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Nyeave's plog - Lothern Skycutter

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:49 am
by Nyeave
Hi everyone and welcome to my plog. Seeing as everyone and their mother had one I decided it was my turn to start a plog but if you choose to follow it, please don’t expect an army to take form in no time – I am a notoriously slow painter. This basically comes down to a level of perfectionism bordering on the compulsive - even back rank RnF troops get painted to the best of my current ability :? .

Now that’s said let’s hear a little about me and my history with the hobby. I live in Denmark with my fiancée and our son of 11 months. I started painting about 15 months ago when I bought a mega paint set with all of the old range of paints and a box of Chaos Warriors, but with a kid about to come and not wanting to spend his first months anywhere but with him I never got around to start until 9 months ago. Before that I had read most of the articles that now appears to be gone from GW’s website and I was itching to get to work (I painted model ships when I was a kid but always envied those that could paint something that looked “real”). So I sat down and began to test the techniques I had read about.
I quickly found myself bored with painting plate and horns and got attracted to High Elves instead, so next up was a box of spearmen to test a paint scheme. I found I liked Ultramarines Blue a lot more than Enchanted Blue and even though I liked the classic blue/white scheme I was frightened half to death by the prospects of painting and shading white clothes, so I decided to try a "reverse classical" scheme – blue clothes and white trim. After only one test model I had the outlines of the scheme I have used for everything since – it looked exactly how I wanted. Since then I have begun to add a few red details as spot color as I found it really made the blue and white pop.
For the last half a year I have been a following these forums and swelled in the fantastic amounts of inspiration to be found here. I have also jumped right on the monthly painting challenge wagon and found it really drives me forward.

At the moment I only really play with my cousin who started an Empire army at the same time, but I do hope to get a little more serious with the gaming part of the hobby as well in the future. For my first real army I am aiming for a personalized version of Seredains Cavalry list made from the models I have and like the looks/rules of. My target so far will be the following:

Mounted Prince
Mounted BSB
Mage
30 Spears
30 Archers
14 SM’s
14 WL’s
8 DP’s (might be used as Silver Helms)
Lion Chariot
2 Eagles
2 RBT’s

Below you can see some pics of the units I have painted so far. Please feel free to comment if the pics are too close or if you like further close ups.

Armyshot of what I have so far
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My first attempt at painting. A unit of spears with BSB
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Close up of the BSB - yeah faces need practicing. He looks a little old and grumpy
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Next up was a Lion Chariot. Was really proud of this one. First model with basing aswell.
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After these first models I managed to get a steady flow of models finished.

Bolt thrower
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Archers
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White Lions
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And of cause a model to represent my general on foot in our first small point games.
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At the moment I am working on a unit of Dragon Princes (test model below)
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Anyway feel free to comment on anything now or as the plog expands. I need the critique to improve.

/Nyeave

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 1:15 pm
by Gizmos
Looking good. I really like the archers and spearmen (especially the shields), nice and clean. What did you use for the base of the bolt thrower btw? Also what plans have you got next after the DPs?

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:12 pm
by Nyeave
The bolt thrower base is made from a thick chunk of bark glued to a 50x50 mm piece of wood, dried, spray primed and then drybrushed up from Adeptus Battlegrey.

After the DP's I will either paint the mage or the mounted BSB. These are the only 2 models i have left that are already primed and it is still far to cold to spray prime here. If we suddenly get a change in weather I will hurry out and prime some more spears and some swordmasters.

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:21 pm
by Gizmos
Ah cool, would be interested to see how you do your swordmasters. Also i like how you subtlely gave the archer champion a bit more presence with the increased height, nice one.

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:36 pm
by Nyeave
And if you notice, I also subtlely attached a horn to his hip so I can use him as a musician - I wanted to paint a champion but honestly who ever uses one, so this was the solution :)

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 3:28 pm
by jvanase
They.look really great. I say take your time and keep going slow if you can continue to produce nice looking minis! Whats the rush, haha.

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:44 pm
by Bolt Thrower
These are looking really good! Seeing your chariot and lion cloaks is making me rethink my original way of doing them. The creamier white is much more appealing than the straight white I was using. Hmmmmm....

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:54 pm
by Dartanelo
Great looking stuff so far keep up the good work. Quick question about your gems, they look great really shiny, did you use some kind of gloss paint over them?

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 6:08 pm
by Nyeave
Dartanelo wrote:Great looking stuff so far keep up the good work. Quick question about your gems, they look great really shiny, did you use some kind of gloss paint over them?
I do indeed coat the gems in citadel gloss varnish

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:47 pm
by Nyeave
So after an exhausting evening I managed to put the final hand on another 2 Dragon Princes. I had a few details on the weapons and shields and some highlights left to do and thought it to be about an hours work. Ended up taking me the entire evening but I think it was worth it.
I really like the forward motion of the musician - he came out very well imo. I modeled the other guy as a rank and file model, but gave him enough pressence to use him as a unit champion if the need arises.

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Next up 2 more DP's but if it gets warmer and I can start priming I'll drop them and start on some Sword Masters.

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:30 pm
by Elessehta of Yvresse
I like how you put the Musician's shield on the flank of the horse, but you gave him the champion's sword? How will you differentiate the champ now?

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:16 pm
by Nyeave
He will be identified by his insanely huge helm... With horns... And a gem the size of Texas mounted on top ;D

I decided I needed to give the sword to the musician as I dont believe you can wield a lance and blow a horn at the same time. And I wanted the champion to look enough like rank and file that I can use him as such without him standing out too much.

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:41 pm
by Elessehta of Yvresse
Oh yea, how did I forget the giant gem suspended between the wings of his helm ^_^'

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:30 am
by Ptolemy
You call yourself a newbie but your painting is really quite solid. Clean, tidy. And, most impressively, your whites look smooth.

Keep it up!

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:08 am
by Myth
Nice looking army. Try to apply some more highlighting on models, specially on clothing.
To be honest, I'm not fan of official GW color scheme for HE, although I was using the same when I started HE (some 8 years ago). As I was progressing with the painting skills I switched from metalic to full NMM, and now I don't like to see GW metalic gold and silver on the models.
Nevertheless, you don't have to be bothered with that ;) , overall appearance of your army is fine, so just keep up good work.

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:32 am
by Nyeave
Ptolemy wrote:You call yourself a newbie but your painting is really quite solid. Clean, tidy. And, most impressively, your whites look smooth.

Keep it up!
Thanks alot! About the whites, yeah I think I managed to pull off some decent white surfaces. Its when it comes to shading it I get in trouble. As can be seen on the archers I haven't really found a way to blend it over into the grey resesses.
Myth wrote:Nice looking army. Try to apply some more highlighting on models, specially on clothing.
Yeah i can see the clothing could need some more light on some surfaces. I guess i am afraid it will change the overall color too much

Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:32 am
by Nyeave
I needed an eagle for a small point game and neither time nor finances allowed me to go buy and paint the hobbit eagles (Still think the price is a little too steep on these guys but still its half price compared to the old metal eagles so I guess I shouldn't complain). So, I found this Schleich Eagle in the window of a toy store and gave it a base. I think the size is quite okay and the color palette they used does not look too far off the rest of my army. Until I get some proper ones I think it will fit quite well.

I know its not really a huge performance in neither paint nor modeling, but thought I'd share in case others needed an idea for a fast and cheap eagle.

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Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:07 pm
by Nyeave
Despite a killer scheme at work this month (and unfortunately next month aswell) I managed to finish up another 2 DP's

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This concludes the unit of 5 with musician. A few of the lances aren't completely vertical, but the way the minis where modeled it simply couldn't be done differently with the combination of upper and lower bodies I had chosen. (I see I need to take some better pictures...)
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Finally I can try my hands at something different for a while, so next up is this guy:
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Re: Nyeave's plog - a relative newbie seeking inspiration

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:16 pm
by Nyeave
Hi.
As you can see above I am working on a mounted BSB using the banner from the dragon kit. My idea was to attempt some freehand of a Pheonix (seen from the side) with a long tail trailing fire down the length of the banner. Now I have been googling pics of pheonixes for inspiration for an hour now and can't seem to find anything remotely close to what I am looking for. Any of you got something lying around?

Re: Nyeave's plog - BSB WIP

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:16 am
by Nyeave
Just a quick update.
Managed to squeeze in a few hours of painting on my mounted BSB. Base colors and shading done. Now to try my hand on some proper blending on the blue cloth and the saddle and then figure out how to get the horse white :P

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Re: Nyeave's plog - Pheonix banner. Need help finding pictures

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:17 am
by Traxo
Nice to see another dane around these parts! Where in the country are you from?

You have a really clean painting style, and i really love your models.. Its very different from my own style, but both suits HE really well :)

Im looking forward to see more of your work!

- J

Re: Nyeave's plog - Pheonix banner. Need help finding pictures

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:29 am
by Elessehta of Yvresse
I like the gold scale mail, nice work.

Re: Nyeave's plog - Pheonix banner. Need help finding pictures

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:40 am
by Nyeave
Traxo wrote:Nice to see another dane around these parts! Where in the country are you from?
Søborg, and you?

Re: Nyeave's plog - BSB wip

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 7:16 pm
by b4z
Your painting is very clean and neat. All you need to do is add a bit more contrast and depth to your colours and you will really nail it. It is so easy to do, the hard part of laying down the initial colours and keeping it all clean is the hard part. With very little effort and a bit more experimentation with Deeper Shadows and Lighter Highlights you can drastically improve the final look of your models. You will be surprised how easy it is once you get the hang of it.

Keep it up!

Re: Nyeave's plog - BSB wip

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:39 am
by Nyeave
b4z wrote:Your painting is very clean and neat. All you need to do is add a bit more contrast and depth to your colours and you will really nail it. It is so easy to do, the hard part of laying down the initial colours and keeping it all clean is the hard part. With very little effort and a bit more experimentation with Deeper Shadows and Lighter Highlights you can drastically improve the final look of your models. You will be surprised how easy it is once you get the hang of it.

Keep it up!
Thanks alot. I never really thought about it, but I can definatly see you're right. My DP's certainly lack the deep shadows whereas my caradryan model lacks the lighter highlights on the cloak. Maybe I should run over him again with some calgar blue/spacewolves grey mix.
Working on the blue cloth on the BSB atm and look forward to hear your comments when done.

Re: Nyeave's plog - Pheonix banner. Need help finding pictures

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 8:14 am
by Traxo
Nyeave wrote:
Traxo wrote:Nice to see another dane around these parts! Where in the country are you from?
Søborg, and you?

I live in Randers, so its a fair bit from you :)

But still, nice to see your models! Keep it up mate!

Re: Nyeave's plog - BSB wip

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 5:32 pm
by Nyeave
Horse and the riders body done except for a few highlights on the metal (these will be done once all the parts are painted).
I think the horse and the blending on the saddle (unfortunately a little difficult to see on the picture) turned out rather well. But I really had problems doing some proper blending on the blue parts so the highlights here are a little too defined in my opinion. On the other hand - he will fit the rest of the army better then c",)

Next up is the head and the shield and then I should finally be able to assemble him before I move on to the banner. The banner is just blue atm and I am still searching for a nice picture of a phoenix to paint onto it.

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Re: Nyeave's plog - BSB wip

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 5:42 pm
by Malossar
Very clean metallic work! Looks sharp!

Re: Nyeave's plog - BSB wip

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:36 pm
by Nyeave
The Noble himself is done. Pleased with how he came out. So full of nice details that can only be seen in a 360 shot - sword on his hip and so forth.
Now it's on to the banner itself.

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Re: Nyeave's plog - Mounted Noble done

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:38 pm
by Teledor
Looks great. Very clean.