Order of Sacred Absolution

[Ezr91aeL]

Uff! You came before with a so similar color scheme... Anyway, ITS :cuss in BEAUTIFUL! Great job!

[Servant of Dante]

That freehand does look amazing, and the colors complement eachother nicely :)

[Rizara]

Here she is, Finished. I decided against having her armor weathered and chipped. This is partly due to the fact that her armor looks sort of glossy to me, but also because lets face it, the sisters are tiny compared to marines and don't have as many large edged surfaced. The way i see it, the sister's take pride in the blessed armor anointed to them by the emperor, so this is before it gets all battle worn and bloody.

Anyways, I present to you, Saint Aislyn (Celestine of course), the patron Saint of the Order of Sacred Absolution.

I am still working on the twins, trying to decide their hair colors. I gave my Saint white hair, because I felt since she is well, technically dead, since she gets killed and reincarnated over and over, giving her the stark white hair works. I want to give the rest of my sisters more natural hair colors.

I wish i could get more crisp detailed pics, but alas, my camera isn't good enough for the small details.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on Celestine. She looks surprisingly good in black armor.

[Rizara]

thanks.  I really never cared for the all gold armor, especially if the rest of the battle sisters are sporting black.   I opted to leave out any gold in my color scheme, with the golden yellow, it felt it might class some, but I had planned to do some gold originally on her armor, however I felt that they are a pious bunch so they do not want to have any gold accessories, even if it is a gold plated bolter or gold trimmed power sword.      Besides, being the only jump pack sister with actual wings will make her stand out enough on the field of battle and any real general knows, as a leader, you don't really want to stand out as putting a target on your head usually isn't a good thing.   Luckily for Celestine she just keeps on standing back up even when killed.  

[WarriorFish]

The yellow wings is a great choice, really complements the model's overall aesthetic - she looks great! :D

[Ezr91aeL]

Yellow wings are an awesome idea. Very good job.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Yellow wings made me think of Mercy, from the video game 'Overwatch'. Mercy is a support unit (a medic), not a front line fighter, though.

[Rizara]

oh i didn't even think of mercy from overwatch.  I wasn't sure what color I was going to do the feather areas of the wings when I started.  My first idea was to go with gold, but that was before paint has begun, and only because I had contemplated making them no feel like real wings but more so keeping them apparently augmented wings or metallica as part of her backpack.  It was when I was painting, that I decided to take the yellow from the robes and bring it to the wings, since the majority of the backpack would be black and metal.    

 

And mercy being strictly a support unit in overwatch makes her name a bit more ironic, considering the definition of mercy.  Yes the doctor generally gets to have mercy when they are in control, but a combat medic that was more offense and less full on support would be better suited for the name of mercy, as then they are the ones who decides if you live or die.   Oh well, irony is what sells the character I suppose.   

[WarriorFish]

I don't know, Aislyn can bring people back from the dead. If that's not a medic (albeit a peerless one!) I don't know what is :P If your medic also chops up enemies good, then that's gravy. You could argue that's a preventative health measure too ;)

[Rizara]

Made a little more progress on the twins tonight, sorry joe pics of them till I finish them. That being said, I only have to finish their back packs, add the levels to the bases, highlight the black of their armor, add the final highlights to the silver metal parts, and paint their sword blades. I ended up going with a blonde and a red head for my twins.

 

With these models taking me no time, it has me thinking of what I will add next to the army. My idea for the army is to buy and paint one unit at a time, as I don't want to add to much to quickly and get bogged down, plus I am on sort of a budget. Sadly the army as a whole will have to wait till they release new plastics, because I really can't see paying the prices for old metal figures and eBay really isn't much of a deal for sisters. So that being said, I figure I might look into a few rhinos unless I can catch gw having their immolators in stock. This means I can work on getting the armory done so when I get the squads I don't have to worry about their transports. Another option is picking up the resin cannones says my local store has like six copies but apparent no sister players. The rules seem nice for her, and as much as it is a tribute to Blanche's art work, I don't really like the model as a whole, because her head is awful as far as sculpts go. I also don't care for the skulls on the base, so getting the model to fit with the army won't be easy as I have to figure out what to do with the skulls and my bases.

 

So I guess what would you guys recommend next? Canoness, rhinos, or maybe convert an exorcist? Cause I don't care for the organ tank, so figuring out something different than ooh I added a whirlwind turret and called it a sisters tank? If I do the exorcist, I was thinking of using the models base and extra armor, I just need something in place of the organ on top.

[Servant of Dante]

Herm. I suppose transports are allways good, but even then the immolator doubles as a really unique looking Sisters Rhino (just switch out the turret - it comes with a rhino turret). Personally, the organ Exorcist is half the reason I'm even here right now, so . . . no suggestions there. :P Maybe Verridian? I don't have her (yet) but she is a neat and iconic model (well, her picture on the 2E codex is iconic).

[Rizara]

Yeah, the second edition codex is the only reason part of me wants her, as my first 40k army ever was sisters, it's what got me into playing the game to begin with, and I lost like every game in second edition unless i played orcs or Tyranids. As for the exorcist, I always liked the forgeworld turret, and I found some knock offs on eBay. Tempted to invest, as it would give me the option for an exorcist, but it just doesn't feel as cool looking when compared to newer kits. Mi was looking at the space marine hunter, I like that giant gun, just wondering how I could convert it. Course I could get these forgeworld knock offs of the old sister exorcist turrets and combine it with the stalker turret, then sister up the hull of the rhino chassis. Might could work as a bit more modern looking exorcist.

 

As for the organ, well I can see the appeal, it's just to me, it feels more like an emperors children weapon with the, liking sonic weapons over the sisters. Sure churches have organs, but as a weapon, I feel it's just a cheesy tank that fits more of a sonic weapon type than a missile tank. I would however like to make the exorcist a bit more beefy and church like in the front, so converting it would give me a chance to sculpt something for the hull, and to sketch out some new ideas for it. Did I mention I also,like the idea of using the stalker/ hunter kit for the bracing legs on those rhino chassis. Bracing the tank still before firing it fits a heavy battle tank.

[Rizara]

Twins are finished. I present to you, Palatine Jaina (Blonde) and Palatine Cara (Red Head), the Gemini Twins that protect and escort Saint Aislyn on the battle field.

Overall I am really happy with this color scheme and the way the bases are turning out. Its felt like a lot of sand color but the leaves break it up just enough. I was also trying to keep in mind a color scheme that wouldn't be too difficult for an entire army, and the black armor helps in that respect. It lets me focus on the yellow more, and the detailing, while having the army still stand out as different yet close enough to feel like an official color scheme.

I only wish, they would hurry up and release the new plastic sisters, as they felt rather quick to paint compared to the old metal ones for some reason (although that is probably just my mind playing tricks on me due to the enjoyment of actually getting to paint the new girls). I will say however that I felt the older metal figures had more depth to their faces, as these models felt a little flat on the face. Jes did a great job with the original sisters, and this feels like I am starting over a little bit back in second edition, when my very first models were the original sisters.

Guess now I need to invest in some tanks to pass my time till I can build the rest of the girls in power armor. So up next will be either Canonness Veridan, a rhino, sketches/drawings of sisters, or some exorcist conversions of the Hunter. I have this idea to make that cannon into a rotating missle launcher system, it just looks like a big impressive weapon, and feels like it could work. Just not sure how to make it feel like it shoots several missles at once is all.

[Servant of Dante]

Cool! I do really like the black and yellow color scheme. I still like the metal models :P

[Shifte]

These look fantastic. <3

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work. The broken pillars make them look like they're fighting in the ruins of a city- an actual battlefield- instead of posing in a photography studio, with scrolls hanging from their waists form dramatic effect ONLY.

[WarriorFish]

Great work! How did you do the hair?

[Hod]

I really like how those three turned out. I love seeing new color schemes and that black and yellow really look good on them. Nice job on the freehand, I hope I have enough balls to pull it off on my new Celestine (freehand on flowing fabric is the hardest).

[Rizara]

yes, free hand on flowing fabric isn't easy.  Trick though is to mind the folds, luckily for me, I have had some practice with that from drawing and painting classes (as I just graduated in December with a BFA in Illustration).   So that makes it a little easier when you have done still lifes using drapes, you get practice with making the folds and the shadows look right, and you get better at designs and patterns when you pick a drape with stripes or designs on them.   

 

As for the hair.   Well for Celestine, i just did a light grey (adeptus grey I think it was), gave it too thin coats to hide any black showing through, then I gave it a blue and black mixxed wash, then picked it out with a few layers of white.    For the blonde I used rucksack tan (privateer Press) as a base, giving it two thin coats to again hide the black primer, then I mixxed the tan with the golden yellow to give it a yellow tint, and gave it a highlight of that, essentially creating hair strokes, going from the top center down to the edge, unless there were specific sculpted hair strands like in the front.   I think took that mix and gradually added in some Menoth White base (again privateer press paint), which is more like a good bone white color, and gradually added that in for 1-2 layers of highlights, then a thin highlight of just the bone color.   

 

For the red head, I based it in a brown/orange mix, if you can get your hands on an orangish brown color like GW's old vermin brown, or Vallejo game color Parasite Brown, that will work.   This gives the base for the red hair that already orange coloring.  I thin added in more orange to the mix, then I put a wash of Sepia over the hair to enrich the shadows.   After the wash dried, I then did a solid orange layer of hair strokes, followed by a highlight layer of orange mixxed with the bone color, more of a 3:1 mix, with a final tip highlight of a 50/50 mix of orange and bone.   I don't want it to become to pale in color, but I want it to look like the light is catching edges of hair strands.   

 

The trick is trying to emulate natural hair colors instead of fake looking hair.    Besides the art degree, I also have a year of working for GW back in 2003 under my belt, where I got to paint tons of miniatures and armies for the store.   After learning to paint to near golden demon quality (I almost won one after I had left GW, but the model I entered didn't get the gold due to her power sword not being up to par as the rest of the figure and its blending (I was still learning to do power weapon glow effects at that time).    Anyways, after reaching that level, it took me several years to learn to cut back on painting figures to just a looks good on the table quality rather than trying to paint an entire army to really high standards and never finishing it.    

 

I have limited myself to pretty much a base coat, wash, 2 layers for most of my army models now, with some areas getting 3 or 4 highlight layers.   This is a huge step back from the 7-10 slow blended highlight layers I had worked myself up to after a year at GW.     Now I will satisfied if I could just finish an army paintwise before either growing tired of it, selling it, or getting distracted by the next new shiny army.    Thankfully I took a year out of the 40k hobby to patiently wait for new sister models, because I have grown tired of space marine armies or xenos armies, and simply want to get back to my first army  and probably now 5th attempt at starting a new sisters army over the past 20 years.  

 

As for the yellow, yes it does look good, I really like how it brings out the black armor as well.   I just wish I could get my hand on GW's really old yellow ink, because that stuff was amazing for painting yellow armies, simply prime it a nice solid coat of white, then apply the ink, let it sit, instant shaded yellow armor sections which was great for vehicles.