Thank you to all people - or the one - who nominated me for Hobbyist of the Year. In honor of this honor, I offer something new and a recap of what I have so far.
First the new. I finished my second Bull Centaur, and my first red-skinned one. I like how he came out. The brand I like - next time I’ll make it bigger though. The purple in the shadows of the red skin really adds a lot (even though it is hard to see in this picture).
And to finish, a shot of what has been done. I have 2 more purple schemed Axemen to do, then a champion of each of my three color schemes. After that it’s the Axemen command group which will be four minis. Then on to the Blunderbusses.
It was a good 2016, and even though 2017 scares the hell out of me, it’ll be a good year for Chaos dwarfs (my positive spin).
It was a good 2016, and even though 2017 scares the hell out of me, it'll be a good year for Chaos dwarfs (my positive spin).
Slavemaster Hod
Your models are absolutely gorgeous, you are doing them true justice.
Surprisingly, though I wasn't a fan of the blue "brick" bull centaur being a rather traditionalist person, the blue centaur is my favorite out of the two. You seem to be able to match unorthodox colors together in a very cohesive way. I am truly envious of your enormous talents and skill.
I want to see your work on a Great Taurus with Lord model. Any chance of that happening?
BigHatsBestHats
I don't have one right now, but might possibly pick one up in the future. They're expensive little buggers and I got enough CD goodness to keep me occupied for a few years, so I wouldn't expect it in the near future. I also have found that I don't like the bigger models as much. The surfaces are just too big - and scary. I'm thinking of getting an airbrush some time in the next year or so, maybe then I'll be more into the bigger models. I have a Tir-Na-Bor chariot that I've had sitting around - half completed - for literally four years. It's looking at me right now. I need to be quiet.
I don't have one right now, but might possibly pick one up in the future. They're expensive little buggers and I got enough CD goodness to keep me occupied for a few years, so I wouldn't expect it in the near future. I also have found that I don't like the bigger models as much. The surfaces are just too big - and scary. I'm thinking of getting an airbrush some time in the next year or so, maybe then I'll be more into the bigger models. I have a Tir-Na-Bor chariot that I've had sitting around - half completed - for literally four years. It's looking at me right now. I need to be quiet.
Slavemaster Hod
I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed about that. I really like your blue bull centaur and I can imagine a Great Taurus with the same paint scheme would be absolutely amazing.
I want to see your work on a Great Taurus with Lord model. Any chance of that happening?
BigHatsBestHats
I don't have one right now, but might possibly pick one up in the future. They're expensive little buggers and I got enough CD goodness to keep me occupied for a few years, so I wouldn't expect it in the near future. I also have found that I don't like the bigger models as much. The surfaces are just too big - and scary. I'm thinking of getting an airbrush some time in the next year or so, maybe then I'll be more into the bigger models. I have a Tir-Na-Bor chariot that I've had sitting around - half completed - for literally four years. It's looking at me right now. I need to be quiet.
Slavemaster Hod
Naaaahhhh you'll be fine. You have some awesome painting skills.
Awesome, some of the best Chaos Dwarfs ever seen. Do not be scared, your big monsters will be ace! Come on, do not behave like an hobgoblin, you’re a dwarf, for Hashut’s sake! (old dwarf grumpling) :s
Thanks guys. I’ll have to take into considerations the ‘kind’ word about the big minis ;P I do have Taur’ruk, so we’ll see how his large bull body goes, maybe I’ll love it…
I’ve been a little sidetracked by 40K lately, but I have my next two CD’s primed and hopefully they’ll get some time this weekend. I am hoping to do a tutorial on how I do purple scale armor and the gold on their hats. Those two things seem to be the best ‘popping’ parts of the mini, so they seem like the obvious choice for a tutorial. The only other things that make sense are the black beard or his face.
Finally got the time to work on my next CDs (All this new shinny Sisters of Battle stuff is too pretty for me not to want to tart up with loud colors). I’ve gotten through the purple and the skin, and as I promised, I took pictures along the way to show how I do my layering. This tutorial is in no way a “how to paint” tutorial, but more of a “how I paint” tutorial. What I do is not for everyone, but maybe there is a thing or two you can take from it that will help your own style. Because that is one thing I love about mini painting, everyone has their own style and take on the same minis, and it’s fun to see what people do.
To start, I always Base coat my minis in black because I paint from the darkest shadow up to the brightest highlight. So by Base Coating in black, I can blend my first layer of color to black and ensure that all of my colors go all the way to black somewhere. I also Base in black because instead of going back at the end to paint the black lines between colors, I like to paint them in from the beginning so I can get more fading on their edges and get more dynamic shapes out of my black regions. Because even thought I do get a lot of color out of my minis, it’s not always from super bright mid-tones, but usually from each color having a black (or nearly black) part and a white (or nearly white) part. Because in my opinion: Contrast = Pop = Good Mini
So on to the layers. I’ll start with Purple since it is the main color.
On my first layer, I just try to get a good solid color (which can take a few coats over black depending on the color), while still leaving all the black spaces I want. This is important on this layer: Don’t get color into your recesses. All my recesses (at least most) are black. I never try to butt colors up next to each other, but always use black to separate them. It creates a more cartoony look, but that what I go for.
I always put my first layer of color for all the colors on before doing any of the shading or highlighting. I do this so I don’t miss any parts I want one color, but don’t realize it until I’ve already spent hours painting that color.
PURPLE LAYER 1: Base Purple
Like I said, I go from darkest to lightest, but I don’t like my first layer to be too dark, because darker colors have less ‘color’ in them. So what I do next is take the whole mini to its darkest. On this layer, you can skip some of the places you know you want to highlight and will never be shaded - or you can just do it all. I don’t water down my shades, but shake them well. If you are getting shinny in your recesses though (which is the ULTIMATE SIN in mini painting), water down the shade a little and be careful about large polls drying in the recesses. You should let this shade layer dry totally - it’s really the only one I care to let dry.
PURPLE LAYER 2: Shade
From the darkest, I then take it back to the light. I actually skip a normal step, which is to re-apply the Layer 1 color. If that color is your mid-tone, then go ahead and re-apply, but almost always, I want a brighter mid-tone, so my next layer is one step above my Layer 1 color. I always paint with a top down light source. So here I just follow that and paint this color so it covers about 2/3 of the surface (1/3 if you want an overall darker feeling color).
PURPLE LAYER 3: Low Mid-Tone
The next layer is much like the last, with the new one covering either 1/3 of the previous color if you want the previous color to be more prominently the mid-tone or 2/3 if you want this color to take more control of the mid-tone.
PURPLE LAYER 4: High Mid-Tone
The final layer is the highlight. It can be the hardest, even though it’s the least amount of painting. The best way I’ve heard for how to lay down the highlight, is to ‘kiss it with paint.’ And I’m not talking about how you’d kiss a wife, but more like you mother: a short quick jerk that lends itself to the minimal contact with your lips and your moms, or in our case, your brush and you mini. Press a little too hard, and you’re full on kissing mom, or messing up your mini. So, for the highlight, get the smallest brush you have and just try to tap on the color - where the first three attempts to tap paint on don’t even touch the mini because you are trying to get just the right distance. On the shields below, I put it on a little too heavy and it shows. It looks alright, but not as good as it would have if the touches were finer.
PURPLE LAYER 5: Highlight
Hope this was somewhat useful. I have the pictures set up for the face tutorial, and hopefully will get it up soon too.
