Nighttime Raven Guard

[Johanhgg]

Hey!

 

I’m taking my first steps into ambient lightning, going to try to repaint my raven guard into nighttime-atmosphere.

 

What you guys think? Any help and feedback is much appreciated!

 

[Brother Tyler]

I think that this is a great concept and it would look really cool, especially in a diorama where the models can work in a holistic manner with the terrain. It won't look quite as "right" on the tabletop against brightly painted enemy miniatures, but it will still look really cool.

 

At a first glance, it looks like the model is mostly black with zenithal lighting and splashes of color where light is hitting a surface. Looking a little bit closer, I think that the skin is different, representing the normally bleached skin tone of the Raven Guard as it might look in the dark; and I think I see glints on certain metallic surfaces. Both of those are very good and help to make it clear that this isn't just a primed/basecoated miniature with a few splashes of light.

 

If I was going to incorporate this technique (I won't, I promise), I would include more details. As it is, it looks how something might appear to someone whose vision hasn't adjusted to the darkness, so everything is very dark. Typically, however, more details become visible once one's vision has adjusted to the darkness.

 

The image above isn't in the dead of night when it's darkest, admittedly, but it demonstrates how details remain visible even in darkness. Colors become muted, but areas of contrast remain visibly distinct (note the camouflage, knuckles on the gloves, etc.). Even with the predominantly black Raven Guard, there are areas where contrast can be shown. The most ready examples are the pauldrons, where you can use greys for the Chapter and squad badges. Similarly, the terrain might be a bit lighter, perhaps effected by the application of a wash or contrast paint - unless the broken rubble is naturally the same black as the power armour of the Raven Guard.

 

Whatever you end up doing, I can't wait to see the finished results.

[Guest]

Thanks mate for the thorough answer. Yeah I get and agree with everything you say. There is variances on the model, the skin, the metallic parts and some blue-brown pouches on the back, tbh I didn’t put too much attention on the gear because I primarily wanted to test my idea of the ambient lightning on the black armour.

 

I feel that I’m going through with this project, I love raven guard, and I love to project a feeling/atmosphere with the models. And it’s a fun break from my usual painting.

 

This started as an idea for my up and coming 30k night lords, but I’m going to implement it on raven guard as well :)

 

And I’m really tired of trying to find a black nuance that I’m happy with, I really believe black is the hardest Colour to make really well. I do respect the black->dark grey->light grey->wash approached but I need something different :)

 

More will come

[SanguinaryGuardsman]

Were we separated at birth?  You have painted every single army I have!  

 

 

So I'm now working on my second black armoured army(top secret!) and one thing I noticed when airbrushing black is that not all blacks are truly black.  For example, if you use Vallejo Mecha Black and airbrush pure white over it... it will appear noticeably blue whereas if you do the same thing to Vallejo Model Colour Black it will appear grey.  So you should experiment with different blacks before coming up with a scheme. 

 

My own ambient black raven guard... although I wasn't really trying for an ambient scheme it just turned out that way. 

 

  

Edited January 11, 2021 by SanguinaryGuardsman

[Guest]

Skipping the ambient lightning idea, to hard for me right now. Instead moving into oilpaint-territory.

 

These marines was only painted with oilpaints, except metallics and red. I’m really happy with this, this will be the start of a brand new raven guard army.

 

[duz_]

I really dig the colours and idea! Maybe some subtle highlights just to draw some attention to the eye?

[WAR]

I like the oil ones better than the night experiment. But they all look great!.

[jpwyrm]

Very good job. Oil paints are so interesting yet mysterious for the neophyte like me 

 

If you want to revisit the moonlight idea, I suggest you take a look at Migsula's work on Instagram, particularly his Alpha Legion. He was doing them with the same premise and they look gorgeous. Maybe he could give you a hint on how to translate that on black.

 

Cheers!

[Guest]

Thanks guys! I’m scrapping the night time-idea and dvelve deeper into oils instead.

 

Yeah migsulas true scale-alpha legionaries is great, it involves a lot of techniques like airbrushing enalmels and using alcoholics on acryllic washes, so it’s out reach for me, I don’t have time to spend that much on each model

[Dracos]

Thanks guys! I’m scrapping the night time-idea and dvelve deeper into oils instead.

 

Yeah migsulas . . . . using alcoholics  . . . . 

 

 

Doesn't sound like a very nice guy this migsulas ;)

[Guest]

 

 

Thanks guys! I’m scrapping the night time-idea and dvelve deeper into oils instead.

 

Yeah migsulas . . . . using alcoholics . . . .

 

Doesn't sound like a very nice guy this migsulas ;)

LOL :)

 

Might as well gather all the raven guard-ish armies here

 

[WAR]

[Tavus Wrack]

Might be of interest?

[thewarriorhunter]

Nice models, but if they are Raven Guard marines in the night, how come I can still see them? Some of you might not know it, but we all have a perfectly represented Raven Guard army. We just can't see them. Wonder what your TT opponent would say if you fielded such a force.

Just push a bunch of bases around the table.

 

OP - I really like the oil based approach you did.