WIP: Ltd Ed Veteran Sgt

[IronKobra]

Howdy y'all, did you miss me?!

 

Anyhoo, I have been having a bit of a manic time and as such not done a great deal of painting. But when I have found time I have concentrated my efforts on one model. I have SEVERAL projects kind of 1/4 or 1/2 way through and I needed to do something I could FINISH! I got hold of this model off eBay and decided to give the Space Hulk Masterclass a go (just with Vallejo paints over GW).

 

This is the result so far... Any criticisms? Answers on a postcard please!

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/HLdone.jpg

[The_Chaplain]

It looks pretty good, a nice crisp red and the highlights on the black work really well.

[Tamwulf]

Great work! If you're going for table top quality, then you have succeeded and surpassed! Smooth colors, subtle highlights and good black lining in the nooks and crannies.

 

If you are looking for the next level...

 

The metalics need some highlights and glazes. Do a 50/50 mix of gold and silver, highlight, then glaze/wash with a thinned deep brown. Repeat that a couple times, mixing more silver into the mix until it's almost a pure silver, but only on the very tips of the gold. For the silver areas, you can go two routes: bright and shiny or dark and well-worn. Bright and shiny is a base coat of bright silver, then a wash of 50/50 black/blue, then highlights. Dark and well worn, same as bright and shiny, except start with a darker silver base, and mix up a 1:1:1 black:blue:brown wash (armor wash), highlight, and depending on how worn you want to make it, add more and more brown- this is basically corrosion/rust. No matter how rusty you make it, remember that the edges will still be shiny from wear.

 

The red needs a brighter highlight layer- try some OSL effects and blending in some brighter highlights. Feathering and glazes! Or wet blending. Take a bright light source, point it straight down on top of the mini (or from any direction you want the light to come from). The brighter spots should be brighter, with the darker spots darker.

 

The black powerfist looks about right, but if you go with more highlights on the red, you'll have to make some more on the P-fist. Next time, instead of pure black on the P-fist, use an off-black. Pure black is a bit unnatural. Mix in some grey or brown (cold or warm black, respectively) for a base, then you can use pure black for shading and then work up the highlights. Try to do something with the power lines leading into the fist. Paint them metallic, or maybe the same red as the armor. Try to emphasize the p-fist, not all the extra crap that makes the whole thing look like a p-fist.

 

The bolter is a bit out of focus and dark, but if you are pushing to the next level, the bolter needs a lot of work. Again, see the comments above about the black. Highlight the metalics, and paint the skull! If you have a really steady hand, you can try some free hand scroll work on the bolter. Or get a Micron Pen. See below on the purity seal.

 

The strap on the bolter and the holster really tie the model to the base- forms a nice little contrast to the red and makes a inverted triangle making your eyes concentrate a bit on those areas. They form the anchor points of what's going on inside that triangle, and thus that's the area of the mini you want to look the best (the anchor points and the area inside the triangle). If you wanted to shift the composition of the mini to the P-fist, bolter, and base, you'll have to paint something on the base black to match, or the left grieve should be more black, to match the p-fist and bolter. You'll have two triangles on the mini though, so it might mess up the composition a bit.

 

The base is good, but needs some highlights. The ruins are brown, and the rubble is green... or is that just the lighting and camera? It works, but the ruins need some highlights.

 

The left grieve is a bit jarring. Nothing else on the model is that color, and it's not a contrasting color or warm color like the rest of the mini. It really should be the same gold as the other two aquilla's on the model. At the very least, it should be the same color as the bolter and p-fist.

 

Finally, the purity seal. The green is a bit too bright- it's brighter then your green eye lenses! Tone that down a bit. The parchment has no shading and highlights. Did you try to paint the writing? I gave up on that a long time ago and now I just use a very fine black micron pen (like 0.01 I think?). They sell them at art supply stores, and are perfect for scroll work and for black lining.

 

Talking about the composition for a moment, you basically have three triangles of color going on here. Three is a good number. One is good, two is bad, three is good, and anymore makes the model too busy. The first comes from the contrasting blacks formed by the bolter, p-fist, and left grieve. This is the largest and most ill-defined of the three. The left grieve really messes this one up. Triangle number two is the leather strap on the bolter, the holster, and the base. Add some highlights on all three and you'll get a great second triangle. Last but not least, you actually have a third triangle formed from the helmet lenses, the scope lens, and the purity seal. What you want to do with these anchor points is make sure all three match- this is why I suggested toning down the purity seal. An observer will unconsciously see these anchor points due to the contrasting colors and automatically look to the center of the triangles (human observational behavior or something like that). What's in the center? The chest aquila and belt buckle. That's why I suggested so much work on those areas. Concentrate on the anchor points and the center of the triangles and everything else outside of those areas will "fade away".

 

It's a great paint job, and better then table top quality. My suggestions are for the next level. :D Good luck!

[IronKobra]

Thanks for the suggestions Tam. The model does need work, it isn't finished yet, I was just seeing what people thought of the red.

 

But thanks for the advice dude, ill look to apply some of your tips when I get to the other parts.

 

 

The ideas I had to finish off were I was going to do the rivets on the right grieve metallic, just silver really. The skull on the bolter us going to be bone, and the one on his back pack, the gold sharp highlights of mythril silver, the base still needs another 2 dry brushes at least of lighter shades, prob khaki and bone.

 

I was going to risk a blue glow osl effect from the power node on the fist, but I will see how it looks once its finished before I risk it and potentially ruin it haha

[IronKobra]

Well its SO NEARLY FINISHED! I am at the point of trying to get it matt varnished, just having some problems getting it to work. Using Vallejo Matt Varnish through an airbrush but it is still drying pretty glossy :lol: Anyone got any tips to hand me? I have used it on other models and it was fine.

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/LtgSgtGloss.jpg

 

As you can see, it's still pretty glossy :P

[IronKobra]

Matt varnish is finally cooperating, can nearly call this dude finished!

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/LtdSgtMatt.jpg

[IronKobra]

Well, I was planning on adding the last dusting of Matt Varnish today but I had to do other stuff. So I thought I would get some photos with my camera as he is at the moment, since my phone takes terrible photos <_<

 

Just so y'all know I am terrible with transfers which is why I damn near ruined this model with them. I am currently reading up on ways to get good results with them.

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/LtdSgtMatt5.jpg

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/LtdSgtMatt4.jpg

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/LtdSgtMatt3.jpg

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/LtdSgtMatt2.jpg

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/LtdSgtMatt1.jpg