Help Still get better! Sisters of Battle (pic heavy)

[Still Standing]

After many years I have finally finished painting a single squad. The last time I did that was about 12 years ago! I am a slow painter. As a younger painter I was able to paint very quickly, but everything looked awful. Now I paint very slowly, but my figures look a bit better.

Last week I spent about 25-30 hours painting a squad of Seraphim, and I want you to pick them apart to help me improve. Anything you can think of to help, feel free to leave the comments here!

Anyway, here are some pictures of my new tank hunting Seraphim.

Group shot.



Bolt Pistol sister.



A second Bolt Pistol sister.



The third Bolt Pistol sister.



More pictures in the next post.

[Still Standing]

Here are the final pictures.

Inferno Pistol sister.



Second Inferno Pistol sister.



Veteran Sister Superior with Evisorator.



As well as any hints and tips for painting, anybody have any idea how I can improve my photography too? The photographs were taken at the window with a white sheet of paper behind the miniatures. My camera was set to the little flower icon (macro mode I mean), with no flash, however the pictures still came out badly.

Thanks in advance!

[Hideous Loon]

Overall, the painting is solid, but a bit too murky.

The golden armour looks fine (bar some extreme highlighting), but it needs a colour besides gold. I would suggest a strong white for detailing, and a dark grey for tubing and such.

The =][= should be in a different colour. This is, after all, a symbol the Sisters take pride in, and that should be reflected in the models.

The robes look fine, but shouldn't be the same colour as the gloves and eyes, to make them stand out more.

Why the pink hair? It stands out, sure, but just seems off.

The bases are nice and subtle, and do not distract from the Sisters.

There's some chipping. I recommend a varnish.

Photography tips: Using natural light is fine, but I would suggest taking pictures further away from the window. Macro mode is always a plus, though.

[Still Standing]

I understand that you don't like the simple colour scheme, but my aim was to limit the palette as much as possible. Thank's for the feedback though. As for white details - I tried that on other models, but white looks very out of place on such a dark model, tends to overpower the other colours. The pink hair will not look so out of place in an entire army of models with different colour hair. This is 38,000 years in the future, died hair will not be uncommon!

I will begin experimenting with different photography techniques to try and get a better picture. I might need to buy a better camera though, mine is about 4 years old now and has a slow shutter speed.

Next up, a Battle Sister squad.

[aenimosity]

In my opinion I'd water your washes down a bit. As you've said they are quite dark models which makes them less appealing to me.

Something like this looks good:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_...in_873x627.jpg

I like the details that have been picked out with silver, it helps to break up the model. I reckon your grenades should be silver too, not green.

I'm also not a fan of the dyed hair But at the end of the day it's your opinion that matters on things like that (and the grenades)

I'm keen to see more pictures especially if you do take on any advice you might get. Best advice I could give you would be to go through the project logs and look at the 5-star logs. Lots of them contain colour recipes that will save you lots of time and experimentation. Here's one for painting gold from Rev:

50/50 scorched brown & shining gold
wash devlan mud (I leave some bits if they dnt have obvious crevices)
pure shining gold
75/25 shining gold mithril silver
pure mithril silver

[Still Standing]

Personally I think that Celestine could benefit from a good deep Black and Devlin Mud wash!

[Hideous Loon]

Limiting the colour palette is fine. The red and gold do look good together (the lack of detailing on the armour makes it look kinda like a bronze statue, which is a good thing). The black weapons look more realistic, and the flesh looks good.

My problems with the models might stem from the photography, since the painting looks fine in the groupshot (and presumably on the tabletop).

I still recommend picking out the =][= (perhaps a light silver to carry the metal motif).

[Astraeos]

Looks like I'm not the only one who paints their Sister's armour gold!
Any tips for painting that colour? I seem fine on my infantry, but it's looking uneven on my Immolator.

You mentioned a jump pack Canoness conversion in that SoB info thread, any chance of a look-see?

And subscribing too while I'm at it.

[Npf6]

These look really good. Keep it up

[Still Standing]

Looks like I'm not the only one who paints their Sister's armour gold!
Any tips for painting that colour? I seem fine on my infantry, but it's looking uneven on my Immolator.

You mentioned a jump pack Canoness conversion in that SoB info thread, any chance of a look-see?

And subscribing too while I'm at it.

I paint the gold very roughly, then fix it with washes.

Black undercoat.
Shining Gold painted on (not dry brushed)
A nice thick coat of Badab Black wash
A coat of Devlan Mud wonder wash.
Highlight with Shining Gold
Spot highlight with Mithril Silver

Takes me a long time to do that, but I imagine most people could do it quickly, I am just the slowest painter I have ever known.

You asked to see the Canoness. Well, I hacked her arms off earlier so no you can't. She is turning in to something far better though, which you can see! Remember this girl from the cover of Codex Witch Hunters?



Well that is my favourite Living Saint picture, so I decided to make her for use as Celestine.

It is still heavily work in progress, but you can see the general direction I am headed in.





There is still a lot of Green Stuff work to do on the arms and the wings. I am currently waiting for the feathers to harden on the back so I can tidy them up and do another layer of smaller ones above. Then I need to do something about arms, although I have never sculpted armour (or anything else, for that matter!) before, but I am sure it will turn out somewhat decent. Hopefully!

I will try and finish it up tomorrow and get back with an update, then it is on to painting them!

[Astraeos]

Thanks for the recipe, although I have been using burnished gold. I'll probably adapt your method to suit my own tastes.

The living saint's looking promising so far!

[Still Standing]

I just found an amazing website. Scibor Miniatures.com

I ordered a bunch of nice conversion bits from there, mainly fancy armour panels for my vehicles, such as Decorated Plates set3 CPPL0026. Will make my Exorcists more individual.

[Nehemiah]

That saint conversion looks like it will shape up nicely. As for the photography I would recommend more defuse light with a neutral color backdrop. White backdrops tend to wash colors out which can also obscure detail, (been realizing this with many of my pictures). As for the painting, I would suggest, (as others have), picking out some details on the armor. Even if you just go for the same silver as the guns it will break up the Gold and create a more dynamic looking figure.

As for the Pink hair I am all for it. My Sisters are squad marked through their hair color and eye piece color. They were colored wigs to show there allegiance to the Neon Inquisitor.

[Still Standing]

I am going to try and get the Saint finished today (I keep going to call her Canoness...) so painting will start tomorrow. I will work on improving the armour then.

[Still Standing]

I didn't finish the Saint today, but I did a lot of work on the arms. I made an atempt at flames on the pike head, but failed, so I will pull that off in the morning. I did find an excellent tutorial for flames though, so I will test that out on a Chaos Sorcerer tomorrow morning, then if it works well I will use it on the Saint's weapon.

EDIT: HERE is the tutorial. It's by a guy name Jeff who doesn't think he is very talented... Boy, have I got news for him...

EDIT 2: Also found a very nice NMM tutorial on this very site, which I am going to try out on Sigvald tomorrow. Don't worry, I wont be NMMing my Sisters. NMM Tutorial. I am mainly posting these links here so I don't lose them!

EDIT 3: Bits websites are EVIL. I just found Maxi Mini... And had to order 5 sets of these Gothic backpacks and 2 sets of these Candles, Books, Skulls set. Evil websites!

[Astraeos]

I've never even browsed one of those bits sites before, but those backpacks are nice!

[Still Standing]

I've been practicing my Green Stuff skills. Or lack of! Since I want to do flames on the Saints weapon (like the illustration) I have been working on a flaming Disk of Tzeentch (you can never have enough!) for my WFB army. Here are some WIP fire pictures!





I am very happy with how it is coming along, especially since it is my first time actually making things with Green Stuff... I guess that's a lie, I made some feathers the other day... It's a week of firsts!

[Hideous Loon]

The Living Saint looks promising, and a flaming weapon is both fluffy (them Sisters sure loves them some fire) and awesome. You also have sculpting talent (nice fire!), and I am sure that you will pull off the Saint's sleeves.

[Still Standing]

More work on the Sorceror. I am getting a bit adventurous now.





Waiting for the greenstuff to harden a bit on the fire ball, then will put some more on. After I am happy with this I will get the Saint out and experiment with her!

[Astraeos]

Not a bad start! Keep at it dude!