Chaos Commander
Hi everybody - once in a while, I'll buy a model just for the sheer fun of it. This is the story of one of those days. I was at my local model shop, loudly lamenting the loss of specialist games, when the owner showed me a dusty cardboard box. As a GW retailer he has long since stopped selling blister packs, but had a few left over at knockdown prices. Mostly old LOTR stuff, but in the background I saw an old 'Lucius the Eternal' figure lurking, and picked him up for a steal price.
As for painting - I enjoy painting vibrant colours once in a while, something different from the grim ranks of olive-drab Guardsmen. One of my favourite colours is purple, just because it gives me the chance to use Drucci Violet. So for Lucius I started with a black undercoat (my first in a long time).
I'm particularly pleased with the gold areas, I wanted a generally burnished, worn look for the main areas but still grubby and dirty in the recesses, showing well-used but not neglected armour. My reference here was the way that a 2p coin left in your pocket for ages will actually be buffed up on the surface by it being bashed around inside, but the recesses will get dirty still. The 'burnished' look is actually thousands of tiny scratches where the dirt hasn't been allowed to build up because of use. I usually get one or the other with my gold - either brilliant, polished High Elf armour or grubby, rusty Ork armour. I hope I've managed to capture that.
This chap may well get used alongside my Chaos Renegades, or as a generic 'end-of-level-boss' for campaign games. But no specific background for him ... yet.
As for painting - I enjoy painting vibrant colours once in a while, something different from the grim ranks of olive-drab Guardsmen. One of my favourite colours is purple, just because it gives me the chance to use Drucci Violet. So for Lucius I started with a black undercoat (my first in a long time).
- Daemonette Hide over the face/flesh areas of the armour
- Screamer Pink drybrush
- Earthshade Brown wash
- Another light Screamer Pink drybrush
- Drucci Violet wash
- Armour was painted a darkish bronze (can't remember exactly which one)
- Then detail picked out in Burnished Gold
- An Earthshade Brown was to unify it all.
- Then details added with reds and whites.
I deliberately limited the ampount of painting here to either purple, gold or black because I had a very specific 'look' I was going for.
I'm particularly pleased with the gold areas, I wanted a generally burnished, worn look for the main areas but still grubby and dirty in the recesses, showing well-used but not neglected armour. My reference here was the way that a 2p coin left in your pocket for ages will actually be buffed up on the surface by it being bashed around inside, but the recesses will get dirty still. The 'burnished' look is actually thousands of tiny scratches where the dirt hasn't been allowed to build up because of use. I usually get one or the other with my gold - either brilliant, polished High Elf armour or grubby, rusty Ork armour. I hope I've managed to capture that.
As for what I can improve on? Well, all the tubes and 'pipes' on his body. The plan was to just paint them white and let multiple layers of washes colour it naturally, but what's happened is it's just tinged it slightly purple. I'd like it to be more graduated, so it's purple in the recesses and white on the exposed bits, rather than a constant pink. Possibly I could cure that with further washes.
Not sure how I feel about the 'shinyness' of the armour - an inevitable side effect of the heavy use of washes. Part of me likes it - a sort of othery-worldly sheen - but part of me thinks it just looks like he got cought in the rain. This is pre-varnishing, as I'm still toying with the idea of doing either a gloss or matt varnish to accentuate or reverse this effect. Any thoughts? To further complicate the debate, I was wondering how limited weathering powders would affect him, maybe some rust here and there. Obviously that wouldn't tie in so well with the gloss option.
This chap may well get used alongside my Chaos Renegades, or as a generic 'end-of-level-boss' for campaign games. But no specific background for him ... yet.
Thanks for reading troops!
The Colonel
Very nice depth to those purples sir.
ReplyDeletePersonally, for gaming, I'd coat with gloss, then again with matt, then highlight areas of choice with brushed on gloss to taste.
Too kind. They are really high-quality paints, I find reds in particular (not just GW) tend to be very watery and patchy, perhaps to do with the kinds of pigments they use?
DeleteAs I say I'll invest in some varnish and give that a go. Thanks
I do like the shiny especially with chaos but it's the crazy face I really like!
ReplyDeleteCertainly does make a change from ranks of grim-faced Imperial Guardsmen! Thanks Francis
DeleteThanks - good point there I think you and Dai have the answer there. I've never used brush-on varnish but I'll give it a go, cheers for the comment.
ReplyDeleteHe looks really good. I think I can help with the gold finish you are trying for. The trick is to do a final highlight that is a mix of silver and gold. It can be a bit tricky to get the mix right but something like 1 part silver to 5 parts gold usually will give you the over polished look. Something like the gilded handle of a serving tray, a noticeable patina of age but very well cared for.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Chris, I'll give that a try. I have a Priest I'm currently painting up that has some gold-ish trim I want to get a similar effect from. I'll try it and let you know.
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