Hedroc of Carn Maen WIP

[Perbius]

Hey folks,

This is my first post!....go easy on me ladies and gentlemen. How all this started: towards the end of 2013, a few of my buddies came by my house to play some 40k. I knew zero/nada about the game but one of the players fell asleep so I stepped up and rolled some dice...he had already deployed so what the hell. That day marked the beginning of this spiral into the world of miniature painting. What a sublimely meditative experience that can at times be so utterly frustrating. Around January of this year, I picked up some brushes and paint, compressor and airbrush, and WHAM...I'm painting several times a week, and some rare evenings late into the early morning...my wife has been amazingly supportive...but it is always wise not to overdo it

So here is Hedroc...a tiny little model. I've never done NMM really but after tons of research, I figured I'd give it a shot. I give props to Ben Komets for de-mystifying the loaded brush technique. As you can see, a definite WIP.

 

[Canny]

Looks like you have researched to the max! the painting Buddha videos are great there are a few on youtube too, well worth it. the ony thing left is to practice!

He is looking pretty dam good so far. Great NMM, you have got the points of light looking great. Only 1 thing jumps out at me(could be the angle of the pic) the left knee pad shine looks a little low. If your extra keen you can work some glazing in to smooth it, but its such a big picture its probabily mint in hand!

Work on your brush control and mastering the mix of paint and water. You have talent and skill look forward to your next update.

 

[Perbius]

Thanks Canny! Yeah, those damn knee pads. I must have redid them a dozen times each but I just can't seem to get them right. Visualizing how light reflects off certain surfaces are pretty straight forward, but something about those oblong curved shapes pitched at strange angles...I just can't see it in my minds eye. I think the light reflects on the left should definitely be stronger...maybe from the middle and spreading out? I don't know...I tried zenithal and it just looks weird. I need to look at more armor online...yay google image search!

And Painting Buddha is fantastic indeed...very inspiring.

 

[Canny]

This link may help Andy has a wip here as well which is worth checking out.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/358918
I would try for somthing like this

moving the reflection up a little will fix it I think.

 

[Perbius]

Wow...thanks again Canny! Yes indeed, when I have the time, I'm gonna do exactly this: move the reflects up and not be afraid to go for the high contrast. Squeezing in painting during the holidays is always a tight-rope act.

And AndyG's Axenarf looks splendid...beautiful nmm. I'm gonna look at his WIP threat at some point and see if he used selective glazing primarily or wet on wet. I'm actually attracted to wet on wet, loaded brush for one important reason: it really really saves time. Selective glazing seems to take forever...I gotta borrow my wife's hair dryer

 

[Perbius]

So I took your advice Canny and re-established the reflects on the knee armor and I'm pleased with the results! Started base coating the animal skull heads and horns and gave them a wash. Did a few little corrections and clean up as well. After finishing up the horns and skulls (I don't think they'll take too long), I'm gonna tackle the head armor and fur cape...I haven't done fur ever so that should be hilarious.

Btw, thanks folks for visiting my WIP. CMON and this incredible community has been a great source of inspiration.

 

[Canny]

That looks perfect. Check your horns against the real thing, makes a big difference to feeling right. Top stuff

 

[oistene]

I like where this is going. Love the NMM.

 

[Perbius]

Hello CMON!...and thanks Oistene! So haven't been painting much but got back on track recently. Did some research and discovered something really interesting: dessicated Horns generally darken toward the tips while Antlers lighten...totally did not know that.


Did the NNM on the chains, his furry cape (I really don't know how to do that properly. Wapell's "shaded basecoat" technique is still a mystery), finished up the animal skulls on his waist and shoulders, and finished up his antlers and helmet. Started the hatchet on his belt, the tiny antlers on the skull on his waist are attached and primed, and the Morningstar at the end of the chain is primed. BTW, discovered violet looks good on nearly everything! And Pallid Wych Flesh is a freaky good color.


Looking to fab a base for him too, something vertical...in 40mm.


Also probably going to add my other WIP's on this thread and eventually change the title. I'm looking to enter a couple models into a local painting competition later this year....Kubla Con in the San Francisco Bay Area. They're on the Crystal Brush circuit. I figured doing a WIP will keep me on track. Will eventually submit a KD White Knight (gorgeous model), and a couple KD Warlords. If previous winners are any indication of the quality of the competition this year, I'll be out-of-my-mind happy if I could squeeze into the top 5 with one of them in 28mm fantasy. I think it'll help validate all the work.


Thanks again everyone for visiting my WIP. Some pics: the damn lighting in my garage is kinda making him look hulk green...weird.

 

[Sigmar3]

Looking pretty awesome so far. If this is your first time doing nmm then wow well done, looks great!

 

[Perbius]

Thanks Sigmar! But I must admit, I messed with NMM on one other mini my buddy asked me to paint to table standard. I painted in TrueMM since the beginning but have been generally disappointed with TMM in 28mm minis...but they look fantastic in 54mm I think. Then discovered NMM theory last October and practiced on my friend's Seraphim. I must have spent over 50 hours practicing and painting and repainting, but in the end just wasn't happy with the results...it was a fantastic learning experience though. Not satisfied with how she turned out, but here's a pic below anyway. As you can see, not quite nmm.


TMM in 54mm can look really really good I think. I guess it has something to do with the scale perhaps? I painted up a C'tan in TMM for another friend of mine with Testor's buffing Metalizer with ghost tints and it looked interesting...its a pretty darn big model though. Here's that guy....ended up looking a little like the Silver Surfer.

 

[Perbius]

Ok, I'm nearly done with the tiny little guy. Gotta do some clean up but he's basically finished given my abilities. Presently I lack the skill to go any further it seems...it's as far as I can take it, but I'm super happy to have taken him this far.

Oh, and I gotta somehow paint up a gold amulet necklace despite it being smaller than a bullet from a Spacemarine bolter.

So here is where I'm stuck...but it's a place I think I can push myself further. One of the focal points to the figure is his awesome morningstar (I think that's what it's called). Here is a before and after. I'm still so new to NMM that when I do it, it really puts a smile on my face...but it's definitely too clean. Here is the original concept art....of course the sculpt isn't an exact rendering but you get the gist. His armor is looking sharp and clean...that I wanted. But the morningstar should be a little beaten up with dings and scratches. I guess I'm not sure how to do that. Do I just stipple for dings? In black? And scratches in the highlight color? Crosshatched? Add some brown and orange for a tiny bit of rust? Or leave it as is....hmmmm. Perhaps I need to look up some nmm swords for reference.

Damn...gotta figure out how to put pics in the right order.

 

[moetle]

I'll leave the advice to the experts, but that C'tan and sister look fantastic! I'm not seeing silver surfer, i'm seeing alien bad ass.

 

[GreenOne]

That's very impressive work so far looking forward for the finished result.
Do you plan on doing further work on the skin? I think the yellow could do with some variation and, something, where the skin meets the shoulder armor.

 

[Perbius]

Thanks Moetle! Considering all the drop dead gorgeous paint jobs here, I was actually a little timid about showing my earlier works The C'tan was all AB except for the OSL from the flaming tendrils and blue. Testors buffing Metalizer is crazy...I buffed the hell out of it with a tooth brush and afterwards, it looked like a piece of aluminum. Alclad is even crazier in this regard.

And thank you GreenOne. Totally appreciate your observation. I think I'm a little more adept at nmm than painting skin! Kinda backwards it seems. Actually, I don't know where else to go with the skin. I used Zandri dust as the base which is kinda yellow for sure...I'm wondering now if that was a mistake. I don't know how to bring a more tanned ruddy look to him...perhaps a glaze of some kind?...but not sure what color to tell you the truth. And where the shoulder meets the armor, perhaps a shade to bring out the relief? I'm thinking maybe burnt umber...but being totally ignorant of color theory, that might also be a mistake. As you can see, Im a little lost as to how to improve the skin.

 

[AndyG]

Looking very nice indeed perbius i think you've got this nmm down to pat. Glazes are your friend and wet in wet whatever works at the time. I tend to do wet on wet to start off with and then very thin glazes. On some minis with small sections of metal i would do layering as it gives more definition and control. Practice however is the only real teacher i find.

 

[Perbius]

Thanks AndyG! Totally Appreciate your input. I'm painting a Sanguinar right now for just one reason: to practice practice Gold nmm. And I came across what ur talking about and it's making the process way way way more manageable (if I only figured it out earlier!!): get all the wet on wet done first THEN go back and hit with glazes. Doing a section all at once was driving me batty!