The Painting Desk - Updated Photos!

Renegade Psyker
04 May 12 UPDATE:  After realising just how poor the lighting was on some of those old photos I've retaken them all in proper daylight, all at no extra cost!

Evening all!  Greetings from the desk of the Colonel.

Those of you who tuned into my last post will remember that I'm currently juggling a multitude of different projects. I'm determined not to let any of them go stale, so I'm working through a few of each at a time.

Today there's an update on some Forgeworld Renegade psykers and the Empress Miniatures UK and Taliban.  There are only a few models, and there's a reason for this.  I don't believe in 'batch painting', even when I have a large number of models to do, I prefer to individually paint each one before moving on.  The batch approach fosters a production mentality (in my head, at least) and I become more focussed on meeting my own self-imposed targets than painting decent models.  So there are the few completed models that I've managed to nail since my last update for you to feast your eyes upon.

First up: Renegade Psykers.  These models are the epitome of why I went over to Chaos in the first place.  Imaginative, brilliantly sculpted models which give FW the edge over GW these days, in my humble opinion.  The resin gives the sculptors room to play a bit more, and since they've stopped even pretending to charge reasonable prices, they can go wholly over to making brilliant models.  That is, of course, at a huge price to the gamer.  But take a look at this model, who cares?

I left off the spikes on this fellow's backpack, as I thought they just looked silly - and also it's very fragile.  Always paint with half an eye on the gaming table ... It was painted using almost exclusively washes, a mix of old and new GW paints on a Skull White undercoat:
Renegade Psyker
  • Lower half, rags: Successive washes of Badab Black, Ogryn Flesh and Devlan Mud in no particular order. After drying, the entire model was dunked into water. Watered down Chaos Black was then dabbled around the bottom of the rags, where it blended nicely to create the effect that the rags are blurring with the ground - almost as if the model is rising up.
  • Upper half, skin: Nice and easy. A Karak Stone undercoat, washed with Drucii Violet and highlighted patchily with Pallid White Flesh. A final light wash of Agrax Earthshade unifies the whole model.
  • And that was it!  A few extra details like the bleeding skull and the veins on the head, but otherwise the tubes were simply painted Abaddon Black and lightly dry brushed with some browns and greys for a general tone-up.
This was a deceptively simple model to paint, and I really only had to stick to the question: 'Is it rags or skin?', and if it was neither, paint it black. It's a very impressively sculpted model and I'm pleased with the paint job it's got now. It's testament to my admiration that I have never, ever in 12 years of 40K ever used a psyker, but this seems as good a place as any to start.

The next rouge psyker is a similarly well thought out model. It's a classic pose which I'm sure is inspired by 40K artwork, both official and fan-drawn, since the image of the psyker suffering from Perils of the Warp is etched into our minds, but you don't seem to see any models out there for it.

Well, here it is!  The painting of the trousers and flesh here was exactly the same as for above.  The only additional details I added were the green tunic and trousers (perhaps a dark hint that this creature may have once been a proud Palladian Guardsman?) But a similarly fun model to paint.

I was very impressed with the new glazes, they are a lot more heavy-handed than the old washes and the colour seems to stick a lot more, especially on raised areas whereas before it all ran into the cracks.

The one disadvantage of the new paints seems to be that the areas on which a glaze is used (predictably) gets a glossy sheen to it. This is usually what I try and avoid, but the effect is dulled by using a light drybrush of browns and greys which I normally add to all my models to give them a 'worn out' appearance. Also, the spray of matt varnish should take the worst of it out (these pics are all pre-varnishing).

And finally, Empress miniatures UK soldier and Taliban!  Not lots to say on these as the painting styles/techniques are both the same as my last attempt.




Taliban with PKM machine gun
UK soldier with SA80A2
The old GW Catachan Green makes a perfect OD colour

That's yer lot, folks! I'm very very lucky to have a bit of freedom at work to turn my desk into a painting area on night shifts, so despite the stint I have coming up I should be able to get a few more updates your way!


An Appeal


Does anyone have any spare Cadian legs? I know GW deliberately limit them, to make it harder to build models out of spare parts and bitz boxes, and so predictably they're all out of stock on normal bitz sites. If anyone has any,  I have a very extensive IG bitz box and would be willing to do trades. In particular, I have endless spare parts for the Cadian Infantry (except legs of course), including about 30 full sets of torsos, helmets and weapon arms, and even a few complete unopened kits I can part with (mostly IG). If anyone has any (or knows of a site that isn't sold out), could you drop me a comment or email? Thanks all :)

Comments

  1. Sure, I suspect I can send some your way...drop me an email with any particular requirements, and I'll have a rummage.

    - D.

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  2. Beautiful work! I always loved the renegade psykers that FW makes and you have done an exemplary job on them. Bravo!

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  3. Excellent as ever sir, that Renegade Psyker model was the one I had pegged form my Elctro-Priest in my Adeptus Mechanicus force (I may have found a new home for these, more news to follow ;))

    I have 1 pair of Cadian legs lol. I'm not sure they'll be much help

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  4. @Drax: You sir, are a legend. People will sing songs of you that will resound down the ages.

    @Mordian7th: Thanks, that's very high praise from yourself! Really enjoyed painting them, and I'm hoping to have a platoon up soon.

    @Headologist: Give me your legs! Adeptus Mech sounds good, as I said above I should have a platoon together for the summer hols for some proper battles.

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  5. Haha, I will bring them with me next time I visit. If I do Admech it will be with more Marines, but it will all fit in to Age of Apostasy and possibly Nova Terra Interregnum games. The word on the grapevine is that FW will be releasing fluff and rules as they have already started releasing suitable models....

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