15 Shades of Grey, A new start.... with Primaris,

[Dantay VI]

Hahaha, actually a bit less as the sanity would need to kick in, so I have the house straightened out before the wife gets back.

 

Is it weird that when I googled norse knotwork wing designs I got a picture of the back of my Fire Raptor??

[Dantay VI]

Well, remember the epic wing of epicness?

 

 

It was an epic failure

 

The design was too small and intricate. I struggled to get it drawn on a few times, so instead cut away all hte black and tried to use as a stencil, but it was a nightmare. The complexity is too much and Vykryl is right, it will just be an overload. 

 

It looks like a slug smoked a joint and crawled across the wing.

 

So a few more options then.

 

These are something a lot simpler which I purloined from the interwebnet and I can easily shape and adapt them to fit the wing. Maybe less is more in the fancypants stakes??

 

And there is the old faithful too

 

Opinions?

[Dantay VI]

To get over the disappintment of the wing I painted a dragon

 

How's that?

Still need to do a bit of tidying up, but overall I am happy with it.

Click on the pics for bigger piccies.

 

[Vykryl]

Your old faithful. Less is more, with the dragons body being the main knot work. Dragons looking good

[FenrisWolf]

Still great work!

[Dantay VI]

Hi Fenriswolf, thanks for the vote of confidence.

 

Thank you for you insights Vykryl. I do agree in large measure with what you are saying. Whilst the wing design I originally went for was really nice, it was also too intricate for my skill level and it wasn't part of the original design.

 

 

These are 2 variations of the dragon design that I have borrowed from, if from a purely consistent/ simple approach, would these serve better for a wing design? I do like the third design also.

 

 

Maybe the best thing is to paint them on and see how they look with the angle of the fins etc...

 

So far its 1 vote to wing design 3 and 1 for the originals.

[Dantay VI]

First off I want to apologise. I did give the knotwork another go and while moderately successful on the upper fin sections it was a disaster on the sides facing the dragons.... The angle makes it a  nightmare.

 

Top tip of the day: Do not glue the wings together and then try and paint any form of even slightly complex design. The tipping point was where the paint started to get blmishes/ bubbles below from too many layers, so I gave up and went back to a much simpler non-knotwork design like those from the tattoo. It loses the sonsistency of having the knotwork, but hopefully it still works as it was part of the original design.

 

I am sorry I couldnt get the knotwork to work, but hopefully this will do instead.

 

[Vykryl]

It's looking good to me. The dragon's wing is partially hidden by the outward tilt of the raptor's tail any way. The dragon wing won't be as visible as its body on the play table

[spjaco]

It all looks great to me.  I wish I could paint like that.

[Dantay VI]

Thank you spjaco, that means a lot. Truth is, it's just layers and patience... I have 4-5 hours per night on a boat with nothing to do... Well nothing better to do, that I would admit to anyways!!

 

I took a step by step of how I did the dragon, so I can make up a tutorial if folks are interested, it'll be a wall of pics and text though!!

 

And thanks Vykryl, if I had listened to you, I could have avoided the insanity and heartburn of the botched wing designs... And they'll get seen plenty, cos you can bet I'll be zooming it around making jet and gun noises :D

 

Other dragon done, did it slightly differently, but still looks good I think. Need to tidy it up, but I'll leaver that till the wings are done and do it all at once :)

 

[Vykryl]

We are over grown kids around here. Should link some Dork Tower in

[Morticon]

Strongly, strongly suggest the Quad Bolters over the autocannons by the way.  6 shots twinlinked hits on 2s, vs 2 shots twin hit on 2s.  Better for everything AV10/11 and below, and all infantry T6 and below, no matter the armour save!! 

[Dantay VI]

Hi Morticon. Thank you for the suggestion. The good news is that i have magnetised the turret weapons so that I can swap between quad bolters and autocannons. I have heardd a lot of good things about the quad heavy bolter loadout.

 

I have a feeling that this thing is going to be a real Ork killer!

 

And Vyk, thank you for introducing me to Dork Tower: I have been having a good chuckle all day reading snippets of it.  

[FenrisWolf]

Ok, I hate you now.  You do all this fantastic paintwork on a boat???? 

[Dantay VI]

FenrisWolf, if I locked you on an offshore installation, full of hairy men for 3 weeks (no women, no booze) and there was very little to do in your evenings..... What would you do?

 

As Louis Armstrong, I think sang... "I've got all the time in the World"  :D

 

I'll take the hate as a compliment.

 

I own a small armada of vehicles for my Wolves, but they never got beyond the basecoat as I found all the empty panels really daunting

Tthis is the first vehicle that I will take all the way to completion (paint-wise), so I am going to put my all into it. Plus I want to push myself and see what I can achieve.

 

I daresay that my other stuff may never progress beyond the basecoats, though... Hopefully I will have a wee update tonigh or tomorrow.

[Donkalleone]

 

 

 

It has possibilities.... What say you??

 

I would like to say something to this.

I was twice asked this Question in my LifeTime and im now asking you.

"Do u have any Suicidal Tendencies?"

 

If the Answer is "No" go on it looks nice and in the end it has to be you saying "yup thats nice".

 

BTW the Question come ones when i asked if they could spray my Car Matt Black (cleaning would be Hell) and  second as i asked if it was possible to order 1 Inch tiles for my bathroom floor for a mosaic.

[Dantay VI]

Hahaha, thanks Donkalleone

 

It was not so much the issue of suicidal tendencies... More blind overconfidence in my own abilities!! Atleast I learned something from it though... In the end I learned not to reach too far (yet!) and I have something to aim towards in the future... I think the simpler wing design has worked out well.

 

Did you do the mosaic flooring in the end?? My question to you would have been, did you remember to allow for the gaps between the tiles where the grout has to go before you started??. Getting halfway thrrough the tiling and realising that error may have brought out my suicidal tendencies I can tell you!!

 

If you did the floor as a mosaic, I'd really like to see the pictures of it!

Edited September 24, 2014 by dantay_xv

[Donkalleone]

Hahaha, thanks Donkalleone

 

It was not so much the issue of suicidal tendencies... More blind overconfidence in my own abilities!! Atleast I learned something from it though... In the end I learned not to reach too far (yet!) and I have something to aim towards in the future... I think the simpler wing design has worked out well.

 

Did you do the mosaic flooring in the end?? My question to you would have been, did you remember to allow for the gaps between the tiles where the grout has to go before you started??. Getting halfway thrrough the tiling and realising that error may have brought out my suicidal tendencies I can tell you!!

 

If you did the floor as a mosaic, I'd really like to see the pictures of it!

I moved because of a Job offer . So sadly didnt do it. But its pretty easy. You can buy Templates where you "pre"-glue the small tiles to be part of a bigger one. When you do that right, the rest is just the normal work. Exept the Bigger tiles are a bit floppy.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Donkalleone

[Jochteas]

Thank you spjaco, that means a lot. Truth is, it's just layers and patience... I have 4-5 hours per night on a boat with nothing to do... Well nothing better to do, that I would admit to anyways!!

 

I took a step by step of how I did the dragon, so I can make up a tutorial if folks are interested, it'll be a wall of pics and text though!!

 

And thanks Vykryl, if I had listened to you, I could have avoided the insanity and heartburn of the botched wing designs... And they'll get seen plenty, cos you can bet I'll be zooming it around making jet and gun noises

 

Other dragon done, did it slightly differently, but still looks good I think. Need to tidy it up, but I'll leaver that till the wings are done and do it all at once

 

I would love it if you did a tutorial. I think your artwork here is fantastic and I would love to be able to apply it to some of my own creations if possible.  

[FenrisWolf]

Yes, the hate is in extreme jest!  By offshore installation I assume you mean an oil rig or some such.  The boat reference was that I can't believe you could do such intricate work on a rolling, pitching platform.  I would assume an oil rig is more stable, but still not as anchored as say, oh I don't know, a continent?!   

 

Keep up the incredible work while stuck on your " offshore installation, full of hairy men for 3 weeks (no women, no booze)"!

 

The work is stunning my friend!

[Dantay VI]

Maybe the rolling motion, is what keeps my lines so straight :D

 

It is a semi-submersible, so its like a rig and we have an anchor on each corner to hold us in place, so we are stationary. We  don't do any drilling operations, but are over the wellheads.

 

And thanks for the compliments Fenris Wolf!

 

I'll see if I can get a tutorial written up tonight.

[Dantay VI]

Okay, so this is really a rough version of how I have done my vehicle markings:

 

I was asked by a friend on B&C how I did the markings on the Raptor, and asked to do a tutorial.

 

So here it is, my first tutorial. Hope it goes okay, let me know if its good, bad or ugly... I can take it!!

 

The first thing I will say before I kick off is that the designs I have used are not mine, they are designs I have found online and done by people far more talented than I.

 

I just made them fit on my tanks....

Clicking on pictures enlarges them!

Okay, so this is my wing, I have used 2mm single strand cable as pinning struts and intentionally left them long so the wings fit on without being glued in place. Super portable and makes it easy to paint the model in sections and to also see it as a whole   

My advice. Pinning is your friend on big models....

 

I chose some designs I like and after making measurements, tried to set it up, that it would fit pretty closely to where I want it to go. I also drew up extra parts. Next tip... Always...Always make a mirror copy because it will make your life so much easier to do the painting on the other side!

 

 

Try it out in a few different ways and find what suits you. Sometimes a tweak here or there may reap unexpected rewards. Case in point, making it fit was frustrating, so, use more than just the wing!

If you are using more than 1 piece you can now do a dry fit to see how it fits together. Dry fit is so important on complex shapes as extra length might be needed here or there plus it lets you look at the model from different angles, making sure the design doesn't look goofy from one side but awesome from another.

 

 

When yo are happy with the dry fit, make sure you got all the bits handy and make sure you have enough for both sides. And print them off. Tip: Do the printing during your lunch break at work, saves wasting your paper at home   I am stuck on an oilrig, so I don't have much choice in the matter.

 

Carefully cut out the sections as tightly to the edges as you can and place them on the area you want to sketch it out on. Blu-tac or hold the paper diagram in place and use it a s a template to draw out the rough shape.

 

You should end up with something like this, doesn't look like much yet, but it's a start. I suggest using a soft pencil for this. I am using a 4B technical pencil for this. It blunts fast but it shows up well on the paint and doesn't rub off like ink.

 

Keeping your template to hand,freehand out the details,. Don't worry about making mistakes as you can rub them out. If you are nervous about damaging the paint then put down a coat of varnish first to ensure it doesn't get damaged.

If you have a very simple shape then cut out totally and skip this part by using it as a stencil.

 

I free handed this as you can see as I have just drawn over each loop etc so I can keep my lines where I want them. It looks a little scrappy, but it is starting to come together.

 

 

I am really going to go on a rant now... Something I learned the really hard way!!

 

You want your paint really thinned out, I loaded my brush once with black (you can use any colour) then loaded my brush about 3-4 times with water and mixed in, so it was nice and thin. Thinning medium works better and you use less, stays wet longer, but mine has run out  water works pretty well. I don't know how much you thin your paint... so make it how you feel comfortable. If you go too far you end up with nuln oil wash, just dilute a little and then try on paper or some prepainted spue, when the paint goes on nice and smooth and you can control it, then that's where you want it. If its going on and looking a bit lumpy or the edges are wavy, then you are too thick (or at least for me)

The closest line is straight Abaddon black, notice it all comes off the brush at once in a clump and then you are spreading the rest, next line is the same black but with each line is an additional drop of water. You can see how the colour is less strong but it kmoves much smoother, so add water till you hit your sweet spot. I go 3-4, and if needed I can go over it to darken it, plus it dries on the model really fast and smooth. This is important because if you ant to repaint then you have a flat surface with no lumps. Also because some of the base colour is coming trough it makes blending/highlighting look far more natural.

Can you see where I didn't thin the grey on clean up?

 

Rant over... Thin your paints!!!

 

Now slowly but surely fill out your pattern, do not panic if you go outside the lines or make any mistakes, you can easily cover over it later, if you miss a spot, go back and get it. Take your time, cos te paint on the pallette will keep wet and if it starts to get a bit sticky just add a wee dab of water.

Chill to some music:

When I listen to this I want a Knight titan!

Feel like a super hero painting away while tapping your feet....

What can I say? I am ... Eclectic in my music tastes...

 

Once you've gone back over it and you are happy step back compare and admire your work... I actually think this second attempt is better than the first. Use a really thin eraser to get rid of any excess pencil markings.

 

Try not to look too smug  

 

[Next comes the golds!!!

 

I have used 4 colurs and 1 wash. And you can see the m in the picture for reference. I have use all gw paints and washes for my model, some old and some new.

The colours used are (L-R) Runefang Steel, Auric Armour Gold, Gehenna Gold & Balthasar Gold. The wash, not in the picture is Ogryn Fles, but I am sure the new GW Flesh shade will work just as well.

 

These are the brushes that I have been using, and yes stupid me, the small drybrush is the biggest brush I brought with me!!

The largest brush is only used for transferring paint to palette and for adding water to the mix. I also use it to keep my paints mixed too, as sometimes the metallics have a habit of separating out a wee bit.

I accidentally skipped 3 stages here: Basically, I went over the dragon design with the Balthasar gold using the detail brush. I used 4 loaded brushes of the gold to about 2 of water, just so it gives a nice smooth flow.

Completely coat the dragon design and tidy up with your grey of choice (mine is Standard Mechanicum Grey)

 

After the Balthasar gold had dried, I then went over the dragon with the ogryn flesh.

 

Once this had dried I went back over the dragon with Balthasar Gold and using the dragon template as a reference I would leave small areas darkened to represent the shadows from overlap.

 

Next up I add 2 brushes of Gehenna Gold to the Balthasar Gold, it looks a bit like this and I go back over the dragon again. Moving further and further from the shadows, I also choose a direction for the light source so it creates the illusion of shadow and light.

 

 

Another drop of Gehenna Gold and another drop of water and repeat the process moving further from the overlap and closer to the edge of the dragon.

 

The water is meaning that there is not too much colour change visible as you put the layers on. Do not get frustrated as this means you have a fairly smooth blend going on, also the highlight will become more visible as the paint dries…. This requires patience….

 

Another drop of Gehenna Gold and add another drop of water. If you look you are not too far off pure Gehenna Gold now.

Repeat as above again moving away from the overlap and and to the edges to emphasise the light against the shadow.

 

If you feel you need to this is a good time to tidy up any splodges. Another good thing about the diluted paints, is that if you ar as ham-fisted as me, you’ll get paint where you don’t want it, a quick swipe of the finger is usually enough to get rid of the offending mark J

 

This is where I think about going from the detail brush to the 0000 brush and I now start adding Auric Gold to the mix, again 1-2 drops of paint to 1 of water. It is a bit of a stupid way to do things as you’ll now have noticed you are painting smaller areas, but making lots of paint as you go….

 

The process remains the same, stick to the edges keep the light effect coming from all the sme direction and ease further away from the overlaps, sometimes with the loops the high points can be near an overlap but nae worries, go with your gut..

 

Another drop of Auric and water 

 

And a final drop of Auric Gold and water.... I forgot the picture here, but you are now basically at pure Auric Gold and it is time to add the Runefang Steel. Go easier with the Runefang as it llightens the gold pretty dramatically for only a small drop in and remember to thin out your paint!

 

 

And now you are done  

 

[FenrisWolf]

Nice!!!  

[Dantay VI]

Hey folks... Well I made a wee bit of progress in getting the gold done on the wings and the front & rear thruster units... I was working on it until nearly midnight (4 &1/2 hours), so yes I am fairly sure I am certifiable :D

 

 

I hope you like.

 

I was thinking (a dangerous hobby in these times I know) Nd although I have enjoyed doing the gold work, I feel that the central fin needs to be a little different. This may be Russ' pride and joy, but she was also a military craft, so I was thinking to use the tail-fin as an identifier.

 

I am not a military man, so how would one go about ID'ing an aircraft and what sort of thing would go on a tail-fin. Numbers/Runes etc??

 

Looking for suggestions, so if you have any please pitch them forward.

 

Thanks

[FenrisWolf]

Most aircraft use an insignia and tail letter and number designations, ala:

 

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1b/Nellis08/F15/DSZ_1003.jpg

 

(Sorry I don't know how to make the pic smaller)

 

The insignias used to be brighter before the advent of electronic IFF (Identification Friend or Foe). The US insignia on the wing above used to be red, white and blue, but now is just grey to blend into the camouflage better.

 

But 40k is definitely not subtle or camouflage!  So stand out!!!