[40k] Meet Fred.
This is Fred. Fred's not quite finished yet, but that's okay.
Fred is my paint scheme tester for my Space Marines. I got antsy tonight, and decided I didn't care if it was too cold to go outside and spray-primer my Marines, I was going to go ahead and do it the Old Fashioned Way (tm) -- paint the sucker in grey and go from there. So I did. Codex Grey, an old standby. Not so dark to make the colors disappear, because I don't want to have to highlight the shit out of things, but not so light that people mistake my army for the Lavender Princess Chapter.
I then painted most of the thing Liche Purple, which ended up being something I regretted later. I then painted the parts I wanted to have in Dark Angels Green, and then the parts I wanted to have in black. Then I had the bright idea of watering down some black paint and washing over the thing to darken the creases (I now wish I'd done this much earlier), which turned out absolutely fantastic and something I'm definitely continuing. I went back over the areas I'd colored purple and green, and then added some grey in with the purple to lighten it up just a touch, then added a teeny bit more grey and highlighted major areas.
The eagle crest is the one thing I'm really proud of. I absolutely love the look of gold-on-green, so I knew that's what I was going to do. I went over it with green again just to make sure, and then brushed Shining Gold over it. <3. I broke out the Chainmail and went over a few spots on the armor and on the gun that I'd painted earlier (and used too much and too bright silver on the gun ... apparently Fred polishes it a bit too often), did some fiddling here and there, and took a picture for folks to look at. Yay.
I'm not entirely happy with Fred as he stands right now. I'm not sure I like the new brushes I have, because they're too flexible for me. I may have to make R take me to a craft store so I can look at some other brushes and see if I can't get one with firmer bristles. These ones would be perfect for drybrushing and other things, so they're not a total loss by a long shot.
The armor is almost perfect. I want to paint his knees and boots green, so there's more of that visible color. The pouches will stay green. The backpack will be purple, and I'll work some silver into the holes in the top. The gun will be black, with a touch of silver, and then a very very dry brush of silver on the edges. The straps on the guns will end up ... I dunno, black or maybe brown. Eyes will be red, no idea on detail. I can't finish the skulls until I get some Bleached Bone, and I can't recall what I thought I was going to do to paint those.
There you have it. He's not exactly the way I want him, but he's done a damn fine job helping me figure out how I DO want the armor to look. This is also the first miniature I've painted in years, so I'm still getting used to it again. Go me.
Now? Sleep. I've had a day of mostly irritation, but at least I got something sort of positive out of it.
Fred is my paint scheme tester for my Space Marines. I got antsy tonight, and decided I didn't care if it was too cold to go outside and spray-primer my Marines, I was going to go ahead and do it the Old Fashioned Way (tm) -- paint the sucker in grey and go from there. So I did. Codex Grey, an old standby. Not so dark to make the colors disappear, because I don't want to have to highlight the shit out of things, but not so light that people mistake my army for the Lavender Princess Chapter.
I then painted most of the thing Liche Purple, which ended up being something I regretted later. I then painted the parts I wanted to have in Dark Angels Green, and then the parts I wanted to have in black. Then I had the bright idea of watering down some black paint and washing over the thing to darken the creases (I now wish I'd done this much earlier), which turned out absolutely fantastic and something I'm definitely continuing. I went back over the areas I'd colored purple and green, and then added some grey in with the purple to lighten it up just a touch, then added a teeny bit more grey and highlighted major areas.
The eagle crest is the one thing I'm really proud of. I absolutely love the look of gold-on-green, so I knew that's what I was going to do. I went over it with green again just to make sure, and then brushed Shining Gold over it. <3. I broke out the Chainmail and went over a few spots on the armor and on the gun that I'd painted earlier (and used too much and too bright silver on the gun ... apparently Fred polishes it a bit too often), did some fiddling here and there, and took a picture for folks to look at. Yay.
I'm not entirely happy with Fred as he stands right now. I'm not sure I like the new brushes I have, because they're too flexible for me. I may have to make R take me to a craft store so I can look at some other brushes and see if I can't get one with firmer bristles. These ones would be perfect for drybrushing and other things, so they're not a total loss by a long shot.
The armor is almost perfect. I want to paint his knees and boots green, so there's more of that visible color. The pouches will stay green. The backpack will be purple, and I'll work some silver into the holes in the top. The gun will be black, with a touch of silver, and then a very very dry brush of silver on the edges. The straps on the guns will end up ... I dunno, black or maybe brown. Eyes will be red, no idea on detail. I can't finish the skulls until I get some Bleached Bone, and I can't recall what I thought I was going to do to paint those.
There you have it. He's not exactly the way I want him, but he's done a damn fine job helping me figure out how I DO want the armor to look. This is also the first miniature I've painted in years, so I'm still getting used to it again. Go me.
Now? Sleep. I've had a day of mostly irritation, but at least I got something sort of positive out of it.