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Post by Soul Samurai on Nov 25, 2019 2:45:47 GMT
You've been busy!
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Dec 1, 2019 13:06:26 GMT
Hey all,
Finally started painting some more of my TB infantry. I'm having some trouble deciding what colors to paint their tartans. I'm sort of split between using beige (jack bone) and brown(idrian flesh?) as the main color, also considering pure red (skorne or khador) but a lot more skeptical about it. I've tried painting the Kriel Warriors in the "official" scheme, and it just looks too similar to the Fenblades I've already painted. Do you guys have any good references/suggestions? I'm sort of considering copying the tartan design on the Fennblade box art, but I don't have a hint of a clue which paints to use for that. as always, any advice is appreciated.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Dec 1, 2019 13:11:03 GMT
Have you looked at photos of actual tartans for inspiration? Did any catch your eye?
As I understand it tartans are clan-specific, so it makes sense for different Trollblood units to have the same tartan... if they are from the same clan. It also makes sense to have different ones since it's very feasible for different units to be from different clans. Have you thought about what you prefer fluff-wise?
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Dec 1, 2019 16:01:17 GMT
Have you looked at photos of actual tartans for inspiration? Did any catch your eye? As I understand it tartans are clan-specific, so it makes sense for different Trollblood units to have the same tartan... if they are from the same clan. It also makes sense to have different ones since it's very feasible for different units to be from different clans. Have you thought about what you prefer fluff-wise? Fluff-wise I've decided the turqouise trolls will have yellow tartans, northkin-themed units will be jack bone. Haven't quite decided on the "regular" trolls - red or brown.
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Dec 14, 2019 15:56:36 GMT
Hey all,
I'm still having a lot of trouble with assembling my models. I use a generic superglue from my local craft store, and this shit just refuses to stick. I've washed every part of the models with soap, went over it with a hard brush, dunked them in dish detergent, brushed again until there wasn't a hint of mold oil left, scored the contact points, and still it won't Firetrucking stick. I've tried adding a bit of water, but that makes the bond very weak, and sticking little pellets of greenstuff in there hasn't helped either. and this is with the grey plastic minis, mind, not the metals. I'm really getting frustrated at this point. so, is there anything else I'm missing? should I switch to a different glue?
thanks.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Dec 14, 2019 16:30:52 GMT
That's really weird. Sounds to me like you're doing everything right; at this point I would seriously suspect the glue. Try another brand, maybe something well-known like Loctite or Gorilla.
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Dec 27, 2019 20:51:06 GMT
20 months into owning a unit of Fennblades, and I've finally decided to bite the bullet; bought the UA. I've been contempating doing NMM for a while now, so I figured this would be a great test model. I think NMM is overhyped on all fronts - it didn't feel anywhere near as hard as people make it out to be, and I really don't like how it looks. I'm so used to the shiny texture of metal paints that the cartoonish look of NMM is just off-putting to me. I'll give it some more thought, but I'm most likely going to switch the blade back to metallic. Which means I'll have to actually practice painting TMM.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Dec 28, 2019 5:13:03 GMT
I think NMM can look very good in photos, but it feels a bit strange to me to use such a "fake" effect on an actual physical model. Normal metallics or even TMM feel more natural to me. Personal taste.
Anyway, the photos look good, you've got some great contrast that's really making that model pop.
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Dec 28, 2019 22:54:03 GMT
More pics. I could work on the fennblade officer some more, but I've spent this entire weekend just on him, so it's really time to move on to other things. I've tried changing the EDBT into a northkin-themed scheme - a bit impulsively, I've decided that the Fennblades will be my 'generic' skintone and that the official skin tone will be the Northkin color, so I tried to change the EDBT's rocks to a more appropriate color. I'm really not sure if I like it, I'm leaning more towards not. I might or might not repaint the stone unit to stay consistent with the logic - right now their skin and tartan don't match up. I've put two layers of satin varnish on the Officer and one on the EDBT as another test run, it's actually a lot less glossy than I remembered. It's subtle enough that I wouldn't mind putting them on the table like this at all. The downside is that I'll have to memorize what is and what isn't varnished, with the gloss it's so egregiously obvious that it's a non-issue. That being said - your thoughts? anyone got any ideas how I could make the Northkin EDBT look work before I switch back to the official scheme? maybe it just looks bad until it's highlighted?
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Dec 28, 2019 23:07:51 GMT
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Post by Soul Samurai on Dec 29, 2019 11:35:07 GMT
I don't have any ideas for the EBDT. I do think all three models are looking pretty good. The highlighting on the Gator's scales and palm are great, and I really like how the bone headdress looks.
As for varnishing, I think if you leave the varnish until after the basing is complete then it will be easier to keep track of what's varnished and what isn't. Otherwise maybe just keep a list somewhere of what's been varnished?
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Jan 8, 2020 22:16:41 GMT
Thanks for the encouraging words, Soul. Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly making progress. I'm a bit miffed about the pyg lookouts - I couldn't find the mold lines while cleaning them, and now that one of them's finished of course I can see them. they're not terrible, though, and just like the model they're pretty small, so I'm not going to redo the entire thing just for that. it's not visible in this photo, but for the leather cape-thing on the pyg I used Idrian Flesh, glazed with a little Sanguine Highlight, shaded with +Umbral Umber, Highlighted +Rucksack Tan, and then glazed the lower half again just to see what happens. I think it looks pretty neat. It was really bothering me how damn dry the trollblood base looks when you start highlighting it, it legit looked so dry I felt an urgent need to drink water whenever I looked at it (had the same problem with NMM.). after I varnished it satin the problem went away completely. I was also worried that it looks so pale that he looks like the old winter troll skin (which I think is Firetrucking ugly), but again the varnish sort of toned the highlights down so now it looks fine. All in all, I'm pretty content right now - I've got a good idea of what I want my color scheme for almost the entire faction to be going forward. TBB skin + jack bone tartans for northkin, Hawk Turquoise + Ember orange for 'regular' / Cygnar area trolls, and Fester Blue + green/skorne red? tartans for the thornwood trolls. I am still going to have to decide what I'll do with the krielstone bearers. I might make them a mix of central+northkin colors, right now they're in this weird middle area where they belong to neither aesthetic. (yellow tartans, TBB skin.) I'm tempted to make them completely northkin-themed, but then they'll be a bit of an eyesore if I put thme in a yellow-tartan army. Another thing - looking at some of the TB box art, they very clearly either pump up the saturation in post production or paint the minis in more saturated paints to begin with. I'm very much inclined to substitute the TBB with something higher saturation, any idea which paint out there has the same hue but higher saturation?
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Post by Soul Samurai on Jan 9, 2020 6:36:01 GMT
I often find mold lines when I'm halfway into painting a model. What I will generally do is scrape them off or build up the recessed area with greenstuff right there, and then just keep painting over the fix. Sure, that area won't be primed, but in my experience it usually works out OK.
When you talk about looking at box art, do you mean holding the box in your hand or looking on a monitor (in which case colour reproduction is never going to be that accurate)? Either way I expect there's some photoshoppery happening to make the images look bright and colourful and attractive.
But if you want a way to add saturation, consider a glaze. Applying a glaze might darken an area slightly, but it can add a lot of saturation (especially to the lighter areas, which usually have low colour saturation). Give it a try on a spare piece of plastic; I believe it was Tesoe who was talking about using plastic spoons for testing paints (since they're cheap and have contours and details you can get a better idea of how something will look than on a flat piece of plastic).
Badger Minitaire Ghost Tints are very saturated but in my experience don't go on well by brush as they are designed for airbrushing. I find GW glazes work quite well though. I'm sure there's other options.
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shmeep
Junior Strategist
Posts: 742
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Post by shmeep on Jan 9, 2020 8:21:15 GMT
I'm talking about the box proper, not pictures of it.
Is there a particular GW glaze you'd recommend? As I've said, I want to keep the color/hue, just kick the saturation up a notch. If you've seen the Pyg Lookout boxart, that's the direction.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Jan 9, 2020 9:03:23 GMT
GW has something like one glaze per primary colour, so I guess you want the blue one?
Maybe other companies will have a wider range, I'm afraid I haven't investigated.
I seem to recall in old PP painting tutorials they would make their own glazes by mixing their paints with a generous dose of their mixing medium to make it thin but not runny.
So yeah, if you can't find an off-the-shelf glaze in colour you want you can probably mix your own with a little trial and error. I'm sure you'll find some tutorials online if you look. Also I think glazes used to be called "inks" (or maybe there were inks used in the same way, I'm not sure as that's kind of before my time); I've seen "acrylic inks" from art supply companies such as Daler Rowney, those might work too.
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