Blood Angels, Orks and other 40k

[wilsongrahams]

I've had a Fantasy painting log going for a while, but with a new painting competition going on at my local store lately, I've been doing more 40k - enough to rival my fantasy painting, so I thought I'd create a log here for them.

I've been collecting Blood angels for 15 years, and whilst a lot of it was sold off, other stuff has been paint stripped for repainting, and recently some other items have been released, and more due in february, so that's been getting me going.

My Ork army is a replacement of my 2nd ed army but is all new models except some vehicles. The first few posts here will likely be photos of what has been done so far, however until I can get the photos done, here's what has been done most recently.

First up, a Blood Angels captain. He's now finished but no finished pic yet sorry!
Secondly, there's Ork Flash Gitz. These won last months painting competition but I can't get a finished pic til I get them back!
Third up is My Ork Warboss - he got second the month before, and here he is in finished state - yay!
Fourth is my Tyranid test piece - a Carnifex. I have all my old metal tyranids but are replacing the army with the new plastics. The army is currently 12 warriors (unpainted) and the carnifex with about 150 genestealers. These will get more love as I get time, but I never intend doing these to a competition standard - they will be for gaming so I opted for a fast but organic painting method using inks only (except the eyes and teeth and bases).
Last is a model I painted up for my brother a couple years ago as a test in colour co-ordination so it's the choice of colours that I wanted to get right rather than the quality of the painting itself.

Just noticed that none of these pics show the models based - my own 40k models all have rust brown rocks for the bases to represent Baal primarily, and then the rest done so the armies match.

Please, plenty of advice and constructive criticism, though remember that my infantry will for the most part be painted to a lower standard on purpose for quicker painting. I don't really intend to rectify them much, though who knows what time will encourage me to do. My first prioity is to get it all painted before I go back to retouch older ones however.

[Dreffbuilder]

Pretty damn well painted models! have you won a GD yet? because your painting skills are very, very good!

rate full five

Cheers
Dreff

[wilsongrahams]

Some older pics here - the Dark Angel models are my brothers again - the captain was a test at a metallic green - turned out okay. Ezekiel was a test at a force sword and this pic doesn't do the blue much service, but it isn't all that badly painted. Azrael was finally finished (banner) but was painted more because I did the others for him! Sorry for the pic quality.

Next two are my Tycho and Master - neither were intended to be top quality, but higher than the infantry. I actually like the gold on Tycho - looks really good in real life considering it's not nmm - I may try this one day but I expect to just end up with a model that looks brown instead of gold!

Last two are my first two Terminator Squads - I now have 9 of these including the two from space hulk so expect to see a lot more in future. I used a different method of painting the red on these, including a black ink which I haven't used since as they look dirty. Compare these to the next thread.

[wilsongrahams]

Pretty damn well painted models! have you won a GD yet? because your painting skills are very, very good!

rate full five

Cheers
Dreff

Wow that was a fast post!

Thank you. I've never entered Golden Daemon yet, but with this competition every month I have started painting certain models to a higher standard than I would normally bother (my usual aim being to just get them finished after selling almost everything I already had painted), and I've been enjoying it, and begun to feel some pride in my work, so I may enter Golden Daemon once I have had some more practise - I've a way to go yet before I'm at the top level yet, but top three in Dudley's competition isn't a bad start.

Right, next pics - these are my space hulk guys. These were painted with neat and clean being the aim, and also being a game I play regularly, wanted models that would be easy to repair if chipped (so no fancy blending), they have been varnished (which has affected these photos more than the models) so look even cleaner, and again I wanted them painted fairly quickly, so they were simply painted two coats of red, one of red ink, then red gore, and finally blazing orange. In hindsite I wish I'd done an extra shade and highlight stage but they look okay in reality - the pics don't show the difference in the colours that well.

The blue on the Librarian looks too harshly highlighted here too, but is better in person. The tricky thing on this guy was the freehand design on the right pad, which was copied as near as possible from the GW model. It turned out okay I think - my freehand has never been as neat as I want it to be so recently I've been trying a little bit here and there.

The shot of Squad Lorenzo with Calistarius shows most accurately what they look like in natural daylight with the naked eye. I find that a camera, and in particular a flash shows up how well a model is really painted, hence why I have been doing these logs lately, as just taking pictures has made me want to improve - though it does slow up the speed. The captain in the first post is my first example of this in my blood angels characters. I have many fantasy models in various stages that should be at a higher level too, but none finished yet - I'm the kind of painter that flits from one model to the next as I see fit or get stuck on what colours to use.

I want to try some fancy posed shots with smoke and backgrounds with some models to see how it works - watch this space!

[Dreffbuilder]

Well... Finnish people are fast...

That red on those terminators is a little too bright to my eye... Did you use flash when you toke those pics? Anyways, its well done. And how did you do the blue on that termie Librarian? I'm looking for something similiar to my BA devastators. And the axe he's wearing is super-fantastic! I'll never learn to paint that well. But will see, practise makes perfect.

I'm keeping an eye on this -> Sub'd

Cheers

[wilsongrahams]

Well... Finnish people are fast...

That red on those terminators is a little too bright to my eye... Did you use flash when you toke those pics? Anyways, its well done. And how did you do the blue on that termie Librarian? I'm looking for something similiar to my BA devastators. And the axe he's wearing is super-fantastic! I'll never learn to paint that well. But will see, practise makes perfect.

I'm keeping an eye on this -> Sub'd

Cheers

Yes, I've been struggling to get any decent photo of miniatures taken in anything other than natural daylight. The flash is too bright close up. I've been looking into ways to improve the photography of miniatures recently though.
The red is two coats of blood red followed by Baal red, which does take the edge off them, however they are still brighter than most contemporary blood angels, but that's due to the fact that I started painting Blood Angels 15 years ago during 2nd edition! You'll cringe at my tactical squads when I post them - I skipped the baal red stage on them!

The blue on the librarian started using Deadly Nightshade (similar to necron abyss now), then Badab Black, followed by Enchanted Blue and Regal Blue (darker first, I can't remember which way round at the moment). Then I started adding white into the lighter of the two and did just two more highlights. A thin glaze of Asurmen blue thinned with water was then washed over the model to smooth out the paint as I didn't particularly thin the paints much as I wasn't aiming for smooth blending as such.

As for the axe, it's the same as how the Eldar Farseer had his sword painted in one of white dwarf's painting masters sessions. Jade green mixed with blue, highlighted first by adding bone, and then white until finished. I just copied the placement of where GW did the highlights rather than having any understanding of light. My BA captain has a more refined version of this where I have blended more carefully and avoided white other than the highlights - I'll post that tomorrow along with some really bright tactical marines!

Thanks for the sub! Practise does make perfect but I'd recommend patience and regularly cleaned and dried brushes. I also use a spare medium sized brush for getting paints out of the pots for mixing rather than my detail brushes - keeps the bristles in line longer.

[jønke]

Beutiful minis. Working a lil on a ba army myself so ill deffinately keep an eye here for inspiration. Keep em comming.

[wilsongrahams]

As promised, here's the finished captain, and a quick shot of my finished Tactical, Assault and Devastator Squads. All of these are the older metal ones. New plastic ones are assembled and awaiting painting.

You can also see my themed cabinet in red! (Actually it was just on special offer in red!) I kept the flash off for these to reduce the glare - there wasn't much natural light at 6am in my garage however so you are stuck with a 60W bulb!

[wilsongrahams]

Have been doing a little quick work on some Escher models I have that are used as civilians during campaigns - I usually play campaigns - most of these were either black undercoated, or had their base colours applied with no shading or highlighting (painting the white undercoat for the yellow took long enough as it is!). I have more but these are my three favourite models.

Have done some larger models to practise different skin tones - with more brown for shading and white for highlighting rather than going redder as I would on a smaller miniature. I thought a larger mini would also mean that I'd need to improve my blending. Has it worked out? I censored the pics by clipping the lower halves away so I hope these don't offend still. BTW did the bleached blonde hair look right or does it just look like badly done blonde instead? I was pleased with the eyes on that model however. Compare with the Escher eyes that are far simpler and brighter - darker tones around eyes on 28mm doesn't seem to work as well.

The larger models are 6" tall, so larger than usual - I just thought they'd be suitable models for doing Golden Daemon level skin painting - something I want to practice and enter later possibly next year. I find giving myself challenges with painting enjoyable as I surprise myself with the results I can get when I put extra effort in and paint beyond a gaming level.

[Lurbadurm]

Really nice skin colour you've achieved! The blonde hair looks good, just like everything else in this logg!
Can't say that I dare to try and give any painting tips since you're like one bajillion times better then I am

Keep it up!
Lurbadurm

[wilsongrahams]

Really nice skin colour you've achieved! The blonde hair looks good, just like everything else in this logg!
Can't say that I dare to try and give any painting tips since you're like one bajillion times better then I am

Keep it up!
Lurbadurm

Thank you. I've had plenty of practise over the years - and that's all I can really say to encourage any newer painters - you'll get better with time and patience. As for tips, sometimes, just noticing that a certain colour on a model or a scheme doesn't suit well is a good tip - we all have our tendencies to use those colours we like best (Or in my case, sometimes a colour with a stronger pigment because it's easier to paint with) rather than one that would look better.

After painting up a Skaven Doomwheel for Fantasy, my next project will be a real challenge. An Eldar Farseer with pearlescent armour - just how I imagine them to look, but god knows how I'll achieve it! Watch this space in a couple weeks for progress!

[ancient god]

Really impressive Blood Angels! Do you have any more pictures of them?

[wilsongrahams]

Really impressive Blood Angels! Do you have any more pictures of them?

After I've sent the children to bed later I'll get some more taken just for you and post them tonight. Ain't I nice? :-)

[ancient god]

Ain't I nice? :-)

You are the epitomy of philantrophy. Thanks mate!

[wilsongrahams]

Well, I've taken several pictures, but have been having a lot of trouble getting the saturation right. You can see the difference with the two pics of Tycho.

I'll shrink down the pics of the squads, but you can see two of the sergeants with my newest captain model to see the 'gaming' level I use for the infantry. Most of these models are a few years old and I have since decided to do them to a slightly higher standard - you can see the WIP of the Sternguard to show how all my new plastic infantry will be finished up.

I included the picture of the Carnifex again as it's a clearer shot of the colours (painted using just washes) and was also a test to see if the blue made a difference to the settings on the camera - which it did!

The wife was the cameraperson using the camera I bought her for xmas, and she is keen to take some better photos tomorrow in daylight.

[wilsongrahams]

Just a quick shot of my only finished vehicle - again painted to the basic level. I have 8 tanks, 4 Dreadnoughts and some bikes to add to this!

Also a pic of some other captains I have finished - the first models I did in repainting this army. I particularly like the guy on the left with his scars and blinded eye.

Troop shots to follow tomorrow - it's getting late now so off to bed. Night!

[ancient god]

Awesome stuff Wilson!

Love the sarges. I have some of the 2nd Ed. models but actually none of the 3rd Ed. metal BA. Some cool models there that hold up well against the newer plastics.

[wilsongrahams]

Awesome stuff Wilson!

Love the sarges. I have some of the 2nd Ed. models but actually none of the 3rd Ed. metal BA. Some cool models there that hold up well against the newer plastics.

Thanks. I have three tactical squads in the 2nd ed metals (one still unpainted though you can see the heavy plasma with a couple devastators I have) and my first assault squad is the 3rd ed metals. I have made them up from the 2nd and 3rd ed Death Company modela so they have some BA iconography on them. Since building these GW released the BA plastics, and I now have two plastic Assault squads, 3 Devastator squads, 3 Tactical Squads and a 15 man Death Company, all awaiting painting. The large number of devastaors (I have a full metal one too but they're not finished yet) is so that I have four of each weapon option so I can take whatever weapons I need to the battlefield if I ever get a proper game with them!

The only times I notice a scale difference is with the character models actually.

Again these photos are pretty bland, in particular the yellow helmets are actually shaded with desert yellow from the old bad moon yellow, yet they almost look white here. These all need bases finishing still, but I have been waiting to do the army all at once after finisheing the current few units on the painting table.

[tcraigen]

Great collection. Nice clean paint jobs. Work to be proud of

[wilsongrahams]

Finally took some pictures of those Flash Gitz in their finished state. Over time I will paint all of my Ork army to this level as I intend using the models as breaks from painting red, blue and silver from my Blood Angels and High Elves. There will be very little red or blue in this force!