Incompetence at Work: Night Lords

[Lucerne]

Is there a specific approach you use for the lenses and bronze?

[Captain Incompetence]

Is there a specific approach you use for the lenses and bronze?

The Bronze trim is just Decayed Metal from Scale75 and the shells are Old Copper, also from Scale75. Nothing else was done to them.

 

The lenses are a bit of a process, but it sounds more complicated than it is. I start with applying a standard red colour that's not too dark and not too bright on both the lenses and underneath where there's a bit of a glow. Then I apply my darkest red tint into the bottom crevice between the glow and the lense, ensuring that I also add a bit of that tint on the bottom side of the lense. Afterwards I apply a brighter tint of red in the corner of the lense and a bit in the area where there's a glow (between 33 and 50% give or take). Then I take my brightest red tint and apply a smaller highlight in the lense. I then follow up by applying a small offwhite dot to simulate light reflecting off the surface.

 

The specific colours I used are once again Scale75, but you can just apply this method to any brand of paint you want, as long as you have around 3 types of red and an off-white colour like Vallejo Ivory or GW Ushabti Bone or something along those lines.

 

Darkest tint: Deep Red + Black Leather 1:1 - Note this is really really dark, almost a dark purple tone rather than a red.

Medium tint: Blood Red + Red Ink 1:1

Bright tint: Antares Red + Red Ink 1:1

Brightest tint: Aldebran Red + White Sand 1:1

White dot: White Sand

 

I hope I didn't make it sound too confusing.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Captain Incompetence

[Isengrin]

Decayed Metal is such a fine, versatile paint and Scale75 in general is awesome. Your guys look great together in the squad! 

[Captain Incompetence]

Didn't get much painting done since last time, but I did finish the minor conversions on some members of what will most likely become Third Claw.

 

 

Some of the minor conversions came out better than others, specifically the two left shoulderpads could be improved. Need to learn how to apply greenstuff a bit more evenly and smoothly across larger surfaces. Still, pretty happy with the final results, though I might still go back and make some minor changes here or there.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Captain Incompetence

[Master Umbra]

Very solid! I envy your blendings :).

[Captain Incompetence]

Very solid! I envy your blendings .

Thanks, I'm still learning to be more consistent with it though. Sometimes it goes on smoothly, other times it's a bit messy. Luckily, the messy blends tends to be obscured a lot with all the detail on these minis.

[Master Umbra]

I feel you. Just left my painting session a bit frustrated because of that. Keep up the good work!

[Daedrolol]

 

Is there a specific approach you use for the lenses and bronze?

The Bronze trim is just Decayed Metal from Scale75 and the shells are Old Copper, also from Scale75. Nothing else was done to them.

 

The lenses are a bit of a process, but it sounds more complicated than it is. I start with applying a standard red colour that's not too dark and not too bright on both the lenses and underneath where there's a bit of a glow. Then I apply my darkest red tint into the bottom crevice between the glow and the lense, ensuring that I also add a bit of that tint on the bottom side of the lense. Afterwards I apply a brighter tint of red in the corner of the lense and a bit in the area where there's a glow (between 33 and 50% give or take). Then I take my brightest red tint and apply a smaller highlight in the lense. I then follow up by applying a small offwhite dot to simulate light reflecting off the surface.

 

The specific colours I used are once again Scale75, but you can just apply this method to any brand of paint you want, as long as you have around 3 types of red and an off-white colour like Vallejo Ivory or GW Ushabti Bone or something along those lines.

 

Darkest tint: Deep Red + Black Leather 1:1 - Note this is really really dark, almost a dark purple tone rather than a red.

Medium tint: Blood Red + Red Ink 1:1

Bright tint: Antares Red + Red Ink 1:1

Brightest tint: Aldebran Red + White Sand 1:1

White dot: White Sand

 

I hope I didn't make it sound too confusing.

 

 

I don't know why, but when I saw the highlight on my shoulder, not only did I have a keen desire to play Diablo 2, but I also started playing the OST in my head. In general, it's a wonderful blue and I really want to paint it just as well (but rather black armor than blue).

[Captain Incompetence]

Figured it's been a while since I've updated this in any meaningful way, so here's some wip pictures. Been very busy the last couple of months, but I got a lot more free time coming up, so I'm hoping to make further progress on my Shadowspear models.





Quality of the pictures isn't great, but I've been experimenting a bit with the colour scheme trying to determine what works best. I think going very bright seems to be the winning formula.

[Verux]

Very cool work up on the armor!

[Captain Incompetence]

Did some more work today and experimented with making my bone colour a bit less vibrant than before. It might not be super noticeable from afar, but I'm very excited with how it turned out, so I figured I'd share it here. Only the helmet is done right now, but the rest will follow tomorrow as my paint was drying out super fast in the heat today, even on my wet palette .
 

 

 

I'm also kind of scared of painting helmet lenses now as I only just noticed it doesn't actually have lenses sculpted in the eyesockets .

[Master Umbra]

Solid! I think that bone color matches them quite a lot!

Mhh, maybe you can add two tiny balls of GS and paint them? Or perhaps it is best to leave that alone... it's suitably eerie as it is now.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Master Umbra

[Verux]

I would say dot of white then add color to fill the socket. What color are you planning on using?

[Captain Incompetence]

I would say dot of white then add color to fill the socket. What color are you planning on using?

The white dot might not be a bad idea. I'm not sure what you're asking in regards to the colour though.

[Verux]

Apologies if I wasn't clear. I would put a dot of white in the socket and use a glaze that matches the lens of your marines.

[Captain Incompetence]

Ah, that makes sense and it is something I was considering myself. Been messing around with inks a bit trying to create a bit of a glowing effect. Will have to give it a shot on some old marine helmets before I commit to it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Captain Incompetence]

And we're calling this spooky boy done. First time trying out some freehand, it's a bit wonky but I'm quite happy with the final result.

 

 

 

[apologist]

Very nice painterly finish – I like the dappled, textural effect on the helm in particular, but the sensitive approach to the armour highlighting has given it real depth and quality.

[Master Umbra]

Man, the eyes turned out really good! I am happy for you! How did you do it in the end? Is it pure paint? As for the rest, I particularly love the effect on the plasma coils, but the whole thing looks awesome.

[Valkia the Bloody]

Looking very good! I am near useless with free-hand, so great effort.

I also like the effect on the armor.

[Captain Incompetence]

Man, the eyes turned out really good! I am happy for you! How did you do it in the end? Is it pure paint? As for the rest, I particularly love the effect on the plasma coils, but the whole thing looks awesome.

Thanks! I painted in the shape of a lense inside the eyesocket with a white paint, then I applied a thinned down mix of paint and a red ink to the surface. Afterwards I dotted in some extra highlights to make the lenses pop, which turned out pretty good.

[Master Umbra]

Awesome method. It turned out great!

[CosmicLibrarium]

Incredible work on these models, very inspiring! 

[Chaplain Killmer]

I can see why you receive some Ultramarines vibes. Did you consider to do something with the gold trims? Those are very clean (very nice work) but it is similar to the modern interpretation of the UMs. I personally like your work - always good to see nightlords that do not look cartoony.

[Xenith]

These are looking really nice, great work on the plasma glow!