Notes on the Alien Bestiry And Studies of it's Vile Specimens

[Keravin]

Very cool set up for the plog and nice scheme on the Dark eldar.

[lilloser2010]

@Keravin: Cheers man. I don't think i'll continue with the way i've been posting.


To anyone who will try this, even with a different colour, I would love to see the result. Post it up here, or better yet, create a full topic. I'd love to hear how people handle this technique and what they think of it.

Here is the finished result:





I hope you have found this tutorial useful.

LilLoser

[lilloser2010]

I have a problem taking photo's of squads because of the way I have my light box set up. I have 20 Kabalite warriors painted up, so here's an image dump of some of my favourites:

Sybarite Thraxis








Sigil of the Cult of the Flayed Prophet



Within Commoragh society I imagine there exists a whole plethora of cults, secret organisations, and abodes of sin. The warriors are already marked with all sorts of strange sigils, indicating their allegiances or past vices, so I thought I'd carry along this theme and sculpt flayed faces onto some of my warriors. Members of the pleasure cult of the flayed prophet must bear the mouth and eyes of a being considered holy to one of the prey species. This particular model has kept the face, adorning it on his right shoulder guard.

Human skin is in vogue with the Kabal of the Medusae now; especially when the human settlement is close to a Craftworld.





The Dark Eldar do this because they know that the seers will try and form a logic to their attacks and divine a pattern when, in truth, none exists save for the pleasure of torture.

+++++++++++++++++++

There are a lot more pictures of my Kabalite warriors on my blog, so check them out or get flayed!

LilLoser

[checkerthinker]

now THAT is how you do dark eldar....the skin is appropriately sinister how did you achieve that effect? and planning on doing wytches?

[kinganokaisoku]

Brilliant tutorial mate. I was thinking of doing the same but started painting before I saw this. Thinking about using my first box of wyches as a test if they don't turn out how I imagined.

[lilloser2010]

@ checkerthinker: Sorry for the late reply! It's dead simple to do; (1)dhenb stone and vmc ivory (bleached bone +white), (2)wash with asrumen blue, (3)add a touch of grey to (1) then highlight with white. I have left the eyes completely black on most of my Kabailte warriors.

@ kinganokaisoku: Thank you. I don't know if anyone would find this helpful, but I'm glad I gave you some material to think about.

I've been lucky enough to receive the Talos I pre-ordered today. I've been having a mess around with the kit trying to make it look more like the artwork in the codex. Although I love the model, I personally found it to be a little too upright

Give this build some thought if you plan on buying the talos kit or three. If nothing else, it will help you create an individual Talos pain engine, breaking up the pattern if you intend to use more than one.

Here is the first part of my alternate Talos build:


Assemble Talos as instructed until stage 4.



Do not attach hip as shown. Instead, pivot the hip 180 degree's and glue torso to where the 'tail' should go:





NOTE: Above model is blu tacked only. This gave me the chance to see how the model would look with a slanted tail. There is quite a gap between the tail/stinger and the torso, adequately filled in by this little jem of a piece: The Telson (pg 37 of this months white dwarf, piece no.49)




Already I think I'm off to a good start. I'll have another play with the kit tomorrow and see what I can do with the arms.

LilLoser

[Mega Nutz]

Looks like a sweet kit!

[Gonfrask]

Interesting that alternative Talos, I want to see it finished

[SpeedFreek]

Heja, heja!

[lilloser2010]

Thank you all (Heja heja you too speedfreak; what does that mean?)

Now, the bane of my existence, TMM Raiders!

Stage one; no problem!



Stage two, my troubles begin.

I always knew these guys were going to give me a headache. Anyone who has painted large, flat surfaces with metallics know that it is hard to achieve a smooth, consistent outcome. The metallic pigment in the paint dries very quickly, and can leave area's patchy (see below)





Not good, especially on a £20 piece of kit. I have recently had a big clean of my desk, and this ugly thing was the only thing on there as I tried to go to sleep last night. What does that have to do with anything? Well, I came across a great tutorial/rambling debating the best techniques of getting a consistent metallic colour when airbrushing a Dredknight kit. The speaker suggested adding Velljo Glaze medium to slow down the drying process of the metallic pigment, allowing for a smoother blend.

And it's a fantastic tip! I wish I knew about this at the outset of this project. The glaze medium allows for much smoother transitions (even though I think this kind of paintwork is better handled by an airbrush):




I hope that you will be able to see that the second set of photographs are smoother than the first. With subsequent washes and candy coats, I hope eradicate any unseemly scratches from the base coat.

Any questions don't hesitate to ask. I don't swing by here as often as I like so it may take me a few days to reply.

LilLoser

[Arsenal]

These guys are looking really nice. Fantastic and very original colour scheme - really appropriate for DE but never seen done before. Can't wait to see more. Don't worry about so called inconsistencies on the raider btw, looks brilliant to me

[IronOx]

BulldogUK (yes, the guy who built the huge titan) has a plog on Grey Knights. He explains how he does metallics on the first page I think. The title is something to the effect of 'lock up your deamonettes 'cause the Grey Knights are here'. It's worth looking into even if you are not into his style.

[lilloser2010]

@Arsenal: Thank you man.

@IronOx: Ah, thank you for that link. I found it very inspirational.

Here's what i've been working on in between commissions:



I've decided that I want my Talos to look quite subservient, with lots of hanging chains and trohpies. I imagine that my Haemonculous would use this Talos as a mix of personal assistant (for heavy lifting and gashing) and trophy cabinet.

More pictures on the blog.

I just realised that I haven't taken a photo of a little detail I have put on the raider. Here is a little snack for the crew:




All the best,

LilLoser

[Imp of High Noon]

Beautiful stuff man, and I'm completly stealing your Talos design!

[lilloser2010]

Thanks imp.

I created these guys to compliment my Dark Eldar and Eldar force.




I have a few more pictures of the Mimes in my blog as well as pictures of individual models.

[lilloser2010]

Quick update on the collection of Phoenix Lords I have recently painted for a friend:







More pictures and analysis here.

LilLoser

[Grimtuff]

Very nice, where's Fuegan's axe got to?

[lilloser2010]

Thanks Grimtuff. Unfortunately my friend bought the model without the axe. We're hoping one will turn up soon to complete the model.

LilLoser

[Mega Nutz]

Some great looking work on the Phoenix Lords!

[AtmanAbecedarian]

lilloser, all I can say is I am having a love affair with those Tau. I like that you took the combat weary look with the chipped paint and military color scheme. The suits are superb, but I actually found myself ogling the firewarriors a suprising amount. The capes look great, and you gave each one this pose that just says, "we've been killing stuff for a while now".
It would be rude of me to not also mention your excellent work on the Eldar. I look forward to more, sir