Quiarcus's WiP

Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Well, after being a long term lurker I thought it was finally time to start a WIP thread on this new fangled internets. Been painting for quite a while but took a very long sabatical due to moving countries (as you do) but was very pleasantly suprised on christmas day with a bevy of miniatures. So, first up Archaon the Everchosen. Where to start? The fantastic detail of this new finecast stuff? Maybe. Though perhaps it would be better to start with the massive gaps and airbubbles that seemed to be present in this. Spent about 2 - 3 hours cleaning the mini up (getting rid of flash, mould lines etc.) and filling in holes with green stuff.

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So anyway, in all seriousness, this finecast stuff is pretty good, better than the old metals in my estimation - I hope that they sort out the casting issues but the experience certainly wouldn't put me off getting another.

Anyway, after priming and undercoating I decided I'd go for the whole pale horse aspect rather than the official colours and would also take a stab at NMM (tested on his gauntlet, not so sure of the effect atm).

View attachment 9913

Anyway, ramble at an end for now, I'll upload some more photos probably tomorrow, though work keeps me pretty busy (doesn't it everyone?).

Oh, and Happy New Year to all!
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Made a bit of progress today, mainly trying to improve my NMM skills. Have to say not terribly happy with the results so far:

View attachment 9928

Any advice would be appreciated at this point, though I feel it's lacking contrast. Would people agree with that assumption and if so any advice about rectifying without repainting the whole thing from scratch?

Also painted the blade of the sword - wanted to do something a little different with it and I think it's turned out okay:

View attachment 9929

Still lots to do, but am enjoying the model on the whole.

As always C&C welcome.
 
I

ischa

New member
the nmm is looking great, but a bit dull. depth is ok, but i would add other colours, or try and make some of the plate parts darker, esp the lower ones. i rather enjoy using astronomican grey as my highlighting colour, makes the steel areas less dull and greyish. is the helm supposed to look goldish? it looks a bit bonish, which isnt bad, but i´m not sure that´s what you´re going for?
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Thanks for the replies both. I wasn't terribly happy with the NMM as it stood, and yeah, I was going for a gold effect but ended up with bone - I think the highlights were too broad. Anyway, had a chance to rework them both a little today, but as I had to work I missed the best light and had to settle for my dodgy spot lamp (really need to get a better one, just a matter of convincing the missus to allow me to get an artificial star of some kind...).

What do you think?

View attachment 9939

@A luna:

I've tried to get a better shot of the sword, but between the aforementioned lamp and the lack of a macro lense i'm not sure if this is really any better than the previous shot:

View attachment 9938

I was going for a sort of souls/spirits running along the blade kind of effect, thought it would be a little different.

Anyway, comments and suggestions always welcome!

EDIT: Oh god, I've just noticed a bevy of mould lines that I somehow missed, swear they're not that noticeable in real life. Hmmm, to tidy or not to tidy?
 
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Meph

Meph

Cat-herder Extraordinaire
Looks great man, I like the style and colouring. Maybe the lightning bolts can use some harsher fine highlights here and there, but not much. :)
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Hey, thanks for the comments Meph. Sadly work has come to a halt as I've gone injured my hand, making painting difficult. Luckily it's nothing major and should be back to normal in a few days. While I wait, does anyone know any good recipes for NMM brass? A light coloured one would be better.
 
boubi

boubi

New member
Quiarcus said:
Hey, thanks for the comments Meph. Sadly work has come to a halt as I've gone injured my hand, making painting difficult. Luckily it's nothing major and should be back to normal in a few days. While I wait, does anyone know any good recipes for NMM brass? A light coloured one would be better.
Click to expand...

Hope that your hand will get better soon! For the brass I have found quite useful with the following GW color scheme: base coat in Snakebite leather, shadow in scorched brown, deep shadow in scorched brown with necron abyss, highlight going to the red I personally used dark flesh, then going to yellow with bubonic brown extreme highlight with bleached bone. You can add some oxidation effect with a turquoise wash in the corners and in some areas.
I have tried on the following picture, far to be perfect NMM (my first one on cylindrical surface) but give you an idea about my above explanations:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/295586

Good luck! and show us the results when your hand will retrieve full capacities!
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Hi Boubi, thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to give it a go! Love the effect on the cannon though it's a little more red than I was after - may substitute out the dark flesh for another colour, see how it works :)
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Well, hands finally back to some semblance of working order so I've jumped back into painting...turns out that's not such a good thing :D Hands movement is still a little limited, but I've made some progress tonight more through sheer stubborness than anything else :)

View attachment 10108

Generally happy with how things are turning out with this one, started work on the skulls and some of the smaller details. I will say that some things don't show up on the photo that is apparent to the naked eye (the stippling on the reins for one), also the angle is doing the fur not favours whatsoever, but there we go.

Anyway, comments/critique always welcome!
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Well, on holiday for a week to celebrate the new year, so with any luck I'll be able to get on with some serious painting (family allowing of course!). I've made some progress on Archaon and have got the shield in place and most of the major pieces of the model are now complete. So far, I'm quite happy with the results; it's not a display piece but just a bit of fun to get back into the flow of painting and though the prep work was a pain the model itself has been fun to paint as well as a bit of a learning curve.

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Well, with the end of one model approaching I thought I'd turn to one of the others in the pile of xmas goodies. I'll just leave this here...

View attachment 10224

Also, I'm trying a new format with the pictures - lower file sizes to make uploading less of a hassle. Would someone kindly let me know what the quality is like and whether they prefered the old ones?

As always, comments and critique welcome!
 
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boubi

boubi

New member
Seems to turn really well, the horse a bit too light and not enough contrast to my taste. Can you tale any close up pictures of some important parts? Especially the helmet, the NMM looks quite good but a bit too small on this picture!

The size of the picture depends on what you try to show, it is true that some close up of current work will be quite nice to see the important details and get better critic and comment!

I realized that you are also living in China, I am also on holidays but escape the painting to spend some time with family abroad. I realized that few people are painting mini in China but now that you start having official GW shops in main cities, it might start... Where do you find your supplies? painting, etc...? Taobao or abroad?

Happy Dragon Year!
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Hey Boubi, thanks again for the comments and Happy Year of the Dragon to you too! Yes, I'm living in Beijing at the moment and get most of my mini's off of Taobao (shop called Play & Show - they seem to have reasonable prices and a good range) though I did visit a shop in the Qianmen area before it closed down. Made an effort with the photos this time to give some closeups (sadly my camera doesn't have a macro lens so it's a little limited), particularly of the helmet and shield.

Anyway, made some progress on the shield (took me a few attempts to get a result I'm happy with) and added another layer of highlights to the horse while also adding a bit more shadow.

View attachment 10251

Let me know what you think!
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Thanks for the comments guys. I wanted the helmet to look different from everything else on the model, as in the fluff it's pointed out that Archaon is but the latest in a long line of owners. With this in mind I've tried to make it darker and older looking, as if it's caked in years of grime and dirt (the fact that several of the small horns have fallen victim to 'Finecastitus' helps the effect I think) hence the darker tone for the gold compared to the shield. Not sure when I'll have him finished; will be making a start on the base tomorrow and should be able to get the painting done - no fancy modelling for this one (don't have the mats for it at the moment) but I'd like to make it an option in the future.
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Well, back at work now but have made progress on a few minis. I'll post more of Archaon once I have the basing materials through from my supplier, suffice to say he's nearly done short of a few community driven touch ups. So, no Arch for a few days at least. Instead I'll post some pics of progress made on my latest main project:

View attachment 10293

I'm going for an aged look across the board with this one. My imagination is that he's a vampire thats awoken after a long slumber to find his little empire destroyed and his castle in ruins. His equipment is caked in filth and rust and this is almost a revenge ride; awakening his horde and pet to take vengeance on the nearby interlopers and reestablish his dominion. It'll be a gaming piece as I intend to collect a VC army (shhh...don't tell the missus') in the long run - I love the new plastics!

I will be (if you hadn't already noticed) using metallics for this rather than NMM as I am more comfortable with this medium...and I won't have to try and replicate NMM rust throughout and entire army this way :D

As an extension - anyone know a good way of desaturating paints? The green and blue of the tunic are a little too bright for my liking and I'd like to bring them down a bit; make them seem faded and worn with age. I'm guessing using grey and colours like desert yellow during highlighting, but if anyone has any suggestions I would be more than happy to hear them.
 
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BPI

BPI

New member
Chuck a bit of Kommando Khaki in to desaturate. If the pot I've got is normal then it's really thin paint that's rubbish for basecoating but great for mixing in :) Cheers, B.
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
@BPI

Kommando Khaki...now why on earth did i not think of that? You're right, it has to be the weakest paint I've ever come across, but would be ideal for adding the worn look...thanks!
 
Quiarcus

Quiarcus

New member
Ok, wow, been a while. Work has sadly kept me from painting as much as I'd like, but I thought that perhaps I should update this thread with my current works in progress. So, here we go:

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Have a few projects on the go at the moment, the Vampire is on hold until I clear out some of my older minis (the backlog is ridiculous, but that seems to be par for the course in this hobby). First up some Space Hulk stuff:

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The marines are being painted up as my own chapter rather than the vampire wannabes. Have to say that I really like these Space Hulk minis, even if the plastic is a little flimsy.

Next up, Dreadfleet:

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These ones are being done on the quick as I absolutely love the game and want pieces game ready ASAP, so they won't be amazing to look at but hopefully good enough for the board. Seriously, if you haven't played Dreadfleet give it a go; it's a little bit like the old Man O'War game, but a lot more random. I have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory so many times it's unbelievable because of random events, but still I go back for more (plus it's the only game I can get the missus to play, as she currently has quite the winning streak)!

Finally, a little dino lovin':

View attachment 15211

A fun model, but took me ages to get going on it. Think I finally have a direction to move in, but we'll see.
 
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