Blog Road to Golden Demon 2019

That is absolutely stunning! The teardrop is amazing and I love the reflection of the water!

 

Buckle in this might take a while.
The inside of the cape took me longer than the outside. Capes, robes, banners, large smooth areas of rippling cloth, they're the hardest thing to paint for me. you can't just throw a wash on them and have that do most of the work, it just collects at the bottom. It's all about blended layers.
Blending. The final boss of painting (with fast drying acrylic hobby paint at least). When I got back into the hobby in 2011 I knew this was the one thing I wanted to figure out, the dragon I couldn't slay before. I came up with a cheaty kind of method which I've shared in that painting tutorial I did that involves using Lahmian Medium to thin layers down and soften edges. It's a bit imprecise, and messy to use on capes and never worked for me.
I got an issue of White Dwarf recently (January 2019 I think), and it has an article where the great Darren Latham showcases some display pieces and mentions he only uses water and thin layers. So I tried that on the inside of the cape. And I made just the worst splotchy mess. So I tried again and made it even worse. So I gave up and tried to fix it with my medium method and made it worse. I somehow got most of it smooth after a few days, then came up with the idea of painting the caustic reflection pattern to hide the crimes. I've never been frustrated with painting before, never actually angry, it was unpleasant. All the pros do their blending with just water and thin paint and I just couldn't do it.
Things clicked into place when I was painting the statue on the base. I failed again and had an epithany. I went to drybrush a layer over the basecoat, but didn't realise my brush was a little damp. The result was a really smooth blend that looked like it was airbrushed, then it hit me - it wasn't about how thin the paint was, but how the brush was loaded. Having less paint on the brush was the key. This has worked so well for me I've ditched the cheaty medium method altogether. I'm going to show some pics of a new Skink Priest next where I didn't use any medium at all and it looks just as good if not better than my last.
As for how thin the paint is? I don't know, that's a hard thing to explain. We've all heard tutors say "like milk", but what does that really mean? Maybe it depends on the paint, some colours are more transparent than others. You just have to get a feel for it, and it took me to the point of anger and frustration to realise myself.
I'm not sure if that ramble helps, I'll try to clarify if it doesn't.

 

That model is a beauty ! So good.
Also thanks for the tips great work.

 

Beautiful base!

 

Base is done. Just need to varnish to take away the PVA shine.

 

Amazing!!!

 

Absolutely astonishing!!

 

Skink no.3.



Really like the how the shield turned out.

Skink Priest.


Mostly just the same as my last one. When I bought it from my local GW, they said "really? Another one?" to which I replied "it's only my sixth".
I like the staff. It looks great when you trim the spikes and skull off and slim down the silhouette. One day I may paint one of these without converting it. Did I mention before this is my all-time favourite model?
This is better than the last one I did in a lot of subtle ways, the fidelity of the freehand scales is a lot smaller for one thing. I might make a comparison pic if I get a chance.

The last Skink is half done. I've decided to take a day off, because I seem to be struggling a bit with it.

 

just jaw-dropping stunning!!!

really great work

Gr, Imrahil

 

The pheasant-like ones? Rakarth Flesh basecoat, glazey washes of Terracotta (Doombull Brown) at base, Yellow Olive (Loren Forest) at top.
Pattern was firstly broad stripes of off-white, then a mix of black and a dark brown as thinner stripes inside them. The same black/brown mix was then glazed on the tips. Finally texture was added with a bonewhite.
On the subject of feathers, the colourful one on the head is a good example of getting the hang of blending like I mentioned earlier. There's no mixed colours on it, just straight out the bottle. Basecoated yellow, terracotta at the base, green, then a dark blue at the top. Texture with bonewhite. Same method as the others just different colours.

My third entry is Age of Sigmar Single Model, with my old favourite. I gave him a new plinth.


They may look like fancy wooden plinths, but they're really just the plastic lids from a jar of cooking sauce. I roughen the surface with sandpaper, then to give them a bit of weight I fill them with scrap wood and filler. Like I said in my first post, I have no budget!

 

Wow, just wow!
You seriously make me regret not go down to Warhammer Fest next week.. A friend will be there, I'll make sure he takes a zillion pics of these beauties!
Well played for the plinth

 

That Tidecaster is astounding, I love the water reflection inside the cloak.

 

Such a beautiful base!

 

Finished! And a week before the deadline too. Little late getting these pics up, I decided to spend this week, for the first time since I re-entered the hobby back in 2010, doing nothing and taking a nice, lazy week off.

Skink no.4.


Back when the Bastiladon kit came out I had the idea that some of the crew Skink's leg positions would make for a cool leaping or running pose. I gave him an empty hand initially to save time, so I wouldn't have to paint a shield, or another weapon. Finding an empty hand was difficult, I could fashion an empty fist easily from any weapon hand part, but that would look weird. In the end I sculpted four of them before I made one that was passable. So much for saving time.

Lastly some iffy quality shots of the whole thing. I don't really have experience taking non-close-up pictures.

 

That shortened great weapon makes one mean looking club