54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2) part 3, Stormcast Eternal conversion, Celtic Chieftain bust

54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2)

Well I did a bit more fiddling on the green cloak of the knight and got happier with it.  I decided the spear needed a pennant.  I first tried doing it in paper but the paper kept folding after painting, even after being covered in PVA glue.  Next I decided to make one out of green stuff.  After cutting to shape and attaching to the spear I created the folds and let it dry.

Green stuff pennant

The green stuff needs to be supported (I used a plastic bag underneath to avoid the green stuff sticking) otherwise it will sink before drying.  The advantage of green stuff for this kind of work is that you can get it very thin, it holds the shape and when bumped (as happens, esp. with flags/etc) it doesn't break as it's always flexible.  I'm really happy with the contrast work I got on the pennant.  Unfortunately makes the rest of the figure look a bit flat.  Next time..

Green cloak of many coats..

For the ground work I tried two different techniques.  Normally I sculpt the ground with milliput/modelling clay, glue on a sand/rock mix, then add flock/scatter and then static grass tufts, etc.  This time I mixed-up a batch of the usual sand/rock mix and adding the scatter and bits of static grass (the leftover jar from previous flocking jobs with all kinds of bits in it) and mixed it all together and covered all the base with this.

Ground work start

The variation in materials gave a much better ground texture.  Many people just use real dirt, plaster, ground debris for their bases and I see why now.  Another lesson on why you should try new things, esp when many other people are doing it that way.  The second technique was for the static grass.  Rather than just put it on, or use pre-done tufts I used the 'gently blowing on' technique that I first read about from Sheperd Paine.

Finished ground work

You sprinkle the grass on and then blow it from the side.  This blows off the excess but also makes the remaining static grass stand up.  Works a treat.  I also added in some longer grass bits bent over in the direction of the wind that is blowing the cloak and pennant.

The expression "before anyone did anything, Elvis did everything" could be equally said for Sheperd Paine.  The book "Building and Painting Scale Figures" is a fantastic reference and is the book that really turned me from an army painter to a figure painter.

Cut down and wire supports added

I purchased five GW Stormcast Eternals secondhand in Cancon this year as experimental figures.  The second figure I wanted to convert to a chaos corrupted version.  I had a vision of a tentacle arm going through a nose, with the nose being on the chest.

Shaping areas

Then I added some eyes as per the usual "lots of eyes on chaos things".  All very standard and a bit of a throw back to the old school Chaos marines.

Eyes...

For sculpting I'm using a mix of milliput an green stuff in approx. 60/40% mix with a dash of harsh language.

Celtic Cheiftain 1/16 bust

Finally started on the Celtic Chieftain bust.  Starting to get the bronze where I would like it.  Flesh next.  Need to work out the cloak and shirt colours and I'm thinking about using the airbrush on these given the large flat areas.

54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2) part 2

Teutonic knight of colours

So lost a weekend to moving the parents.  On the other weekend I got the cloak on the Teutonic Knight sorted out.  Trying green and having limited success.  My main issue is that I seem to have streaks/lines in the paint.  I'm thinking this is from the JS paints being a bit thicker.  However I haven't had this with others so maybe it's just the Pthalo Green?  The cloak colours were

base - Pthalo green + yellow oxide
up - green and yellow ink, with more pthalo green added
down - base + violet mix from the JS Ultramarine Blue and red ink.  Random shades using the base + ultramarine blue for variety.

I did try using white to highlight the green but that (as expected) chalked out the green.  I also found that adding yellow made a much more dynamic highlight over the white.  Really added shine to the green over lightness (aka whiteness).

For the three shadow folds the wife suggested making them each a different height (originally two were roughly the same).  This added greatly to the dynamics of the cloth.

I'm not sold on the green to be honest.  It doesn't sit right to me.  Perhaps it's just too much, or maybe needs some texture on it?

28mm bridge

Second up was adding some flock/scatter to the bridge to make it look a bit more run down.

fix up time

Finally started to fix up a Celtic bust I purchased awhile ago.  The figure came with a left hand instead of a right hand.  So I cut off the fingers and thumb, glued on the hand stump and started to sculpt new fingers/thumb and fix up the sleeve.  For the sculpting I used a mixture of green stuff and standard milliput.

54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2)

Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2)

So my 1-1 scale terrain project has finished up so I'm now able to get back to some painting finally.  In the queue for some time was a 54mm knight with a spear (Andrea FP-2) that I purchased off eBay.

Although a Teutonic knight I wanted to do something different to the usual white as I've got a few other Teutonic figures in the cupboard.  Sorry Mike Blank.  So after much head scratching I went for a tradition(ish) blue/yellow scheme with purple highlights and green (at this stage) on the cloak.  I also wanted to try using the mixtures of two of the main colours to help shade the third colour.  Ie mix blue/purple and use this mix to shade the yellow.

For the blue I used JS Ultramarine Blue as the base, shaded with VMC Dark Sea Blue and highlighted with white and Cerulean Ink from Liquidtec.  I also added some of the base blue back to the mix to stop is chalking out so much.  It has become rather dull but I think that matches the fabric look I am after.  I may also do some dust/stains on the bottom of the cloth area later.  I did try and use the purple (see later) in the mix but that ended with the blue being too violet.

For yellow I used JS Yellow Oxide shaded with a mixture of the light purple used else where and some VMC armour brown.  Basically a very slight darker orange.  I was trying to use the secondary colours from mixing the primary colours of the figure in the shading to have some colour harmony.  Highlights with white, VMC Light Yellow and VGC amarillo yellow ink added to keep the colour intensity.  Really starting to like using inks in the highlights.

For the purple I make a mix of Liquidtec Dioxazine purple (a very dark purple) with white added to make a light purple.  The horns use this as a base and the horn tabs are this colour neat.

Originally I was going to paint the cloak in the purple but it didn't work.  Instead I swapped to a dark green (complementary to the blue/yellow) which helps the tunic pop some more.  More of that to come.

The armour was just the usually black undercoat and then some very gentle dry brushing in metallics and shading with dark sea blue and violets in the shadow areas.

On the rear of the figure the unpainted tab is some milliput that I added to give the cloak something to rest on and stop is sagging while the glue dries as the original fit wasn't that great.  I do have concerns that during gluing the cloak will sag so may also pin this.

28mm bridge painted with oils

Also painted up a 28mm bridge I purchased some time ago.  I used a technique of using oil paints smeared over a light brown acrylic base to represent a wood pattern.  Now need to add some dressing (plants, etc) and clean up some of the highlights.  Really just and excuse to break out the oil paints.

Terminator Genisys human

Finally finished the two Terminator Genisys figures.

...more humans

Orphan 9 kickstarter figure and more interruptions to painting

Orphan 9 kickstarter figure

So over the last two weeks I finished off the Orphan 9 figure.  Really liked her and I was pretty proud I managed to do her tiny face.  From a distance the green of her jumpsuit pops out from the dark red/brown of the wall.

All done

On the purple originally I wasn't happy with it so I toned it up a few levels which helped out.  The sword hilt I did in bright red to make it a bit of an accent.

More hills

Next up was finishing off a resin piece of terrain I had in the box.  Slowly cleaning out these pieces I have.  Not playing anything at the moment (and haven't for some time) but in a few years the kids will be ready.  At the moment every few months we get all the terrain board and pieces out and make villages/etc and race horses cars around the board.

Toothpick tools

For sculpting/modelling I picked up a tip (from a Bill Horan book I think) about using toothpicks coated in superglue.  I made up a few more by using the cheap and nasty superglue and sanding back with 400 grit sandpaper between coats.  Three coats later you have some very hard sculpting tools.

Starting some Terminator Genisys figures

Started another two Terminator Genisys figures.  This time I'm experimenting with sand (think old choc-chip camo) camo uniforms.  I like the idea that the human forces are a miscellaneous band of various soldiers, hence the different uniforms.  Plus it's better than painting 16 figures in green.

...now to add the flock and scatter material

However most of my time was spent on some 1-to-1 scale terrain projects.  Plumbing issues meant the entire back yard was dug up, so now it's time to level out the ground, truck in some turf underlay and spread it out and then lay some new turf.  Not what I wanted to be spending time on the be honest.

Orphan 9 kickstarter figure

So this week was more of the Orphan 9 base and figure.

Base getting near done

On the base I added some weathering.  First up was some rust and stains on the wall plate and beam.  I went from dark orange/brown to light orange with paint and then added some rust coloured pigments (from Vallejo).  I then wet down the wall and streaked/stained the pigments down the wall.  Still might try using the enamel AK rust wash I have too.

On the green door I added scuff marks, some rust spots and some glazes (dark to the bottom, lighter yellow to the top) to add some variation.  Might need some more contrast there.

I superglued in the electric wire around the top and added in some wire stands from the light.  They aren't really visible so I need to do something extra there to show that the light isn't working.  Maybe a hanging down glass cover?

Ugg, panda eyes.  Try again

Then it was onto the figure.  I started with the head as it was going to the hardest part being so small.  I spent 2-3 hours trying to get it right.  I was being super careful as if I did too many layers of paint it was start to show.  The eyes especially were hard.  I got the left eye on the first go.  The right eye (always harder) took 4 goes.  I had to drop down to a 000 brush and use the next step up magnification on the head lens set to see what I was doing.

Looking like a face

Still not 100% but I'm stopping before I break it again.  On the zoom it looks pretty good (much better than panda eyes on the earlier go.  The white stripe in the hair was a bit of an accident.  I was painting the hair black going around the head and left a white stripe.  I think it added a nice accent/highlight so I left it.

Base colours blocked in

Rather than go for the traditional black stealth suit I the wife suggested a more army camouflage option.  Didn't really want that but went for a military jumpsuit style.  The purple doesn't go with the boots so need to change that up.  However against the base she really stands out.