First and Last

I thought of a neat idea for this post. Basically, I wanted to show some of my first miniatures ever painted in comparison to some of my last miniatures ever painted. So I grabbed the first model I ever painted in both Warhammer Fantasy Battle (which is an Empire Spearmen) and Warhammer 40k (which is a Platoon Commander) along with one of the last models I painted for Warhammer Fantasy Battle (which is a Flagellant) and Warhammer 40k (which was Marneus Calgar for the Space Marines) and took some pictures. Hopefully this will show all you new painters out there that with a little dedication and practice your skills will improve!!





Here it is. The first miniature I ever painted and the beginning of my 11 year table top wargame obsession (which has not ended.) I was 12 years old when I painted this model. It is obviously, very basic. With a Black undercoat, I painted the red areas with Blood Red, the White Areas with a coat or two of Skull White. The skin was painted bronze flesh, the pike was painted Bestial Brown, and the lion emblem on the shield was painted Sunburst yellow. I even tried to paint eyes on the model, which turned out horrendous. My Empire army is very interesting because it shows the entire evolution of my painting skill. Now, the army spans close to 4500 points (maybe more when I add some characters) but it also spans 11 years of painting skill. Its an awesome testament to the fact that practice makes perfect! (at least practice makes better.)





Above is the last model I painted for my Empire Army. In fact, this is just one of 25 flagellants that I painted, but this particular model is the LAST flagellant I painted. Obviously, my skill has increased. Instead of the skin simply being painted Bronze Flesh, I painted the skin areas with Dark Flesh, then painted the area with Bronze Flesh, washed it with Ogryn Flesh, Highlighted it with a mix of Dwarf and Elf Flesh, and Finally applied Elf Flesh. The result is a much more realistic skin color. The pike, was painted with Scorched Brown, then highlighted with Bestial Brown, then dry brushed with Snakebite Leather. The fire on the miniature's helmet was painted by starting with a Red Gore, washed with Devlon Mud, then highlighted from the base up using Blood Red, Firey Orange/Bloood Red mix, Firey Orange, Firey Orange/Badmoon Yellow mix, Badmoon Yellow, and finally a touch of Sunburst Yellow at the tips.





Above is one of the first models I ever painted for Warhammer 40k, and I still use this model in my Imperial Guard Army. I started Warhammer 40k three years after I started Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Imperial Guard were always my favorite looking army, and still are one of my favorite armies. My skill had improved in those three years. I learned to leave certain areas darker than others to show depth. I started drybrushing in order to bring out different colors and textures (as you can see with the Camo). I also started layering and mixing paints to get different, more interesting colors. For example, the shoulder pads are a mix of Chainmail and Goblin Green.





Here is one of the last models I painted for Warhammer 40k. This is Marneus Calgar I painted for commission. Lucky enough for me, the person I painted it for is a good friend and leaves most of his models in my house so I have easy access to this model! I love this model and I put a great amount of work into it. The attention to the detail of this model was tremendous, and the result is great. It would take me a very long time to explain the entire process of painting this model. I would be happy to explain to anyone interested. Just leave a comment on a particular area and I can explain what I did.





Well, that is it for now. The 11 year evolution of my painting skill.

Tyranid Warriors Finished

This week I finished painting my three Tyranid Warriors. It took about eight hours to paint the entire set of models from start to finish. Take a look below to see the final steps and end results.





In the pictures above, I simply applied the bubonic brown and bleached bone to the models. This lightened their skin up considerably. Check out previous entries for a more in-depth description on painting Tyranids.






In the above pictures, the red carapace had been painted and feathered. All that was left were the teeth, eyes, and various small areas that would be painted green.



The end result. These Tyranid Warriors turned out fairly well. I am a little disappointed by the way the teeth turned out, but, overall I am pleased with the outcome. Next up, 16 Tyranid Hormagants!

Tyranid Warriors (First Stage)

I have begun painting my Tyranid Warriors. These miniatures are awesome. I decided to go with scything talons and deathspitters. I also decided to throw adrenal glands and toxin sacs onto these guys as well. Overall, they should be fairly good ranged fighters and fairly good close combat fighters. Take a look at theses pictures of the first stage of painting on these Tyranid Warriors.





I used the same steps as I did with my Tyranid Termagants. Take a look at that entry to see what I did exactly. Basically, I used Iyanden Darksun to cover the entire model's skin. I tried to avoid painting over the claws and carapace - but it is inevitable that you will get paint onto areas where you don't want them to be. That is why the order in which you apply paint is really important. Start on areas that are large. Also, the Iyanden Darksun paint is thin on areas of the skin in these pictures. I have since touched them up to make sure that the Iyanden Darksun covers the model well.






In these pictures I simply applied the Ogryn Flesh over the Iyanden Darksun after it had dried. Next step is highlighting the skin.

Tyranid Termagants Finished

Just wanted to post my latest painting work. I finished my last 10 Termagants for my 1500 point Tyranid army I am working on. Check them out below. I think they turned out great. If you want to know how I painted them check out my earlier entry that explains the entire process.

Ork Warboss

Im still painting Tyranid Termagants, so I figured I'd post one of my older models up. This is the Black Reach Ork Warboss. Someone had paid me to paint this model. I was happy to get a chance to paint this model considering how cool it was.




The Ork's skin was painted with Orkhide Shade foundation paint (which is a very dark green foundation paint great for Orks). After that dried I carefully applied Goblin Green onto the raised areas of the skin making sure the deep areas of the skin remained dark. Finally, I line highlighted a mix of Goblin Green and White along all of the highest parts of the skin.

All the areas that are silver were painted the same and is very easy to accomplish. Simply use Chainmail (a mid-range silver color) and when dried wash the area with black wash. The result is a fairly worn looking silver. However, the Claw was painted differently. I painted it silver and washed it with black, but then, once that dried, I washed a coat of Devlan Mud on. This gave the claw a very worn out look which I thought was perfect for the Ork's main weapon.

The pants were painted using Scorched Brown. I then dry brushed that with Snakebite Leather and finally dry brushed the pants with Bubonic Brown (which is an almost yellow color). Once everything was dry I washed the pants with Devlan Mud and the result was a very dark leather look.

All the areas painted black were simple. I just used two or three shades of gray. Starting with black, then moving to a 30/70 mixture of Codex Gray and Black, Then a mixture of 50/50 Codex Gray and Black and finally pure Codex Gray.

The checkered board pattern is always a pain. One mistake and you may have to re-do the entire area, so take your time. I never did this pattern prior to doing it with this model, so I made sure to practice on scrap a few times. I basically began by painting the entire area Dbeneb Stone (which is a very light gray foundation paint). Then I painted over that with a slightly watered down (more so than usual) white. Using a fine tipped brush, I began to paint black squares onto the model. I used a watered down black paint - close to the consistency of milk perhaps.



After this model I went on to paint the rest of the Black Reach set for commission to the same person. Take a look at those models below.







For each group I used the same techniques and colors as the Warboss above. I think the entire set turned out great and I'm pretty sure the person I sold them too was fairly happy as well.

Tyranid Termagant - Finished

The first set of my Termagants are finished. They turned out really cool and I'm pretty happy I went with Hive fleet Kraken (Yellow Skin - Red Carapace.) Check out the finished models below.



The carapace was fairly easy to finish, however, it was time consuming. I started by painting Scab Red onto the carapace, claws, and weapon's carapace. Then, I washed that area with Devlon Mud. After that dried the carapace was a very very dark red. Then I used a technique called feathering where you simply apply streaks of color over an area. I began by feathering Red Gore onto the model's carapace. Then I feathered Blood Red and finally I feathered Dwarf Flesh. (I only applied a few streaks of watered down Dwarf Flesh - I didn't want that color to stand out too much.) Last thing I did was simply wash over all the red parts with Baal Red. This basically turned the Dwarf Flesh into a nice redish color.



In the image above you can see how the feathering looks. When done right the result can be really cool.



First ten are finished... now its time to do the next ten!

Tyranid Termagants

Got a chance to start working on my Termagants for my new Tyranid Army. Decided to run 10 Termagants with Devourers. It may be expensive but they really look cool with the devourer gun, so I just had to put some in the army... Check out some of the pictures below of the early stages of painting.


Putting these miniatures together was very simple. I was not a big fan of the two sides to the head. For some of the models there was a noticeable crease down the middle of the miniature's head. I had to smooth the area out with some green stuff and lots of sanding. They turned out. Below are some pictures of just a few of my Termagants just after I sprayed them with black primer.




I've only painted the skin on my 10 Termagants so far. I've never done a color like this for an entire army, so it was a new experience for me. I started by painting Lyanden Darksun (which basically a light brown foundation paint) over the model's skin area, including the weapon. After that, I washed over that with Ogryn Flesh. After the wash dried, I applied a mix of Bubonic Brown (very light brown paint) and Bleached bone (which is an off white color) to the majority of the model's skin - making sure that I left the deeper areas dark. Finally I applied Bleached Bone to the raised parts of the skin. The result is satisfying. The models skin looks great, and once the carapace is finished I think the skin will stand out even further. Check out the pictures below.




I painted certain areas with green, as you can see in this picture. I painted these areas with a Dark Angels green (which is a very deep green). Once dry, I applied Scorpion Green over top the Dark Angels Green. finally, I applied a very small amount of Green Wash to each area to add depth.


Still alot of work to be done. The skin still needs to be cleaned up significantly and of course the carapace still needs to be finished. Plus, the mouth, eyes, claws, and hooves must also be completed. I'll be posting more pictures soon, which will include the final versions of these Termagants.