flatter me Dan :teehee: I like your concept, I can just imagine squads of Raptors painted in granite colours, hunched motionless at the top of an Imperial Cathedral, befoer swooping on the patrol of hapless Guardsmen below... :D

 

Having said that, this model has been a tad controversial...

 

...the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

...i would agree on toning the red down just a tad...

Oh, don't get me wrong, red horns are alright. Candy Apple red? It tears the eyes away from such a gorgeous paint scheme...

...the shock red horns just stick out as unreal and candy-like.

Purely from the point of the effect you're trying to acheive, I must admit I would side on the point being repeated here.

 

A solution, which might work better, could be to paint horned skull on the Shoulder Pad the same way I paint them on my Legionnaires - Shadow Grey, drybrush with Bleached Bone/Blood red, then another dry brush of Bleached Bone, finsihing with a wash of very, very thinned Shadow Grey mixed with Red Gore. It creates a purpley colour, which I adopted as the colour of Tauran, the Bull-headed God that the Legion follows.

 

Personally, I think this colour won't stand too far out from the rest of the model.

 

I don't dislike the color of the horns, but I think the horns on the helmet are superfluous and detract a bit from the raptor look.

Ahh, but this guy was originally from the Legion of Taurus, and the horns are important... ;)

[Dan The Deamon]

1000heathens, Good point on the color, I will admit i wasn't paying a lot of attention to some of the details. I was really aiming for the stone look. I'm going to go back and switch the reds up soon.

Quixus, The horns being forward swept are a chapter decoration from the Legion of Taurus. I'm building the raptor squad around the idea of a cult within the 18th accepting assault troops from different allies to serve within it. The weapon he's armed with will act as a flamer, as there aren't too many cool flamer conversions I can pull off with the regular ones floating around.

Angel Descendant, that theme was exactly what i was aiming for.

This guy isn't exactly done yet, I'm stepping out of my comfort level and trying to make some exhaust burning him into a dive. We'll see how that turns out, he is done on the paint level except for that one foot sole though.

So the feeling of stone color is pretty good? what else do you guys think i can do paint wise to ensure they are viewed this way. Last thing i want is someone asking why they are stone colored, and the idea of gargoyles going completely over their heads.

[AlexCrute]

Quick suggestion: if the stone gargoyle look is what you're after, try to make as many of the details stone coloured as possible. Absolute bare minimum of colour. Chapter markings, metal parts, weapons all painted like stone.

 

Represent that upon joining this cult the marine repaints their armour and wargear entirely in the stone scheme. Only parts that the marine cannot have painted in this way remain conventional colours (eye lenses, plasma coils, jump pack jets, perhaps including bolt pistol clips and the like).

 

If that ends up looking too one-dimensional you might add the underlying colour through paint chips in wear-and-tear places. The necessity of this probably depends on the brightness and depth of the stone effect, they could afford to be paler if they're stone all the way.

[Dan The Deamon]

"Quick suggestion: if the stone gargoyle look is what you're after, try to make as many of the details stone colored as possible."

 

That may be the answer. When i painted my wraiths I painted their armor green and nothing else. The intention was that the armor housed the green tinge, and it wasn't paint. I went the same route with these guys, painting the same parts, with exceptions, but I'm after a different goal.

 

Do you guys think I should keep the chapter shoulder pads in their original colors? That's a big part of it. I'm thinking eye lenses, metal bits, and leather bits will be natural. Stone can be everything else. How would bronze skulls look, instead of the natural bone color?

[carnosaur93]

an idea could be to get hold on some of the oldschool gargoyle-style raptor heads? (from 2nd ed i think) you would only need a few in the squad to get the overall gargoyle-theme through

[AlexCrute]

It seems to me that these marines might actually pose as gargoyles - perching for days on a cathedral in a contested city with their armour powered down, waiting silently for their prey to manouevre their tank column past their position before striking.

 

To do that they need to be 95% gargoyle-coloured*

 

*Which could incorporate aged metal, verdigris, rust, different types of stone - if you get bored of the one grey.

 

Gargoyle heads are a good call - as would be the gargoyle claw-feet, but the theme will work without these.

 

Chapter badge colours are sacrosanct for loyalist chapters (at least all that I have seen, excepting some temporary camo schemes perhaps), but that's not necessarily so for traitors. Nothing is sacred for them except terror and death. Don't be shy about greyscaling legion badges (or painting over them altogether).

[Dan The Deamon]

Went for more stone and added brass and verdigris.

opinions?

[jerryrich]

that last raptor is *DROOL*!!!

[Samurai_Eduh]

Dan, first off, your work is really inspiring. So much so it has prompted me do redo my own Night Lords army that has been collecting dust since 2nd edition. I looked for the answer for this but couldn't find it. What size plasticard are you using for the leg spacers? 1mm? Thanks in advance!

[Dan The Deamon]

The marine helmet in the fist? maybe 5 minutes or so. The flamer on the Taurus marine is a GK incinerator. I cut the fuel tanks of the terminator heavy flamer bit and did some carving to get it to fit on there snugly. I'm happy with the bronze as well.

 

Quick way i did the white.

thinned fortress grey

badaab black

fortress grey

fortress/skull white

skull white.

 

Each successive layer has to leave the layer before it showing. If you thin your paints to the perfect amount they go on smooth, and dry practically after your brush leaves the model.

 

Samurai_Eduh, "What size plasticard are you using for the leg spacers? 1mm?" yes 1mm. I owe a tutorial on my methods soon, but mine aren't too different than most. the trick i found is to use plastic glue for everything, that way when you're carving and filing down the model there's no seams or breaks in contact.

 

Each raptor has been a little different in the stone look and texture. I'm considering making a couple different color stone, but i dunno yet.

 

Thanks for all the wonderful replies. Gotta go fix the last two raptors now.

[Dan The Deamon]

Each successive layer has to leave the layer before it showing. If you thin your paints to the perfect amount they go on smooth, and dry practically after your brush leaves the model.

 

Each raptor has been a little different in the stone look and texture. I'm considering making a couple different color stone, but i dunno yet.

 

Sorry to be a pain here, but can you give me a bit of help and define what the perfect amount of thinning is? I've been trying to get this just right for my own guys, and I want to really get it before I apply it to any of my own Marines. Any tips you and hints you have would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

I usually find that when spreading my paints on a wet pallet two or three submerged brushed do per each brush load of paint you put on your paper. If that's not your style, then try this.

 

Thin a pain, if, when you apply it the paint gums up around the egde of the brush line, or when messed with for a bit, starts to leave dried spots and blemishes, then it's not thin enough.

 

if the paint when applied is affected by gravity, and finds its way into areas not touched by the brush, into cracks, crevices, and dents, willing them up like spilled milk, then it's too much water.

 

There is a zone i really like where you can load your paintbrush and when touched to the model and without any pressure, the thinned paint sort of flows from the bristles through the physical connection to the model onto the spot where it last touched. it feels totally opposite from brushing a model, where the bristles move against the model with pressure, and feels like you're kind of tickling the model with the very edge or side of the brush.

 

It takes practice, and maybe loosing a little sanity in the process.

[Hyaenidae]

I was wondering when you were going to paint the power fist raptor, very nice brother. That subdued brass looks much nicer man, the granite Legion/Chapter symbol really sets the guy off, and makes him look like a true gargoyle. Great idea! I can almost imagine a squad of these guys squatting motionless atop an Imperial Cathedral for weeks on end, then suddenly falling upon their foes at midnight in the middle of a massive rainstorm. Gnarly.

 

the trick i found is to use plastic glue for everything, that way when you're carving and filing down the model there's no seams or breaks in contact.

\

 

Son of a ....That's what I did wrong! Ah well...

[Lexington]

Dan, I don't have anything to add that's not been said by others, but you continue to amaze. That stone look is gorgeous. :lol:

[Loken86]

AWESOME job on the raptors love that that last one the chapter symbol in the same stone colour really works great

 

well done brother

[Rogan]

Dan, your force here really is top notch, and, as I said before, I love your Abaddon (paint 'em! Right now! This instant!).

I'm sorry if you "have" to answer the same questions over and over again, but where did you get these AL shoulder pads? They look so familiar, but I can't remember where I saw them before.

 

Keep up the great work :-)

 

/e: stupid me! Found them on the GW site just a second after I completed the comment. Why weren't they in the bits section just like the other stuff?

Edited April 17, 2011 by Rogan