I’ve finished painting the first unit and expanding the collection to match my army list. I also purchased the first of the two vehicles for the army. Things are starting to crack on at a pace...
(Warning: I got to the end of this week’s rant and see it has turned into a bit of a painting armies tutorial, with tips, painting step-by-steps and advice. HC)
The last article saw completing the build of the bulk of the army - the Kahl, 2nd unit of Hearthkyn Warriors, Einhyr Hearthguard, Brokhyr Thunderkyn, and the Hernkyn Pioneers - just over 900 points and a substantial part of the army.
Thankfully my 12 Iron Kin Heads finally arrived so I was actually able to complete the build the way I wanted.
So, let’s talk about painting these lads.
In an earlier article I showed some practice and test miniatures. I wanted to really push the painting of this army so that their was a unique style that could link all the models to create a coherent army.
With all things the best plans are only good up until the real action starts. It’s not that what I’d worked on in the sample and test models wasn’t right. It was a critical step in getting ready. I had a colour platte and worked on some of the processes.
But when it came time to actually make that process work doing 5-10 Minatures in a production line saw some changes and refinements.
Practice makes perfect and when turning from painting a couple of single miniatures to a group and you’re doing the same step one after the other… you’ll find you get better, faster, finer - basically you‘re refining the process of painting that stage.
So it’s best to always have key models - I’m talking about the Theyn, Special and Heavy weapon specialists and any of the best equipped or uniquely posed - in the second group you paint. The first five - or the first dudes to die - will be where you refine things more. Get better, work things out on them. They stand behind in photos and are not the centre of attention like your characters and specialty models.
So, to recap the process - I undercoated, black, mechanics grey from 90 degrees and then Grey Seer from 11.00 O’clock to create a quick preshade. Next a mix of Kantor and Macragge Blue airbrushed from the left side of the model. Pheonician Purple for the middle quarter front and back.
Followed by Screamer Pink mainly from the top back and at the edges of the purple. Finally a focused spray from the right from below . Angled first at 90 degrees to the ground and then aimed up at 45 degrees to catch the glow on right arms, legs and anything that may catch some light from that low source.
Oh and on the Theyn any of the gold sigils uses Scrag Brown, Jokaero Orange, and Morghast Bone - I might have lightened that for the final highlight with some Pallid Wych Flesh. (I took a photo of the paints so that I wouldn’t forget the recipe.)
The right Brush for the Job
Time to grab a brush - a size 1 round brush works best for just about everything here. From blocking in the first layers to most of the mid layers through to highlights. There’s very little need for 000 or XXS brushes in Army painting.
A bigger brush allows you to carry more paint which means once you’ve mastered using one means you’ll work faster. It’s all about learning how much to thin your paints, how much you can load your brush and what pressure you apply to allow the paint to flow where and went you want it. That’s painting right?
You’ve less chance of paint drying in the tip if there is more paint being held by the bristles. So for base work the size 1 is great as I can apply most of any single colour on one of more of my models without having to reload the brush.
When it comes to working on finer more targeted placement having the larger brush means I’m not rushing to place that reflective dot in a lens or paint the blacks of any models eye. Plus if you’re using a good quality Kolynski Sable brush then the point - at the very tip is the same between a 1 and a 000. It gets back to thinness and amount of paint it can hold - plus how precise you can be in placing the dot.
Ok, I know you don’t believe me - so make sure you’ve a O or Medium layer size brush - if you insist on painting Heavy Metal style highlights on your guns, bolts and rivets. And if you feel that you can’t see beyond the bristles of a size 1 then there’s a few less to get in the way of your vision. So two fine tipped round brushes.
Paint some Damn Models
Yeah, sorry back on track to painting some damn models. I have a set of five painting handles so that breaks most of my work into doing groups of five. The Turquoise armour starts with putting down a base of Stegadon Green.
I try an leave some of the base colour showing in the cracks, crevices and recesses of the model.
I then progressively mix very thin layers of Thousand Sons Blue, followed by Temple Guard Blue then finally Bahroth Blue. Once I’d done all 10 I went back and mixed a final highlight of White with with Dorn Yellow and Bahroth Blue. The small amount of yellow just warms up the last bit of a very cold colour. Particularly on the right side of the mode.
The cream starts as a mix of Rakarth Flesh mixed with either blue or red - depending on the shoulder - I want a transition from reflecting the light source to a solid colour. So really thin coats running along in the production like progressively adding more `rakarts to the mix until it’s the solid colour that i then mix in screaming skull for the final highlight.
(Scratch that… between doing my first five and the second half of the unit I cracked out the airbrush with .05 needle and blended a highlight of Pale sand over each. Then mixed a bit of white for a final brush highlight. -HC)
Overalls start with Corvus Black, then worked through with Mechanicus Standard Grey through to Administratum Grey. Blended and missed to get a smooth transition between the levels and layers.
The same process again works on the Boots, pouches, buckles and Belts are all Thondian Brown, Mornfang Brown, XV-88 finished with a hard edge highlight of bleached bone.
Metals are Dark Reaper, Russ Grey, Fenrisian Grey all applied in not very wide layers at the edges.
The Orange starts and Jekaro Orange, layered with Wild rider Red then Troll Slayer Orange.
A final edge highlight over everything is created using Pale Sand, then Pale Sand mixed with White. The yellowness of Pale Sand gives a warmth across the model and helps link both the cooler side based on blue to purple, and the warmer screamer pink to red base coated areas.
OSL on a table top army!
Ok the bright star or lava glow is something I’ve committed to for the whole army… we’ll see how I manage that on the vehicles but…
So, the red glow is built upon the early airbrush work putting down a directional base coat of Mephistopheles red.
At the edges of the red I mix a bit of each of the other paints with Mephiston Red to help with the transition from the main colour into the red. So even the armour, shoulder pads, boots, buckles… you get the picture.
I then loaded some Wild Rider Air paint into the airbrush and put a finer layer down where I wanted to push the light. Next it was onto the brush where I applied highlights of Troll Slayer Orange and then Yriel Yellow. Like everywhere else I went in with a final highlight of Pale Sand.
It’s not exactly the same but our ArcOpen Jury member Squidmar has a great video showing the principles behind what I’ve done on my first unit of Hearthkyn Warriors.
So madness or inspired scheme and setting. We’ll all have to wait an see if I can pull this together and create an OSL effect across the entire army that looks good!
I’m exhausted and hopefully everyone is interested in coming along for the next stage as I do a new base and build vehicles cles, paint the second unit of Hearthkyn Warriors and get on to some of the other units.
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