Prohect Log: Literally my first ever Miniatures

[Pearson73]

12 minutes ago, hd3 said:

Yeah, I'm planning a wash with agrax and contrast med. Should I paint black on the joints before or after though?

 

If you want the joints to still be metallic, then you could just wash with black AND agrax, to get them dark and grimy. If you want a different material, than sure, go for black!

I'll also echo @Majkhel re dry brushing, you want much less than you think.

[hd3]

1 hour ago, Pearson73 said:

 

If you want the joints to still be metallic, then you could just wash with black AND agrax, to get them dark and grimy. If you want a different material, than sure, go for black!

I'll also echo @Majkhel re dry brushing, you want much less than you think.

black, agrax and contrast med? or just black and agrax? also what ratio should i mix it at?

[Pearson73]

I've not used contrast medium, so can't really comment. For washes, I either apply them separately, or one atop the other when they're still wet. Just mixing them and adjusting as looks good. That said, I generally go for a grimy look, using lots of washes, stippling and drybrush. It's not fancy or neat, but is forgiving on mistakes! 

What kind of style are you aiming for?

[hd3]

29 minutes ago, Pearson73 said:

I've not used contrast medium, so can't really comment. For washes, I either apply them separately, or one atop the other when they're still wet. Just mixing them and adjusting as looks good. That said, I generally go for a grimy look, using lots of washes, stippling and drybrush. It's not fancy or neat, but is forgiving on mistakes! 

What kind of style are you aiming for?

 

Im not really sure as its my first outing. I suppose a look with good contrasts and rusts

[Grotsmasha]

Do the black second, as the washes will mildly tint it.

For holding the minis, blutac / poster putty and a bottle cap is what I use when I have a bunch of models to do (I have like 50 caps available at any one time). When I'm working on a single model I use GW's holder. 

[hd3]

8 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

Do the black second, as the washes will mildly tint it.

For holding the minis, blutac / poster putty and a bottle cap is what I use when I have a bunch of models to do (I have like 50 caps available at any one time). When I'm working on a single model I use GW's holder. 

Ok, I'll wash with agrax and contrast  med and then paont black legion contrast around the joints. Regarding the holders, that reminds me , a friebd of mine insists on painting all the limbs separately and then assemling. Is tgere any reason that approach wouldn't work? Beyond being maybeva bit slower

[hd3]

17 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

Do the black second, as the washes will mildly tint it.

For holding the minis, blutac / poster putty and a bottle cap is what I use when I have a bunch of models to do (I have like 50 caps available at any one time). When I'm working on a single model I use GW's holder. 

Here i've washed with contrast medium and cryptek armorshade gloss and added a base coat of abaddon black to the gauss flayer. The left habd of the necron is still giving me grief, i can't seem to get the paint to atick to the underside if the fingers and i gad to touch it up with runelord and brass scorpion after spillingbsome black on it.

 

Im debating if I should recess shade the lines on the ribcage while im touching up the joints with black

I am also starting to think aboit the base, ideally I'd loke the terraib to match the game mat that came with the set, 

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-JP/Warhammer-40000-Command-Edition-EN-2020

But I have no clue how to make the terrain match that

Edited September 2, 2022 by hd3

[Pearson73]

Looking really solid, I'd defo shade the ribcage to get a bit more contrast.

[hd3]

9 hours ago, Pearson73 said:

Looking really solid, I'd defo shade the ribcage to get a bit more contrast.

I was going to paint the cartush black and then highlight with white as well

Edited September 3, 2022 by hd3

[hd3]

I had to do a bit more touching up on the macragge blue and abaddon black for the shading on the ultramarine, finally adding leadbelcher for the chainsword teeth and the gun barrel. The magazine depicts these as black but I was thinking of painting the handles mephiston red like the old ultramarine gear for betrer contrast

 

for the necron, ive added black legion contrast on the joints and ribcage for shading and a little warplock bronze to touch up the colour  where it spilled over

Edited September 5, 2022 by hd3

[hd3]

Added the other colours today, retributor armor for the shoulder pad lining and wings, corax white for the skull which i dabbed with agrax earthshade in the eye sockets. Mephiston red for the weapon casings and eye lenses. Lead belcher for the undersides and chain teeth. 

 

The necron was far more difficult. I had real trouble getting the corax white to settle on the gauss flayrrr gun barrel properly as well as doing both the barrel and eyes wuth tesseract glow. The biggest difficulty  was the cartush on the chest by far. I wanted a black background with the white glyph but the white spilled almost immediately, so I ended up painting the whole panel white and washing with agrax. I also added canoptek alley to the shoilder pad rims and the face.

[Pearson73]

Nice to see those final colours coming together on the Ultramarine. The glow effects on the Necron are really nice too, don't be so hard on yourself!

[Majkhel]

For the Corax white application - if it spilled too much, then the paint consistency on your brush was too liquid.
For such application like only on the raised edges, you should have a fairly dry paint on your brush.

It's basically the same principle as with edge-highlighting: you need to have your paint relatively thick so that it stays where you touch the surface and not spill everywhere.
Alternative is a drybrushing approach, where you have even less and more dried paint on your brush.

You'll get it, now worries!
Metallics on the necron are already looking really good

Edited September 6, 2022 by Majkhel

[Grotsmasha]

Both of those are coming along quite well

 

In regards to the white for the glyph, you want to use the side / flat of your brush with 99% of the paint wiped off of your brush, and do it in two or three passes.

[hd3]

18 minutes ago, Grotsmasha said:

Both of those are coming along quite well

 

In regards to the white for the glyph, you want to use the side / flat of your brush with 99% of the paint wiped off of your brush, and do it in two or three passes.

Not to intentionally sound dumb but when you say, the side/flat, what exactly do you mean? Flatten the bristles?

[Grotsmasha]

In the image, you would run the brush flat like that top to bottom as this significantly reduces the risk of paint sloshing into the recesses. 

[hd3]

12 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

In the image, you would run the brush flat like that top to bottom as this significantly reduces the risk of paint sloshing into the recesses. 

ok ill give it a try! Im also debating redoing the eyes with canoptek alloy and then trying to get a neater eye glow if you had any tips on how to hot a really tiny target neatly

[hd3]

The wash  on the chesr cartush actually looks not too terrible though its not what I wanted. The glow on the gauss flayer looks far too messy to me. I wanted the tesseract glow to pool neatly in the recesses and contrast sharply against the black.  And I can still see bits of corax white. Any advice for making it look neater?

After I m finished with the paint, im going to spray topcoat matt varnish over it

Edited September 7, 2022 by hd3

[Grotsmasha]

For the eyes, do a light Nuln Oil wash, it will make the eyes pop a lot more. Once you've dropped the wash onto the eyes, rinse out your brush, dry it a bit on paper towel and use it it wick any excess wash away, making sure it's really only in the recess.

For the Tesseract glow, brush on a second lighter coat, very little on the brush directly onto the areas where you can still see the white. Then give it a bit of time to dry ~15mins or so, then using the same edge og the brush technique, carefully come back with the black redefining it's edges, giving that contrast you're after.

[hd3]

More or less finished the Necron now. The white on black chest cartush came out closer to what I wanted, but still looks too messy l. Getting the tesseract glow to pool properly along the gauss flayer recesses was really difficult to achieve too.  It almost seems like a tesseract wash might work better. The eyes are so small too, im worried i lost all the details. I might need a stronger magnifying glass to do the eyes in future. 

Finished colour blocking the ultramarine too. I was able to use agrax to bring out the details on the seal but not the paper strip, which I would love to include writing on down the line.

 

Im also going to need a mich better fine detail brush. I heaed rosemary and co are good but I dont know which is the fine detail one.

 

Also, do you add tge decal transfers before ot after you spray on the topcoat varnisj?

Edited September 7, 2022 by hd3

[Grotsmasha]

If you have a gloss varnish, apply it to the shoulder pad and let it dry before doing the decal, this will give it a smoother surface to apply to, and it less likely to tear when you are positioning it. Once the decal is completely dry and set, then apply your top coat varnish.

 

In regards to magnifiers, go to your local chemist (or equivelant) and get a pair of 3x reading glasses, they have been a massive help to me when painting the finer details.

[hd3]

1 hour ago, Grotsmasha said:

If you have a gloss varnish, apply it to the shoulder pad and let it dry before doing the decal, this will give it a smoother surface to apply to, and it less likely to tear when you are positioning it. Once the decal is completely dry and set, then apply your top coat varnish.

 

In regards to magnifiers, go to your local chemist (or equivelant) and get a pair of 3x reading glasses, they have been a massive help to me when painting the finer details.

Spoiler

 

I was going to go with more of a matt varnish actually. But O guess I can add a little gloss on the shoulder before i spray on the top coat. Any suggested brands? 

 

I bought a magnifying glass lamp which has been a big help but its still  tough to see the exceptionally small details on some models. You mean x3 magnification right? Do they need to be prescription?

[hd3]

8 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

For the eyes, do a light Nuln Oil wash, it will make the eyes pop a lot more. Once you've dropped the wash onto the eyes, rinse out your brush, dry it a bit on paper towel and use it it wick any excess wash away, making sure it's really only in the recess.

For the Tesseract glow, brush on a second lighter coat, very little on the brush directly onto the areas where you can still see the white. Then give it a bit of time to dry ~15mins or so, then using the same edge og the brush technique, carefully come back with the black redefining it's edges, giving that contrast you're after.

nuln oil gloss or shade?

[Grotsmasha]

Decals: if you don't already have a gloss varnish, it's not necessary, just make sure to put a bit of water onto the shoulder before the decal to ensure you can position it freely. (Gloss because it's much smoother, which allows the decal to move with much less resistance, a Matt varnish won't help any as it have the same .... "bumpy" finish as the paint)

Yep, x3 magnification, reading glasses don't require a prescription, should be dirt cheap 15AU here.

Eyes: Gloss or Regular doesn't matter, and personal preference for the end result, but if you're going to be varnishing they will both have the same end finish.

[Rusted Boltgun]

What magnification is your current ring? I think mine is 3x and I find that I have to have the mini farther away than I expect to get a really good close up image. I can't use the reading specs as I'm already wearing specs!

I use the Citadel mini holder and find it works well but I have to be careful when using it and my magnifier, getting a brush in there too.  Not a great deal of room.

I have also recently purchased some Rosemary and Co brushes. Have only used the size 0 so far though, really pleased with it. Handles are a bit thin but a nice long tip. I made a selection after reading the Fauxhammer article on the web, other sources of info are available for balance, I'm sure.

I'm pretty new to this too so I'm by no means an Oracle!