What is paint we don't even

[FLESHGRINDER]

From the very depths of page 9, I bring you more of my mediocre painting skills, only for this thread to sink back into the abyss for another month.

As promised, a month ago, Here's some pictures of my new Orc Boy with looted shield. I'm really proud of him, and obviously, he's the best thing I've painted so far. I wish I could take better pictures.
The first picture is of his choppa and the glyph I free-handed on it. It took maybe 4 layers of extremely thinned-down paint to make sure it didn't look clumpy. That was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to paint; if I messed up even a little bit I'd have to redo the entire choppa because I don't know how I did the blade.
The second picture (aptly named Orc Boy 2.jpg) shows the Dark Elf shield I looted. I painted the entire thing black, then mixed some white into the black to draw the basic outline of the DE glyph. Then more white. Then more white. Then more white. Then more white. After the fourth coat, when I realized this was going nowhere, I just drew a thin line of white for the glyph, then a thicker one over it because I wasn't happy with the first line. After that dried, I made a Hawk Turquoise glaze and painted it over the glyph to give it a magical look. Again, after about 4 coats and realizing it wasn't working, I made a Hawk Turquoise wash and painted the glyph with that. The whole process probably took 2 to 3 hours. Then the next day I painted WAAAGH!!! over it. That took about 5 minutes.
The third picture is of the Orc Boy's face. (He still needs a name, so if anyone has any ideas) His head is the one with the stupid top knot-pony tail thing. I cut that off immediately and filed it down smooth. Orcs shouldn't have hair. I started with Dark Angels Green and through maybe 10 layers I got up to a Goblin Green-Scorpion Green mix for the highlights. The problem with 10 layers is I didn't realize it at the time, but I was painting over entire layers with the next one. so on his right arm you can see where there's a jump from DA Green to the rest of his skin color. I'm a little unhappy with that, but he's just a rank and file test subject, so its not a big deal. His mouth and gums were basecoated Mechrite Red and for his tongue I worked up to a Blood Red. His teeth were basecoated Iyanden Darksun (I had just purchased it and wanted to know if it would work) which I coated with Dark Flesh, then Snakebite, then Bleached Bone, then Leviathan Purple wash (I had also just purchased it). This didn't turn out so well, so I just highlighted it with Skull White.
Picture number 4 is of his armor and pants. What I originally wanted to do was what the 'Eavy Metal team does and do a Chaos Black vest with grey highlights. But my water dropper (a re-purposed mouth hole cleaner from when I got my wisdom teeth removed) is a bit touchy and I accidentally squirted too much water into the paint. So I decided to build up from black to Codex Grey making as realistic highlights as I could. Same principle with his pants. I think I added too much water to the blue on purpose so I could get a realistic look. Except I don't think orcs would have blue pants. I'm a little reluctant to paint more Orc Boy pants like that in the future; I'm not too keen on highlighting ass cheeks.

The shield is a bit I bought off Bitzbarn.com (I suggest going there, fast shipping with a flat S&H rate, very reliable, and gave me a refund for a bit they couldn't give me). It's the 'Empire General Skull Heraldry Shield'. I'm going to put some Space Marine purity seals on it, and the orc that's using it. I just don't know how to paint it, because I can't find any pictures of it on GW's site. So if anyone has any tips on how to do that, I'd be greatful.

The next pic is of the 'Empire wounded Orc'. I'm going to be painting it up for Silversword, another friend that got dragged into our painting parties. I really like the idea of the wounded model, and am thinking of getting one myself so I can paint it up and put it in front of my chariott whenever I get around to buying a base for it. Make it look like the Chariot's about to take out the orc for being too slow. I just wish GW had placed the hand in a better place. I just don't want to think about an orc with his hand on his crotch in a reclining position. I'm thinking of starting with Snot Green, and highlighting up through Rotting Flesh to make him look like he's got an unhealthy palor, then use a Leviathan Purple wash to exaggerate his condition. I wish they gave a less angry head for the model though; to me it looks unrealistic that an Orc dying from an arrow wound would still have his war-face on.

The final picture is of a Tyranid I painted up. Silversword bought the Assault on McCragge Reach 4th ed starter set and wants to start Space Marines. The Tyranids are for Godfiend, who likes Tyranids. The scheme isn't Team Kraken exactly, but I tried copying what I saw on DoW II without knowing that it was really the scheme Hivefleet Kraken uses. Godfiend's idea is green armor on grey flesh, which is pretty cool. I know it's not Fantasy, but I'd rather put one picture in here to show what I've been working on since I last updated, than to start a whole thread about one picture of one badly-painted model. If I ever start 40k (next year at the very very earliest) I'd play Orks. Obviously.

I've been thinking of doing all my new Blorcs in NMM armor, but I'm either going to have to get very good at it very fast, or shelve that idea for a loooooong time. I think it'd look cool if I can manage it. Then we can finally see whether or not I make my Pump Wagon or die in a fire.

@Warlord Ghazak Gazhkull: Yeah the new Blorcs look amazing; I'm glad I found the box of plastics before I bought the metal ones (and payed about $20 more). I'm envious of your drive to paint 10,000 points of O&G, and a little frightened by it. If there's anyone to ask, it'd probably be you; Have you ever seen plastic Arrer Boyz, or plastic anything Squigs? Because I'd love to have those in my army, but I don't want to buy the metal ones off GW's site, 3 for $16 (Arrer Boyz) or the set of 5 Squig hoppers for $30. Keep up the good work.

@mdiscala: I looked at the hobby store by my house and they have Ballast for trains, which I think should work for basing; plus, for the same amount of money as GF9 basing stuff I can get like 5x more. So I'll look into that for my horde. Thanks for the idea!

As always, C&C are more than welcome and you really should vote, because I swear I'm going to do my Blorcs. One of these days.

Edit: I think I've decided on a scheme for my blorc skin, so next time I make a post I'll show the scheme and the results.

[Queekvondrak]

they look bad ass not gonna lie though the carapace on the gun i'd keep that the same color as the termagant if its it might just be bad lighting but overall the boy and the gant look really good

[N0th1ng c4n b34t 3lv3s]

That's how the greenies should look!

All looty and fond of tribal paintings.

[precinctomega]

Easy Black Orcs: Paint them the way you paint regular Orcs then wash the whole damn thing with Badab Black. Job Done.

And you really, really need to add some sand and flock to the bases.

R.

[TheMaster]

I'll start the fire.

[Sork21]

very nice orcs there, however i am concerned by the 45.83% of people that suggest you go die in a fire...

[FLESHGRINDER]

@precinctomega: Holy threadomancy, Batman! Thanks for the tip, but wouldn't a Badab black wash just make the blorcs look dirty? I've seen when people use a brown wash over the base coat and it looks like a basecoated model that got dirty. I'll have to try it out, though. By the way, I'm a huge fan of your stuff
@TheMaster: 7 months ago the Pump wagon was winning. Why is life so cruel?
@Sork21: I'm very concerned too. I can't be that bad of a painter can I? Maybe I'm just a bad person. Oh well.

Well, I guess now is as good as ever to update this log. The semester just ended at school and as of this moment I have painted exactly 1 (one) complete model since 7 months ago. The wounded orc model I was asked to paint. Instead of the DA Green into Rotting flesh, I used Alucard56's night goblin skin recipe:
1: Knarloc Green
2: Badab Black
3. Knarloc Green
4: (2:1) Knarloc Green/Bleached Bone
5: (1:1) Knarloc/BB
6: (1:2) Knarloc/BB
7: (1:3) Knarloc/BB
8: Devlan Mud
I don't have a picture of the model, but I plan on getting one soon so I can show everyone that 7 months of downtime does not significantly improve painting ability. Also, I don't suggest anyone ever taking that long of a break from painting; painting is too much fun to stop for so long, even if school gets in the way.

I felt I could do a better job on the blorc I started so long ago, so I decided to give him a Simple Green bath. I'm going to try the method Joe Tomaszewski of the 'Eavy Metal team used on the Games Day Chaos Lord model (the guide can be found on GW's site). I think it'll be a lot simpler (maybe) and if I can get the glazing right, look almost magical, like it was made by the Chaos Dwarfs.

Unfortunately for the 41.51% of the voters that want me dead, I started on my Pump Wagon early. I was really inspired by the 'Skaven: Screaming Bell stage-by-stage assembly and painting' article and how they did the wood and metal. I've put in about 8 hours of work so far on it, and the wagon part is almost done; I just need to highlight the wood and metal and then I can figure out how to paint the snotlings. When I remembered this thread and the poll, I felt a little bad about skipping over my blorcs, but I think painting 10 NMM blorcs is going to be a very big project. I hope to make that my next project (I'm already really excited about disappointing myself for not having Joe Tomaszewski's skill).

If you're familiar with the Tale of Fantasy Painters then you know they try to paint a whole army (2000 points I believe?) in the course of a year. My goal isn't as big, but my timescale is a lot shorter: I plan on painting everything I own before school starts up again. If I pull it off it'll be a lot of fun, and I'll have a huge boost to my army. If I don't get everything painted then it's going to be another long break before I can hope to finish my stuff (I don't think I'll have much time to paint in between Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics).
Currently I still have to paint:
19 Orc boyz w/ shields + full command group
10 Black Orcs
1 Snotling Pump Wagon
1 Giant
1 Grumlok and Gazbag from the Warhams Online collector's edition (I picked it up from Half-Price Books for $15. The box came with the model, the comic book, the concept art book, and of course the game. I only bought the boxed set for the model.)
3 Night Goblin Fanatics
1 Troll
2 Night Goblin Shamans
1 'Reaper Minis Chronosphere' legally-distinct-from-Doc-Savage model for my dad (He likes those old Pulp Magazines, which I think is really cool)
1 'Reaper mini' Sir Broderick, Crusaders Captain
2 '.45 Adventure' robots for my dad
1 'Warmachine' Cryx skull crusher bone robot of death and hatred and murder forever thing for Godfiend
So I think I've got my work cut out for me. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it all in like 3 months.

My plan for the unit of 20 boyz is to paint them all different skin tones, and to the best of my ability; so that I can figure out a reasonable price for the whole unit and sell it on ebay or something. I'm thinking whatever GW sells a box for, plus the cost of any bitz used, plus some for my time painting; maybe an additional $15. That way I'll make some money off it and someone somewhere can have a (in my opinion) well painted unit of boyz with some personality for not much more than the cost of the boyz themselves. That way everyone wins.

If anyone knows a way to paint a bronze skin tone like Doc Savage would have (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...bronzebama.jpg) for the Reaper Legally-distinct-from-Doc-Savage model, I'd be glad to hear it. Also, any tips on how to paint monochromatic stuff, like Doc Savage would be wonderful.

[FLESHGRINDER]

WOOOOOOOOOO REAL PICTURES NOW

I took some pictures of the progress on my pump wagon yesterday. I wish I had a fancy daylight bulb, or that I had taken it out into the sunlight. The only problem is I'm paranoid about the model chipping. Whenever we'd get together to paint, and I'd be working on my pump wagon, I'd wrap every individual piece in tissue paper so that they don't rub up against each other or against anything else. My friends call me OCD about all of this. I'm just being careful.
I love the detail that metal models have, but I have a lot of trouble with handling them because they always chip on the corners or wherever they touch anything harder than my skin. Am I doing something wrong or am I just being careless?

Like I said before, I used the Skaven: screaming bell stage-by-stage article. I couldn't get the Devlan Mud wash to be as dark as the screaming bell. And it wasn't my wash (painting parties have saved me a lot of money), so I didn't want to use too much of it, but I think it looks pretty good so far.

Usually when people say a model has a lot of character, Godfiend and I like to joke that 'character' means ugly. Because, let's face it, a lot of the old models that people say have a lot of character are so ugly that the only thing good you can say about it is that its got a lot of character. But when I put all the snotlings onto the model to see where they'd fit, I have to say, this model has a lot of character. I'm glad I bought it; but I'm going to be mad if they redo it in plastic and it ends up better looking. I guess I'll just have to buy another one then

This is Grumlok & Gazbag, the model I bought for $15 and got a free month of Warhams Online, a free Warhams Online concept art book, and a free Warhams Online comic book. The orc chapter was the best; except for the part where the Dark Elves are controlling Grumlok, and win a battle for him with their power gem thing.
I can't wait to start on him. He weighs like half a pound and is about as tall as a dreadnought model. I'm a little worried about the fur cape he's wearing, I don't know how to do fur; so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

And that's a smilie face on my thumb

This is Reaper Mini's Sir Broderick, Crusaders Captain. I'm painting him up to be my character in a D&D campaign that starts later tonight. I know he's not finished, but I'm working on it. I don't think it'll be finished by the time we start, but at least I've got some stuff done.
I originally bought the model because I thought he was unarmed. If you look closely at his right foot, the giant rectangular thing is the head of his hammer. None of the pictures on the website show it very well. Ok, that's a lie. I just didn't see it before I bought it. oh well.
I already painted him once, and had to strip him because I've only ever painted orcs & goblins, so I'm only really good with green skin tones. I tried the 'palid skin tone' GW shows in either their 'painting faces masterclass' or 'painting faces masterclass redux'.
Its a really cool model, but I don't like how its a single metal piece. And I think there's a casting mistake on his face, or else they really need to get a better sculptor. I only paid $6.50 for it, so I guess its not too bad.

Hopefully now that the semester is over Godfiend and I will be able to update this log more frequently than twice a year.

C&C are always welcome, and actively encouraged

[Lew_b81]

Pump wagon is looking good! I know what you mean about the Snotlings - when you put them on it all starts to make sense.

Grumlock is a totally sweet model, I have one sitting around waiting for some paint. Fur is easy, my friend! Firstly, pick an animal you want it to look like and look at photos of said animal. Then you want to start with a medium/dark colour, drybrush the medium colour on top, lighter drybrush of medium/light colour, and then carefully go over an individually highlight the tips of the fur with your light colour. After that give the whole thing two washes. First one to add some colour (quite thinned down though) - using yellow, green, blue, something complimentary. Then the second one of your dark colour (or dark colour equivalent) to heighten the shading and blend your drybrushed colours together.

Oh on the chipping models front, it's just one of those things. When you're finished painting though, definately use a spray varnish. If it's something particularly pointy like the Pump Wagon, a couple of coats of it are a must!

[FLESHGRINDER]

To everyone else who has a thread in the Fantasy section: don't worry, you'll be able to have the front page back, I doubt my updates will be very frequent.

@Lew_b81: Thanks for the advice! When I get around to painting him I'll be sure to try that out. You'll have to take some pictures and post the results of you painting your Grumlok, so I can see how I've messed up mine. I can't wait to see more of your ogres. (Can you tell me what this current one is going to be?)


After I took those pictures yesterday, I got the urge to paint again, so I sat down and painted up Sir Broderick's armor. I think it's an excellent bronze. There are a few mistakes on it because I was impatient with the drying times, but I think I'm going to strip the model again. I'm not happy with anything else on him, so disregard everything except the armor.

How I did it:
1. Dark Flesh undercoat
2. Dwarf Bronze (covering the DF)
3. Ogryn Flesh
4. Baal Red
5. Ogryn Flesh
6. Ogryn Flesh (liberally, recesses only)

I read somewhere that if you undercoat a model with a brown, and then paint a metallic gold over it, the gold ends up looking richer. So I painted Dark Flesh over the armor, hammer head, and the horn he has strapped to his back. Then I painted two coats of the Dwarf Bronze (thinned to about the consistency of milk). The armor looked a bit too red, so I put another coat on. At this point the armor was barely more red than straight Dwarf Bronze.
For the next part I was a bit stuck as to what to do, so I painted a little rectangle of Dark Flesh about the size of my index finger, and when it dried, I painted another rectangle of Dwarf Bronze over it. Then I went over sections of it about 1/4" wide with all the washes I own and my black ink. This let me see, side-by-side, what the model would look like with any of the washes applied without committing to any one. I finally settled on Ogryn Flesh (it's a nice brown, but unlike Devlan Mud, it's got a hint of red) and Baal Red (it adds a nice warm tone to the bronze).
I first painted the armor with Ogryn Flesh. It made the metal look a bit brown, so when it was dry I washed on the Baal Red. (If you're following these instructions, and I've explained them correctly, yes its supposed to look that red.) I thought I had made a mistake by using the Baal Red, so I washed it again with Ogryn Flesh. This second wash really helped to tone down the red in the armor, but it still wasn't right; there was no shading or anything, it was a mostly flat bronze color. So when this wash dried, I applied a very liberal wash to the recesses only, and that was the end result I wanted.
As a final Highlight, I mixed (probably about 5:1, I wasn't paying attention) Dwarf Bronze and Chainmail and painted all the raised edges and the collar. In the picture of the hammer, the highlights are straight Dwarf Bronze. To me they don't 'pop' as much as the highlights on the armor. The chainmail really helps to change the color slightly to make it not blend in too much.


Here's the hammer; like I said, the highlights aren't as noticeable. Once again, disregard everything except the bronze.


This stuff is amazing. I use it to thin down my metallic paints and foundations because, unlike water, the pigments and metallic particles stay in solution, which saves a boat-load of hassles. Plus, it costs less than a GW paint pot, and you get more. Plus plus, Valejo's Game Color line is made to copy GW's paints, meaning when my paints are all used up I'll be buying those.


These are the robots I'll be painting up for my dad. I know they're not 'Fantasy', but they're not the focus of this log, so they're going to be relegated to 'before and after' shots. I'm thinking of making one bronze and the other some sort of steel or something. It'll be good practice for true-metallics and glazing when I make their eye-slots glow with murderous rage.


The Legally-Distinct-From-Doc-Savage model, also for my dad. It's going to be tough figuring out how to paint human skin tones.


And finally here's the Bone harvesting child murderer Warmachine model Godfiend gave me to paint. It's still in its original state too, which is good if I ever decide to sell it to feed my Warhams addiction. (Don't tell him though, he thinks I'm working on it.)

I hope to definitely pick up the pace. Some time soon I'm going to start painting the snotlings for the pump wagon, then it'll be easy to do the blades and front shield. If I can get over to Godfiend's house to paint I'll be able to re-prime my blorc so I can finally get started on the NMM armor.

Does anyone know a way to incorporate an orange or brown into an orc's skin tone? I've got a bunch of different recipes saved, but none do that, and it'd be a great help to me finishing my box of boyz.

Edit: Black Umbrella, another friend we not only got roped into Warhams, but into coming to our painting parties, is going to be posting his stuff here soon too

[Black Umbrella]

Well hello there everybody. This is my first post on Warseer, and you're all going to be a part of it. It's actually really late at time of posting, and I have no light with witch to photograph my minis. This being the case, pics and explanations will be edited into this tomorrow morning, yay.

[themasterofstyx]

Oh on the chipping models front, it's just one of those things. When you're finished painting though, definately use a spray varnish. If it's something particularly pointy like the Pump Wagon, a couple of coats of it are a must!

Spray varnish is ok but If you really want to be sure, I would use the 'Arcoat with a brush and after thats dried some spray matt varnish to take of the shine. This gives really solid coat that protects the paintjob. I do that with all my metal models - for plastics ive found that normal spray is enough.

I would never even dream of transporting my metal minis without them being individually packed.

[Warlord Ghazak Gazhkull]

Hi,

I never seen plastic squiqs unfortunatly, but plastic arrer boyz exist, either old 5ed models or the plastic arrer boyz from the 6ed starter set. The ones from the 6ed starter box can you find on ebay easily.

Cheers,
G

[Black Umbrella]

OK, here we go.

First off is some of my very first models out of my box of shame.

I'm seriously considering stripping these guys and painting them again, so that's all I'll say about them until that's done.

[Black Umbrella]

Next up is my DoomWheel. I painted this after getting like 8 Clan Rats done, and in retrospect I definitely needed to get some more experience before doing this. There is no way I can strip this, because I just can't get to all of the pieces when it's assembled.

[Black Umbrella]

This next guys was a hell of a lot of fun, and also a good reason that I should never be allowed near 40k bitz. The arms are actually power fists from possessed marines, and for a while I wanted this guy to be my warlord. Unfortunately, he has no hope of ever ranking up with anything.

[Black Umbrella]

This next group sat around for a long time before I painted them. This was definitely a turning point for me as far as effort and skill, and at the time they were the best thing I'd ever painted. This is also when I chose to go with the blue color scheme, and when I really started to want to improve.

[Black Umbrella]

This next model really inspired me, and this is really where I hit my stride. In fact, this is the first model I ever used highlighting on. Ikit Claw is one of the coolest minis in the Skaven army, and I'm glad I got to do him justice.

[Black Umbrella]

OK, this is my last painted Warhammer model for the time being. Easily the best thing I've painted to date. I ended up doing a lot of experimenting with the 'Ardcoat on this guy, and I think it came out really well.

[Black Umbrella]

This is a model I threw together one day out of boredom, and yet another piece of evidence that I should not be anywhere near 40k stuff. I made this thinking it could easily represent nearly any of the weapon teams. Most of the pieces are from a Clan Rat box, and the backpack and gun are a Space Marine Plasma Cannon. Lots of fun to build, probably going to be hell to paint.