Angels, Wolves & Xenos - Swarmlord - Carapace Markings

[Bryan Blaire]

....bryan, if i ever decide i want a small space wolves force, im getting you to paint it for me. that's just too gorgeous of a paint job.

Thanks, dusk! I've liked working on the Wolves, but of course, my hobby ADD is getting the better of me now that my wife has gotten me the Deathstorm box. I've been eye-balling the Angels Encarmine for a while now, and since I have just the right paints for the base color, I think I'm going to get some of those done as well. I'll probably be rolling back and forth between them and the Wolves for a bit.

Gorgeous Wolf, bro.

Thanks MagicMan! I don't comment on everyone else's fantastic work near as much as I should, so I appreciate you taking the time to say that.

So...

In the 6 minutes before the new year rolled over last night, I managed to get the Wolf Guard Pack Leader for this squad of Bloodclaws as far as I'm taking him for the time being (which may be a little farther if I can get a couple of suggestions or agreement):

So, there are definitely a couple of things left to do:

- the wolf pelt's claws need to be touched up (I think some of the paint rubbed off on some of the claws) - as does some of the lightest grey down near the claws

- I don't really like the thickness of the highlight above the breathing grill

- there's no backpack topper or power weapon effect on his blade

I like the armor color, mixing a big batch to keep consistency across my models will hopefully help a lot (and I have like 30 mL of it mixed too - so it should go a long way). The gold turned out well, I tried doing two things for this guy: I added some spot highlighting of Auric Armor Gold to it at the very end, and also added full edging with a plain metallic/iridescent medium (no color added) on forte's suggestion. I also like how the Wolf Guard pack marking turned out, but now I have the conundrum of "Do all my WGPLs come from the same pack, or should I take the opportunity to make up some new markings?" I also really like the way the wolf pelt turned out, but I didn't go broad enough with the dark grey in the center, it should have continued out more. I'm hoping to do a little different pelt coloration each time I do a Wolf with fur on it, so I've got a chance to improve some.

The power weapon part is where I'd like to hear some options, because I've run them around in my head, and I'm not really sure what I want to go with. The model is already pretty blue, so I've almost dismissed blue or blue-green/teal/turquoise power effects out of hand. I know they are pretty common, and would likely be easier to do, but I'm not sure the effect would really be what I want to go for on the model and I don't think it would stand out that much. I do red power weapon effects on my Stoneburners, and I think they can look pretty decent, but I was thinking of doing something a little different this time around. I don't think green power effects would do that well against the blue, but I'd probably be surprised, however, I was planning on trying my hand at some green power weapon effects on my Angels Encarmine models (since it should contrast well with the deep red I'll be using). That leaves me thinking about yellow power weapon effects (which I'm not sure I'd want to propagate across all of my models, and reminds me of yellow snow for some odd reason) and my wife's suggestion of "Why not try and do an icy blue-white effect on them?" which would actually match the "ice powers" vibe that GW has gone all out with this Codex.

So I'd actually like to hear some thoughts. Merits of different power field effect colors for the sword?

Options:

1. Blue

2. Blue-green/turquoise

3. Red

4. Green

5. Yellow

6. Attempt at icy blue-white

Also, does he need a backpack topper, or is he ornate enough as he is? He's probably the Wolf-iest of what is going to appear on this squad (I'm going with the idea that the Bloodclaws, while less restrained, are also the most likely to have the newest suits of armor without as many totems, etc., dangling from it... they add those as time goes on - so hopefully more bare heads in this squad, more plain armor) so I'm wondering if he's "good enough" or does he need an additional icon?

[Abdaziel Magron]

Really liking the colour scheme on your Extinction Angels. Can't wait to see more of those Reapers!

[Bryan Blaire]

Really liking the colour scheme on your Extinction Angels. Can't wait to see more of those Reapers!

Thanks Abdaziel! The Reapers may wait a bit before I can get back to them though, glad you liked 'im. I'm still considering whether I'm Marking them all, and if so, if they will all have the same Mark, or different Marks...

But for 2015, my first project is to get the contents of Deathstorm painted up. Luckily my wife agreed that it was lame that you got plain Terminators in the box when they had just released a new Teminator kit, so I was able to get one of those as well and put together this guy as the start of my Sgt Alphaeus stand-in for my Angels Encarmine:

Here was where he started, with several layers of Deep Carmine paint (always thought it silly that GW flipped the base color of something named "Angels Encarmine" to vermilion and the "Angels Vermilion" to carmine).

The wings were removed from the butt plate with the intent that I'm going to free-hand on some of the Encarmine bat wings instead, and each hip plate will also be getting a bat wing behind the leading edge blood drop. Since the Chapter symbol isn't colored that originally, the gems will simply be blood red drops, while all those not associated with bat wings may or may not take on other colors (haven't decided on that one yet).

Here he is in 360 turn glory as he stands right now:

The gem in the Crux is definitely going to be green, and I'm thinking of doing the flesh in a bit more pallid tone to reflect the more sinister side of the Blood Angels gene line. I'm hoping to be good enough to leave some pale blue tone to the skin and maybe some veins showing underneath, but that may be a bit too ambitious.

Comments and criticism (and suggestions) always appreciated (even if I'm really slow in responding)!

Edited January 10, 2015 by Bryan Blaire

[deathspectersgt7]

Like the Red if you are interested I will have some spare Decals from the FW BA transfer sheet . I will have more than enough Angel Encarmine Transfers.

[Bryan Blaire]

Like the Red if you are interested I will have some spare Decals from the FW BA transfer sheet . I will have more than enough Angel Encarmine Transfers.

Thanks DSS7! I've never really been all that good with transfers, so we'll see how annoyed I get with the free-hand and then I may hit you up. :)

Edited January 10, 2015 by Bryan Blaire

[Bryan Blaire]

So finally got some time to work on "Sgt Alphaeus"'s head (that guy really needs to get his own name), and while I don't think the vein thing turned out at all, I think I did achieve a little bit of blue undertone.

I think that "Sgt Alphaeus" may be just a hair's breadth away from falling completely to the Red Thirst and Black Rage at the same time and going totally Space Vampire berserk. I wanted the more pallid tone, but the eye turned out way more red than I really intended it to (although it isn't quite that vibrant in person). I think aside from him and "Captain Karlaen" I will stick to my regular policy of "avoid helmet-less Marines as much as possible), but this gave me a challenge to try and realize an image I had in my head, and I think that it turned out pretty close and relatively well.

This was my first time painting blond hair, and while it was pretty step intensive (I think I did eight different paint color steps and two shades), I really like how it turned out. Also, because hair color is so variable, I don't even have to worry about trying to achieve the same mix for "Captain Karlaen".

Pretty much the only thing left is to do the bionic eye gem and the highlights for the metal and the head should be ready to roll. :devil:

Hope you like, and C&C is appreciated, as always.

[Bryan Blaire]

So I haven't been totally idle, here's some proof:

The grey is actually paint flaking off the plastic, so that will have to be remedied with some edge highlighting and possibly some battle damage, but other than that, only a couple of details on the main body to finish up (gem and skull on the dangling ropes), then it's on to the arms (sword and storm bolter) and pauldrons! Final step will be highlighting across the whole model, and working up a basing scheme.

[deathspectersgt7]

Coming along very nicely. Nice freehand to boot. 

[Grizzly_bear]

Very nice bro

[Bryan Blaire]

Coming along very nicely. Nice freehand to boot.

Very nice bro

Thanks guys!

Well, due to some work that took me away from my painting materials for the last few months, unfortunately I haven't gotten that much work done, but here's where the Angels Encarmine sergeant has gotten to in the last two days:

Sadly, that may be as far as he's going to get for a little while, but he will get finished! He still needs all the detail work and highlighting done across the model for the most part. But hey, it's progress and I definitely want to break my "model every half-year" completion rate, so here's hoping this guy will provide some extra prompting.

Edit: Jeez, I just realized how much darker he looks without the extra lamps lighting the front of the model.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Bryan Blaire

[Doghouse]

That is seriously nice work. :tu:

[Bryan Blaire]

That is seriously nice work. :tu:

Thanks Doghouse! Anything in particular you like and anything that's crying for some attention?

[Brother Desultor]

These are all amazing and beautifully painted miniatures. If I had to pick something that stands out the most, it would be the dark grey colour for your Space Wolves. Like many others, I dislike the default GW "baby blue" colour - a colour description which could not be further from the feral nature of the Wolves - and feel that the darker grey is more appropriate for them.

 

Would you be willing to share your colour secret?

 

Cheers

[Bryan Blaire]

Would you be willing to share your colour secret?

Definitely, Brother Ophamion, I'd be nothing without the help of folks here and elsewhere, the least I can do is pay that forward and it's definitely not a secret!

 

The base color is a 1:1 mix of The Fang:Eshin Grey, edge highlighted with The Fang, then progressed up with a smaller edge highlight with Dawnstone, and a final spot edge highlight with Administratum Grey.

 

I used a 36 ml bottle to mix a full pot of The Fang with a full pot of Eshin Grey, adding in maybe 1-2 ml of W&N Flow Improver into each pot and shaking it up to get a good flowing mix (be careful, some of the paint may come out of the edges while shaking). Then I just poured the two paints together into the new bottle and shook that mixture up, and I add a drop or two of flow improver each month to keep it good and liquid because I'm not using it right now.

[Brother Desultor]

A very thorough recipe description - many thanks.

 

And I agree with you about this site. I have taken so much inspiration from here - and I'm long overdue to return the favour. Hopefully this darker grey will encourage me to do so.

 

Thanks again

[Bryan Blaire]

So finally got some of the painting groove back and finished (well, aside from the text on the scrolls) my Angels Encarmine Terminator Sgt (still nameless). Please excuse the potentially lower quality photos, had to use a different camera to take images and have a single lamp right now and no background.

Some parts I'm particularly proud of:

Blade on the sword is done in a silver gradient, with a green glazed power field over most of the blade, with a power field effect painted in white, then glazed over, then re-highlighted with a white power effect (really hope this comes out well - you can see more of the metallic shine in the full character photo):

Small tilting shield with the background done in "red gold" (gold painted and shaded as normal, with highlights, then glazed with two/three layers of Bloodletter glaze):

Pauldron with the black background, red blood drop and Chapter symbol wings done in yellow, shaded and highlighted, green honor wreath and gold gem holder:

My first attempt at a stone Crux Terminatus (cracks aren't the best):

[Candleshoes]

Bryan, that is one fantastic looking model - your skin tone for the vampire look hits this out of the park.

 

Phenomenal stuff as always.

[Bryan Blaire]

Bryan, that is one fantastic looking model - your skin tone for the vampire look hits this out of the park.

 

Phenomenal stuff as always.

Geez, thanks Candleshoes, that's high praise coming from you!

[Brother Dallo]

That's one great looking Angel Encarmine! Any tips for free handing the chapter symbol. I tried kit bashing a shoulder pad by combining vampire counts wing bitz with a blood drop, but it turned out too clunky.

 

Looking forward to seeing him get some friends.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Bryan Blaire]

That's one great looking Angel Encarmine! ... I tried kit bashing a shoulder pad by combining vampire counts wing bitz with a blood drop, but it turned out too clunky.

 

Looking forward to seeing him get some friends.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

Thanks Dallo! I'm actually assembling some compatriots immediately after I post. :)

 

Any tips for free handing the chapter symbol.

The first one for me is "Realize you won't get it perfect, especially not on the first pass." I have a real problem with that and it leads me to get frustrated easily, which doesn't help while trying to do free-hand.

 

I like to sketch out the symbols I'm doing on paper several times with a pencil until I'm comfortable with how I form the symbol, that helps give me some muscle memory while painting (I think) and keeps the "this is how it should look" image in my mind.

 

I usually try and either sketch the symbol with a pencil, or if that won't work, then I try and form the basic outline with dots of the base color I'm using for the free-hand. Curves require quite a few dots, lines are a little easier for me, but if you make dots for them, it may be more simple to connect them. I try to minimize curves, they are had to replicate or mirror well. This is obviously very hard with the Encarmine symbol, so that leads to my next tip:

 

Clean up with your background color. This is very important IMO, as it is what helps you clean up lines and conceal the mess you really made of the symbol. Tidying up makes everything look 10x better.

 

Don't shade your free-hand or the background until you are done with everything on the area you put the free-hand. This way if you mess up the free-hand, you aren't fighting against background shading, highlighting, etc.

 

For that free-hand, I did everything first with Averland Sunset, cleaned up, then worked my way up (or down) from there.

[Bryan Blaire]

Got the base colors and shading on two of the Angels Encarmine Death Company done:

Working on a full squad has been pretty gratifying, I think I'm going to try and work on squads of 3-5 members (depending on what the unit is) as long as I can keep interested in the same thing. I think these guys are going to look pretty good once I get them based.

[Candleshoes]

Those are fanstastic Death Company models ad some of the best white schemed ones I have seen.

 

What a pleasure to see your Angels Encarmine grow into such a well developed entity. Beautiful work on that MkIV helm.

[TheHyperion]

Those death company have a beautiful white whats your secret 

[Bryan Blaire]

Thanks Candleshoes, but definitely don't think the grey-white is that good, I've seen better. :lol: I do appreciate it though! I'm hoping to get a guy a night completed with the Ulthuan Grey coats, that way I can start some of the mid tones on the details by Thursday. I. Planning on getting the arms, pauldrons and jump packs assembled, base-coated and on the models before I do any highlighting, so that it looks more natural, but I'll definitely need to do the gems before getting the arms on.

 

Those death company have a beautiful white whats your secret :jaw:

Thanks GrandMasterSapphon! Really no secret, but it actually isn't white yet. :)

 

I start with a grey brush-on polyurethane primer from Vallejo. Then I base-coat with Celestra Grey. Shade with Vallejo Pale Grey wash. Then I layer another "base coat" of Ulthuan Grey except in the recesses, and places where there would be shadow, but didn't get hit with the wash, I leave some Celestra Grey showing to aid in the transition. The final highlighting will be done with White Scar.

 

The other thing (and I won't stop recommending it) is using a flow improver. I use Winsor & Newton personally, but any good acrylic flow improver should help tremendously. I use a LOT less paint now to get good color coverage and can paint in much thinner layers than I ever could using water to thin my paints.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Bryan Blaire

[Flint13]

Oh wow, those are so pretty and super smooth. Great job!