Empire Spearman

[razhburz]

Ok, I have just started to paint a unit of spearmen for my empire army ( It is for gaming standard).

here is one of them:


do you have any good tips on how to paint the beard? I was thinking of making it in a light colour since he will have a black uniform.

thanks,

razh

[sonny]

Hmm light beard.. if you want to keep i simple you can paint it snakebite and highlight with bone. maybe a wash or bestial brown..



Sonny the betrayer slayer

[razhburz]

thank you i might try that!

[jabberwocky]

Great start--the face has a lot of character!

[razhburz]

here is an updated pic:

[Tim C]

The shield is looking realy nice mate keep it up.

[razhburz]

thanks tim! do you have any good tips on how to highlight black? I use to mix in some grey but maybe there is a better way?

[sonny]

try rottning flesh or a bone color

[Tim C]

Well black is the toghest of all to do well, Shadow Grey, Codex Grey and a Dark Blue are the usual mixes for black, I tend to go with Codex Grey, the secret I have found is to mix a tiny amount of grey into black and then paint it all over the surface apart from the areas you want to be darkest, then just keep adding more grey to get the highlights, this then loses the sudden change you get when trying to highlight blak.

Example



This is about the best black highlighting I have achieved to date.

[sonny]

:owow! thats some good black

[razhburz]

thanks alot! I'll try that on my other spearmen.

your castellan is great Tim!

Razh

[razhburz]

just the base left now!

[sonny]

Looking good are you going to paint a regiment?

[talonicus]

He is looking good. I think he could do with another highlight, but it may be the pics. I find photos usually potray minis badly.

[razhburz]

thanks,

yes sonny i will use him in a regiment, with 19 others.

i will put up a pic of the whole unit, once finnished

I might give him an other highlight, do you mean the black or everything?

[talonicus]

Well everything really.
But it may be the camera washing the colours out.
Its just at the moment he looks a little flat.

[razhburz]

thanks for your comment

ok I will try to highlight him a bit more but since he is going to be in a unit of 20 men so hopefully they will ok thogheter.

razh

[Tim C]

Coming along very nicely.

[razhburz]

thanks tim! do you have any suggestons for the base?


razh

[Tim C]

If you intend these as gaming pieces then I would not put too much effort into the base, just the usual sand and static grass is ample, maybe add one or two larger stones for interes or the odd broken weapon that sort of thing.

[razhburz]

ok thanks!


Razh

[razhburz]

now finnished! any tips on how to improve the wood on the spear







Thanks,

Razh

[Tim C]

Looks good, I usually go for a little darker brown on spear shafts and then paint thin lines in a lighter brown to represent the grain of the wood.

[razhburz]

like scorched brown and scorched brown mixed with bleached bone. or some thing similar?

Thanks mate!


razh

[Tim C]

Scorched Brown yes but I tend to go for Mixing Bestail Brown into it and then Finishe with a little Snakebite Leather. That seems to work for me.