The Lichborne - Homebrew Warband - Equerry completed

[Volgon]

@Pearson73 Thank you friend! I actually did attempt some OSL on the shield runes, but don't recall why I decided against it. I don't have an airbrush and a limited selection of red paints so it probably just didn't look good enough to me. Regardless I am very happy with the shield. So happy in fact that I am looking to start incorporating more Ossiarch Bonereapers themes in future conversions. I have tinkered around a bit with some very bespoke kitbashed Terminators using OBR parts from multiple kits.

 

And I appreciate the painting comments, too. My painting has certainly slowed down even more the last few projects but I get a lot of satisfaction seeing the completed result. The project I am working on now is even more technical. I am trying to incorporate even more volumes than previously. I think I did a decent job of that on the shield guy; it was my first real attempt at that style of painting, so it's time to push it a bit further. 

 

After that, I'm looking to incorporate a new black recipe into my scheme. I don't mind how I do the black areas currently; the black you see is literally just the black primer but touched up where needed with Vallejo Black. The chipping, weathering, and lately the rust adds a lot to the look, and the flatness helps it come across as exactly how I want it to: a surface painted with matte black paint rather than actual black metal, or more commonly the look of blue-ish metal/paint since many people tend to paint or highlight black armor with blues.

 

Lately it's been nagging me that I kind of just coast by on the black though; while I feel like I'm "leveling up" my painting trying different recipes and techniques for other surfaces, I haven't done that with the black, so I want to try something technical and difficult just because I can. What's been holding me back is twofold:

1. I haven't found a recipe I liked (until a few days ago). It is imperative that I keep the look of the black areas, well, as black as possible, so it's been a real struggle for me to find examples of potential recipes that fit my criteria and painting situation. Lots of blue-black armors (wrong color), lots of high contrast blacks (think NMM style, so basically gleaming armor when I want ultra matte looking black), lots of weathered armor (essentially what I'm doing now). The closest I got was "warm black", so using dark warm greys like Skavenblight Dinge and Stormvermin Fur. I finally found an example that looks perfect for me on an old post on Dakkadakka; it's on cloth and looks very natural, but I'm hoping it translates well to armor plates. Fingers crossed.
2. The limited areas I have that are actually black. It's almost entirely trim with very sparse spots where I can actually work the volumes (essentially just the thighs). I worry about working in such small areas, in both a physical sense of using a brush and also whether any contrast will actually show up well with the selection of colors I have picked. I specifically want a low contrast look for the black but that just might not work that well. Time will tell.

Sorry for the ramble! Just putting some thoughts to paper since finishing the last guy.