Dantay's VI Legion. Hvarls Headtakers

[IronDrake28]

Man that's beautiful. I love the way you've done his claw.

[Nova_chron]

Looking awesome as always Dantay I love your geigor but I still stand by my gripe of the model feels way to busy with all the wolf tails etc I'm probably going to trim some off and change backpacks on mine ;) still a wonderful kit

[Dantay VI]

Thanks guys, and yes it is a very very busy model

 

BOOM, armour done!!!

 

And this is why you do messy fiddly bits first...

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230044.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230052.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230102.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230108.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230126.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230135.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230144.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230154.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230213.jpg

[betrayer41]

That face and hair is ace, as is the rest!

Btw I'm stealing the knife idea

[Dantay VI]

Go for it Betrayer41... I only did it because some nugget snapped the bad (me), than a different nugget lost it. It is a trimmed down B@C combat blade.

 

Since that time the blade has resurfaced, try it with and without the doodads. I personally wish I had not stuck them on as they get in the way a bit.

 

Nuggets!!

 

Anyhoo... I wsa asked to write up how I paint my armour... I did a brief version a while back detailing how I drybrushed, however, for special characters such as Russ and Geigor I go down a much longer route

 

So here is my guide to painting grey... the long way

 

For this I am going to use 4 colours.

 

Black (I am using airbrush primer because I am out of black paint, and cos I managed to sneak it aboard the rig

Standard Mechanicum grey

Dawnstone

Administratum grey

 

I use GW because as water based acrylics I can get them offshore with no issues, use any paints which work for you

 

I also use the XS artificer layer brush and Armypainters "the psycho" brush

 

Tissue, Pallette and water.

 

Quick note... I did not realise I had purchased an artificer brush until I looked at the bill after I left the store (shows how much attention I pay eh??) It is super expensive, but so far it has been of awesome quality and is fast becoming my workhorse brush

 

First thing I did with the model was to tidy up the paint, for this I used a 70:30 mix of black to standard mech grey. I also water my paints down so they are quit runny.

 

2 reasons for this: 

 

1: Pure black is never a good shadow colour to use, and when tidying up, the darker grey will show trough as a nice shadow effect

2: With the paint being so liquid, if you mess up, providing you are quick, you can wipe the area with tissue or finger and remove any excess paint that gets on the detailing.

 

Now hopefully you can see why I did my painting in a fairly backwards manner

 

Why did I do an initial dark grey colour and go messy all over my model with metallics etc....

 

1. To give me a good idea of where light and shadow would fall in general on the model

2. to see how colours would match up with the grey

 

So applying the dark grey we go from this:

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170301_221230.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170301_221239.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170301_221218.jpg

 

To this:

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_210834.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_210845.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_210855.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_210909.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_210925.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_210940.jpg

 

Even just that has made a massive improvement to the armour eh?

 

As a cheat you can do this by doing te initial colour in standard mech grey, then wash with either agrax earthshade or nuln oil to get he shadow effect... This is what I would do with a standard marine, but Geigor is a special character soI am going the long route on this

[Jackalwolf]

I like it a lot! The hair is super realistic and the red pops out great. If I might make one suggestion is a micron 0.1 pen for the lettering in the scroll in the power fist. Apply with brush gloss varnish first so you can rub it off if you don't like.

[Dantay VI]

Thanks Grieux, the hair colour is a copy from your Russ :D

 

Step 2.

 

So the next step is to basically up the amount of standard mech grey

 

Basically around 30:70 black to grey, as you can see I am leaving some of the darker colour visible.

 

This creates:

1, a nice visual gap between the the very bright metallics and the area yo are highlighting

2, gives a natural looking highlight.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_215347.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_215357.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_215404.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_215413.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_215429.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_215438.jpg

 

Note, places like the right leg, I left the underside dark and just began highlighting where light will fall, as we progress you will see areas like this where the highlight becomes more concentrated.

 

it is also worth taking pictures, so that you can review that and get ideas of where light and shadow are playing across the model, plus if you step away for a while it can be a good visual reminder

[Dantay VI]

Step 3

 

Now we come in with pure Standard Mech grey, again keep it watered down and pay attention to her you want your highlights to show

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_220630.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_220641.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_220649.jpg

I used te grey in the small areas here to get the light and shadow effect

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_220656.jpg

Note here I began putting my lighter colours where the light is hitting the pack, I also highlighted the inside lower edge of the vent

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_220714.jpg

You can see clearly here how I bring te highlight down the leg as the light would brighten it naturally, plus the highlights at the top of the claw/fist.

 

You can see how the highlight is working to give a natural light effect on the back of the left leg and leading edge of the fist.

[Dantay VI]

I like it a lot! The hair is super realistic and the red pops out great. If I might make one suggestion is a micron 0.1 pen for the lettering in the scroll in the power fist. Apply with brush gloss varnish first so you can rub it off if you don't like.

 

 

I have the micron pens, but I will take your advice on the gloss varnish, thanks for that.

 

Beyond that... Done!!

 

 http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232747.jpg

 

Well almost... Do I leave the circle plate gold or make it grey??

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232759.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232813.jpg

 

Do I leave the fore-arm grey, or paint it brown like leather?

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232827.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232838.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232657.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232708.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232715.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232724.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170304_232732.jpg

 

Beyond that done :D

 

Oh and I will get the painting guide done soon

[Dantay VI]

Grieux, how's that??

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_204151.jpg

[Nova_chron]

I'm digging the script on his claw

[Dantay VI]

Thanks Nova, and I will get the rest of the paint guide up soon....

 

With Geigor done, it is time to move on to some half finished projects.... ASSAULT squad  Rarr!!

 

Gonna double post for pics unfotunately

 

I neeed to really tidy up the helms, but I want any ideas you might have for them... For example considering painting a jaw bone or something on the IF helms or something as thay are quite bare and not feeling it so much where I cropped the nose piece back. Either that or r-do the gold eyelets a bit for a different design.  Thoughts??

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222324.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222315.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222240.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222229.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222103.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222055.jpg

 

Iron Warrior helms, keep the gold mot piece below the eyes, or go with steel, or just get rid of it and go all red?? Ideas please...

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222259.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222253.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222218.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222210.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222152.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222137.jpg

[Dantay VI]

And for the rest of the squad

 

Alpha Legion helms.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222338.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222123.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222117.jpg

 

No helms

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222400.jpg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170305_222347.jpg

 

Any thoughts or ideas with regards to pack markings etc... Want to do a nice runic,/ knotwork symbol for the mark 4 jump packs....

 

Thanks for looking :)

[Nova_chron]

What if you went with something reminiscent of a crow or raven/ some other bird from norse myth as a pack identifier maybe as a sign the warrant they are a part of... just my two cents

[Corswain]

Looking good. I like the jawbone idea, sounds awesome!

[betrayer41]

Looking good. I like the jawbone idea, sounds awesome!

Agreed, i strongly second the jawbone idea. I am practicing some freehand wolf jaws....not going great. 

[Dantay VI]

Betrayer, haveyou considered using the 40k SW decals, it comes with a set of4wolfteeth,might look good on a helm, or may look too Night Lord-ish.

 

Was gonna try but forgot my decals :(

 

Okay will try some freehand tonight and post the results :)

[Dantay VI]

Back to the painting :D

 

Alright, so last we saw, we were at the stage of using Standard mechanicus grey.. So now we are going with a roughly 50:50 mix of Standard Mechanicus grey and Dawnstone. 

Again I keep it quite thinned. 

You might notice when the paint goes on that it looks really bright. Do not panic, as when it dries it will dull down quite a bit, the brightness is just the water in the mix. It does have a good side though, as it helps you to spot where you just laid down the paint.

 

Off we go...

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223238.jpg

 

So again just catching close to the edges of the knee, and along where the light will naturally catch the shoulder pad, near the very top of the claw etc. I stop highlighting the armour at the chest at this point an a few other areas too, as they would not catch as much light as the very edges of the armour. The small amount of highlighting, helps give definition without making it all glowy.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223248.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223257.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223307.jpg

 

You can see here as the light has caught the upper part of the back of the leg tat the highlights continue, but the the back of the shoulder armour is darker, where I have stopped highlighting?. It would look really un-natural to make it so bright, plus on mini's sometimes it helps to "exaggerate" the shadows slightly because of the small scale of the miniatures.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223323.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223333.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223342.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223404.jpg

Back to the painting :D

 

Alright, so last we saw, we were at the stage of using Standard mechanicus grey.. So now we are going with a roughly 50:50 mix of Standard Mechanicus grey and Dawnstone. 

Again I keep it quite thinned. 

You might notice when the paint goes on that it looks really bright. Do not panic, as when it dries it will dull down quite a bit, the brightness is just the water in the mix. It does have a good side though, as it helps you to spot where you just laid down the paint.

 

Off we go...

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223238.jpg

 

So again just catching close to the edges of the knee, and along where the light will naturally catch the shoulder pad, near the very top of the claw etc. I stop highlighting the armour at the chest at this point an a few other areas too, as they would not catch as much light as the very edges of the armour. The small amount of highlighting, helps give definition without making it all glowy.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223248.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223257.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223307.jpg

 

You can see here as the light has caught the upper part of the back of the leg tat the highlights continue, but the the back of the shoulder armour is darker, where I have stopped highlighting?. It would look really un-natural to make it so bright, plus on mini's sometimes it helps to "exaggerate" the shadows slightly because of the small scale of the miniatures.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223323.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223333.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223342.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_223404.jpg

[Dantay VI]

So the armour is coming together nicely now.

 

The next step is to run with pure dawnstone, again quite diluted. 

 

Why diluted? Well for a few reasons

The thinner paint makes a the highlight less harsh and harder for the eye to pick up between the layers,

The tinner highlight also means you can use the same mix multiple times and build up the layers even more gradually if you so wish, or if i is not a bright emnough highlight, you can go over it again with the same mix.

Seriously diluted is better than thick paint

 

So once again, begin highlighting closer to the edges and leaving a small amount of the previous coat showing.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_224612.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_224624.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_224640.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_224653.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_224710.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_224722.jpg

 

 

And we are almost there.

[Dantay VI]

The home straight::

 

Well done for getting this far without nodding off

 

Last step

 

Dawnstone, 2: Administratum grey 1, dilute and basically start going on the edges. For sharp edges, such as the corner of the claw etc a tiny dot of pure admin grey to seal the deal, and done :)

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230044.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230052_1.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230102.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230108_1.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230126_1.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230135.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230144_1.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170303_230213.jpg

 

 

Well done....

 

Oh last thing. I take so many pictures and try to use the same angles a lot, this is because I can then go back over the pictures and use them as a point of reference. Work out what colours or highlights work and which do not etc.

 

Take plenty of photos and never be afraid to experiment :)

 

Have fun

[Jackalwolf]

Good stuff mate, really cool!

[Dantay VI]

Thanks Grieux, means a lot coming from someone as talented as yourself :)

 

I tried to do a jawbone/teeth effect on the helmets and.....

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_204251.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_204318.jpg

 

Really rough but maybe some potential there.

 

Also debated a steel face plate rather than red

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220216.jpg

 

Again potential but I am not sure.

 

Anyhoo, did some tidying up with the heads... baby steps :)

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220135.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220156.jpg

 

Faces look a lot less "flat in real life

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220353.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220415.jpg

Ugh, that helm is all kinds of rough

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220435.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220459.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220518.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20170308_220537.jpg

 

Thoughts??

[Nova_chron]

You are making me want assault squads even more... I'm definitely full blown bloodied claw mode now

[Dantay VI]

I have 30 of them in various stages of completion :)

 

I 3expected the assault marines to feature quite heavily... I also want to run lots of jump pack destroyers too.

 

I just need to work out what the Wolves assault markings are, If anyone knows please tell me

 

I liked ther suggestion of a raven on te jump packs, but I feel they are too narrow.

 

Might just do yellow on grey. Breachers seem to be black on grey slayeres are red on grey and there are black and yellow also... Will see.

[Nova_chron]

Yeah maybe just the wings and I'll see what I can dig up in inferno