(No more NMM...) Ancient Stegadon (4)

Whew, been some time, huh...

Uhm, after much trial and error, reading tutorials, then trying and erring some more, I've decided, that my initial plan to do all the metal parts using non-metallic paint, won't be possible. At least if I'm to finnish the gift on time; I've got to have it done on sunday at the latest, and I've still not managed to get the colours blended like I want them, for the golds.

It's been an educating process though, and I feel I'm pretty close to sorta figuring the whole thing out, I just don't have the time for it, on this model - being a gift and all. So for now, the process of learning NMM will have to be put on a shelf, and the brush will sadly head for the cans of golden paint. I'm pretty confident that I'll give NMM-painting another go as soon as I'm done, and have had a short break from painting; and I'm still very happy with the results I got on painting that steel helmet on the base, so it's not like I haven't learned nothing!

So, tomorrow's a hectic day of painting all the golds!
Hopefully, I havn't destroyed any details, with all the failed attempts with yellows and browns.. Only tomorrow holds the answer to that!

Ancient Stegadon (3)

As promised, pictures of yesterday's work.

First of all, some pictures of the base for the Stegadon. It's a slightly converted version of the jungle base from Micro Art Studio, which I linked in a previous post; I've added some roots and extra leves with greenstuff, and removed the small lizard (was unfortunately placed right where the left hindleg of the Stegadon had to go...).















The human head in stone could probaly have been greenstuffed over, but I didn't bother with it, as the right foreleg of the Stegadon steps right over it, and hides it from view.















Any comments or criticism on the NMM job I did on the helmet between the roots? Or maybe the pictures are too small..?
Also, I was wondering wether or not the base actually gets too dark, with the relativly light coloured Stegadon on top. I've tried to tie the two pieces together, by giving the small flowers shades of pink and purple, beneath the white petals, but I'm not sure it's enough... Maybe I should try to give a couple of the plants some red edging?
Something like this...?
Even though, that's oposite of what I initially thought, but might work aswell? Any thoughts?

I'm pretty pleased with the shades of green the different leaves have gotten; don't know if the lighting was optimal on the photos, and the base therefore looks so dark; it's not that dark in the flesh... Any suggestions, or is it fine as it is?


Owh, and as to the pink horns; I've not finnished them yet, it's simply the forth out of six or seven layers. I start by painting them Scab Red, then mixes some Bronzed Flesh into it for a second layer, then even more, then I start using Bleached Bone with the red, and finally I end it with only Bleached Bone, with some Skull White added for the final highlight at the very tip.

Will have to see how much more I get to paint today, as I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Norway; spending the rest of june and july with family and friends.
Out of experience, I doubt I'll get much painting done the first couple of days, as they're usually a bit hectic, meeting everyone and stuff, but I have to finnish the model sometime next week, and I'll post updates as I go. So stay tuned!

Ancient Stegadon (2)

Rigth, so I took a trip down to the local Games Workshop store, to paint a bit, and hopefully get a tip or two, on which colours to use for painting gold using non-metallic paint. Sadly, though, the staff at my store seems to be content with basecoating their models in light colours, and then simply wash them repeatedly with the new Citadel Washes; one of them even suggested that next time I was painting a Stegadon, I should rather try to base it Bleached Bone, and just wash wash wash!

*sighs*
Apparantly, the staff members at GW seem to focus only on rasing their armies as quick as possible, to a more or less decent table top standard, while the modelling part of the hobby sort of is collecting dust somewhere... I guess if everyone were to use long time on their models, GW would sell less, mayhaps? Wash wash, sell sell...

Angry ranting aside, uhm, I've finnished painting the base for the Stegadon, and I've almost finnished painting all its skin. I don't have any white-light/sunlight lamps, though, so pictures will have to wait 'til tomorrow morning, when the sun's up n' all. I've tried to take some pictures, but they all got this yellow hue, twisting everything in a way Tzeentch would aprove of!

As part of the base, is a human skull with a Conquistadore-inspired helmet on top, which I've given my best effort to paint as steel, and while I'm not perfectly happy with it, it's been good practice! (Un)fortunately, the skull is mostly hidden under the Stegadon's shadow, so it's not like it'll recieve many critical glances... Will have to wait and see though, if I get a hang on this whole NMM business, I might just return to it, and hopefully improve it.

A big thanks to Elazar, who's provided me with links to some wonderful guides, regarding the whole NMM issue. There's especially one which I've found very good, so I'll relink it here, for anyone who ain't too keen on searching through yesterday's post's comment; enjoy!

Ancient Stegadon (1)

First of all, what a wonderful sculpt!
And all the different options and spare parts in the box, just lovely!

I decieded, that since the sculptor clearly has outdone himself with this model and all, I'll refrain from converting it too much. And apart from shifting the position of one of its legs a bit, so it'd fit better onto the Jungle-base I ordered from Micro Arts Studio, I've left the model without any customization worth mentioning.

As such, there ain't no pictures of the whole assembling process or nothing, but for anyone who might read this, and might be wondering; trust me, the parts fit (almost) perfectly together, and as it's all plastic, there's no risk of getting a model that's bent or nothing. Just don't glue the howda on top of the monster, before you've painted them seperately, and everything should be fine.

Speaking of painting, I've started doing just that.
As I know my brother's Lizardmen army got most creatures painted either red or orange, while the Skinks and Saurus are shades of blue, I decieded to stick to his palette, as best I could without asking him what colours he'd used.

So the Stegadon would have to be red, and personally, I love GW's Scab Red for red leather / tough skin. Also, I believe my brother's used it on his own, but that's speculation...
Anyways, as the Stegadon was supposed to be of the ancient kind, I played with the thought of making it much lighter than what they're regularily painted. My idea would be for its scales to be more bony, like all the horns and bone ends protruding from its back.
And after some testing, I found a procedure, which gave the desired effect (in my eyes).















First, I basecoated it Chaos Black with GW's primer spray. Then I mixed Scab Red and Liche Purple together, to get a nice base colour for all the skin (don't ask me about the ratios, I just mixed until I got a colour I fancied...). Then all the scales and most of the skin got a few layers of watered down Scab Red; I did leave shadowy areas and recesses alone though, the purple base looking like darker regular flesh. Then I started mixing Bronzed Flesh into the watered down Scab Red, and simply went over every thing jutting out, be it muscles, raised parts of skin, scales or horns/bony parts. I added more and more Bronzed Flesh to the mix, while covering less and less of the raised areas, and finally started mixing Bleached Bone with the rest, to get the final highlights for the scales. The tips of the horns got some extra highlighting with Skull White + Bleached Bone, jsut to make them look slightly sharper.















As you might have spotted, there's quite a bit of skin left, which I havn't finnished painting, although I'm going to start working on it, as soon as I've finnished this post. While I do that, I have to try to figure out how I'm to paint all the gold and such, using NonMetallicMetal paints. I've given it a test try, on the decoration by the tail, but I'm not sure about the results; I think it's slightly too yellow, and don't look all that shiny to me neither...
I'll see what I can come up with!

The beginning

The very foundations of the world must be rocking, 'cos now even I have a blog!

... or, I've taken the first step, I guess - it remains to see whether or not I'll be able to keep this all running, with regular updates and all that... I'll keep fingers and toes crossed, and hope for the best!

So, this first post should maybe be an introduction of some sorts, mhm? Or better yet, mayhaps a plan for what's to come, yus, that sounds like a great idea. What shall I post in this blog and the like.
Well, only the future shall tell, but as it stands now, my initial plan is to make sort of a working/progress blog for my Warhammer army, which unfortunately mostly is in sprues and boxes at the moment. But the idea's to create a band of warriors who've pledged their lives and souls to Slaanesh, the Dark Prince.
But before I get to that, I have to finnish modelling and painting an Ancient Stegadon, with a Skink Priest and an Engine of the Gods on top. Why, you might ask? True, true, I don't own a single Lizardmen-model, nor do I have any plans of collecting them, but my brother's always loved them, and so I decieded to make him a Stegadon for his birthday.

So that's where it stands right now.