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Blog So, My Painting Blog, The Journey Starts....

Discussion in 'Personal Paint Logs' started by Christopher, Dec 10, 2017.

  1. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    I'm a beginning painter, and have only painted ten models of the hundred plus Seraphon I own (all Skinks), but a painting blog seems like a good way to track my progress, both in terms of getting better at it and in terms of getting more models painted.

    Is it as simple as going to the Painting Blogs subforum in the Painting and Modelling area and starting a new thread? Just push the same button I did to ask this question, I mean? Or is a "blog" some special kind of thread that requires additional or at least different actions?

    Here's the first little guy I ever painted! Grrr!

    IMG_1961 2.JPG
     
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  2. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    It is easy. Just start a thread in the correct section, maybe give it the "blog" keyword but that's pretty much it.
    If you ask politely our friends and mods might just move and rename this one. :)
     
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  3. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    Sounds like an excellent plan! I'll message them!

    Cheers!
     
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  4. Crowsfoot
    Slann

    Crowsfoot Guardian of Paints Staff Member

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    All sorted ;)
     
  5. ravagekitteh
    Skink Chief

    ravagekitteh Well-Known Member

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    He looks pretty good!
     
  6. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    Thanks, ravagekitteh! And thanks for suggesting this, Aginor! And thinks for setting this thread, Crowsfoot!

    I first got interested in Warhammer some years back when I found some paint supplies and some unassembled Astra Militarum (then Imperial Guard) models at an estate sale. I bought the stuff, stuck it in a cupboard, and promptly forgot about it until I started reading some of the novels. I bought a few paints, made a mess of the models, and put the stuff back in the cupboard.

    Then I got interested in the Adepta Sororitas models for some reason, so I bought a bunch of them, and a bunch of paints and supplies and I've been messing about with them for about 18 or 24 months now. One day my wife went with me to GW and wandered over to the fantasy side of the shop, and said, "Have you seen these dinosaurs riding other dinosaurs wielding glowing spears?"

    I had not.

    Thus my introduction to Age of Sigmar. If this really is three or four or five hobbies in one (collecting, building, painting, playing, reading), I've mainly concentrated on the collecting and the reading (mostly fiction over rules books). I've collected quite a few models for both of my armies, though, and have lately built most of them and primed most of them. Those of you following my misadventures in the Battle Reports forum know that I've also started playing AoS lately, and now I want to get my models painted. Back in the spring, I painted ten Skinks, all in one go in a couple of hours at the shop while hanging out and enjoying the conversation and so on. I think I'm a better painter now, though I'm probably a bit daft to take this on as my first major project.

    Behold! My paint station!

    IMG_2528.JPG
    I'm not a great hand at color theory, so I'm doing here what I usually do, or what I've usually done since the Citadel Paint App went live. I make a careful study of my model under magnification, identifying distinct "paint areas," and then I choose what color scheme I'm going to use for each area in the App. I'll use my base coat brushes (S, M, and for the first time ever on this model, L) to lay down all the base coats listed for each individual scheme. Then I'll do washes, then layers and edges with my Artificer brushes. Or rather, that's how I've been doing it on the non-Citadel models (mostly Reaper Pathfinder figures) I've been painting for practice over the last couple of months.

    This coming Saturday, our shop is having our Christmas party, and one of the activities is a sort of free-for-all Monster Brawl for AoS models. Since I'm actually ahead on my deadlines for once, I've decided to take a few hours a day over the next five days to try to complete my favorite large model, this guy:

    IMG_2529.JPG

    I've identified, I think, 23 distinct "paint areas" on the Carnosaur proper, including the reins and howdah straps. I've already decided on the color schemes for those areas, and for the rock he's perched on and the base itself. I did all that last night, but tired out before I got to make my study of the Scar-Veteran, his howdah, and his accoutrements, which I anticipate will add at least 20 more paint areas.

    So that's what I'm off to do now. After I've finished my study and chosen the remaining color schemes, I'll start on the base coating. I think I'll probably work either from the bottom up (starting with the rock and claws) or the inside out (starting with the Carnosaur's palate, tongue, and teeth). Since this is such a large model, I'm betting I'll wind up actually moving around a bit if and when I get bored with, say, either extremely fine detail work (basing the buckles on the howdah straps, for example) or great swaths of the same color (undercarriage and scales). I also, at this point, plan to paint pretty much the entire Carnosaur before I get started on the Scar-Veteran and his howdah. That may change, too.

    Wish me luck!
     
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  7. Crowsfoot
    Slann

    Crowsfoot Guardian of Paints Staff Member

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    We await your next up date, nice paint station.
     
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  8. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Indeed a nice paint station, it looks very professional!
    Lots of colors, too.
    Looking forward to seeing more! :)
     
  9. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    Well, I had to step away from the hobby for a few months when a bunch of freelance deadlines piled up, but my local GW shop is hosting an AoS Escalation League starting Friday, April 13th and that inspired me to try to get an army painted up. Week one is 500 points. Here's what I've got so far! Five Saurus Guard (just started them this afternoon) and a bunch more Skinks to go!

    IMG_2762.JPG
    Here are close ups of the Salamander and my general. I need to practice my finer brush working for edging and so on, but these were a log of fun and I had fun with them.
    IMG_2760.JPG
    IMG_2752.JPG
     
  10. Lord-Marcus
    Slann

    Lord-Marcus Sixth Spawning

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    I applaud your progress and your skill with bright colors and highlights
     
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  11. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Great job. I like the purple contrast on the skinks.
     
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  12. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Agree, good job!
    Really nice highlights. And I dig the blue Razordon. :)
     
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  13. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    Thanks so much, everyone!
     
  14. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    I thought I’d put up a post about my painting process, which I actually quite enjoy despite its slow and laborious nature (maybe those things are why I enjoy it), so that people might point out something obvious I could do to improve efficiency and quality in my painted models.

    I have no natural artistic talent, no particular facility with fine craft work, and no instinctive knowledge of color theory. Because of those things, I lean heavily on the Citadel Paint App (as you’ll see below).

    So, here’s what I do.

    Once I’ve built a model and primed it (I prime all my Seraphon army units with Chaos Black spray paint), I set it up on my work bench and closely study it under magnication, pencil in hand. I make a careful survey of what I call individual “paint areas,” or the bits that will each be different colors on the finished model. For a simple model, like a Skink with a Boltspitter and a Star-Buckler, that might consist of just five or six areas (though there are always complications with even the smallest models, as with the feathers and other decorative elements on some Star-Bucklers). For my just completed Saurus Eternity Warden, it was more like fifteen or eighteen, and I’m imagining that when I get to my Troglodon and her Skink Oracle friend next week it will be more than twenty-five.

    So, I’ve determined and listed all my target areas. Next, I decide on colors. For this, I first make a few general notes (“bluish skin, teal scales, bronze armor,” etc). Then I turn to the paint app on my iPad, and pick specific Citadel-defined colors that more or less match what I’ve got in mind. Now I’ve got a list of paint areas with colors assigned to each.

    Next, I write up my painting plan. Instead of explaining that, I’ll just show you this one for one of those Skinks I mentioned above, as I believe that will be clearer than trying to explain it.

    Skin (Orange): Base—Jokaero Orange
    Shade—Fuegan Orange
    Layer—Troll Slayer Orange
    Edge Highlight—Fire Dragon Bright

    Scales and Head Fins (Purple): Base—Naggaroth Night
    Layer—Xereus Purple
    Shade—Druchii Violet
    Edge Highlight—Genestealer Purple

    And so on, with entries for “Jewelry and Boltspitter Bands” (in Brass), Boltspitters (Wood Brown), Teeth (Bone White), and Shields (Emerald Green).

    Now that I have my plan, I get to work. I get out all the Base Paints I need, and work from the “inside out” by which I mean, in this case, I start with the skin, then do scales and head fins, then jewelry, then things being held (weapon and shield). Teeth and eyes (more on those below), I do last.

    This is a four step process. I do all the basing, then shading (except in those cases, as with the scales and headfins, above, where a layer is called for before shading), then layering, and finally edging. The last thing I do on the model itself is the eyes. I’m still developing my fine brushwork skills, so for now, I paint all my Seraphon models with what I call “Eyes of the Heavens,” which is just a base layer of Retributor Armor hit with Spiritstone Red technical paint.

    Finally, I do the bases. What I’m doing right now is using a texture tool to glop on some Stirland Battlemire and letting it dry for a few hours. Then I drybrush that with Underhive Ash and apply some effects like cork “boulders” and tufts of grass. And I paint the edge of the base in Macragge Blue.

    So you can see, following these methods, I wind up using a LOT of paints and taking a lot of time. The five Skinks I painted Sunday, considering the bases, shades, and layers I used on the shield decorations, used 33 different paints (bases, shades, layers, edges, textures, and technicals).

    I know I’ll get faster, but I don’t know that I’ll get significantly faster. As I said at the very beginning, I do enjoy this process, but at the same time have a probably competing desire to get more painted models on the table as I play more games.
     
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  15. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Nice writeup, I also like how your salamander/razordon have a nice fire-and-ice color scheme going on, nice work! :bored::cold: :artist:
     
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  16. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    Thank you, Warden!

    Here's a question for all you experts.

    Today I'm working on a five-model unit of Saurus Guard. Below you'll see pictures of where I started today and what I've done so far, which is to base coat the five models in the six colors I know they'll share in common. From here on out, each model will be receiving individual attention and colors because the sculpts have such a wide variety of details (different color shields will be the big one, but also the drummer's instrument and the icon bearer's icon). At least, that was my plan. Now I'm second guessing myself.

    Does it make the most sense to (a) from this point go in and finish all the base coats, model by model, before moving to washes, (b) carry on with each individual model as if it's a solo project from this point, going all the way through washes, layering, and edging but stopping short of doing the texture paints and so on on the bases, or (c), something else altogether?

    I suppose it boils down to a question of either carrying on doing the closest thing to batch painting I can given the now diverging color schemes or instead completing them as, essentially, five different projects.

    PS I know the detail work is a little sloppy here, it always is in my base coats. Hopefully it'll tighten up in subsequent steps. And of course they always look better sitting on the bench or the table than they do under magnification or in photographs, at least in my experience.

    IMG_2765.JPG
    IMG_2768.JPG
     
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  17. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    I tend to favour variant a.
     
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  18. Lord-Marcus
    Slann

    Lord-Marcus Sixth Spawning

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    What I would do with your temple yard is come up with one solid scheme that you can stick to throughout the entire unit or if you want to go big the entire Army. With each individual model find a way to spice things up by adding different colored war paint or different colored sigils on The Shield or patterns within the shield color scheme. What I mean by that is different colored patches of scales here in there or what not.

    Never underestimate the power of a unified color scheme across the entire unit or an entire Army
     
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  19. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    I tend to agree with @Lord-Marcus . Try to pick out a few unifying colours that tie the army together. You can then add in variation to individual models, but overall everything still feels like it belongs together. I think this results in the best looking army, although it is not as fun to paint.
     
  20. Christopher
    Terradon

    Christopher Well-Known Member

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    Hopefully the identical skin, scales, and armory bits will provide unification. I am going with different colored shields.

    And this is taking all danged day! Here's the icon bearer finally base coated--the most complicated model of the five I think. I also did the drummer--the simplest model (peaking out over from behind my paint station). The leader and two standard models to go--I think they'll go faster since they have less individual paint areas.

    IMG_2770.JPG
     
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