Black Templar pics

[BigDunc]

I would like to see the majority of your time and effort spent on the the honorably-named dreadnaught, Duncan. :)

[Redhat88]

Heh... no hidden agenda there now is there Bigdunc.

 

I've actually thought about going back to him and trying my first vehicle highlights, but I think I'll finish up the infantry for now. Need to tweak the neophytes some more, and try my hand at highlighting terminator armor.

 

Speaking of Terminators.... those will be the next batch of pics.

 

Any other thoughts on the EC?

[Redfinger]

You know that is some really great work on the tanks....might I make a suggestion;

 

I noticed that there is some ghosting around your decals. This is caused by the lip or edge that the decal creates when it is placed on a model surface. There is 2 ways you can fix it, if you have access to an airbrush, simply load some undiluted Future Floor Polish in the cup, and spray about 3-4 med coats over the decal, allowing 3-5min between each coat. Then after the future has dried for 24hours, hit the area w/ Testor's Dull Coat. What this process does is build up a layer around the decal, eliminating the lip of edge, it make it look as if the decal has be painted on.

 

If you don't have a airbrush, you can use a brush dipped in future and simply brush a few coast on, however because the coats will be thicker, you will need to wait in between coats, possibly up to an hour, but you will probably only need 2 coats. A word of caution with this, make sure and "paint" the future to the nearest edge, other wise it will look like you have a blob of something sitting in the middle of your model.

 

Otherwise, great work!

 

Ashton

[Crynn]

LOL that was the first thing I noticed, Duncan the Dreadnaught, sounds like some SM cartoon story. I hope Duncans wrath is felt by many foolish enough to cross paths with him.

[Redhat88]

Well.. due to way to much going on lately it took a bit longer than expected to finish up the Terminator, but better late than never I suppose. This is the second model that I've highlighted so I'm definitely looking for comments on that. I plan to hopefully finish the remaining four terminators before the end of the week so there will be more to come. As always, C&C is welcome

And Redfinger, thanks for the tips on the decals... I tried to trim them super tight to the actual decal and then paint black over the little bit of clear edge that remains in order to avoid that problem, but it didn't solve it completely. Once the army is finished up I'll probably try out your tip.

As for the dreadnoughts, I thought about naming the second one 'Donuts'... figured it would go well with 'Duncan' ;)

But ah... Ducan actually came from one of the characters in Bioware's RPG Dragon Age (great game).

Oh... and speaking of Duncan, I just noticed that I forgot to paint the skull on his engine plate, need to get on that >.<

[Firepower]

Very nice work on highlighting this big guy. The lines are solid but subtle. I generally go for a brighter shade of gray but there are many perfectly fine ways to paint black armor. The one thing I'm going to harp on you for, as I have in the past, is that white helmet :P . Up close it does actually look like you tried a very light wash of a blue-gray color, but it's so subtle and that white is still so glowingly pure that it flushes out all the detail on the terminator mask. It could benefit greatly from a black or sepia wash.

 

The same could be said for the skull and bones on his right shoulder. The color is fine but the skull has no depth, and especially with bone sepia is a miracle worker: one wash and a quick touch up should do it. Best part, it works great with reds too, so you could let it spill over onto the cross underneath and it wouldn't hurt a thing.

 

Otherwise, everything is aces...or at least ace-minus ;) Can't go giving away a top grade too quick or you'll have nothing to strive for, after all.

[Redhat88]

Yeah... I messed up on the skull on his shoulder pad, the paint was too thick and I lost a lot of detail on the piece. Later on tonight I might try a black wash on the helm, but I'm a little worried that it's just going to make it feel dirty as opposed to bringing out details. Worth a shot I guess haha

 

As for the highlights... they where originally much thicker, but I didn't like the use of such a heavy line, it seemed to draw too much attention. So I took some chaos black and made them a bit thinner. I might end up trying some other ways down the road as I'm still not 100% behind the way the highlights look

 

Thanks for the compliments / suggestions Firepower

[The Normish]

Washes are actually surprisingly easy. Even if you get it all over the model, it'll sink into the recesses and dry out. I did it with my TDA Chaplain, and he looks far better now than when his helmet was just plain white. Otherwise, I love the neatness of the models (and the Emperor's Champion too, I got one of them to convert into a Captain).

700th post too, next milestone is 1000.

[Firepower]

Hehe grats, i just broke 300 *flex*. Anywho, yeah, washes are very forgiving. If you're really worried you'd be best off following the time honored tradition of "the test model." If you wanna try it out AND get some practice in, just prime a whole model white and go to town, see how much is too much, how best to repaint white over it, etc.

 

As for your highlighting, if you like you could try my (and many other people's, to be honest) method. The first highlight is wider and a roughly 50:50 mix of black and codex gray, and the second highlight is thinner and pure codex. It adds a nice gradient effect (assuming you don't apply the second highlight too thickly-water is your friend) and you can always clean up the wider margins of the first color to suit your tastes afterwards, as you have already learned.

[Redhat88]

Man... sometimes live just swallows you whole... but anywho...

Sorry for my lack of updates Brothers, but don't think that I haven't been working haha. I just finished the Assault Terminator Squad. So far, these guys are probably my best all around models yet. I was really hoping to get them to a level beyond 'Table Top' quality and I'd like to know what you all think. As always, Comments / Critiques are more than welcome. Enjoy!

[Mac_Atk]

fantastic clean work on the blacks! Maybe your camera is masking the work on the white heads, but they don't have that finished look like the remainder of the model, being the brightest part of the model, you may want to revisit. I've found the GW washes too agressive for the pure whites, you may try your own mix of like a 50:1 water to bleached bone and retouch the very edges with pure skull white like you've done on the blacks with the grey.

[Arcturius]

Water down your Fprtress gray to a wash consistency and wash the heads.

[Redhat88]

Hmm interesting suggestions Mac Aatk / Arcturius. Could either of you provide a link to an image of a model painted / washed the way you are suggesting? I'd like to take a look at the results before proceeding further.

[Kassill]

So, wait...how did you paint your white? I like it, it has very stark, non gloppy look to it that I like. Your entire force looks good aswell!

[Arcturius]

Heres my Terminator model...the gray is Adeptus battlegray but its basically the same color as FG.

 

http://coolminiornot.com/259231

 

p.s. dont use foundations for washes...screwed up pigment >.<

[Redhat88]

Hmm... maybe a very light wash of grey just along the recesses of the helm would work, but outside of that I'd like to avoid giving up the stark 'whiteness' of the helm. The example you posted, while interesting, seems to dilute the overall intensity of it which is something I'd like to avoid simply due to a lack of color anywhere else on the models.

 

If there are any other examples out there I would be supremely interested in seeing them. My Search-Fu has failed me so far.

 

 

As for your question Kassill:

- The helms of the terminators started off with a slightly watered down coat of Citadel Foundation Astronomican grey (I did them before I started priming all white parts with GW Skull White primer).

 

- After that, I took my very watered down pot of Skull white (Think somewhere along the lines of not watered down enough to be a wash... but watered down enough that if you don't shake the pot before hand you aren't going to get much pigment on your brush) and did 2 or three coats of white (wait for each one to dry, which takes a little bit of time so it's best to do this as a batch process and depending on the state of your skull white you may need to do a fewer/greater number of coats).

 

- Next came the details on the helm (eyes, grill, etc)

 

- After that was a very light blue wash (I took hawk turquoise blue and watered it down a lot) along the recesses / edges of the helm, but not onto the flat white parts

 

- This was followed up with an extremely watered down chaos black coat over the entire helm.

 

- And lastly a white touch up run to get rid of the smears of black on areas that I didn't want (which from the images stand point I over did due to the lack of the chaos black wash showing)

 

 

Anywho, that's it for now. I'll try to have some more images up this weekend

[Hialmar]

First of all, I have to say your blacks and whites are some of the cleanest I have seen and you obviously are thinning the paints down just about perfectly, especially on the white.

 

Secondly, only edge the models if it is a look you like. I know that the current rage is to give the cartoony edge look to everything but to me black has never looked right when done that way and is not needed if you can get as smooth a paint job as you have accomplished here. If you are going to edge the black areas of your models you should try and be as subtle as possible and do not get too carried away with lighter greys. In my opinion Badab Black was can be used to tone down any edging/highlighting that goes on too heavy and can also help blend the edges in a little more naturally.

 

Your whites are remarkably clean and on the scouts neophytes especially remind me strongly of the storm troopers from the Star Wars franchise. I love the look of them as they are different from the usual and give your army a very unique flavor. As was pointed out earlier, as our "scouts" do not technically scout anything, there is no reason why they should not be in white armor. I would be remiss in not pointing out that in fact most, but not all Chapters of Space Marines, even their scouts, are not given to slinking about in cover in various dark colors and camo and being spotted seems to generally be something they are not concerned with.

 

On both black and white, but especially the whites, a light wash of Asurmen Blue followed by a wash Badab Black can help bring out the details very nicely and once they have dried you can reapply your white to the highlighted areas leaving the washes visible in the recesses of the models. The best way to try any technique that people suggest is on a test model so you can see what is estetically pleasing to you, as ultimately what matters is what you like the look of.

 

Also really like the rich red color you have achieved on the back banner on the terminator in these last few pics. I actually prefer that red to the red you have used on the Templar Crosses and if both were the same color I think it would work a little better as right now the splashes of bright red on the shoulders tends to take the eyes focus to those areas, instead of on the bulk of the model.

 

Keep up the excellent work, I look forward to seeing more of your models on here.

[marine77]

A quicky way to make these models really pop would be to put a bit of wash on the heads and re-highlight them white. I would use GW devlan mud as it goes really well with the white. Also you could add one more lighter grey highlight on the armor. That would make the models look sweet!

[Redhat88]

Thank you for the comments/ suggestions Hialmar/Marine.

 

I should hopefully be getting my hands on some actual washes tomorrow (and not just the super watered down normal paints I've been using). I'd like to avoid the sort of 'sloppy' feel that comes with washing a bright white like that most of the time, so I don't know how far I'm going to go there, but I do plan on testing it out to see what happens.

 

However, that will have to wait for a little bit. I'm currently about 85% done with the Landspeeder I've been slaving over the past week. Once I get it finished I'll be sure to post some images to see what you guys think. Right now I'm really pleased with how it's turning out.

[Initiate of the Templar]

First of all I must say that I love the incredible contrast that the white helmets provide, wash 'em or don't it's up to you but I think they look awesome.

 

 

As for the dreadnoughts, I thought about naming the second one 'Donuts'... figured it would go well with 'Duncan' :(

 

You should name him Donut and paint part of him pink! Like Donut from RedvsBlue!

[chaplain belisarius]

wow! very nice templars..:)

[Redhat88]

Well.... I finally managed to finish my Landspeeder Brothers. I have no idea why it took so long to paint, but such is life I guess. This is the first vehicle that I've hightlighted and overall I'd probably rank it as my favorite among the Armor that I've painted. I really pleased with how the pilot / gunner / weapons turned out. It was actually a lot of fun to paint so much red power armor (especially when all I've really done is black).

This was my first time using actual GW washes as well, and I have to say that I love them... they go on much smoother than my old method of super watered down paint.

Anyways, please critique it all you like, I really interested in hearing what you guys have to offer as it has definitely improved my overall painting skills. Also.... when it comes to landspeeders... what is the general consensus on the clear base? Should I do something with it? Or leave it as is?

[Ray_K]

NICELY done :)

[Firepower]

Another winner. The blacklining on the fins is well done, the red armor is very clean, subtle black highlights as always, and the metal isn't too shiny. The one thing I'm not sure on is that the turbo jets look a bit clean, but in light of everything else it doesn't particularly matter.

 

Keep it up!.

[Redhat88]

Thank you for the comments Ray / Firepower.

 

As for the engines, yeah, I think I agree with you Firepower... they are probably a little too clean. I'll go back and give them a wash / drybrush of burnt metal / gold to muck them up a bit. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Any thoughts on the base? Should it remain clear or should I try to do something with it? Also... when you guys put together the stand for the speeder, do you generally use the shorter clear rod or the longer one? I guess the advantage / disadvantage would be more LOS for shooting but less of a chance to hide the speeder behind cover?