Protist's works progressive

[Protist]

Thanks guys, glad you like 'em.

Optimus, basing is done with a rough mix of 95% horticultural sand (very, very fine) + a dash of builder's sharp sand for the larger bits.
Grass is all from Mininatur/Silflor, railway modellers is their main market I think. I found typical wargaming flock to be way too long and nasty coloured mixes so I got hold of their 'moss flock' pack, four 15g bags of 0.5-1mm flock, and make mixes from those.
The tufts are also Silflor, from their 4mm two colour range, and 2mm single colour tufts. I got fed up with my soldiers wading through a sea of gigantic reeds. And they cost £4.50 for 30cm x 8cm strips, which is incredibly cheap - I suspect they make most of the flocks available; ie. Army Painter's 6mm tuft sheets are the same price but about 1/4 of the size...

Subedai, glad you like the markings on the hydra - the scales are scultped so roughly I figured he'd need more definition to break up the surface. Do you think I should strengthen the dappled effect on the necks though - it hasn't come out looking very obvious but maybe that's a good thing?

 

[Subedai]

Subedai, glad you like the markings on the hydra - the scales are scultped so roughly I figured he'd need more definition to break up the surface. Do you think I should strengthen the dappled effect on the necks though - it hasn't come out looking very obvious but maybe that's a good thing?

I have to admit I hadn't noticed it before, now that I press my nose to the screen I see the dapples. I think they'd look just right in person, if they were more pronounced they would become too dominant a feature in my view.

 

[Protist]

Darn it, I simply lack the time to take photos, check light, crop, re-scale and upload... but decided it was about bloody time to pull the finger out. Here we go with a major update of my 'Works Progressive' (and its not just dark elves this time).

Bought him on a whim many moons ago, so got a bunch of placcy marines just to make him some friends. 'Bout time I did him justice (base is temporary, in case you couldn't tell )

Thought a close-up of the chaos warriors would be in order, since they've only been seen in the background so far (I think?)

Just some touch ups to do now so I'm happy.

Old minis that had been over-painted into detail-less, green blobs. "No more," they cried "WE SHALL BE YELLOW!"

Bought on ebay since i think they're generally excellent sculpts, would make a useful 'peacemaker' force for sci-fi/post-apoc games. Not so keen on the sergeant's sculpt though he does the job. Y'know, mean stare, big ass sword, gun in your face pose. Na, I'm not convinced

Give him a base and call it done. Had some fun with this paint-job. Love the model, and the new tail works well enough I think. Rather looking forward to letting him out of the cage to reak havoc upon (or run away from ) some unsuspecting dwarves.

...And on with the dark elves ravaging, rampaging, raiding... er Ravagers!

Getting there. Weird scaling, weird sculpting, weird model. Charming? Hmmm, hope so, I've got two more to get done!

Finally snapped up an ebay lot of old citadel horsies + the elven hero and high elven/melnibo. rider (both missing weapons). Add some other horses and left-over/converted spares for riders I had knockin' around and I think this should make a neat light cavalry unit with a cool-cucumber of an elfy lordling. Did the first pass on one horse to test out dappling. Its hard to achieve a good effect.

Some Marauder crossbows (or repeater x-bows). Cool models, just get some bases done and they're playable. I'd like to work more on the boots and bow textures still though.

Grrr, woof. Need to add some grass.

Found the bastard - at last - for peanuts on ebay. He is nearly ready to join the ranks and make up the first completely finished unit in the army. Phew, I might actually be getting somewhere at last

Told you I'd been saving it all up for a rainy day. If you could take all that in at once, let me know what you think.
All ideas for the crossbow's banner design are welcome.

 

[mbh]

I love your stuff and I agree with the bolt thrower being a weird model. I have three and don't know what to do with them.


Could I bother you for a few painting tips? I love the skin tones on the marine and dark elves. I'm also dying to know how you were did that gold/bronze looking chaos warrior.

 

[Protist]

Sure, Mbh, no trouble. Glad you like them.

The marine was painted Tallarn Flesh (old Foundation goopy paint - i'll be screwed when it runs out), washed with Bestial brown/Scab red mix thinned down. Then layered with Tallarn + a bit of the wash mix to give it a more pinky colour and help with transition. Next add a touch of that new mix to some Dwarf flesh (perhaps 1:3, tallarn/wash:dwarf flesh) and then again add some of that new mix to elf flesh (probably 1 part to 4-5 parts elf flesh). Each layer is painted very thinly 2-3 times, and blended out over the larger, smoother areas.

The Dark Elves I wanted something a little unnatural so mixed some GW dark purple (is it called Warlock or something else?) into Tallarn flesh and then 2 layers, one of purple/tallarn mixed 50:50 with dwarf flesh, then mix a spot of that into Elf flesh. After the first, Dwarf flesh, layer I usually give the models a bit of a focused wash into some of the recesses (mouth, under cheekbones etc), thinning the paint and knocking away excess on some paper (basically juicing, but not so thinned). I have varied this method of purple skin up a little on different models, trying slightly paler (ie less purple used across the board) or slightly purpler. The 'character' models will get a final highlight on brightest bits with Elf Flesh + VMC pale sand (white would work, use a smidgen less though!)

The bronze/ochre armour is basecoated with something like VMC Chocolate Brown + Bestial brown then juiced and layered up through increasing amounts of bestial, snakebite and VMC Pale and/or Dark sand paints (though any off white/sandy colour could be used). I may well have used something like Cam Black Brown (Vallejo) to deepen the recesses - don't remember now but I use it a lot because its a good, dark neutral colour! Some parts I started with VMC Burnt Umber and layered and juiced up to VMC Pale sand, giving that greyer, almost platinum, colour (the dragon face crest is done this way).

 

[Suber]

Wow, pretty impressive work, I love how you deal with skintones and... well, everything!

 

[Asslessman]

Wow, this is great, you manage to get a lot of colours but with the desaturated tones to make them very pleasant to the eye. Really top job here, be it on oldies or newer stuff. I love it.

 

[Protist]

Thanks guys, glad they're making a good impression

Its funny that I always get picked out as a de-saturated or 'gritty realism' style painter, yet its not something I aim for, consciously. Perhaps its the way I prefer to work blends/layers together, mixing in a little of the previous stage's leftovers to tie the next shade in; I guess it knocks the brightness down a notch? Or that I don't go overboard with highlighting and smoothing stuff, preferring to look at creating texture rather than shiny bling (I hate really smooth paint work on everything; its a lie, a LIE I tell you!) Perhaps I should stop analysing and questioning it and simply carry on painting

 

[mbh]

Sure, Mbh, no trouble. Glad you like them.

The marine was painted Tallarn Flesh (old Foundation goopy paint - i'll be screwed when it runs out), washed with Bestial brown/Scab red mix thinned down. Then layered with Tallarn + a bit of the wash mix to give it a more pinky colour and help with transition. Next add a touch of that new mix to some Dwarf flesh (perhaps 1:3, tallarn/wash:dwarf flesh) and then again add some of that new mix to elf flesh (probably 1 part to 4-5 parts elf flesh). Each layer is painted very thinly 2-3 times, and blended out over the larger, smoother areas.

The Dark Elves I wanted something a little unnatural so mixed some GW dark purple (is it called Warlock or something else?) into Tallarn flesh and then 2 layers, one of purple/tallarn mixed 50:50 with dwarf flesh, then mix a spot of that into Elf flesh. After the first, Dwarf flesh, layer I usually give the models a bit of a focused wash into some of the recesses (mouth, under cheekbones etc), thinning the paint and knocking away excess on some paper (basically juicing, but not so thinned). I have varied this method of purple skin up a little on different models, trying slightly paler (ie less purple used across the board) or slightly purpler. The 'character' models will get a final highlight on brightest bits with Elf Flesh + VMC pale sand (white would work, use a smidgen less though!)

The bronze/ochre armour is basecoated with something like VMC Chocolate Brown + Bestial brown then juiced and layered up through increasing amounts of bestial, snakebite and VMC Pale and/or Dark sand paints (though any off white/sandy colour could be used). I may well have used something like Cam Black Brown (Vallejo) to deepen the recesses - don't remember now but I use it a lot because its a good, dark neutral colour! Some parts I started with VMC Burnt Umber and layered and juiced up to VMC Pale sand, giving that greyer, almost platinum, colour (the dragon face crest is done this way).

I appreciate the write up

 

[ThrudBarbarian]

Love the Dark Elves - the colour balance is spot on.

 

[ThrudBarbarian]

Love the Dark Elves - the colour balance is spot on.

 

[Protist]

I appreciate the write up

Lol, hope it helps mate. Don't worry, it didn't take too long to write but I'm a scrappy sort of painter, so its good to try and to explain it to someone before I forget what I did and mess around trying to recreate it on another model!

Love the Dark Elves - the colour balance is spot on.

Ta!

 

[The Fat Git]

Some really nice work on here. The blending is way more than I'm prepared to do (as i'm a bit lazy), but it's really worth the effort.

 

[Protist]

Some really nice work on here. The blending is way more than I'm prepared to do (as i'm a bit lazy), but it's really worth the effort.

Thanks! Its a fair point about blending, but I have kept it to a minimum on these guys since my patience and available time for army scale painting is fairly limited. Wet blending is faster than working in layers on many occasions so I wouldn't discount it.


I wanted to add a quick heads up that I have now set up a blog called Lead Hammer, dedicated to my journeyings with old lead, older lead, and even new lead. I will be going into more detail about the models I'm working on, and have written up a couple of posts about some of those that have appeared in this thread already. Worth checking out? That's up to you. Needless to say that as I progress with it I will be looking in more detail about the painting and modelling side of things than I will on the forums, as well as other Oldhammer related musings and info. Enjoy!

 

[Protist]

Just a quickie - that one's for chico - with thanks to McYellowbelly for providing these two, currently WIP, minis:

Dechala (or something) that I will be using as a summoned demon for my Dark Elves - six arms, angry, snake, female - what could be more dangerous

And a Dog Lion, or Temple Dog, or Foo Dog... whatever its from Wargames Supply Dump and I think its a pretty good model, and a lot cheaper than the old Citadel one:

Chunky though, pretty chunky
There's a bunch more rambling on my blog about them (see my signature... the second entry "Lead Hammer", YEAH!)

 

[Protist]

Time for another update - AT LAST - you all cry at once
Yeah, it seems to be about once a month at the moment - but fear not, busy have I been, if a tad quiet.

So, this is where I'm up to with the army as a whole I like to arrange them all for my own viewing pleasure and to give me some motivation to crack on! I highly recommend it

Not a bad collection I think (I'm feeling rather proud of my efforts right now!)

I should point out that I've been getting up at silly hours of the morning just to get a 30-45min painty-time session in before work. Those, and a few weekend hours snatched here and there, have been my only real chance to paint. Hence the pride I feel in my achievements

Here's the two warrior units awaiting one or two more basing sessions and some varnish. 21 models strong apiece, to make a cool looking 7x3 frontage - I'm a sucker for 'that' look! I have more warriors to paint still, only god knows why but I must paint more elfies!

The Marauder Witch Elves are coming along nicely, with their sorceress hag leading them into the fray:

I think I might need to add some texture to the hag's tattoos still - its a little thin. Need I extend it over her face? I didn't in case it got too confused but maybe I should go for it?
The shiny black of the boots is probably overkill, but I think its not a priority at the moment and will leave it til a later date to highlight them properly

Also been working on some Black Tree Design Elf Crossbows:

Not bad at all - and currently in production! I'm tempted to get a block of their spearmen or axemen too now... but it would be way over my current budget!

Finally there's been progress on a contingent of mercs - Nipponese Ashigaru longbows. These guys are so quirky - I love 'em

I'd love to write up a Fantasy Armies style list for Nippon and get a whole Dixon's Samurai army together. This would be financially unfeasible too right now

Hope you like them and do feel free to post up some criticisms - positives and negatives are most welcome indeed. As ever there is more info on my blog (check my signature below for details!)

 

[Suber]

Wow, sir. Simply impressive. The colour combination and the overall effect is great!

 

[ramshackle_curtis]

Great colours. THe army is progressing.

 

[Schrumpfkopf]

That Dark Elf army really is stunning. I just love the green-ish metal and the red bits to set it off. Lovely stuff.

 

[Zhu Bajie]

Army looks supurb, the muted blues really work.