Oz Painters

This is my latest WIP and is inspired by Ben’s Project and Arjay’s painting style. I found that I had two old Wraithguard sitting in the cupboard, badly painted and the flashing had not even been removed. I stripped both miniatures on Friday and rebased them. I used one of the new Games Workshops buildings and cut up one section to be used on the base. I plan to do this on a number of Eldar that I am going to be working on in the future.

I started to paint this miniature yesterday and I thought I would try and use some of my new VMC paints. I ended up with only using one so far on this miniature and that is german field grey. The only other paints I have used are chaos black and skull white. Now I have taken a few photo I can see a few errors especially at the back.

In future I plan on painting the cloth purple, same with the soul gem. The two areas I am unsure about is the hoses/ joins and the actual gun. I was thinking about using graveyard earth shaded on the gun? Similar to the colour scheme I used on Royal Guard Statue.

Feel free to offer advice as it is the first time I have used both VMC paints and tried this type of painting style.

Cheers,

Jamie

Jamie, lookin' good!

I love that you've done the "gems" on the wraithbone in the same colour as the wraithbone... a very interesting way of doing it and done well!

I'd like to see some of the "highlight" lines on the bottom edges of things be replaced with "shadow" lines as I think this is a bit odd... I see them on the bottom ege of the "head" and also on the knuckles of the right hand

On the legs I'd blend up to that glint line I think.

Good stuff, I love this learning and commenting, I've learnt heaps just by looking at yours!

Ben

I think the highlight lines give an additional differentiation between the parts, replacing them with a shadow line would make the model look less eye catching.

For e.g. look at the edging of the cloth on these pieces:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/20276338/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/13310012/

Of course, those pieces of artwork use the lighter line due to the angle and perspective of the lighting, but I don't think it looks out of place at all on the wraithguard when painted in this style.

Yeah I think that it works there, but because that's where the light is actually supposed to be catching, those two pieces are more "real" and I don't think entirely comparable.

I was referring back to Arjay's style and on examination I noticed that he doesn't use the lighter glints where they wouldn't normally be; the aim I think of Jamie was to mimic this style as I currently am.

So my comment is more about mimicry than what "works" and what doesn't.

I'm just amazed that you can get the gems to stand out so much using the sam e colours as the main body, thats excellent. The difference in lighting between the left and right sides is also really good.

As for VMC paints, I think they are very similar to GW in most respects. Though you may want to water them down a little more. But they aren't massively different like the Rackham ones I tried.

I suspect the hoses/joins would work well in some sort of dark blueish grey (I hesitate to say Oxford Blue) which could compliment the greenish grey you already have. As for the gun a darlk metallic would be a fairly neutral if unexciting option, or even something really pale like an ivory or bone white would probably work.

I faded down some of those highlights last night especially on the hand. They looked just a little bit too white. The main template I have been using for this miniature is Arjays Dire Avenger. I havent toally copied everything he has done but I have tried to maintain the smoothness. Still not too sure what other colours I wil use. The blue colours for the hoses is a good idea. I just have to go through my paints and have a think on what I am going to do next.

Thanks for the feedback so far it has given me something to think about.

Latest photos

Love the armour colour, excellent blending overall. I'm not sure about the the gun at the moment though, it doesn't seem to contrast with the armour very well. Anyways, great job.

Do you think the gun is not dark enough or should I have used a different colour altogether?

I think in regards to the gun, it's not so much that it's the wrong colour, but it's in the wrong tone. So it's a warmish cream, while the rest of the miniature has a wonderful coolness about it. Choosing a warm tone is nothing wrong, but for me it moves the focal point of the mini onto the gun, and i'm not sure if that's what you want?

If you could 'cool' the cream/yellow feel of the gun down a little bit more, i think it would be a little bit more effective. Even if it's just some grey/black washes to create a sense of contrast on the gun and to tie it in some level to the rest of the mini, i think that would work. at the moment it just seems to be too different to the rest of the mini due to it's tonal value. I hope what i'm saying makes sense and i'm not babbling too much

Having said that, I think what you've done is absolutely superb - especially your treatment of the gemstones. Your purple blending on the robe is really really nice.

-Sean

It's the tone, yeah. Just looks a bit strange having a greyish bone colour, then a yelowish bone colour next to it. I usually go with a colour scheme that combines one bright colour, one dark colour and one other dark colour that still contrasts against both of the other colours. If that makes sense. Like on my champion of nurgle for example. I chose an off white/bone colour, mid green, and darkish brown.

I will play around with some colours tonight and see if I can come up with something better. Your right that bone is too warm against the grey.

Personally I think a black NMM chrome finish would work best for the gun.
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I just washed the gun with dark sea blue and mixed it bleached bone and white. It came out really well. It still maintains the bone look but it is alot colder now and matches in with the rest of the miniature. In some ways Jonathan it is a bit like the black chrome finish but more subtle ( no where near as serve on the highlights ). That black chrome uses a fair bit of blue similiar in colour to dark sea green. It is a good idea but I dont know if I could paint it correctly. I will try and finish in the next day or two and should have some photos up by the end of the week.

i normally don't like black/white/grey themed mini's but i really like how this is coming out - particularly with the gems done that way.

i *don't* like the purple tabard though. i think introducing any strong primary colour to this ruins it (yes Seb - i know you're gasping at that comment ) i think it would look better with a black tabard, or grey/white with a *slightly* stronger green tinge through it to add interest. and i agree that a black metal look for the weapon is the way to go.

cheers

marcus