The Lichborne - Homebrew Warband

[Volgon]

@Dr_Ruminahui Appreciate the suggestions, just yesterday I saw someone who used what looked to be cut up paper clips as stitching which I thought was a smart idea, so that or staples (sounds like we came up with the same idea in parallel!) would be something I'd like to explore next time. Using metal material, I could potentially heat up the ends to melt some small holes at the contact points so it would look like the stitches are going into the leather.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Not too surprising our minds might go similar directions in addressing the same question.  Personally, I think paperclips would likely be even thicker than your current stitching, so I think staples would probably be a better idea - plus, they are a more ductile metal than clips, so would be easier to snip and bend.

[Volgon]

My previous project was an exercise in soft shading/glaze layering, not sure the exact term, but working from midtones and glazing the shadows/highlights. For my next project, I wanted to try a more NMM approach, so focused heavily on proper light/shadow placement, painting the model as if it was lit from a specific angle rather than generic lighting from above. Here is Krell, my interpretation of the WHFB character for my 40k force:

 

I tried a slightly modified recipe for the blue which I like a lot so I think I will continue to use it from now on. I wanted to try and go for high contrast, so swapped out my normal shadow color (generally a dark blue, blue black, or dark blue purple) for a near black purple (Tenebrous Grey from AK). As a mirror to the shadow, I added a little more brightness to my highlights, though I personally prefer not going too bright as I don't want the armor to shine like metal.

 

The trim was an absolute nightmare! I was experimenting with new recipes for that as well. It came out a specific way on the Chapter shoulder pad which I really liked so I tried to replicate it countless times on the other pieces of trim but couldn't. I spent 3 days trying to get the same finish on other areas. Eventually I came to some realizations that helped me settle on a recipe. It's basically a black steel on this guy, so looks quite dark at most angles but still has some shine when the light hits, using TMM rather than matte paints highlighted with silvers/chipping. I also came up with a black iron TMM recipe which I like a lot, so next project I will try using that.

 

The trim was a pretty major hiccup so it kind of burned out my motivation. I wanted to try NMM bronze for the various bronze accents but just went with TMM instead to speed things up. The robe is actually kind of interesting. I tried out a recipe on it and came up with basically the perfect soft, matte black, which was the recipe I've been chasing for the trim for ages! I thought it needed a bit of variation at the end so I drybrushed some Skavenblight Dinge on the tips for weathering and variation. I think the axe came out quite well, I like the color of the haft grip a lot, and I'm very happy with the blade gradients and OSL.

 

Things I'd like to work on: figure out how to add some variation to the bases but I'm unsure what to do. I'm already using purples and turquoises on the solid ground areas, did a bit of grey drybrushing on the rocks for variation, bronze when there's metal accents on the base (like on this guy), and of course turquoise on the ectoplasm. Not sure what else I could do, or if it is even necessary, but it's something I think about.

 

As always let me know what you think!

[Tallarn Commander]

Looks great. For some reason, I had not thought about using glazes to add shading, only to add highlighting. I'll have to experiment.

 

For the bases, would slightly differently colored ectoplasma, tombstones, or skulls be an effective yet thematic way to add variety to your bases?

Edited March 11 by Tallarn Commander

[Volgon]

@Tallarn Commander Thanks brother! All good suggestions for the base. I'm hesitant to add things to the bases as the minis are overloaded with detail already. Maybe skulls though, as I paint bone on pretty much every mini so they aren't out of place composition or color-wise. I think maybe picking out the little stones in the purple section would help. I tried doing a quick, spontaneous pass at the end of the project but it didn't work out that well IMO. With some more thought and prep it could work out better. I was considering maybe breaking up the purple into distinct sections, so instead of being all purple or turquoise tinted purple, I could do a section of pure purple and a section of pure turquoise, or something like that. There's also some texture sculpted into the details of the purple section (tiny sculpted mounds of dirt or something) which would be good if I could pick it out, but it's incredibly shallow so I'm not sure how to pull it off. Would require drybrushing light as a feather, contrasts over a light base, or washes. Will have to try some of those out on some testers.

[Volgon]

An update on my next project, an Initiate for a Crusader Squad. I think 4 out of my last 5 projects have been character level, so I want to do something on the easier side. Still a fair amount of detail but I think I've finally settled on a few important aspects so hopefully that speeds up the process.

 

Also this was my first time trying out Oyumaru/blue stuff casting. I have a few design aspects that I find pretty important to the current look of the force, but are difficult to procure for a number of reasons. I'm going to try replicating my own, and this first set didn't come out too bad. The gorget looks really good. The shin pads are decent but flawed. I stuck them on anyway since it's just a regular grunt.