Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Swordmasters/Palace Guard x 2

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Glonojad
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Sisters- 2014/04/29

#271 Post by Glonojad »

I was about to ask about that :p
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Sisters- 2014/04/29

#272 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Greetings!

It is with shock and horror I noticed that I haven't updated this painting log for a year! :oops: #-o I haven't painted much in that time with many months without even touching a brush. Which is a real shame but I hope to get back to it, despite some lack of motivation in the meantime due to big unknowns of Warhammer future.

I was looking for improvements to my style and painting skills and simply wanted to continue with replacing old miniatures that still had metallic paints on them so that I can have a cohesive look of the army. I haven't finished sisters yet as I started using the armies without them but I will come back to them to simply finish the unit. I added extra work with pinning the models. I had an accident long time ago with plastic White Lions that broke to pieces. I wanted to prevent that. I also bought some nice resin bases I intend to use although with new rumors about possibility of big changes in that department it seems a little bit difficult to commit.

However, I decided that I am going to finish a couple of units anyway. If 9th edition is different, then I will have nicely painted models. If we can still use the armies we have then I will have them ready.

Another important addition was a selection of painting sets produced by Scale75. These paints were recommended to my by master painter Volomir (Volomir's Blog). I sent him some pictures and he was very kind to reply and give me his advice. I accepted the criticism and bought 2 sets of metallic paints (Alchemy series), two sets of NMM paints (gold and silver) and set of inks.

The paints seem to be quite thick (mat colors) so require proper mixing (I got a small "blender" tool for that) and you need to make sure they are well diluted. Volomir suggested I get back to metallic colors as unfortunately the way I highlight is not the correct one (if one aims to create realistic reflections). I did try them but while they are good colors I noticed I would need to get back to square one and learn painting metallic colors from scratch. What is more, I didn't like the effect I am achieving. It is not that they don't look good, they do! It is just the fact I prefer this more cartoony feel you get with NMM colors even if they are not applied perfectly.

I also enjoy layering them much more than metallic colors and I decided to to stick to these.

Just a note on ordering. I contacted Scale75 about it as my friend was interested in purchasing their mega set. The problem was that they offered only regular post shipment and I felt it was not secure enough to do so when you want to send it to Australia. The cost was huge too. It took me some time to dig out the information from their website and I must regretfully say that their customer service is not that helpful. Because of that my friend decided not to purchase these paints and I ordered my sets through Hangar18 instead. They were absolutely amazing, replying in 12 hours (and probably only due to time difference) and in the end I actually paid less for the whole transaction as Hangar18 offered good shipping price with insurance included. What is more, when it happened that they forgot to put one of the sets in the package and I had it delivered in a week at no extra cost!

It is a shame then that such a fantastic producer has such a poor customer service.

Ok, apart from the fact I wanted to improve my technique I also wanted to use the advice I got some time ago from Ana (Ana - Painting Mum) - another proficient painter. I was interested what to do to keep my gold-blue scheme and create better contrasts between areas that are bluish but are not of the same type, such as clothes and scale armor for example. She suggested that I add warm colors for clothes and cold for armor which I did! I even used purples, reds and greens on clothes to create nice blending in between. I tested that on Sisters and their cloaks and was very happy with the results.

Ok, here are some WiP of Ellyrian Reaver, poor quality pictures unfortunately that seem to be a little pale in comparison to reality. But I really enjoyed painting sessions and I hope to be able to continue regularly.

ImageImage

The contrast I talked about is not great here but hopefully with better pictures I will be able to show that.

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#273 Post by Lord Anathir »

Yo are you not caring about potential round bases at this stage?
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#274 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

I am indeed concerned. I don't have huge amount of resin bases at the moment, I bought them to tests a few miniatures and see how that goes. I think I will use them anyway to make the models look complete but will also fix them with pins only with the possibility to replace the base if needed. Main thing is to continue painting the units.
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#275 Post by John Rainbow »

That blue is really good SM. I'll have to follow those links and have a look at what they recommend or teach as it is obviously paying off! Nice work.
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#276 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

The horse is rather grey, the tail and mane could use a touch of colour I think, the Reaver looks nice.
[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34506][i]Lord Elessehta Silverbough of Ar Yvrellion, Ruler of Athel Anarhain, Prince of the Yvressi.[/i][/url]
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#277 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

@ John

Thanks! I will try to get better picture, as I said, as this one does not give justice to the miniature yet. It was more to show progress.

@ Ele

It is because I painted the steed with cover layer only, it is not touched at all and I will paint it better for sure :)

I will also take a photo of the same model from old and new unit for better comparison when the new one is ready.

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#278 Post by ~Milliardo~ »

Hey, I'm still subscribed to this thread apparently - good stuff! :3

I saved the pics to my desktop so I could zoom in on them and its a really good look. I think I can see the kind of NMM blue metal look you're going for - will it be like Volomir's blue metal on his Ellyrians or will it blend in with your existing force?
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#279 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi ~Milliardo~,

I am glad to provide some long overdue update then!

I wanted to use Volimir's example in terms of where to put highlights and I think I still have a long way to go because his technique is flawless! He uses metallic colors and obtains that super smooth and realistic effect. I tried that but it started to look too different from what I have painted so far so I decided to abandon it. I like my "cartoonish" look of the miniatures. I also think it would take me significantly longer to learn his way too. I hope that you would be able to say the miniatures are all coherent in the look but the new ones should be an improvement.

I will take a photo with the very same model but new and old version next to each other as soon as I finish this one to see the difference.

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#280 Post by John Rainbow »

~Milliardo~ wrote:Hey, I'm still subscribed to this thread apparently - good stuff! :3

I saved the pics to my desktop so I could zoom in on them and its a really good look. I think I can see the kind of NMM blue metal look you're going for - will it be like Volomir's blue metal on his Ellyrians or will it blend in with your existing force?
OMG which corner of the internet have you been hiding in?
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#281 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

I know! It is called World of Tanks :)
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#282 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

I decided to pull out that model now and I took a quick photo for comparison. Even at WiP stage and with poor camera and light you could see the difference! I guess there is some progress in the quality of painting :)

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The problem is I want to re-paint the old models now too! :lol:
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#283 Post by ~Milliardo~ »

John Rainbow wrote:OMG which corner of the internet have you been hiding in?
He's right - mostly WoT, along with a bunch of other PC games. I still paint though, but most of it is just to sell.

I'm thinking I'll have to repaint my HE force at one point too - the difference between old and new is almost painful for me as well. I'd definitely keep your overall color scheme though and just improve upon it.
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#284 Post by Lord Anathir »

Yeah, I have repainting syndrome too. Bad news since my overall painting level is so low. I decided to redo dwarfs since my metalics and beards improved and thats basically 90% of all dwarf models.
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#285 Post by Elithmar »

Wow, that's an amazing difference!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#286 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

The new one is brighter, which is something you've been after to draw people eyes more.
[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34506][i]Lord Elessehta Silverbough of Ar Yvrellion, Ruler of Athel Anarhain, Prince of the Yvressi.[/i][/url]
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#287 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi guys,

@ Milliardo

I think you should show the pictures of the miniatures you painted even if they are sold already. :)

The good thing is that having, for example, two units of reavers, one old and one new, nobody will have a problem in distinguishing which model belongs to each regiment!

@ LA

The difference seems to be more striking when you compare models after a long break. The old reavers was painted a few years ago! I am sure it may be similar span in the case of your miniatures too.

I had this problem before when I first changed the color scheme from typical blue-silver to blue-gold and then from metallic to non-metallic colors. I decided to focus on units then. Make sure that in the frame of one regiment the models look consistent. Interestingly, the models with the same color scheme but different approach (metallic vs non-metallic) still look as one army on the battle field.

Ideally it should be a cycle. You first reach the stage where your army is painted. Then you keep adding more units or replace the old ones with new and then, again have a painted army but with improved look. And that would have been great because you can improve your painting skills while adding new models, usually released after you have painted the army in the first place.

Of course to complete the cycle you have to keep painting regularly and have a chance to complete the project before the edition changes that might throw your ideas out of the window. :) But I am determined to finish this project for 8th edition army anyway.

@ Elithmar

Thanks! I was surprised too :) And good to see you back! You disappeared for quite a while.

@ Ele

That is correct! I listened to my fellow players and one of the comments was that from 3 feet or across the table the miniatures look dark. Hopefully, when I finish the regiment, it will look much better from afar too!

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver WiP - 2015/05/20

#288 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi there,

First reaver is finally finished, I hope things will go faster now as I was trying different things and now I seem to know what I can do :)

ImageImage

Just a quick photo taken outside for natural light. Let me know what you think!

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#289 Post by ~Milliardo~ »

Is the helmet grey or gold? It looks washed out in that lighting. Can you show us some lightbox pics? :3

The blue really stands out though - good stuff!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#290 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

The helmet supposed to be "gold" but maybe I added too much of light color and the picture indeed looks paler than reality. No lightbox at the moment but I will try to get a picture in different light and see then.

I may change the helmet later but I want to try and paint second model. The reason being that after so many repaints the surface is not as good as it used to be and it affects the quality of layers too.

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#291 Post by Elithmar »

Brilliant painting (of course, we know that), but nice base too.

Although personally I'm not keen on the cloth colour. It could be the lighting though. :)
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#292 Post by gilterien »

I actually quite like the cloth (as well as the rest of the model of course!), as I think the transition to purple in the recesses make it look very rich
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#293 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Thanks for comments guys!

@ Elithmar

The picture does not show the colors well I am afraid. What I wanted to achieve is a "warm" color on the clothes and I use purple as a base and then go to blue and turquoise to highlight.

The armor is based with dark blue and I go through metallic silver but keep highlighting with blue colors. That creates a "cold" feel, at least in principle. I think I have better result now than before when I had more or less the same color on clothes and armor (see the picture where you can see the comparison between the two).

Having said that I am curious what feels wrong with the color of the clothes now?

I wanted to try resin bases I bough some time ago to create better look of a regular miniatures too. We will see if I am going to regret that :P

@ gilterien

Thanks! As I explained to Elithmar, that was my aim, to create rich and warm color. I am glad you like it! I hope I will be able to get good pictures eventually :)

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#294 Post by John Rainbow »

The blue and the armour looks really good. Nice work!

If you are looking to improve I think the horse needs some work - the skin and the mane/tail.
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#295 Post by Galharen »

Wow, looks great! I like the blue armour particularly;)

Regarding your PM, I will answer it tomorrow morning if you don't mind :)

Keep going and show us the whole squad;)
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#296 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi guys,

@ John Rainbow

Thanks! Indeed, I rushed the horse so I need to be a little bit more patient with painting it too :)

@ Galharen

Cheers! I have just finished painting clothes and blue armor on second reaver so I keep moving forward!

No problem! You can reply in here too, if you prefer, so more members can use your method. I asked Galharen about his way of obtaining smooth and clean surfaces with his amazing quality of painting. :)

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#297 Post by tinman »

Looks great SM!!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#298 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi tinman,

Thanks a lot! If you and Galharen say you like what I painted it definitely means I am moving to the right direction! :)

Cheers!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#299 Post by tinman »

You are absolutely moving in the right direction.. Well deserved praise!!
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Re: Swordmaster's Army Pictures - Reaver 1 - 2015/05/30

#300 Post by Caledfwlch »

Amen to that! Good job Swordmaster, the colors are very intense. I like the blending and it was a good decision to choose grey for the horse + base.

You posted an airbrush-video the other day of that guy who did 20 SHs in like 5 minutes. And although his airbrushed SHs look pretty decent (he sure nows how to handle an airbrush), those horses in no way have as much character as this reaver. I might even be tempted to say that the amount of time one saves is thus inversely proportional to the amount of character :P

Keep it up! Cheers,
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