Irwits Blood Angels Army

[irwit]

Awesome shade of red, thanks for the tutorial I've just a couple of questions though - is the first brush highlight with VMA red and not one of the other shades used to basecoat? Also is the Carroburg crimson wash applied heavily (ie splashed on) or neatly?

My apologies again,  I have amended the tutorial.

 

The first brush highlight is scarlet red vallejo model air.  The same as used with the airbrush.  

 

Also the carroburg crimson washes is quite heavy but not too much.  I actually went too heavy on the left shoulder of the crouching marine and you can see a dull buildup on the inner edges which looks weird.  This is from waaay too much wash being used.    When I get chance I will post up all my test models for getting red right and what I did on each one ( if I can remember),  

[Dosjetka]

Also the carroburg crimson washes is quite heavy but not too much.  I actually went too heavy on the left shoulder of the crouching marine and you can see a dull buildup on the inner edges which looks weird.  This is from waaay too much wash being used.    When I get chance I will post up all my test models for getting red right and what I did on each one ( if I can remember),  

 

That would be great :)

[Ovidius Incertus]

Love it.  Dark and gritty.  I'll test that red scheme out on my FTs!

[Greyshift]

Many thanks Irwit, that would be great. I can't wait to see the rest of them

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Love this, I feel that too many blood angels are a bit bright for the grim dark, these are spot on. Are you using some mithril or equivalent for the scratches, or something less obvious?

[irwit]

Hi all

 

So here are the WIPs all in a row and the latest of the lascannon.

 

 

I was going to try the lascannon with a huge osl from the actual gun but then thought it would overpower the model and probably the whole unit, so went for a bronze which I think helps the grim dark feel., even though it could be mistaken for being a bit steampunk.

 

The WIPs are basically, from left to right. The first guy I did last year, this is just lots of layers of scarlet red and lots of matt varnish. This guy is why I did a space wolf army instead of blood angels, I couldnt get the red right. Anyway, after the space wolf army was finished I wanted to go back to blood angels and have another go. I then did the next guy. He looked good but wasn't quite there. SO from then on I was experimenting with different amounts of red, different washes and also after the black undercoat, adding white in the highlight areas to bring the red out more. I also then tried out a white amour white may be the basis for death company unit as some point.

 

Finally the scratches are leadbelcher. I could for a dark metal scratch so it only really shows when the light hits it, mithrel doesn't sit as well.

[irwit]

Another quick shot as I have just glued the head on the lascannon guy.   Looking at the side shot again now I think I may do the metal cable from gun to weapon that same brass colour to tie it all together and make that colour make a bit more sense. 

 

 

[Dosjetka]

He really looks great. I'm glad you don't go with the massive OSL glow from the lascannon and went for bronze instead, looks much better :tu:

 

Any more updates?

[irwit]

Not much has moved forward as I have had a busy week.  I should have my first tactical squad finished in the next week or so and will have to decide on how to base them.   I have one based but I am not happy with it so will try something different.  

 

Anyway,  here is another WIP shot showing how the armour looks before the wash.   It definitely is a lot more red ( and shiney!).  

 

[irwit]

Hi all

 

This is the last guy of my 5 man tactical squad and is the sergeant.  This guy is at the stage before I apply the metal scratch damage.  Im not sure now if I prefer the look before the damage or after.  Nearly finished then I need to find a good solution for bases.  

 

 

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Love these.

[GrandMagnus]

Must say these are some of my favorite blood angels.

[khakisuperbunny]

Must say these are some of my favorite blood angels.

 

Ditto

 

These Blood Angels, in my eyes are exactly how Blood Angels should be painted, fantastic work and I can't wait to see more!

 

Khaki

[Brother Pheidias]

Beautiful Blood Angels, very dark, but it looks great. 

[irwit]

Thanks all,  the body is now finished and I went through my bits box to find a suitable head.  Its the slightly battered one from the tactical squad as I didn't think any of the blood angels ones really looks battered enough to match the battle damage of the amour.  Hopefully have something up by the end of the week. 

[Dosjetka]

Yeah, I must admit that I have a real soft spot for these chaps. Excellent work :tu:

[OttoVonAwesome]

Imagine alot of flesh tearers players would apreciate that red recipe. Bloody spot on for them.

[Firepower]

Cripes, man. Just, wow.

Wow.

I can't find anything to nitpick. This is becoming an irritating trend

For the gloss varnish, have you tried Liquitex instead of Vallejo? I've been using that, and my results have been variable. It seems to go on rather thick, and it doesn't dull down very easily with matte varnish afterwards. I dunno if this is just me messing up or a problem with the brand, so it'd be nice to hear a pro's experience, if you have any to share

For the airbrush highlighting, do you micro-manage and do individual sections like the knees, then the thighs, etc., or do you just do basic zenithal highlighting from above (obviously leaving the head and shoulders with the lion's share) without such narrowed focus?

It's hard to tell, is your scratchign done with metallics or flat colors? I use metallics, and matte varnishing smudges the narrow lines into thicker, clumsier lines, which is annoying :verymad:

[irwit]

Hi Firepower

 

For the gloss varnish I have not tried Liquitex.  I'm not that amazed by Vallejo being honest,  I also have the semi gloss and matte varnishes but no longer use them.  However the gloss seems the best of the bunch.  I would maybe try Windosor and Newton.  I use them for my matte coats and find them pretty good,  they were recommended to me by  Winterdyne.   they are also really cheap by comparison as you get a huge bottle.  They mix really well in the airbrush and can go through neat if desired.  I like to thin mine with some water though so I don't get too thick a coat. 

 

For the highlighting I do individual sections rather than zenith.  Zenith give you a more realistic look where as spot highlights give you a more contrasting look which I prefer.  I don't mask any areas off though,  just go for it,  give the shoulder,  knee pads,  bottom of the leg amour etc a good blast.  By the time you have oil washed and highlighted with brush the effect works well.  I'm sure masking could give a more precise look for the highlights but I'm not quite at that stage yet with my airbrush skills. 

 

Finally the scratches are a mixture of black scratches with highlight below and also some pure metallic scratches with no highlights.   You can see on the sergeant WIP that the metallic scratches have not been added yet.    If you are using matte varnish and metallic then I would recommend applying your matte varnish and then doing any metallic work.  

 

Hope some of the above can be of some help :) 

[irwit]

So I finally finished the sergeant. I spent probably a couple of nights on the head but that translated into reality is probably a couple of hours.  Still longer than I would normally spend but I think worth it.  I wanted an almost robocop type complexion to contrast with the dark red.  Anyway here he is.  I'm still stuck as to how to base these guys,  any suggestions welcome.  I'm currently working my way through the spice racks trying to find some nice textures and such.  

 

[deathspectersgt7]

Like your take on the BA's the red looks great.

[Papa Lazarou]

They look really good irwit. The ironic thing is that I prefer your red to mine . As for bases I would go for something dark and gritty, maybe cities of death style.

Great job though, look forward to seeing more. Oh and the faces look great, that's something I really struggle with.

[irwit]

- double post -

[Rhetoricus]

Bravo mate. Really nice work. I'm always torn between trying OSL eyes and battle damage or leaving it off. Takes me so long to finish a model that I'm always scared I'm gonna trash it! You really have got the process down though. Mega impressed, gonna be watching this thread closely I think.

[Xwingt65]

Awesome looking blood angels.

 

Got my painting hand itching right off the bat. Also like that they are relatively clean, very little of the usual blood angel bling.

 

And this is a masterclass in how to use an airbrush. As a part of the process, and not the only painting done.