Black Templar pics

[Redhat88]

Greetings Brothers,

As a long time lurker on this forum I finally decided it was time for me to contribute something. So I've decided to post a few images of some of my crusade's armor. C&C is always welcome. Enjoy! (I hope haha)

Predator 'Exitus Acta Probat'

Rhino 'Sons of Dorn'

Lasback 'Templars'

Vindicator 'Insert-fluff-name-here'

Brother Dreadnought Duncan

[Firepower]

Mmmm armor, yummy. Nicely done across the board bud. The abundance and smoothness of the white details helps a great deal. Very crisp and clean overall.

 

My only nit-pick is the lack of highlights on the black. The details help the tanks and dread stand out well enough, but a few dark gray lines could make 'em shine ;) Still, I know just how tedious that can be, so no disciplinary paddlin' is due....this time :P

[Focke]

Very nice. I like the use of the white. You don't see white on vehicles all that often anymore.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

Very neat, very smooth. Very nice.

 

Did you paint from a black spray paint base?

 

Your white looks very smooth and bright ~ I am keen to know how you did it as I am not happy with mine.

 

I agree with Firepower about the black not getting any edging ~ it would look even better with it.

 

The white cross on the Rhino, this was freehand?

 

Very good, thank you for sharing ;)

[Wulff]

I'd be proud to push these or fight along side of them..

 

Great job!!!

 

Shading and edging and all that other fluff, i have learned over the years, ends up getting applyed by hand sweat and lots of gaming LOL.. for a working stiffs army these are great.. and my templar beleive in keeping their bolters clean and they rides cleaner!!

 

Wulff

[Redhat88]

Thank you for the kind words brothers.

 

In response to your questions:

 

1.) All models where based with the standard GW Chaos Black primer, the only exception to this being the side rhino/razorback doors and the top hatches on the turrets. These I painted with a layer of Citadel Foundation Astronomican grey, and followed that up with multiple layers of a very watered down skull white. The first two of those layers I basically just let pool where it would, while after they dried the next few I made sure to spread evenly around. You can't really tell in the images, but by doing this it gave the edges on the white pieces a slightly grey highlight as the base astronomican grey color was allowed to come through a bit

 

2.) The white cross on the Rhino was freehanded. I cut out a cross from paper, traced it onto the model with a pencil, and then proceeded to fill it in with layers of skull white. To sharpen the edges / points I grabbed the smallest brush I had and straightened everything out with chaos black.

 

3.) Yeeeeeaaaah.... I need to highlight the black. I've never done it before though so I was a bit hesitant to dive right into it. I plan on going back after the rest of the army is painted up and trying my hand at it.

 

 

Anyways, More pictures to come soon.

[ZombyWoof]

Excellent work! Very clean.

[Firepower]

For highlighting your armor, there was a tutorial with an interesting method which has since, sadly, been devoured by the inter-warp. In short, you can use a colored pencil (some shade of gray, obviously) and gently drag the side along the edges at an angle. You can only do one side at a time, or else be very careful as touching the line will smudge and ruin the effect. Varnish has to be used quickly afterward to seal it to the paint.

 

It works much simpler than a paintbrush, and can go much faster (not counting time spent waiting for varnish to dry). However, I've never tried it myself, and Im not sure what pencil brand/density would work best for this, but it might be something worth trying on a black-primed test vehicle.

 

Unfortunately, the technique is completely dependent upon the fact that hard-lining tanks involved nothing but strait right angles, so it's not a viable method for highlighting our troops :blink: .

[Redhat88]

So, I've finally finished up 10 Black Templar Crusaders. These troops will form the backbone of my 2 crusader squads. I just need to finish up the sword brethren models I have (who will be added to the squads to give them some flare) and then base the neophytes and I should be good to go.

But anywho... pictures! Enjoy. C&C more than welcome.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

Nice and neat, again ;)

 

I see why you haven't edged you tanks ~ you haven't edged your Marines ^_^

 

For edging, I have three sizes of brushed. Remember that the more 0s means smaller.

 

1] 000 or fine detail brush

2] 5/0 or 00000

3] 20/0

 

I follow what C:BT says.

 

1] Codex grey:Chaos black 1:1 [i usually use Adeptus battlegrey instead, as it is the same colour or near enough, imo]

2] Codex grey

3] Fortress grey

 

I also wear x3 magnifying glasses and paint to a 100w light. It improves my accuracy, though you have that more than covered :P

 

+++

 

Your whites need depth.

I don't know how to do that.

I usually paint from CB -> CG -> FG -> SW [though mine is not as smooth as I'd hoped].

Have you built yours up and left a trace of the previous layer?

 

+++

 

I like painting the side of the base in Graveyard Earth. It is a nice brown as it is not too brown and not too grey. I think leaving the base edge in black is too much like the Black Armour, and so there is not enough distinction between the base and the mini.

 

What do others think about base painting?

[Redhat88]

Thanks for the comments Wilhelm

 

The bases are actually brown in color (which is apparently very hard to tell in those pictures.. I guess my poor old digital camera wasn't up to the task) for the same reasons you mentioned. Having them as some color other than black helps the figures stand out. I might go back and use a lighter brown though... this one might be too dark

 

And yeah, I completely agree about the whites... I'd LOVE to find a way to give them more depth (Though I did notice that the pictures seemed to wash out the whites a bit). I'm going to try basing the helms with a white spray paint primer next time (though lightly) and then do a few passes with skull white over that. Since the skull white I use is super watered down that might allow some of the gray from the model to show through on the edges.

 

As for the highlighting black... yeah guilty as charged. My over all plan is to paint up the entire force and then go back and try my hand at highlighting. It's just soooo tedious of a process that I can't bring myself to do it when I know there are other models to be painted.

 

 

My next set of pictures will be of my neophytes. I tried a very unorthadox paint scheme with them and am interested in hearing your guys comments. Just have to finish up the basing on them and I'll post the pictures.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

Thanks for the comments Wilhelm

 

The bases are actually brown in color (which is apparently very hard to tell in those pictures.. I guess my poor old digital camera wasn't up to the task) for the same reasons you mentioned. Having them as some color other than black helps the figures stand out. I might go back and use a lighter brown though... this one might be too dark

 

And yeah, I completely agree about the whites... I'd LOVE to find a way to give them more depth (Though I did notice that the pictures seemed to wash out the whites a bit). I'm going to try basing the helms with a white spray paint primer next time (though lightly) and then do a few passes with skull white over that. Since the skull white I use is super watered down that might allow some of the gray from the model to show through on the edges.

 

Now you have pointed it out, I can see the brown trimming the bases.

 

I think if I saw them in the flesh, the white and the brown would be more detailed/apparent, etc.

 

I gave my Neos Codex grey cloth, which had been washed Devlan mud and then painted CG again, but avoiding the folds and shadows.

I like it ^_^

 

I kept away from the usual scout beige cloth as this trod on the toes of the hoods, robes and tabards I have painted.

For me I want the n00bs to look different from the pros.

[Redhat88]

Now you have pointed it out, I can see the brown trimming the bases.

 

I think if I saw them in the flesh, the white and the brown would be more detailed/apparent, etc.

 

I gave my Neos Codex grey cloth, which had been washed Devlan mud and then painted CG again, but avoiding the folds and shadows.

I like it :yes:

 

I kept away from the usual scout beige cloth as this trod on the toes of the hoods, robes and tabards I have painted.

For me I want the n00bs to look different from the pros.

 

 

Heh.. let's just say that I tried to sort of inverse the color schemes for my neophytes. I figured it should be an 'honor' to wear the black and they hadn't earned it yet.... So um... lots of white haha. But, you guys will have to wait until monday to see the images

[Redhat88]

So, I finally got one of the neophytes to a point where I don't feel too bad about posting it up here. There are a few more details / touchups that I need to take care of on him, but color scheme wise he's done. What do you guys think?

I wanted to go all out and really make the neophytes different from a full blown Templar, but I'm up in the air on this one. Thoughts?

[Firepower]

Wow, that's really white :rolleyes: . Not a bad thing mind you, but the lack of shadows becomes a bit more glaring with that much surface area. I would recommend becoming very close friends with GW's washes: one (probably two) liberal coats of black or one of sepia will add some simple shading (depending on whether you want plain white or a worn, dirty white), just follow up with another fresh coat or two of pure (watered down) white on the raised edges. A coat of sepia would also help add some depth to the faces. As always, it's probably best to try this on a couple of test models and get a feel for it before you risk mucking up one of those beauties.

 

The color scheme itself is solid at any rate. It's always fun to see someone try a new spin on our limited (kickass, but limited) range of fluff approved colors. Excellent freehand, too!

[Redhat88]

Hmmm... yeah the downside of that much white is that it definitely lacks any sort of depth.

 

I thought about giving them a wash of some kind but I was doubtful that it would solve the issue. The scout models have very little dimensionality to them (in terms of their armor), that and the craptastic poses that they are limited to makes them one of my least favorite models to work with.

 

Still... it's worth a try I guess.

 

So overall, are you guys in favor of the color scheme on him? Or do you think it's not 'BT' enough?

[Sn4k30r]

Hm... i think it has too much white on him i can match him as apothecary! :P

 

+ White doesnt stack at scouts ideology....(hide....cover.....WHite? :lol: )

 

I would like him more black! BACK IN BLACK!

 

+1 tip if you use so much white make highlights!!! a lot! that will made him 3D! :)

[Firepower]

+ White doesnt stack at scouts ideology....(hide....cover.....WHite? :D )

 

Our scouts dont actually "scout" anything. They're right in the mess with the big boys, choppin' faces and taking names (and bullets to the face).

[Redhat88]

yeah, if they were actually 'scouts' instead of glorified meat shields with a strong desire to punch things in the face, I would be all about making them stealthy, but since they are running around with the Marines anyways I figured there wasn't much of a point to that.

 

The main thing I was going for was a strong contrast between the neophytes / initiates while still feeling like they belonged together.

 

Anyone else have any other suggestions?

[Razblood]

If you only want to shade the white lightly then thin down some spacewolf/fenris grey, add a small amount of white to it and line it into the recesses of the the armour.

 

Alternately if you want strong lines then just basecoat black and layer on grey followed by white leaving the recesses black.

 

Having an entire white armoured army I've had experience :D

[Marshal Laeroth]

Wow, that's really white :lol: . Not a bad thing mind you, but the lack of shadows becomes a bit more glaring with that much surface area. I would recommend becoming very close friends with GW's washes: one (probably two) liberal coats of black or one of sepia will add some simple shading (depending on whether you want plain white or a worn, dirty white), just follow up with another fresh coat or two of pure (watered down) white on the raised edges. A coat of sepia would also help add some depth to the faces. As always, it's probably best to try this on a couple of test models and get a feel for it before you risk mucking up one of those beauties.

 

The color scheme itself is solid at any rate. It's always fun to see someone try a new spin on our limited (kickass, but limited) range of fluff approved colors. Excellent freehand, too!

 

My suggestions are the same as Firepower's. :P

[Sn4k30r]

i usually prefer more black than white (as templars do...) but in your army theme( i see more red and white) so its ok as they are...

 

Maybe shade some areas, and highlights with light grey... makes them more "aggresive".. :devil:

[Redhat88]

So... I finally got around to finishing up my Emperor's Champion. I also decide to try my hand at highlighting as well as some more difficult freehand (pattern on the tabard / energy on the sword so there are a lot of firsts on this model for me).

I'm not really pleased with the cross on the shoulder or how the sword turned out, so they may get redone, but I think the rest turned out well. Please let me know what you guys think.

(Side note: I noticed now after looking at the pictures that some of the green flock has gotten onto the model... gotta scrape that off ;) )

[Sn4k30r]

Nice model mAn!

 

2 tips that may help you!

 

1) wash with black the shining gold areas (sword area,head)... this will make it more shady, and gives more detail to your model.

 

the cross is ok as i see from this corner of the picture.

 

2) Maybe add some white highlight to the blue lighting at sword that will make it more "power" weapon ++ more pozer! :D :P

[Firepower]

Another solid piece, and it's good to see you expanding your horizons with some new tricks! The cross is fine- it takes a LOT of practice to get a real hang for those pointy tips and symmetry. Plus, you need to be careful in cleaning it up: the white already looks dangerously thick, and adding more to try and trim the lines of solid black might just make thigns too clumpy to freehand over. i used to make some marines which had just a simple green freehand symbol on white shoulder plates, and i ran into this problem more times than i care to remember.

 

Other freehand stuff like the tabard on his back and the border of his loin cloth in particular are top notch. Excellent work on highlighting the off-white side of his loin cloth as well. If you want the colors to blend in together a bit more, a wash or two might work. I would use either gryphonne sepia or the second brightest shade of paint used on the cloth watered down to a wash (like 20:1 water:paint ratio). This isn't really necessary though, as now it already has a nice 'stylized' appearance.

 

The gold is a bit messy though. It's a real pain of a color to master, and I still haven't quite wrangled it in myself to be perfectly frank. There are many methods to doing it, two simpler versions being:

 

1-Base the area in a deep brown (like bubonic), then paint almost completely silver. Highlight once or twice with brighter silver if you so choose. Wash in Gryphonne Sepia to give it a gold hue, and let dry. Repeat the wash as many times as you see fit to get a nice hue, and feel free to use real gold paint (or sometimes mithril silver) to add another final highlight.

 

2-The old fashioned (pre wash :ermm: ) method is to again, base dark brown, and work your way up with thin layers of gold paint from darkest to lightest. Mithril silver again, sometimes mixed with Burnished gold, works as a highlight to give it a real clean shine. Depends on how dark you want the color to look in the end.