Your Semi-Daily Dose of Grimdark: Dan Paints Everything

[Lord Dan]

Following the lead of several good friends here on Warseer, I've decided to consolidate my hobby projects into one thread. I figure that this is better than having 5 or 6 simultaneously running logs that often see little in the way of updates, and will also give me a place to post progress on stuff I'm working on that might not justify getting a log of its own. Here's what I'm working on currently:

Projects in Progress
Dark Elves - Cold one chariot
Vikings - GSing hearthguard
Khador - Assembling Widowmakers
eBay - Empire Griffon Standard BSB

I'll keep this updated the best I can as units/projects change.

[Lord Dan]

Oh right, I almost forgot:







I'll drop in to make some comments regarding them later.

[Zephel]

Love the OSL and bases, not to mention the blades!

[Lord Dan]

Love the OSL and bases, not to mention the blades!

Thanks, Blake! I figured I might give your protectorate a better run for their money with some painted models, for a change.

I wanted to do a quick rundown on how they were painted, both in case someone wants to know and so I don't forget when I paint the next batch in a week or two:

Metal: Chainmail, washed with two coats of badab black and devlan mud, drybrushed chainmail, drybrushed mithril silver, washed (thinly) with badab black and devlan mud, highlighted mithril silver.
Red: Basecoat Red Gore, then highlight up by mixing in bleached bone until the upper highlight is almost pink. Wash with very, very thin Blood red, reapply final highlight, sporadically washed with devlan mud and badab black for damaged effect.
Gold: Dwarf bronze, sepia wash, reapply dwarf bronze, 50:50 dwarf bronze and burnished gold, sepia wash, pure burnished gold, 50:50 burnished gold and mithril silver.
Eye: Paint the center of the eye white, and then reverse highlight (take pure white and add a little yellow) your way outward. Darkest color is golden yellow.
Blade: Works much the same way as the eye, except that you use white and mix in enchanted blue. On parts furthest from the blade (like on the arm) you mix in some regal blue, as well.
Bases: Basecoat shadow grey, drybrush codex grey, drybrush fortress grey, drybrush white. Apply the static grass, and drybrush that (lightly) in white. For the snow, mix together white glue, water, and baking soda until it is somewhat clumpy. Apply liberally to the base, and one finished sprinkle some baking soda on top.

I'm not totally happy with the OSL. First of all I don't think the blade are bright enough, and don't quite create the glowing illusion I'm going for. I suspect on the blade itself I need to low-light it even less so that it appears more white. On the arms where the blue light is glowing I plan to go back and clean up the highlights a bit for a smoother transition, as well as mix in some red on the furthest parts of the blue so the color fades in more and doesn't just cut off.

[JackDaw]

Godsdammit man, stop posting everywhere so i can't keep up! Oh, wait, I guess that's the whole point of this plog...er..nevermind, carry on

Not a huge fan of Warmachine in general myself, something about the asthetic just puts me off them - I'm not entirely sure what it is though. However, that's not to say you havent done an ace job there - the wear and tear and generally bashed about look you've created is ace, really looks like they've been through the wars and I can easily picture them battering other Jacks like overwieght bare-knuckle boxers.

I personally think the OSL is spot on, not too over the top but not too muted either.

Looking forward to seeing more from you, even if it isnt Dark Elves

[Solun Decius]

The Warjacks look excellent man! Great battle damage and a very cool OSL effect on the blades. The bases are very detailed and cool too.
You've got a great start on this new log .... oh, and welcome to the Random PLogs!

[pointyteeth]

Holy crap! The OSL on the blades is fantastic! The eye OSL is well done as well but I think the hoods and general position of the heads doesn't lend well to the effect as there isn't really anything to reflect off of except the inside of the hood. If there was an arm crossed in front of it and the lighting carried onto the arm, I think the effect would look so much better. All in all though, A+ work.

[Lord Dan]

Godsdammit man, stop posting everywhere so i can't keep up! Oh, wait, I guess that's the whole point of this plog...er..nevermind, carry on

Not a huge fan of Warmachine in general myself, something about the asthetic just puts me off them - I'm not entirely sure what it is though. However, that's not to say you havent done an ace job there - the wear and tear and generally bashed about look you've created is ace, really looks like they've been through the wars and I can easily picture them battering other Jacks like overwieght bare-knuckle boxers.

I personally think the OSL is spot on, not too over the top but not too muted either.

Looking forward to seeing more from you, even if it isnt Dark Elves

I wasn't a huge fan of Warmachine until I got my hands on some of the models. Truthfully I only picked it up because my regular gaming buddy and I were looking to avoid Games Workshop for a while, given that we can't afford the prices anymore. In any case they've proven to be a nice change of pace from fantasy, with the smooth surfaces and the techno parts.

I'm happy with the damage on the armor, too. It took a while to figure it out on the first one, though with the second (and the batch of shocktroopers I'm almost done with) things sped up considerably. Ironically I wasn't originally going to make them look worn, however some choppy blending on the smooth red sections necessitated some additions...

The Warjacks look excellent man! Great battle damage and a very cool OSL effect on the blades. The bases are very detailed and cool too.
You've got a great start on this new log .... oh, and welcome to the Random PLogs!

Thanks man! I've been eyeing this section of the forums for some time, due primarily to the number of running projects I have going. The bases were a blast! Funnily enough they're easier than the bases of my Dark elves, as the snow is just baking soda, elmers glue, and water. I think I'm going to do the same thing with my Vikings.

Holy crap! The OSL on the blades is fantastic! The eye OSL is well done as well but I think the hoods and general position of the heads doesn't lend well to the effect as there isn't really anything to reflect off of except the inside of the hood. If there was an arm crossed in front of it and the lighting carried onto the arm, I think the effect would look so much better. All in all though, A+ work.

Haha, glad you dropped by. I decided on the big glowing eye because I was assembling the models while watching "War of the Worlds", and it occurred to me that without the heads the jacks looked a lot like the big antagonists from that movie. I agree that the heads don't lend themselves well to OSL, though on the Shocktrooper models I'm plowing through there is a lot more for the eye lights to reflect off of.


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Quick update:

-I've got Vikings and a certain rogue alchemist incoming, which should be here sometime this week.
-I'm just about done with the Man-O-War shocktroopers I've been working on this week. I need to do the OSL highlights and finish the bases, and we'll call it good. I'll get a decent painting session in tonight, so I might even finish them today. First, however, I need to study some more Chinese...

[Gargobot]

So this is where you've been hiding...
Nice to see some new stuff from you, pretty arousing stuff at that. The OSL looks really cool and the wear and tear does too.
I hear all this talk about the eye, does that mean the minis will stay the way they are? They kinda look like the are missing a head, which would be illuminated from the core of the mini, and accordingly look super badass. But then again I don't know the first thing about Warmachine. Illuminate me!

[Lord Dan]

I like this sub-forum. You can do absolutely nothing for a few days and still be able to find your thread on the first page!

So this is where you've been hiding...
Nice to see some new stuff from you, pretty arousing stuff at that. The OSL looks really cool and the wear and tear does too.
I hear all this talk about the eye, does that mean the minis will stay the way they are? They kinda look like the are missing a head, which would be illuminated from the core of the mini, and accordingly look super badass. But then again I don't know the first thing about Warmachine. Illuminate me!

Yeah, the "light" where there head is supposed to be is intended to be, well, a big light. Here's where I drew my inspiration from:

In any case based on your comment I actually went back and toned back the OSL on the eyes a lot, which gives them a bit more definition and makes them look more intentional. You probably won't be able to see it in the photos I have to upload tonight, as the jacks are in the background, but I'll be sure to include some soon.

So after about 12 hours of painting, I have results!:





So for a unit of 5 terminator-sized models these guys took way longer than I anticipated. I originally went all out with the OSL on their visors, however once I finished the models I found it was really over-whelming. I went back tonight and had to repaint their whole helmet and neckguard sections that had been yellow from the radiant light. In any case though it's less flashy, I think the end result looks pretty good. In addition I went back and actually re-did the OSL on the blades of the warjacks so that the colors would match the blues I achieved on these blades here. I've got to tell you: batch painting OSL is no fun, and took like 33% of the total time I have in on these models.

Here's a group shot so far:


So up next I'll probably finish that assassin while I wait for my first boxes of GB vikings to arrive, at which point I'll be assembling models for a few days.

[Solun Decius]

They look excellent and you're really putting in the effort to get the details right. If that ends up taking 12 hours it's still worth it, as you now have experience in making it look the way you wanted, and you'll be much quicker next time around.

[Lord Dan]

They look excellent and you're really putting in the effort to get the details right. If that ends up taking 12 hours it's still worth it, as you now have experience in making it look the way you wanted, and you'll be much quicker next time around.

Thanks Solun, that means a lot coming from the king of NMM. I think too that I'm already better with blending out the glow detail, so the extra time is definitely worth the practice.

Here's the new formula for the blades, for my records (as it might be some time until I paint another glowing weapon):

Blue Blade Formula
-Basecoat with about a 50:50 mix of enchanted blue and white.
-Highlight the blade itself by adding small amount of white into the original mixture, leaving the darker areas on the ridge of the blade. There should be about 7 or 8 highlights before you finally get to pure white.
-Highlight the areas that should appear to be glowing by adding in small amounts of enchanted blue to the original mixture. On about the 3rd highlight you should be far enough out that the light can hit things like the handle of the blade. You should get to about 4 or 5 highlight before you hit pure enchanted blue, and once you do, start mixing in larger amounts of Regal blue. There should be about 2 total highlights with this color.
-Glaze the edges of the darkest blue with watered down Regal blue, to create the effect of the light tapering off. Do this until the transition is smooth, but it's important you're patient and do lots of thin layers, otherwise it's going to create a hard-edge.
-Go back and do a highlight on any ridges that would be in the direct path of the glowing light and apply about a 75:25 highlight of white and enchanted blue. This has to be a very thin line, and will create the effect of bright, reflecting light. For metal surfaces I would even go one step further and do a very, very thin line of pure white on top of these highlights.

[Daniel36]

Nice start. Not a fan of the Warmachine models, but you do them justice. The lighting on the weapons is very nice.

[HereBeDragons]

Really great work there! And a great explanation of how to paint OSL

[Lord Dan]

Nice start. Not a fan of the Warmachine models, but you do them justice. The lighting on the weapons is very nice.

Yeah, it took some time for them to grow on me, too. I still felt I needed to modify the warjacks a bit, as I just couldn't get past those massive hand axes.

Really great work there! And a great explanation of how to paint OSL

Thanks, man!

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Okay, so updates. On friday I finished my Warmachine warband:






The OSL on all of the weapons was admittedly rushed, as I wanted to finish them for a game I played Friday evening. At some point I think I'll go back and smooth out the blending, however with a big shipment of Vikings arriving tomorrow morning I don't think that will be anytime soon. I should also note that Friday marked the first time ever that I played a game with a fully painted army!

...of course, the "army" in this case consisted of 11 models. Still!

Moving in to some Dark Elf love for those not feeling the Warmachine stuff:




I'm painting this guy to sell, though I'm not sure what to do with the cloak. You can see I finished the skin and boots, however the armor and cloak are still very much WIP. I was planning to do a black armor (a la batman) with a white cloak and a snow base, though I'm not sure it would look as good as black armor, black cloak, normal base. Thoughts?

I also undercoated my Dark Elf chariots over the weekend. I have two, and they're pretty much identical, so hopefully this picture gets the point across:


I have no idea when I'll get to painting those as, again, I have some hairy norsemen arriving tomorrow.

[Solun Decius]

I should also note that Friday marked the first time ever that I played a game with a fully painted army!

Congrats on that man! It's a great feeling

Now hope that you'll soon get the moment where you're playing with a fully painted army against a fully painted army and on a fully built and painted, coherent game table.

Tha faces and eyes on the bearded Warmachine dudes look especially good. Dark elf stuff looks promising...

[Astraeos]

These all in one plugs are popular it seems! Well I did the same thing when I found myself sampling multiple game systems!

I like the really bashed up look on your Khador armour! They really look like they've been through the wars!

[Lord Dan]

Congrats on that man! It's a great feeling

Now hope that you'll soon get the moment where you're playing with a fully painted army against a fully painted army and on a fully built and painted, coherent game table.

Tha faces and eyes on the bearded Warmachine dudes look especially good. Dark elf stuff looks promising...

Thanks, man! I think I'll need to head overseas to have any hope of facing a fully painted army with my fully painted army on a themed table. I'll have to talk to the wife about that...

These all in one plugs are popular it seems! Well I did the same thing when I found myself sampling multiple game systems!

I like the really bashed up look on your Khador armour! They really look like they've been through the wars!

Indeed! I was about to open yet another log when I realized how ridiculous things were getting. I'm glad you're liking the Khadorians!

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So my Vikings arrived on Wednesday, and since then I've been in a bit of an assembling flurry. As no one in my area plays SAGA or historical games of any kind (uncultured rubes!) I'll be using these guys as stand-in WoC. Additionally, given that we're reportedly getting a new army book in October or November, I won't be assembling much outside of marauders and warriors until I find out exactly what we're getting (marauder cannons!!! )

My first conversions are for my hearthguard, which will be standing in as warriors:




It's been a few months since I've touched green stuff, so I'm still a bit rusty. I trust things will smooth out considerably with the next batch. Aesthetically I made a couple of choices with these guys that I thought I'd explain:

-I wanted these guys to be much bulkier than the marauders, who are pretty much out-of-box Gripping Beast plastics, so I'm giving them all fur cloaks to build up the shoulders.
-To represent chaos armor I didn't think a chainmail hauberk would work, so I followed Gripping Beast's lead with their line of Jomsvikings and made an attempt at sculpting some scale armor and chainmail coifs. The historical accuracy of scale armor on vikings is somewhat debated, as the only evidence in support of it is a single piece of armor dug up which very well could have been from a mercenary in the area. In any case they add bulk, look cool, and don't necessarily look out of place, so I'm running with it.

On to more!

[Astraeos]

Ooh, there's some nice sculpting going on here!

[Little Joe]

This looks to become a great "semi-daily" plog, those warjacks are painted to awesome. I really like the metal scheme with just a dab of red on them.

The skin on the assassin is very well done. You should stick with greys because in real life those blend a lot better with the environment, is that basing peeling off?

And some green stuff skills as well, how does one pluck such a cloack?