Grays- Avelorn Army - Alith anar conversion PAINTED.

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Gray
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#91 Post by Gray »

Tarval wrote:Just one question, can we please you sick little monkey get a break down of the skin for your everqueen model.... That is some masterful painting and I am just blown away by how it looks.

Thank again for taking the time to post all your work. You have done one fantastic job with this army......

Hey thanks for the kind words.

Here's a break down of the steps I took to do the flesh on the maiden guard champion from memory.

I started with 50% 50% mix of Talarn flesh and Cathlan Brown. Then I picked the areas I wanted to be cast in shadow carefully in devlan mud.

From there I mixed Talarn flesh and Diminishing amounts of Calthlan brown and began blending out of the shadows. Then I mixed Talarn flesh and Elf flesh and in consecutive coats added more elf flesh on the more raised areas, or areas that would naturally catch the light. From Elf flesh I began to ad bleached bone and eventualy picked shaper highlights in bleached bone. Finally and very sparingly I added some bleached bone and white and painted fine lines on to any areas that would catch the light a lot, like the ridge of the nose, edge of the chin and cheekbones ect.

At every stage I thinned down the paints with ogryn flesh wash. It's important to stop the paints becoming to thick when blending. 2 light coats are much better than one thick one and because you want a smooth blended look you don't want the paints to get too thick be especially careful with foundation paints.

For the area above the eyes I added a little green with elf flesh (eye shadow) and I added a little blood red to elf flesh on the lips.

When painting females be careful not to make the shadows to harsh, especially on the face. Harsh shadows make a male figure look dramatic. They have a tendency to make a female model look like an angry drug taking transvestite (!)

Finally reference is a good idea, keep a couple of similar images in front of you. I always learn a lot from looking at other peoples work - and can be great guide for where shadows and highlights should be.

I hope this helps.
Last edited by Gray on Thu Jul 26, 2012 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
johnnycoates
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#92 Post by johnnycoates »

dood these models are epic and i must know how did u paint the green
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Gray
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#93 Post by Gray »

johnnycoates wrote:dood these models are epic and i must know how did u paint the green
Hey,

For the green I use Orkhide flesh (30-40%) with a mix of Snot Green (70-60%).
For a mid tone I use snot green and for a highlight I use Scorpion green.
For the shadows I use Orkhide green.

I water down the paints a bit so they flow nicely with the green ink.

I find mixing paint with foundation paints gives me good coverage.
From my above comment you can get more of an idea of how I paint. The more steps you include the smoother the blending you can get. Depends on how much time you have. Cheers.
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Gray
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#94 Post by Gray »

johnnycoates wrote:dood these models are epic and i must know how did u paint the green
Hey,

For the green I use Orkhide flesh (30-40%) with a mix of Snot Green (70-60%).
For a mid tone I use snot green and for a highlight I use Scorpion green.
For the shadows I use Orkhide green.

I water down the paints a bit so they flow nicely with the green ink.

I find mixing paint with foundation paints gives me good coverage.
From my above comment you can get more of an idea of how I paint. The more steps you include the smoother the blending you can get. Depends on how much time you have. Cheers.
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#95 Post by johnnycoates »

thanks :) and good work on the army =D>
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#96 Post by johnnycoates »

for ur sigvald bsb what arm and pole did u use???
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Gray
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#97 Post by Gray »

The banner arm is a spearman arm or forearm, pinned to underneath the shoulder pad or at the elbow join. It has a hole drilled through the centre. The banner poles is are brass rods with the end details added from the spearmen kit.
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#98 Post by johnnycoates »

thanks its a mint bsb
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#99 Post by PogueMahone »

Hey Gray, where did you get the female elf with the sword and bow combo? Not seen that model before.
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#100 Post by Dragonlord Hailthir »

@ PogueMahone - That's actually a Dark Eldar Lhamaean model that was converted. I'm converting the same model for a Caledor themed army, but Gray's is stunning!
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#101 Post by Mireadur »

hey man, it seems i missed your last updates. I love the WL and very good idea about taking their helms out (which can be very well used somewhere else as they are amazing).

I also like Ludwig a lot.
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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

#102 Post by Gray »

I was pretty happy to get best painted army at one of the biggest tournaments of the year a couple of weekends ago. It's always feels slightly hard to compete with a more subdued colour scheme and obscure theme! But luckily my hours on the painting table were recognised.

Anyway back to work-
I wanted to create a champion who was competing in the Everqueens court for glory. In peaceful times he would be getting in duels consistently and during war time he would seek out enemy leaders to defeat in challenges!

I've been also getting pretty inspired about ancient Greece and Rome lately so I wanted a guy who tipped his hat to these influences who look liked he would compete in physical feats, he wears a laurel crown perhaps given to him as a gift in court and has a rose thrown at his feet. I wanted him to look quick on his feet so I've given him a shorter mail skirt from the white lion kit

Troy was an Ok film but I always loved this scene. I wanted a champion as bad ass as Achilles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq-uMIZGETs

Image

Dragonlord Hailthir- Im sure the Lhamenan model will work out brilliantly for a Caledor army. Her armour fits perfectly.
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#103 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

Holding the helm so he doesn't mess up his hair, I like it. He's a little poncy, but with his record of wins, and the approval of at least one elf maid, he deserves it ^_^
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#104 Post by Elithmar »

That NMM is awesome!
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Gray
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#105 Post by Gray »

Tiralya wrote:Holding the helm so he doesn't mess up his hair, I like it. He's a little poncy, but with his record of wins, and the approval of at least one elf maid, he deserves it ^_^
Yea, the only thing as important is as victory is good hair.

It's my second go at NMM, I'm happy with his sword but his armour could be better.
Still I seem to learn something each time.
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#106 Post by Jimmy »

Elithmar of Lothern wrote:That NMM is awesome!
+1 =D>
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Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

#107 Post by Findolfin »

Gray wrote:
Image
Wow, she is really great! What model is she converted from?

If you paint her, make sure to post pics, I'd very like to see her once finished :)
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#108 Post by Caradryal »

Agree with findolfin she is a stunning model can't wait to see her finished
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#109 Post by Mireadur »

Impressive work on the face of that gir..I mean elf champion =D> :P. Hes on par with your maidens championess.
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#110 Post by Wolfroar »

You have made the perfect mix of a High elf/Wood elf army. I think GW should buy your ideas and box them, so I can make them too :).
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#111 Post by johnnycoates »

4 ur boalt thrower what sized base did u use and how did u build the scenery on it???
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#112 Post by Lord Anathir »

When you're doing highlights, specifically on the dragon, where do you determine the parts that need to be highlighted? For new blenders like me is it possible to basecoat it 50/50 white/grey and then give it a light badab wash in order to help out with where the highlights should be? I have problems with large patches of highlights, single stroke/edge highlighting I can do. I have no one that can really show me on a models how it can be done and I and encountering some issues. http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=38958 That is currently the level I am at, and while it looks average I have to go to great lengths to cover up the fact that I do not know how to blend, using a combination of simple edge highlighting and keeping colours clean and sharp. But give me a simple high elf archer robe with some folds in it and I won't know what to do. Would you suggest the glaze paints recently released by GW?

I've heard of some methods that basically go: basecoat, wash, highlight, wash, highlight, wash, highlight, wash. (the washes being there to dull down the progression)
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Re: Averlorn Army - Asur Duelist champion

#113 Post by Gray »

Hey,

Sorry about the slack reply. Life has been getting in the way of the important stuff. e.g Warhammer.

Johnnycoates- For the bolt thrower the base is made of Plasticard which you can find from a modelling shop. The rocks are real small rocks and the wood is a small dry stick. There is a statue face in there and also on some of my other bases, this is from Scibor miniatures called the ancient ruins base. It's all glued together and has the tufts added.

Lord Anathir - Regarding blending, I don't really like using a black wash to coat large areas of white, just because it dirties areas where the shadows don't fall.
Pure white/ light greys are very unforgiving. You could try a light wash of Badab black to determine areas you should shade, but you will have to go over and repaint the flat areas if they look dirty.

The best way I would approach it is to look at reference - GW eavy metal, life or paintings. , shadows fall in crevices or in areas where something juts out blocking the light above it. It sounds complex but you will get the hang of it- Im sure of it. So load up a picture of the model you want to paint on the GW website. You can change the colours. It will probably be a bit of work to begin but you will get in soon so it will no longer really have to think about it anymore.

For a guide on the shading stages you can look at the previous page under the dragon break down.
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 5&start=60

Blending depends on how many stages or graduations you of colour you want to have. The more stages the more smooth it looks. On character models I go to town and will have up to 7 (!) But on rank and file I stick to 3-4. You have to learn to judge this and practise but as a rough guide I would start with a mid tone. When adding the darkest shade use it sparingly look for the areas that would be deepest in shadow, and for the highlights only put white or the lightest colour on sparingly.

A dragon with big flat areas is quite a hard place to start with white but a bit of practise on some smaller models would be great. Don't get to frustrated you learn from everything you do.

Also regarding the glazes - I only use them to make something shiny eg gems stones, but with the washes and glazes they can be watered down to and painted on to help dim the contrast between layers- so it maybe of help but it won't be a magic fix I think.

I hope this helps, everyone has a different approach.

I've been look at your longbeards and they look great by the way!

Cheers

Gray
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Re: Averlorn Army - They came from the north..

#114 Post by Gray »

Hey,

I've had a couple of battalion boxes for warriors kicking around for a while, starting a new army is a daunting task so I set myself a goal of 1600pts and focussed on getting a table top standard army done quickly.

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Here are some some tips I developed and borrowed.

• Using coloured sprays for base coats- Skipping multiple base coats has been a god-send, in some cases I've painted the models on the sprues.

• Spending a healthy amount of time on faces and shields and characters.

• Spending less time on the multiple highlights on the backs of troops and on boots ect (your eye is not drawn to these areas).

• Incorporating weathering and scratching- to base troops which is quick to do but helps bring them to life.

• I spent some time looking around and developing a colour scheme before hand. ( I got the colour inspiration combination for my warriors from a ray gun in a peter jackson museum pictured below and from a tile magazine article on a inflight magazine (!)

Image



I often felt with my elves they were a bit drab and lacked the across the board visual impact that some armies have. I wanted the warriors to have an across the board appeal.

I have a tendency to get carried away with details at times and sticking to these tips really helped me keep focussed. The army was 3x faster than doing my elves.


Thoughts on the new paints.

• I used the new paints exclusively on the new force, and I've had a few thoughts.

•  New foundation paints are great- the metallics have been especially handy and they save you from doing multiple coats all the time.

•  Drybrush paints: are good but are light at the extreme end of highlighting, so you can't really drybrush mid tones with them. They are brilliant when you can use them though.

• Textured paints: I haven't worked out a good use for the textured paints.

• Lahmian Medium: This stuff is brilliant and I'm convinced the heavy metal team have been using it for years. You can use it to thin out paints and it works much better than water- it lets you do smooth transitions easier with looking patchy. I use it every time I use a foundation or layer paint.
I also started using a wet pallet to stop my paints drying out.

• New inks
Over all great but in some cases they are glossy which is frustrating.


I've taken some photos to mark the end of this part of the project, along the way I became very inspired by the northern part of game of thrones, and I shamelessly copied the chaos warrior champion from blood of the badlands which I found to be really inspiring too.

The falling snow in the photos is snow flock through a kitchen sieve and the night shots were done at night with desk lamp covered in blue cellophane. Guaranteed to get you a weird look from your girlfriend :)
Last edited by Gray on Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Averlorn Army - They came from the north..

#115 Post by tinman »

:shock: :shock: ABSOLUTELY EPIC!! Also kind of hate you... Being able to do this kind of work with this kind of skill in a reletively short period of time... I have no words. Loving your tips & hints, they are going to be very helpful. Your pics are stunning!!

I just started using a wet pallette too. It's great!

Thanks for posting.

TM
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Re: Averlorn Army - They came from the north..

#116 Post by tinman »

Gray wrote:• New inksOver all great but in some cases they are glossy which is frustrating.
Not sure if you have a painting medium Brand called "Liquitex" down there, but they have a Matt medium that might be able to help against the glossiness. It comes in a bottle and you can squeeze out a little for what ever is needed - just paint over what ever is glossy. I got mine at an art store (canvases, other acrilyc paint stuff, ect..). Might be helpful..

TM
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Re: Averlorn Army - They came from the north..

#117 Post by Gray »

Thanks Tinman, I'm really a big fan of your work- your stuff is awesome. I will have to check out Liquitex. Has anyone else found the new inks glossy or did I get a dud batch?
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Re: Averlorn Army - They came from the north..

#118 Post by Shannar, Sealord »

Inks will often tend to run shiny (even with the old ones I've often had that problem). Usually it's just that you've inked a little to heavy. But I've also noticed that if you water them down to much they get that way. It's mostly lead me to avoid inks when I can.

As far as medium goes, I promise you that they heavy metal team has been using it for years (if not then they don't actually know their stuff). Vallejo has been selling it for years. And if you use blending then it's as important as a we palate, and almost as important as your paints. If you've ever had a dried out paint and tried to rescue it with water you found it didn't work to well. If you use medium it works (I'd only do this if it's running slightly on the dry side though. While you probably could rescue a hardened paint, it's not really worth it unless it's a oop colour that you need a bit more of). It's the stuff that makes paint "wet", and it's great.
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Re: Averlorn Army - They came from the north..

#119 Post by Gray »

Cheers Shannar, it's weird I never had that problem with the previous inks (devlan mud) ect. I remember the GW inks earlier to that being shiny. I've used the lahmain medium to cut out extra steps in mixing blends, as it lets paints trail off more naturally.
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Re: Averlorn Army - They came from the north..

#120 Post by Shannar, Sealord »

Well in fairness I did not use the last set of inks (have plenty of the older ones)- it could be they never did the shiny thing. But the problem seems to be cross range (as in it's not just a GW thing). But usually unless you've gone crazy with the inks a little matte clear coat at the end will take care of it.
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