Blood Guardians WIP Log

[deathspectersgt7]

Paint it off white or bone color and where the mouth is paint specks of Blood but not heavy.

[Flint13]

Looks better so far!

 

Every single photo on my plog is taken either on my desk, or a window. "Official" photo taking areas not required. Thou I'll admit a bit of after editing and a good light source (with a daylight bulb) do wonders.

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Thanks and I already painted it. Knew I should've looked here first. Oh well. I have two more honor guard members to paint, then I will move onto the sternguard squad.

Honor Guard Veteran Brother Belides Hellirom: "The blood of my Father courses through my veins like the rushing of a mighty storm."

and Honor Guard Veteran Brother Grimorus Valoradis: "All who hear the whirling of my blades shall tremble."

Enjoy and C&C is always welcomed.

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

I present to you today the last two Honor Guard members:

Honor Guard Veteran Brother Martellus Ursivaa: "Today, I will send you corrupted soul back into the Warp from where you came from!"

Honor Guard Veteran Brother Jurga Ixidomus: "You think you can stop me? HA!"

C&C Always welcomed.

[Flint13]

Alrighty, a couple things I think will help you a bit. Take these cum grano salis, and don't think I'm attempting to be harsh, please ^_^

 

First, and I hate to sound like a meme, but thin your paints out a bit. It will go leaps and bounds towards helping correct the "gunky" sort of thick buildup you're getting that's obscuring detail work. The black especially seems to be really thick in a lot of places which is causing you problems with the other colors and the red on the weapons seems to be caking up pretty deep. Try mixing a very little bit of dish soap (dawn or ajax works just fine) with water and add it in small quantities to your paints to get them to apply smoother and thinner. Make sure you gently mix the soap in so it doesn't foam up, about 1 drop soap to 15 or so drops of water. It makes a *world* of difference. What type of paint are you using currently? It seems super glossy, which again can cause you problems. Vallejo, Citadel, and Privateer Press all make decently affordable colors which would serve you well here. My nightlords are all GW except for their basecoat of Vallejo storm blue, if that helps. 

 

Secondly, how are you priming your models? If your primer goes on very thick, or unevenly builds up that can exacerbate the problem we're already having. I have had the same good results from 17.50 a can arthouse primer as I have had .99 dollar store stuff. Over the years, I've learned smooth application is everything, since all of your following paint builds on your primer coat. When your black basecoat goes on over that primer coat, it helps you even out any other problem spots. 

 

Lastly, is just basic brush control. I know little details take a lot of practice. Things like names on shoulder pads, weapon bits, and purity seals. Take your time with a correctly sized brush, and practice painting small details on spare pieces you don't mind messing up on. It sounds super simple, but it helped me learn. Practice smoothing out those transitions between big armor pieces especially. Marines of all types have huge flat spaces of armor that respond well to a good area highlighting technique.

 

Again, hope this didn't sound too harsh and that you get something helpful out of it. If you can think of anything I could assist with, feel free to drop me a PM.

 

Keep up the good work, I'm enjoying the little background blurbs with each new squaddie!

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Alrighty, sorry for the silence for the past few days. Flint13, none of the things you have said are harsh! They are very helpful. Most of the paints I have been using are GW except for what has been airbrushed on, which is the Createx (sp?) Opaque Black. Thus that is why they are shiny. As for the thick paints.. I gotta work on thinning them out with water. I am going to force myself to do this, due to I have a bad habit of just slapping paint to model really. Speaking of painting, that is all on hold as I work on a secret project. I will post pics when I have something worth posting.  Also, how in the thirteen black crusades do I use shades? I have one called Drakensnof Nightshade, but I have yet to open as I do not know what to do with it.

[infyrana]

Loving the variety of non-Mk7 helms btw, looking good!

 

With regards to thinning your paints, I agree too.

 

There are lots of guides online.

 

I would try researching the two easiest (and first I learnt) which is Drybrushing and Wetbrushing / Wetlining.

 

Drybrushing, in basic terms, is brushing your models with a stiff bristled brush that has only minor remnants of paint and is very dry.  Brushing over raised parts of the model causes the remnants of paint to drag off onto these edges creating a highlight.  Load up the brush with fresh paint, get some lint-free kitchen towel paper, brush it on the paper until the paint is almost gone off the brush and any moisture on the brush is gone, you'll see only a light brushing of paint dust on a fresh piece of the paper, now go over the model brushing with an almost flicking like motion mostly over the large flat surfaces and the raised parts of the model - do not try to brush it into the dark grooves / recesses, as this will nulify the effect you are trying to achieve.

 

Wetbrushing, or whatever you call it, is to use watered down paints (acrylics, or the GW specific stuff like nuln oil shade), and paint the surface and recesses of the model with a complete coverage of that area (or entire model if you need).  You'll see the heavy wet watered paint builds up in all the recesses and at the lower surface areas on flats or curves, causing the base paint layer to be darkened initially, and then giving you some 'shade' effect where it dries dark.  Some people Wetline instead, which is to get a thin brush, dip it in the watered paint, and paint thin lines where they want the shadows to be, or to paint/drip the paint into the recesses and grooves to create more precise shading.  Either way, if there is an excess of paint buildup, you can take your wet brush and dab it into the splodge, it'll soak up the excess - load more on to dab and give more excess for further shading etc.

 

Those two techniques can turn plain colours into very well haded models.  There is a recent thread by Midian (ooh I hope he doesn't mind the promotion!) who demonstrates some lovely looking nurgle models that have gone from base colours to shaded pieces of art.

 

For thinning your paints, you could also try the dry brushing technique by wiping off all excess paint from your brush, and brushing on light thing layers until complete coverage of the area is achieved.  With any metalic paints, this works very well as the paint initially is very thick, and after some wiping off of the brush, can still produce very good coverage with the what's left.

 

GL ! :)

[Flint13]

Ah shades. Those are magical business!

 

If you'd like, check my plog out. The recent recon marine's camo cloak is the perfect highlight (zing!) of how shading can really bring a few different colors together. I use drakenhoff nightshade a lot along with devlan mud (now agrax) and badab black (now nuln oil) and I heartily endorse them as excellent investments. 

 

There are different ways to use washes that I have had good results with. Firstly, to get a darker area highlight, paint your base coat color, lets say Kantor blue (for my own ease of thought ^_^ ). Then apply drakenhoff nightshade to the area, letting it pool in the recesses. This is how a lot of folks use homemade glazes of a *super* thinned paint and a medium. Then you can go back and reapply your base color in a highlight pattern on raised areas. You can get a little more complicated with this too. The way I go through my Nightlords starts like so:

 

1.) Very finicky mix of Vallejo Storm blue and Chaos black.

2.) Area highlight with Altdorf Guard Blue (GW)

3.) Edge highlight with Ice Blue (actual ice blue, I still have a tiny stockpile ^_^ )

4.) Wash with Drakenhoff nightshade

 

As you can see, I use it more like a wash than a shading ink. It dulls down the highlights and brings the colors together, but it gets decent results from not super difficult applications. If you're going with black as a base coat and wanted to duplicate my process, try this:

 

1.) Abbadon black (even with a black primer coat, trust me, there's a difference)

2.) Area highlight with Dawnstone gray (formerly codex gray).

3.) Edge highlight with  Celestra gray (formerly Astronomican gray).

4.) Wash with Nuln oil to drag down the highlights

 

Alternatively, you could try Drakenhoff as a wash if you wanted a blue-black look to it.

 

Play around and see what works for you. My own Astartes and dark eldar come from years of fiddly playing around with techniques and formula. Delve into the depths of the Tutorial sections here on B&C as well. It did wonders for me.  

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

@ Flint13 and Infyrana: Thank you both for the comments. I will look into both of these as soon as I get a chance due to school is starting up for me tomorrow, so the hobby will be put on hold for a little while.

Now... Time for a WIP pic. I would like ya'lls input. What does this model say to you?:

C&C please. Atm his arms and shoulder pads are tacked together.

[infyrana]

He stands out as DA, but that's a robed thing, don't take it personally ;) hehe

 

Otherwise he stands out with as a marine with a purpose - a purpose to own something with his combi-plasma, picking off targets in the distance, as he knowingly advances on his prey with full intention to swat it to death with his Chaplain's Crozius.  On second glance, I note the tome of librarians, so maybe I'm confused on his weapon choice, I usually see libbies in my mind with a skull topped staff :)

 

But he's scared, and he's wearing a shield to stop the plasma blacklash blast hitting his robes, because he's a DA at heart, and doesn't want his robes to be dirtied up.

 

Awesome model, but I think I would get rid of the chest shield at this point in time as it doesn't blend so well, unless you have reason for it ?

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Mainly for the chest shield is due to fluff reasons (Which will be explained later on when I finally have the entire model done.) and he is suppose to be a librarian, I just did not capture the other side of the staff in the picture. I kinda figured he would come across as a DA, due to the robes, but that is all that I had that was not in use for anything else, so I gave it a whirl and that is what I cam up with. everything but the arms and shoulder pads has been glued together.

[infyrana]

I suspect that once you have painted him libbie blue, he will be instantly recognisable as a Librarian.  The robe thing is just that I was brought into 40k to only see DA in robes, it's an old habit if you like, and an appropriate set of colours will sort it out very swiftly :D

 

Will look forward to seeing his future!

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Thanks infyrana! I like him as he is, even with the chest shield thingy. I will glue him up as he is and then begin to paint him, yet try something different.

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Alright. I have finished applying paint to model and here is what I ended up with:

[sockwithaticket]

Hope you don't mind my saying this is your best figure so far. Paint looks much smoother and more even. On a personal note I prefer the matte finish to the gloss one further up the page.

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Thanks sockwithaticket! I personally like this model as well (besides Sariel of course.) I do have to go back and get the area where I missed with the black. Whoops. For now, I am going to take a small break (mainly due to school starting up) but I will start on my sternguard soon.

[infyrana]

Aye, best paint job so far - and definitely matted and not shiny looks far better.

 

Now he looks like what he is :D

[Flint13]

Yes, love him!

He's neat, matte and crisp. He is visually distinct, both as a librarian and as part of your force. And he looks like he's bringing the pain. Great work buddy! Not bad for loyalist scum

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Thanks everyone. I like him myself and I am debating now if I want to do my Sternguards or Vanguards first whenever I get a chance to. 

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

I have sad news to announce: the models that represent Jurga and Martellus have been forced into retirement due to my dislike of the paint job on them. So, I have extra models that are better painted (and a whole lot less shiny) that will be taking their places and names. Plus, I have about 18+ non elite models painted black, yet never done anything with them. So, I am going to work on those, letting the sternguard and vanguard squads sit off to the side. I also have 4 (use to have 5, but it got destroyed in the Warp) Possessed marines to paint up, yet still deciding on which Chaos Legion to do. 

[Flint13]

Sounds like a good plan. Really polish the painting skills on the rank n file guys. Then when you're hella awesome at it, come back and give the Veteran Blood Guardians the badass paint job they deserve!

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Thanks Flint. I will probably start on the rank and file guys this weekend (maybe). Oh! I just remember I had also 3 kit bashed sternguard guys I made before the new set came out. Whoops.

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

All hell had broken loose. Civilians running, gav carriages exploding, the streets turning red. Everyone was running for safety, yet there was none to be found. In the midst of the chaos, a group of warriors, clad in armor darker than Death's cold cloak stormed through the streets, bolters singing praises to the Emperor as their righteous fury tore into the cultist, pink mists appearing as the cultists bodies ruptured like busting blisters and popped like snapping twigs. At the front of this group, was a silent warrior, who wielded no bolter, just a long bladed sword, the blade slick with gore and ichor. Upon his helm was a crimson crest, marking him as the senior officer. Every swing of his sword sent a cultist to the ground, the blood from the fresh corpse soaking the street beneath it. He spoke no words, leading by example. His honor guard followed behind him, covering him. Out of the group, only one figure stood out. Over his armor, he wore a dark blue robe, with a match hood over his helm. He wielded a combi-plasma, which spat death into the cultist, and a deep crimson shafted staff, the power the figure who held it coursing through it.  The robed warrior holstered his fire arm, gripping his staff with both hands, uttered a cry for the Emperor of Mankind, unleashing the power he had be building up. The cultist, unprepared for this unleashment of power, screamed as their blood boiled and bodies exploding. Then silence fell over the street. The crested warrior turned to the robed figure, nodding.

 

"Nicely done Drigo. Belides, Grimorus. Secure the area. Jurga, Martellus, Tarkus. Check the bodies for movement and silence them. 2nd Company, move up the main strip and secure it."

 

All but the robed figure confirmed. Drigo Serpentex, Librarian of the 2nd Company of the Blood Guardians Adeptus Astartes, walked next to the crested warrior. 

 

"My thanks Sariel. I figured it was a easier option than just scything them all down. They only slowed us down, keeping us from our main target. We only have a small window of opportunity and it is closing rapidly. We cannot let the midnight clad escape through our fingers anymore."

 

Sariel Azer, Captain of the 2nd Company, turned his helmed head to look at his old friend. 

 

"I know Drigo. This time, we will have their heads on pikes."

[Flint13]

Not a bad start, buddy!

 

You build a good deal of interest in a short space, without being overly dramatic. I want to know more about all of the characters, without feeling completely clueless.

 

One thing though... is unleashment a real word? :P

 

Run that puppy through a spell check, and call it done!

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

Thanks Flint and no, unleashment is not a word, just something I made up lol. Dont worry though, by tomorrow hopefully I will have another segment up, but a tad bit longer and with more about the characters.