Daemonette Familiar

[cheetor]

I painted this old classic last night. As I have wanted to paint this little model since I first saw the sculpt in 1989 or so, it was a bit of a bucket list model to finally get around to. A pleasant way to spend the final evening of my Xmas break. I plan to use the familiar in some Inquisitorial based RT flavoured games in 2014.

In case any of you are unfamiliar with the model (unlikely around here, but y'know, maybe) you can see in the photo below that the model is quite tiny.

I posted about the model here, on my blog although to be honest the post doesnt contain much more additional info.

 

[Silversixx]

Amazing job mate! Really like the colouring!

 

[Asslessman]

Yes, I really like the pink hair (and hairs) and the pinkish tone of the flesh with the good contrast of the green parts. I know I have this one somewhere but it keeps avoiding me. When I get my hands (and brushes) on her, whta a pleasure it will be. THis Jes Goddwin series of familiar is absiutely great for a rapid and rewarding painting pleasure. Keep any other coming our way please.

I wouldn't mind hearing about your painting techniques too, the pale colours and the bright ones of your paintjobs are really interesting because of the vibrance, is this some multi-layer madness or some washes you use to obtain this result. I have to warn you that may very well use any tip you could post...

 

[manic _miner]

It is a very cool miniature and your painting does it justice.

 

[cheetor]

Thanks guys

I wouldn't mind hearing about your painting techniques too, the pale colours and the bright ones of your paintjobs are really interesting because of the vibrance, is this some multi-layer madness or some washes you use to obtain this result. I have to warn you that may very well use any tip you could post...

I dont paint to display level and I wouldnt dream of giving advice about high level painting. My goal is to make a dent in the vast heap of unpainted miniatures that I have had for years rather than to paint showpieces. I try to strike a balance between the level of painting that I am not happy with and the level of painting that give me a satisfying level of turnover.

Pretty much everything that I paint is sprayed black, then overbrushed or heavily drybrushed base colours are added to everything, then the whole model is washed with Army Painter Strong Tone (Devlan Mud essentially) or Army Painter Dark Tone (Badab Black), then each of the areas is highlighted once or twice usually with colours from the pot (rather than mixed). Paints are thinned with water as a matter of course, but thats a given I think. Nothing very complicated, very little colour mixing etc.

I think that the models that I paint tend to look vibrant because all of the colours tend to transition from black through to white or almost white in the process as described above. That gives high contrast and strong definition that is visible from a distance on the table top. I like the extreme highlight look, but many dont. I really like the new-ish GW Edge paints. I dont tend to glaze models or use washes very often, other than the Strong Tone wash used on almost every part of almost every model to give the model definition.

The Daemonette familiar is an exception to my normal painting process. I varied it because I only have one to paint, plus its tiny model too, so I could try things that would bog me down on something like ork flesh that would have to be repeated hundreds of times.

I sprayed the Daemonette car primer grey and then washed it twice with Leviathan Purple ink. Then I painted most of the flesh with an old Warzone paint, a sort of lilac/purple. I added some Game Colour Off White to he Warzone purple and layered it again and then did it one last time with more GCOW added to the mix. I then painted the hair Tentacle Pink, washed it with Baal Red and painted in the strands with Fulgrim Pink and a Fulgrim Pink/white mix (I think. I dont have my painting notebook with me right now). The green is GW Scorpion green layered up with a Scorpion green/yellow/white mix, followed by a tiny almost pure white highlight on the horn and tail tips.

None of the processes are complicated and I almost never mix a colour using more than two paints (mixed colours are too hard to duplicate at a later date). Strong definition, neatness (aided by the wash step) and trying to ensure that the colour combinations are good are the main things for me. The best advice that I feel qualified to give is to keep a notebook to record what colours you use to paint various miniature. Its a bit of a drag doing it at first, but it soon builds up into an extremely useful reference, full of peculiar shorthand and abbreviations. My notebooks have helped me to paint a little smarter, not harder since I started using them in 2009 or so.

I hope that helps.

 

[manic _miner]

Nice to know I am not the only one with Warzone and Chronopia paints .

 

[mbh]

interesting technique

I can't imagine how everything looks so good with the base coat dry brushed. Any chance for a step by step?

 

[cheetor]

interesting technique

I can't imagine how everything looks so good with the base coat dry brushed.

It depends a lot on the colours used how scruffily the base coat is applied. Obviously I have to be more careful with certain colours, say like yellow. With the dark green on the orks that I am curently painting, the Knarloc green base coat is very sloppy. Not sloppy in terms of covering other areas of the model, but sloppy in terms of full coverage on the relevant areas, if you get what I mean.

The goal is that rather than repeatedly paint the same areas with the same colour to ensure good coverage that patchier areas of the base coat will be covered with later layers. Heavy ink washes at the right points covers a multitude of errors, thereby speeding the process up by reducing/eliminating tidy up stages. Extreme highlighting then visually draws the darkened colour - which can appear too muted and dark at this point - back out of background. In essence the process is an attempt to make the translucency of the paint layers work for you, rather than force the painter to work harder. Does that make sense? Do I sound like an art college prick?

Some painters use washes a lot more liberally than I do to get a similar result, but I havent unlearned what I have learned enough to embrace that technique just yet. But if you are interested in getting your miniatures painted to a good looking tabletopstandard then I recommend a look at the abrushwithbattles blog. The author gets something like 1000 models a year painted to the standard shown by using a lot of inks. Incredible.

Incidentally, this Daemonette isnt really an ideal example of my painting methods, although the end result is about the same quality level.

Any chance for a step by step?

A step by step is a lot of disruption and runs the risk of a pile of half finished miniatures at the end of a process - anathema . I will have a think about it and see if I can manage it, but no guarantees, sorry.

Happy New Year!

 

[Count Von Bruno]

I like daemons, naked, well proportioned midget ladies and miniatures so it's a hit as far as I'm concerned

 

[mbh]

interesting technique

I can't imagine how everything looks so good with the base coat dry brushed.

It depends a lot on the colours used how scruffily the base coat is applied. Obviously I have to be more careful with certain colours, say like yellow. With the dark green on the orks that I am curently painting, the Knarloc green base coat is very sloppy. Not sloppy in terms of covering other areas of the model, but sloppy in terms of full coverage on the relevant areas, if you get what I mean.

The goal is that rather than repeatedly paint the same areas with the same colour to ensure good coverage that patchier areas of the base coat will be covered with later layers. Heavy ink washes at the right points covers a multitude of errors, thereby speeding the process up by reducing/eliminating tidy up stages. Extreme highlighting then visually draws the darkened colour - which can appear too muted and dark at this point - back out of background. In essence the process is an attempt to make the translucency of the paint layers work for you, rather than force the painter to work harder. Does that make sense? Do I sound like an art college prick?

Some painters use washes a lot more liberally than I do to get a similar result, but I havent unlearned what I have learned enough to embrace that technique just yet. But if you are interested in getting your miniatures painted to a good looking tabletopstandard then I recommend a look at the abrushwithbattles blog. The author gets something like 1000 models a year painted to the standard shown by using a lot of inks. Incredible.

Incidentally, this Daemonette isnt really an ideal example of my painting methods, although the end result is about the same quality level.

Any chance for a step by step?

A step by step is a lot of disruption and runs the risk of a pile of half finished miniatures at the end of a process - anathema . I will have a think about it and see if I can manage it, but no guarantees, sorry.

Happy New Year!

don't worry about a step by step

but could you give us the recipe for the alien navigator guys white skin?

 

[cheetor]

but could you give us the recipe for the alien navigator guys white skin?

A solid coat of Dheneb Stone was applied over the black undercoat (I know that I said that I drybrush/overbrush most colours on over black, and I do, but I tend to put a little more time into pale skin. If the skin looks wrong then the paint job will always look dodgy).

I glazed the flesh with the hex pot, white flip-top lid Purple Glaze, twice. Its approximately the colour of cranberry juice, in case you are unfamiliar with it. It was intended to give a slightly inhuman or unhealthy colour.

I drybrushed the flesh with Dheneb Stone.

The flesh got a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone while I was washing the rest of the model. That defined the details and reduced the glaringly pinkish elements.

The flesh got another layer of Dheneb Stone.

The flesh was highlighted with Game Colour Off White. You can see in the photos HERE that I was kinda lazy about this stage and you can see a series of quite ugly crosshatched brushstrokes on the forehead as I tried to blend the layers together a bit. I must have been getting tired and sloppy at that stage. Also worth noting is that I took those photos before I varnished the figure, so the head is shinier than it should be. I really must have been in a hurry to get the Navigator finished and photographed for some reason. It worked out fine all the same. I quite like that colour scheme. Dark, but light too, like a modern Dark Eldar scheme.

 

[mbh]

thank you for the walk through

that helps