Kaines WIP

[kaine]

Ok, here goes i guess.

First an example of one of my current standard mini's which is pretty much drybrushing based, excuse the metal chips not touched this particular one for a bit.

(btw its a converted GW beastman chariot to use chao's hounds instead of the boars)



And this is the mini i've decided to use to practice improving my skills on, an orc commando with burner.

I've decided to keep it unassembled until later so i can get easier access to the body (is this a good idea ?)



Any suggestions on a good starting point on the orc, flesh or body ?

[roguetrader]

flesh i would say and then onto the clothing, it depends which there is more of for me, but for an ork i would say flesh mate

[Tim C]

Answer to your first question it is often better to leave a mini unassembled to make painting it easier, but be careful here as the best plan is to test fit parts first and see if you are going to have to fill in any gaps.
As for the order of painting, I tend to go for the inside out method, that means that I tend to paint the areas furthest in and most difficult to paint usually that is the skin on a model as that is usually the biggest area to cover.
However the other method is to paint the biggest areas first working towards the smallest. Alot of the time the mini itself will govern how you paint it. I usually spend a few minutes just looking at a model and planning my method of attack.

[kaine]

Ok here is my first attempt at orc's skin using blending rather than dry brushing, watering down the paints really does seem to help.

[Tim C]

Looking nice so far mate. You seem to be getting the hang of it fairly quickly.

[menace]

From what i can see this is a very fine first go at layering, it would be harsh to criticise! Keep practicing and the water/paint ratio that suits you best will soon be second nature

[mousekiller]

Really solid start, and really well done on the layering. What colors are you using?

[razhburz]

yep for a first try that is very good mate i like ths skin tone you are using.

nice conersion on the chariot aswell!

[kaine]

Tim gave me some colour tips on orc flesh colours so i'm using

catachan green base
dark wash of catachan
recoat catchan
shading with progressively lighter coats of catachan and camo green well watered down.

The colour mix is Tim's though so all credit to him

[kaine]

Once i finish my orc i've decided to try some non GW stuff to get a different feel for mini's as well, i've selected the following nice looking mini's i picked up today.

[wolffang]

I'd say go for the second Wolfen. He's next on my to do list and would like to see what somebody else can do to him.

Cheers, Wolf

[kaine]

Yes, i love that model, to be honest i'm extremely impressed with the quality of their mini's very little flash and reasonably priced.

I'm planning to do something very different with my wolfen (if i can pull it off) so you may be surprised.

[kaine]

Heres a pic of my second attempt at skin layering, i've opted for an unusual red skin colour for my wolfen, i've still alot of work to do on this mini but thought i'd post it.

I think i've overdone the last highlight on the robes a little, need to tone that down.

[razhburz]

interesting colour scheme the red skin is quite cool, maybe a bit glossy?

[Tim C]

I have to say that for me the red really isn't doing it. It looks well painted at this stage but red for a wolfen. I am more used to seeing them in natural colours. This is a bold attempt at something different.

[kaine]

I think the camera is making things a bit brighter than they appear in real life, i think i'll darken the skin with a wash, the ink wash i used at the end seems to have made it richer than i intended.

This isnt a figure i intend to play with so its more an experiment and practice with layering.

We'll see how it comes out

I need to get some better pics of it, maybe in natural light.

I suppose the look i'm going for is "blood wolfen"

[jabberwocky]

*Applauds* Good job Kaine! I like the work you have done on the ork. Even at this early stage, I think it is an improvement over the drybrushing technique on the chariot. I applaud your take on the wolfen as well--push the envelope. It is not something I would have thought of, and I'll be interested to see how it comes out. The colors thus far look alright, but the glare from the lights makes it tougher to get an accurate account of how you are progressing.

[menace]

I'm confused about the red, on one hand i'm thinking 'red wolfen!...whaaaat!' and on the other hand i'm thinking 'cool idea, why didn't i think of that'..you may have started something here, but no goblin green wolfens please

[kaine]

Tired a grey horse with shading and it went horribly wrong, any ideas ?

Is it not enough shades or too big a gap between shades, it looked ok when wet on the horse until it dried.

I'm having issues working out the right consistency for the paint and also roughly how many times do people mix a ligher colour into the shade 3,4,5,etc ?

[Tim C]

Ok here is how I shade, basically I use the shade colour as a wash, to do this I usually go for 5 to 6 parts water to 1 part shade colour. I then apply this all over the area to be shaded, some people just shade in the recesses but I find the wash method the easiest for me.
Then I reset the base colour leaving some of the shade showing in the recesses, as for highlights that is down to how you do it. I use layers and basically the more layers you use in gradual increments the smoother the finished look will be.
I can typically take up to 10 to 15 highlight stages for something like a horse. I think for your horse you have gone too light too quick and left too many large darker areas showing.
It is all a matter of practice that is all.

[matty1001]

And remember that grey is very hard to give super smooth transitions to because of the way the eye picks up the natural colouring in the pigments (grey is made up of lots of different colours)

[menace]

I agree with Tim you have gone to quickly to the highlights...

My method, for what it's worth is to decide on the colour i want and then make the darkest shade of it as my base colour. I then add to this the original desired colour and layer until it covers all the midtone areas, this normally requires about 3/4 mixes. I then use my desired colour and add mix whatever is required to highlight in very small and gradual amounts until i am happy with the highest light, this takes about 5/6 mixes. For the highlighting i'll dilute the paint excessively and make several passes with each mix until it is visibly different yet finely blended.

For a simple grey i would start with Chaos black/Codex grey, add to Codex Grey, then codex grey midtone, add to fortress grey to highlight, further add to skull white to highlight

A bit long winded in method and not for tabletop methinx but i'm happiest with the results this way.. eventually with practice you'll discover a way which suits you best, check the internet for tutorials on wet blending/ feathering/ glazing etc Depending on what i want i could use a mixture of all these techniques, there's no rules!

[kaine]

"Finished" my first wolfen, i could have went a bit further with this one but i've decided to go a bit further on my next wolfen instead.

Overall i'm happy with it given its a leap from my previous stuff, but i'd still like to improve it alot more.

[racssirt]

Cool stuff mate, I want to see more!

[kaine]

Heres my next mini in progress