Painting dark hunters shoulder pad icon

[Sgt.Sangha]

Hi guys does anyone know a good way of painting the dark hunters shoulder badge. I am referring to the 2 headed axe

[Grotsmasha]

 

Hey guys the title says it all. I wish to start a dark hunters force but i dont know how to paint the axe which is the chapter symbol. Does anyone have a neat trick on how to go about it doing free hand?

 

I'd hit up Pop Goes the Monkey on Shapeways, have him do their curved shoulder icon for you, or try these from Plokoone's bitz,

https://www.shapeways.com/product/H2PRA2C5F/axe-v-7-shoulder-pads-x10?optionId=61865184

 

[Grotsmasha]

Free hand takes practice. I suggest drawing an outline, or printing a page of correct scale outlines, and do some practice on paper. Then move to spare pads, then onto your actual miniatures.

 

If you've never free-handed before, it'll probably be ~10 or so practice runs before you have a good method with consistent results.

 

But basically start with a skeleton of the shape, blocking basic shapes, then paint the shoulder to define the shape, rather than painting the shape itself.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Bryan Blaire]

I agree with Grotsmasha, there is nothing lost and only gain by cleaning up freehand with the background color. You can make your shapes much sharper this way, don't be afraid to do it or not get the initial shape 100% perfect on your first pass painting it - you will get much better results continuing to refine what is painted on the pauldron inset by cleaning up.

[Sgt.Sangha]

Thank you guys for your advice

[Bryan Blaire]

Something else to hopefully help some: when you are free-handing, keep your lines to shorter spaces - you can even make a dotted outline of the shape you want to paint, and then just connect the dots. Also, minimize the amount of curves you need to draw as curves are notoriously difficult to get symmetrical.

 

For the Dark Hunters badge, I would start making a center line the height of the badge you want for the main haft, then make a crossing line about 1/5th of the way down the haft line. Then I would sketch out the thickness of the haft, and make the lines for the thickness of the join of the blade to the haft. From there, I would make the lines for either top of the axe blades, and then the angled lines for the bottom of the blade. Draw the blade edges, then the short lines parallel to the haft from the inside of the blades. Last, make the four curves to the haft join and fill in. Then clean up.

[Sgt.Sangha]

Thank you Bryan that seems like a good way to start