Ferox

One thing about painting skin that doesn't get much attention in the usual tutorials is that it reflects light very differently from just about everything else we paint. Skin is translucent (you can test this by closing your fingers over a flashlight), and the behaviour of light as it bounces around inside the top layers of skin -- what graphics nerds like me call subsurface scattering -- leads to very broad highlights. Look at the progression in this tutorial from Massive Voodoo: the highlights are huge relative to the shadows.

Wow, if I was going to type up my own post, it would be almost exactly those words. Obviously I'm missing something regarding the Series 7 00. Why such a small brush?

A good one, yeah. In my experience a #2 actually makes things like eyes easier, because the paint's less likely to dry out or get "stuck" on the brush. It takes some practice to get used to the way paint flows off of any brush, but I find I get less surprised by my #2 than even my #1. The key to painting small details is a sharp point on the brush, and my #2's point is just as sharp as my #1 or my #00. I haven't used anything but a #2 for months now, and the Shepherd I just painted has plenty of small detail. From what I can tell, the main advantage of a small brush is that it's physically smaller, so it's easier to maneuver in tight spaces (like between an arm and a shield, for example). The main disadvantage is that there's less brush there, so paint's more likely to flow up into the ferrule or start to dry out on the brush -- or it'll do so more quickly, and it's harder to predict what the paint's going to do now from what it did a minute ago.

A #2, another #2, and a third #2. I picked up a #2 S7 after years of using a #1 S7, and the difference is like night and day. The extra belly on the #2 just makes paint flow so much better, and improved my detail painting as much as my large-scale blending. Raphael brushes apparently have bigger bellies than Winsor and Newtons, so a Raph #1 might work as well (and would probably be a bit cheaper). Talespinner gave you great advice, fieldarchy told you about crits, and Froggy told you to darkline, so there's not much left for me. Two things that come to mind: 1. My blends got a lot smoother when I started glazing. Sure can take a while to build up an area, but it's worth it. 2. Colour theory. There's a reason fine-arts and design majors study colour theory: it works.

Have I mentioned how much I dig the halberd on this guy? I haven't? Well, now I have. It looks almost case hardened. The weathering is spot-on as well.

Outstanding piece! Contra MG, I like the soft tones on the cloth, skin, and hair -- they give it a more cartoonish look that goes well with the figure as a game piece. My only complaint is that the tiny broccoli base looks awfully lonely on that vast expanse of plastic. Well done!

As of last Saturday I have a full 25pts of Legion painted up and battlin' hard at the FLGS. However, that leaves me with a few models unpainted, and I'm trying to paint what I have before I buy new WarmaHordes stuff. This month I'm going after: - 3x Warmongers - 2x Shredders I also have a couple of gifts for other people that I'd like to finish up: - Devout - pSorscha (alt sculpt)

That's basically what I did on pLylyth's cloak, which I think came out pretty well.

I've been a bit worried about the blue highlights for a while now. Would mixing in a complementary colour work to bring them back to an overall neutral hue? Maybe a thin wash of brown liner over the blue highlights? It's there in the shadows on (for example) the ridge down Blightfang's back, but hints of it right in with the highlights on the scales -- just enough to tie in with the dominant colour in the shadows -- might help keep the scales "black" rather than "blue".

D'oh! You're right -- I forgot to highlight it when I was doing the inner cloak on the officer. Still time before the tournament -- thanks!

These guys were a more relaxed painting experience than my hour-a-figure Striders unit, but I still had to hurry a bit to get them done in time for tomorrow's ladder games. First off, the Strider officer and musician: I'm not sure how I feel about the skin-tones. I kind of like that they look odd and a bit frost-bitten, and the blends are smoother than they were on the Striders, but it still looks a little off. I did however manage to string the bows in a manner that doesn't make me cringe every time I pick up the figures. Next, the Nephilim Bolt Thrower. No way to string his ballista, I'm afraid. Grr. I ended up painting the quiver separately and pinning it in; oddly enough this is a first for me. I used Uniform Brown for the carapace on this guy rather than Intense Brown (or Intense Brown:Khaki Shadow, as on my Carnivean). Not too shabby, especially with Red Liner to shade it. Now to hit the extremities with a bit of Liquitex matte varnish, then top off the metals in the morning and (with luck) ride a storm of arrows to victory.

Oooh, dig! I love the rust effects you're getting on the blades.

I wouldn't say you should tone down the top of the highlight, but take a thin glaze of your mid-tone purple and brush it lightly over the transition to smooth out the blend. This thread has a lot of recipes for hair. Just as important is placing the highlights and shadows, and if I knew how to do that I'd tell you. Check out fieldarchy's miniatures, particularly this one, for an example of what I mean.

I'd tone down the highlights on his jaw back of the chin; they're showing up "light" in a region that should be shadowed and giving me an impression of "Joker-face". The only other thing I'd suggest is lightly glazing some of the highlights on the lower trim of the robe, and you got a bit of red/brown leather on the robe to the right of the pouch that needs to be cleaned up. (I like the pouch poking out from the folds of the robe that way, btw: it's a nice touch of warmth in the middle of a field of cool colour.)

Great job! I find that wash consistency is key for painting fur, and you nailed it.

I darkline less than I should, but when I do it's usually with thinned Brown or Blue Liner. For the most part, darklining's meant to emphasize shading anyway, so I glaze some extra shadows into the, erm, dark line. I generally do it after painting, though; I find it gives me more control over the end result. That said, a lot of people on the Privateer forums tell me that black primer's good for easy darklining (in the "just leave a bit of primer showing" sense), and I doubt they came upon their opinions entirely at random. It's just not something that tends to work well for me.

Nice one, Jen! I just finished assembling my Nephilim Bolt Thrower and Striders unit attachment -- the 9 points I mentioned above. I might have them basecoated by midnight Thursday, but I'm vastly unlikely to have them done by the end of the month. So my final tally reads: Completed: - Carnivean - 6x Striders - Shepherd Assembled: - Nephilim Bolt Thrower - Strider UA No progress: - 3x Warmongers - 2x Shredders - spell/animus tokens

Gorgeous! I've saved those photos as references -- suddenly I know why my hair-painting skills are laughably inadequate.

Thanks! The leather's Uniform Brown, which I'm planning to use as a basecoat for the rest of my beasts' carapace. The darker brown and black lining ties in with pLylyth's cloak... kinda. Still not quite sure how I ended up painting her; should've taken notes. I'm not a big fan of the PP Forsaken model. I'm planning to kitbash something from GW Daemonette and Hormagaunt parts and a bunch of green-stuff, maybe. At 15 points (with two heat-seeking Shredders) I've yet to run into fury-management problems, and at 25 I plan to take only a Nephilim Bolt Thrower as an additional warbeast. One Shepherd should be sufficient fury management, and I won't really have enough fury flux to charge up the blight bomb. One of these days, though... beast-heavy list with Carni/Seraph/Typhon and a bunch of Forsaken.

Oooh, looks nice. I love the shading on the reds. Maybe bring some of the deepest shadows on the blue down to purple, to tie in? I wouldn't go too crazy on the freehand -- not just because it's a solid paint job to start with, but also because of those awkward folds and billows. How about a simple stripe or border along the base of the cloak, mirrored on the front tabard/loincloth and maybe the hood? You could do it in white to connect with the skull on his pauldron.

Got a Shepherd done (16pts) and 9 points worth of pewter ready to be drilled, pinned, and assembled. Probably won't have that done by the end of the month, but I expect it'll be good to go by Sunday.

Now that I have my 15pt force, I'm working up to 25pts for next weekend. First on the workbench is this Shepherd, who's been waiting patiently, primed and based, for quite some time. Bit of a darker look than my Striders, but I figure the Nyss aren't necessarily known for their regimented uniformity. If you don't count the time she spent waiting for me to paint other stuff, I probably have two or three hours into this model. C&C welcome.

Indisputable, as you say. Well done!

Wilwarin: Thanks for the comments. I basically like the scheme, but the reds are a bit jarring. I'm thinking of moving them more towards purple... thoughts? I did in fact wash/line/shade the feathers with Nightshade Purple, and it brought out a bunch of detail. However... I did that before highlighting them, and the highlights washed out a lot of that very same detail. D'oh! You're right on about blending, too. Normally I can do better than that (just look at my Carnivean!), but by the time I got to shading the skin I was just trying to get the damn things done and subtlety went out the window. Too much paint on the brush is what it comes down to. I have a Strider officer and musician to paint up for next week, though, so I can spend a bit more time on them and get a bit more out of the scheme. Shortbeard: Thanks! They performed splendidly -- delivered the coup de grace that won me one game, and very nearly defied the odds to win me a second. And once I tack on that officer-and-musician unit attachment they're going to be simply rude. "Cover? Not from us."

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