Good day to one and all. For those that know me I've been doing this hobby for more years than I care to mention and have improved the collecting, building and playing sides over those many years.
You'll note that painting is missing from that list. Although it has probably improved I don't think I've ever really knuckled down to learning painting and this was something I wanted to address. You see I have so many armies now that speed painting a new one doesn't appeal so much: what I really want to do is take my time and paint up a new and improved army. The next one to be done are the Space Wolves.
During the Summer my son and I spent a week at Warhammer World on what they call a Hobby Camp. You basically spend the whole week from 9 to 5 every day doing your hobby: so you'll build, paint and play. You have access to the staff who will show you how to do whatever it is you want to do. So I decided I really wanted to take my 2D painting and turn it 3D.
My Wolf Scouts won me a Best Painted Unit award at the end of the week as they liked the improvements I'd shown - that was special! I will post them but they're not yet finished and so you'll have to wait.
In the meantime I then decided I needed to practice what I learnt and so the cowboys you see in the pictures below have been painted in the last 2 weeks.
So what's new? Layering. Note the shading in the trousers and shirts - done with layering primarily rather than washes.
Highlighting - although I knew the concept I'd never studied the colour hierarchy. Here you'll note highlights on the trench coats, jackets and hats primarily.
Strong Colours - I've used the red shirts on all the models to tie them together as a posse rather than a bunch of individuals. Up to now red has always been a pain to paint for me but with layering and working up to Blood Red it's so much easier!
This shot gives a better view of the hat highlighting. The bases are a simple sand washed with Devlan Mud and then drybrushed lightly with Graveyard Earth.
One of the biggest things I learnt was watering down the paints. I know this sounds so simple but I've never really bothered before as I wanted the one-coat solution. I was taught how to water the paint in the lid so that you don't need a tile and when you've finished the watered paint falls into the pot thus keeping it fresh and also keeping the wastage down. So these models are all done using thinned paints as well.
Some of these pictures blurred a bit - must get used to the camera.
All figures are from Black Scorpion.
5 Indians including the Outlaw Chief.
5 Mexicans
5 Outlaws
And there you have it. I also learnt how to mix colours so expect that on my next paint job - the Daemon Prince pictured previously. Oh and I will be experimenting with faces more soon as well.
I was asked the other day what the one best tip was that I learnt during my week at GW HQ. Having had a chance to think about it I have to say that the best thing for me is the fact I've been given the confidence to experiment and push myself with painting. I'm energised again!!
Here we have Eddie artillery's Howling Griffons takin
g on the Silverbacks Blood Angels, what a slugging match this turned out to be! The Angels brought Dante and Astorath with them, while the Griffons brought most of their company artillery! The 10 strong Terminator squad going toe to toe with Dante, a Sanguinary Priest and 10 assault marines! The Blood Angels army is a product of the SiverBacks hard work over the last month, painting and building the army pretty much from scratch....all of the painting predominantly having been done with his new airbrush...obviously the finer detail has been done with the brush, but the majority has been air brushed! A very fine job indeed my friend, Astorath's wings are a real work of art, having a real look about them!! Fantastic.....He's also got a Drop pod and a couple of Baal Predators in the army that have been weathered and detailed with the airbrush and I intend to get these on the Blog in the next few days, they have to be seen to be believed!
nator squad took quick refuge in one of the burned out ruins!
he Silverfox. This is a themed piece of a bombed out Cathedral, there are several 
pieces to this model, all the sections are modular allowing the terrain piece to be either a relatively small piece, or stretching to encompass pretty much the whole table top!
During the early part of the weekend Tea Urns Chaos Marine army was duking it out with Silverfox's Daemon army.
My Ork army took on the might of this army in my first game, and a right royal d
ing dong it turned out to be! The Manticore is very nasty!!
The skin is Hormagaunt Purple, then a Leviathan Purple Wash, then a 2:1 mix of Hormagaunt Purple & Space Wolf Grey and a final 1:1 mix of the previous combo. I didn't quite mix enough so some areas are a little sparse but hopefully those are hidden away!
I wanted the membranes to be toned down so that the pinky bone stands out more. The membranes are Liche Purple, Leviathan Purple Wash, Azurman Blue Wash, Regal Blue, Mordian Blue, Ultramarines Blue, Enchanted Blue and a final Azurman Blue wash. Phew.
I played around with this and painted it Regal Blue then Ultramarines Blue around the lightning design. Enchanted Blue and then Ice Blue were painted into the Lightning. This was a little bright and distracted from the model so I then washed it again with good old Azurman Blue.
Is it Saturday yet????
Highlighting - although I knew the concept I'd never studied the colour hierarchy. Here you'll note highlights on the trench coats, jackets and hats primarily.
Strong Colours - I've used the red shirts on all the models to tie them together as a posse rather than a bunch of individuals. Up to now red has always been a pain to paint for me but with layering and working up to Blood Red it's so much easier!
This shot gives a better view of the hat highlighting. The bases are a simple sand washed with Devlan Mud and then drybrushed lightly with Graveyard Earth.
One of the biggest things I learnt was watering down the paints. I know this sounds so simple but I've never really bothered before as I wanted the one-coat solution. I was taught how to water the paint in the lid so that you don't need a tile and when you've finished the watered paint falls into the pot thus keeping it fresh and also keeping the wastage down. So these models are all done using thinned paints as well.
5 Mexicans
5 Outlaws
The Silverfox recently gave me some Tau goodies to help with my newly expanding force. In thanks I commited to building him some scenery. Thankfully I managed to convince him to let me build something that I've had kicking around in my head for a while.
