[PLOG] Zlatan's painting blog

[Zlatan]

****EDIT****
I've brought forward some of the later pics to save people having to scroll through. The original first post is below this edit...

Mini-army shot


WIP Army shots



Sorceress


Dragon





Kharibdyss



Bloodwrack Shrine/Cauldron




Cold One Chariot



Fleetmaster



Executioners/Black Guard


Assassin



Corsairs


Dark Riders


**************ORIGINAL FIRST POST BELOW***************************



[code][/code]Greetings!

Having recently defected from our cursed brethren on Ulthuan, I've decided to devote myself to the one true ruler. This is a record of my first tentative steps with a new army. I picked up my first Dark Elf models yesterday and I've just finished painting the first 2, so sorry if this post is a little sparse at the moment. I'll be adding to it regularly.


So so far I've painted a corsair and a cold one knight. I'm feeling a little guilty at the moment because they're so similar to the GW scheme on the boxes, but I love the purple and green scheme. I'm hoping I can emphasise these two colours more in other units and in the unit banners to distinguish the overall army more from the studio one.


Any comments or tips would be really appreciated.


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[Jarvax]

First of all you did well to devote yourself to the King.
Your painting skill is really good so I don't have any criticism other than to say: really well done! When I see more I might have something to propose.
And don't feel guilty, I like my army to be lore-wise too.

Also, there's a nice competition taking place right now, go take part in it if you have the time.

[xFallenx]

Yup, as Jarvax stated, there is a painting comp just getting started on the forum, we would love to have you submit something.

[Phierlihy]

You get the same criticism I give everyone - you used your 'theme colour' on every bit possible. And because it is the exact same colour, I will assume the metal shield, the leather reins, and the knight's cloth are all made of the exact same material?!

The quality of the painting is good, the theme colour is just overdone.

[Zlatan]

Thanks for the feedback. Ill definitely enter the painting competition as soon as I get my hands on a suitable hero model.

@Phierlihy - I take your point. I'm very conscious of maintaining an army-wide unity with the colour scheme, but I agree maybe I went overboard with the purple. Ill see what the unit looks like once I have a few more done and then perhaps review some of the colours for the reins etc. once I'm sure there is enough signature colour throughout the unit to keep it feeling unified.

Here's the latest, my standard bearer for the corsairs


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Cold one knight standard bearer to follow soon. I'm looking forward to painting his head - he looks like riff-raff from the rocky horror show. I'm going to name him Riphraef in honour of Richard O'brian

I've decided all the banners in the army will use the pantheonic runes from the high elf heraldry book. Corsairs have Mathlann The Lord of the Deeps on one side and Eldrazor The Lord of Blades on the other.

Let me know what you think.

[Zlatan]

So I'm going to enter this painting contest everyone's raving about. Just finished putting together my entry:


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[xFallenx]

Good choice for the contest entry. I've also chosen a sorceress(only took two weeks to decide) looking forward to seeing how she turns out for you.

[Jarvax]

As stated on the competition chat, I have to say that you have created a very good model here. Bravo!

I was browsing your photos of the High Elf army and I have to say that you are really talented. I'm sure your Druchii army will be as awesome as well! After all we're like High Elves just a bit more dark... and a lot more superior.

[Zlatan]

Thanks both for the nice comments.
I've done a bit more work on the sorceress, still far from finished though.

I've also made a start on the first crossbowmen unit. These are, admittedly a rush job as I'm trying to put together a 1500 pt army ASAP, but ill go back and add extra detail later.

@Jarvax - I must say, I'm loving painting the Druchii so far - darker colours are so much more forgiving and quicker to paint than the light/bright colours on my high elves.


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[Thetosh]

Love the edge highlighting on the wood and leather there on that crossbowman! And the sorceress conversion looks amazing

[Dyvim tvar]

I like the base on the sorceress. I do think the ornaments on the front of her head are out of scale though -- they look too big. Also, I would highlight the flaming ball thing in her hand up a couple more layers. It should be brighter in my opinion. But good job overall.

[Zlatan]

Thanks for the feedback and comments. To be honest I'm having real difficulty with the fireball thing. I agree it needs more highlighting, but I'm very conscious about going too light - it's supposed to be dark magic after all!
Ill keep working on it. She's nowhere near finished.

I take your point about the oversized headgear...

I've just bought a new camera so hopefully this image will be less grainy...


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[Amarok]

The Sorcoress is looking great!

As far as the squdball goes, have you thought of throwing another colour in the mix? Maybe a swirl of 'balefire' blue or something, lightly feathered on? Could make it pop a little, whilst adding an fey edge without detracting from the palatte. Having said that, maybe a contrasting 'spot' colour thrown in somewhere could help as well?

The rest of your work is really solid too. Any chance we can catch a glimpse of the crossbowelf's shield? Also, is that a giant mold line on the side of his helmet?

[Zlatan]

@Amarok
Thanks a lot for the tip. I think adding some blue to the mix might be the way forwards. Ill post a shield shot of the crossbowman tonight. TBH the shield's not great at the moment as its a bit of a rush job.
Thanks for pointing out the mild line on the side if the helmet too. I actually hadn't noticed until I started drybrushing. Ill file it down and repaint

[Zlatan]

So today I have been experimenting with the joys of object Source lighting, thanks to a helpful tip from the guys on the painting competition chat thread. This is my first attempt at it, so I'd really welcome any feedback from anyone who knows what they're doing.


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I've applied a light purple/blue glaze to the bottom of the staff and boots, underside of the robe, the side of her body and very slight coloured highlights on her face and headdress to represent the glow from the magic ball and cloud. To balance it out I've applied a darker skin tone glaze to the other side of the flesh to represent the areas in shadow.

Have I got this right?

[Rowena]

The sorceress is lovely, especially the OSL looks really great.

[leesmith]

Damn, you beaten me to the loremaster/ sorcerer conversion lol

good choice.... grumble grumble lol some nice work here, keep it up!

lee

[Zlatan]

[quote="Zlatan"]Thank you very much Rowena, and good luck in the competition!


This is my first attempt at Non-Metalic Metal on my dreadlord. Any feedback would be really appreciated as always. Obviously it's not a finished mini yet, but aside From the sword I think te armour's done (?). Any tips?
I'm worried I've messed up with the light theory. I painted it under a fairly strong artificial light source and just tried to highlight where the light naturally fell, but I'm not sure if this is the correct thing to do bearing in mind the scale.


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The silver armour is a 50/50 mix of abbadon black and mechanicum standard grey, followed by a nuln oil wash, successive thin layers of pure mechanicum standard grey, 50/50 mechanicum grey and administratum grey, and then pure white.

The gold is done with pure mournfang brown, then xv-88, 50/50 xv-88 and averland sunset, pure Averland sunset, Averland sunset and white, then pure white.

Here's the head of the work-in-progress dragon to go with him. Sorry about the shakey camerawork.


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[leesmith]

hard to completely tell from the pictures, but the nmm looks excellent. not much else to say well done

obviously there varying degrees of nmm and unless you are trying to go super shiny, its great:)


lee

[Darkgul]

First of all, excellent paint job. Its nothing i can achieve!

The source light looks very well done to me. My critisism would be that the squid ball should be a bit higher on the model. The shape of it makes it feel 'weird'. If applied a bit higher it would feel more that it was coming from out of her wrist/open hand.

Oh, i also love the xbow men. Im one of the few people that love the model. How did you highlight the armor btw?

[Zlatan]

@leesmith - thanks for the positive feedback! Good luck with the competition too.

@darkgul - I see what you mean about the squidball. I'm not a great converter and my green stuff skills are pretty shoddy, so I didn't want to reposition the angle of the hand. Unfortunately the palm of the sorceress needs to be bent back somehow so I can get the fireball projecting directly forward rather than slightly diagonally. Not sure how do do it without ruining the model though.
Otherwise thanks for the comments. I also like the crossbowmen models, despite the massive hands. If the rumours are true and we're getting new plastic warriors with the next release, I think I'll keep the old models for the crossbowmen and just build the new ones as spearmen.
The armour for the crossbowmen is: black, then wet-brush with 50/50 black and mechanicum standard grey, then heavy drybrush mechanicum standard grey, then light drybrush unde give ash, then null oil wash, then drybrush again with undergone ash just on the most prominent spikes, then 2 coats of waywatcher green graze.

[Zlatan]

@leesmith - thanks for the positive feedback! Good luck with the competition too.

@darkgul - I see what you mean about the squidball. I'm not a great converter and my green stuff skills are pretty shoddy, so I didn't want to reposition the angle of the hand. Unfortunately the palm of the sorceress needs to be bent back somehow so I can get the fireball projecting directly forward rather than slightly diagonally. Not sure how do do it without ruining the model though.
Otherwise thanks for the comments. I also like the crossbowmen models, despite the massive hands. If the rumours are true and we're getting new plastic warriors with the next release, I think I'll keep the old models for the crossbowmen and just build the new ones as spearmen.
The armour for the crossbowmen is: black, then wet-brush with 50/50 black and mechanicum standard grey, then heavy drybrush mechanicum standard grey, then light drybrush under hive ash, then nuln oil wash, then drybrush again with undergone ash just on the most prominent spikes, then 2 coats of waywatcher green graze.

[Darkgul]

Darn, thats a lot of coats but the effect is very nice. I really like it. Personally i go for a more simple approach or it would take me a decade to get my core painted ^^. Im looking forward to the finished dragon!

[Zlatan]

I'm trying to get the dragon finished this weekend but we shall see.

I guess it does sound like a lot of coats but to be honest each coat is so quick - just sloppy drybrushin and washing that it takes no time at all. It's just a case of waiting for the washes and glazes to dry.

[Zlatan]

Here's a progress update. Units slowly growing, and below is the first of my converted shades.








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Also making slow but steady progress with the dragon and rider. The rider is pretty much finished and I've done some further highlights on the dragon's head.

I've also begun work on a second sorceress. The first was so much fun to paint that I wanted to have another go. I want to try and practice skin as much as possible in preparation for the rumoured WEs coming next month.










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