Canew's WIP log -- YES, an update!

[Canew]

Hi all:

I realize I've lagged behind in a lot of logs I started, and these days my painting adventures have meandered all over the place, so instead of trying to keep up with multiple logs, I decided to start a new one that's more general-purpose.

About six months ago, I moved into a new house, and it took me a while to even set up a new painting rig, let alone tear time away from my long commute and various homeowner's responsibilities, so I've been uber-slow to catch up on my hobby stuff.

I don't have any new pictures to offer yet, since I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong (I use daylight bulbs, macro mode, no flash, all the suggestions everyone says I should do), but they're not as quality as I'd like them to be. I think I need to move them closer to the camera, and maybe move the lights further away.

But just to kick it off, here are some past images I took before the move. First, a group shot of my Necron warriors. I like how these guys came out, but my expansion into the monolith, Tomb Spyder and Immortals has led me to paint in some gold. I'm slowly changing all the shoulder pads (even these guys) to have a matching hue to tie it all together.

But for now, here are my metal men!



Pretty basic, I know, but they're done, aside from the shoulder pad makeover I'm planning.

Also in the works are the Avengers of Dyeshr, my custom Space Marine chapter. Basically, I liked the "dusty" look of the Deathwing, but rather than a blatant rip-off of that, I thought "Hmm, what if I had a blue base instead of brown?" This prompted the following:



I'm overall very pleased. The shoulder pads came out better than I expected, but someone at a local store suggested I shade the wolf grey better, and since then my entire project has been held up as I have slaved over trying to find a way to shade them. I've discovered that a good "shadow" color is a 4:1 mix of VGC Wolf Grey (same as Citadel's Space Wolves Grey) and VGC Sombre Grey (same as Citadel's Shadow Grey), but how to go from that to pure Wolf Grey without it looking striped or "two-toned" has been... challenging. I already had to put five test models (yep, FIVE) into the Simple Green in frustration, but I think I've finally figured it out. I'll soon be posting pics of my sprue-based experiments, hopefully over the weekend.

Finally, the gf meant well when she bought me the Assault on Black Reach set, but now I fear I've been bitten by the Orks, and may just have to, ahem, "try out" painting the Orks in that box set, too.

To date, I have nearly 1,850 points of Necrons I am trying to finish off, then I have well over 1,000 points of marines (working up to 1,850 points too), then the Orks in the AoBR set and *sigh* probably more of them too someday.

One more thing: I also have about $100 US in Cygnar, with some mercenaries too. I'm painting my first PP miniature EVER as well, and am working on getting good pics of her to post.

Comment welcome, as always.

[Pierced53]

Good stuff. I really like the look of that marine, the blue and white go well together.
Glad to hear your move went smoothly and that you're getting more time to paint now. ^_^ I hope you start to get the quality of photos you're aiming for, just keep playing around and trying to find the right method.

*subscribed* >.O

[Canew]

Updates!!!

I finally got the camera to take better pictures, so here are some of the latest experiments and WIPs of mine. Any tips on how to make the photos better, or obvious errors I'm making, let me know. I feel like an amateur all over again for some reason.

First, the obligatory workspace shot:



Next, the Deceiver, who will serve as my second Necron HQ. It's just basecoated for now:



Here's the back of one of the Immortals. I will eventually have seven. Three of them are official GW models, and 3-4 of the rest will be scratch-built with conversions and green stuff. I went against my better judgment and painted them gold, which is different from my normal chrome guys. To link it all together, I plan to paint everybody's shoulder pad in a deep purple. It took me a few tries, but I finally came up with something I liked.



This is a good time to mention that I prime with a clearcoat brush-on primer, so that left arm isn't actually unprimed. I just paint stuff in pieces. By the time I'm ready for another update, that will be painted.

Here are some WIP shots of my Tomb Spyder. Here, the carapace will get the same purple treatment. It's only basecoated now, and you can barely tell there's purple mixed in with the black in the photos:



And the front:



Finally, the "experiment" that will later become my marine color scheme. I've been trying to blend my 5:1 VGC Wolf Grey/VGC Sombre Grey "shadow" color into the pure VGC Wolf Grey that is the main color (not white, although it looks it in the pics).

Here are some of the failed experiments:



Some really bad attempts at layering and wet-blending there. Then, I flipped it over and tried again:



Much better this time. I particularly like the results on the left. Both of those are pretty similar, just thinner "stripes" between the changes on the top. I have to thank Mayor Quimby for giving me ideas and inspiration that led to the breakthrough. It doesn't look as good in real life as it does in the pics, but it's more than good enough to play with. I am finally confident to take that to an actual marine model and know I'll have a reasonable shot at success!

Next update, once I get good pics, my first Privateer Press mini WIP ever.

Comments are very welcome!

[dutchie the great]

all seems to be looking good, im liking the shoulder guards on your immortal very nice and blended.

Looking forward to some pics of the Tomb spider.

-DTG

[Syko]

I'm loving this scheme too - whenever I'd play DoW (pc game), I'd make sure I would have purple on my necrons!

I'm also loving that scheme so far on the tomb spyder, it really seems to catch onto me.

Good work, keep it up.

[Allonairre]

They miniatures look great, can't wait to see them finished.

I really like the smoothness of the blend on the top left of your second experinment photo (and the top right of the first one at a second look). I have found that the direction of your brush strokes makes a big difference, generally more paint is left behind at the end of the stroke, so if you are painting from dark to light then start with the brush at the dark end with the lighter colour and brush towards the light end. Hopefully this prevents what happened on the top right of the second picture.

I was probably stating the obvious in a very convoluted way then but I look forward to seeing more anyway.

[xbanditsx]

Nice looking purple on the Necron. What sort of PP models will you be doing?

[Canew]

They miniatures look great, can't wait to see them finished.

I really like the smoothness of the blend on the top left of your second experinment photo (and the top right of the first one at a second look). I have found that the direction of your brush strokes makes a big difference, generally more paint is left behind at the end of the stroke, so if you are painting from dark to light then start with the brush at the dark end with the lighter colour and brush towards the light end. Hopefully this prevents what happened on the top right of the second picture.

I was probably stating the obvious in a very convoluted way then but I look forward to seeing more anyway.

Thanks for the feedback. The sprue in the upper picture looks better in the picture than in real life. I'll keep that advice on the brushstrokes in mind. I think I always just kinda "did" it that way, but now that I know there's a specific benefit, I'll make sure I KEEP doing it that way.

I've cleaned up and primed a AoBR marine, and sometime soon he'll be getting a paint job to "test out" my new blending method. I'll be sure to post pics when it's done.

xbanditsx: Most of the PP stuff is Cygnar, plus Reinholdt (sp?) and the mini I'm doing now, Eiryss. It's the "free" model that No Quarter magazine gave away with three cut-out coupons from the mag. It's a very nice sculpt. I'm trying out a new technique for doing leather on it, and trying to figure out the best way to shade snot green on her cape. Getting the face right is driving me insane, too. She's been the hardest to photograph properly. I may have new pics available tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, the AoBR Ork test model is going pretty nicely. I'm in love with the Winsor & Newton brushes! Pics to come soon!

[Canew]

Update tme!

First, an updated shot of one of the Immortals. This guy's not fully painted yet, but he is fully assembled, aside from the gauss coils. He's mostly done. Still need to highlight the green and do his eyes.



And here's a BIG first for me: A Privateer Press mini! This is the Eiryss model I mentioned before. She has no arms for now, as I wanted to paint them separately. This is coming along quite well, though I apologize in advance for the bad front photo. I don't seem to be able to get close enough to get real detail here. Bah!





Her face vexes me, too. I don't seem to have very good shading. Speaking of shading, as you can see, the cape is pretty flat. I basecoated with Citadel's Snot Green. I tried highlighting with the Thraka Green wash, but no dice. It's like I did nothing at all. How would you shade this? Badab Black? Thinned-down Dark Angels Green? Suggestions and comments, as always, are welcome.

[Allonairre]

I would have started from Dark Angels Green and layered up to snot green. So I guess that a dark angels green wash might work.