Painting Skaven: Ikit Klaw

[MagickalMemories]

So, are you *brushing* on the Air Color gold?
If so, aside from the longer drying time, are there any functional differences while you're using it?

Couldn't agree more on GW metallics. Gah!

I also like that you're sealing it with matte in the painting stages. It's a trick I use, too. Do you do it often during the painting of a model, or...?


Eric

[athelu]

Yep. just brushing the paint right on. Have to watch the "flow" a little, because it is already thinned, so it took a more steady hand than I have to get it on only the high points of the model. But having a fluid metallic is nice. From my experience you have to let it completely dry before hitting it with a wash of any kind. I have a pretty varied collection of paints; I like to try new things and see what works. I am all about shortcuts if I can find them, so messing with a different brand, say the andrea color paint sets, for painting black, blue, red whatever,or using the dry pigments for rust/mud; anything I can find that makes my life easier I will use. This is actually the first warhammer fantasy model I have painted. not many shortcuts so far, at least for a character model, but I hope to find some for the rank and file troops.

Often I will seal the model right after the base colors are applied, but I did not have the opportunity this time. Living in the Midwest in winter, my opportunities to use my sprays are a bit limited. I will use hardcoat or the matte sealer to change the tooth of the model. The hardcoat gives a nice smooth finish that helps with the application of washes/glazes. This time I just added it to the washes/glazes versus applying it first. the Matte sealer is necessary if you use any pigements, or say drybrushing/overbrushing. I like to apply 2-3 coats of the matte varnish. This gives me a "recovery point" I can return to should my next day of painting be not as desired.

I need to mount this model on a bottle or cork. right now I keep handling it by the banner. That will not fly for the next stage.

[athelu]

Made some more headway last night. Somebody complained about my newspaper backdrop being to busy, so I used a couple blank sheets of paper this time . So here goes:

I started on the metallics next. I always try to do my metallics together. The metallic particles tend to pollute your brush, water, and pallette; so either do them at the end of your painting session, or only work with them - or use different brushes/water. I am using a wet pallette now, so not as much of an issue for me anymore, but I still try to be careful. I started with highlighting the bronze. I used GW Shining gold, watered down. I complained before about thinning GW Metallics, and that still holds true, but In this case I wanted more of a patchy/inconsitent finish with the highlights so they seemed a perfect fit. Also, the GW Golds are more bronze to me anyway.



For the next bronze Highlight I went with GW Burnished gold. I did not thin this much at all, as I needed it to stay put. I tried not to go overkill with it, but there is definitley more there than the photo is showing. I just did the edges and tops of items with this, as this is far as I plan on taking the highlighting




Next I hit the bronze areas with a wash of devlan mud, to help blend the previous layers and give more age. I decided to use devlan mud instead of ogryn flesh, since I wanted the bronzes to look older and more aged. While this was drying I based the silver metallic places with GW Boltgun metal. This was about a 2:1 mix with water. Boltgun tends to thin better than the other GW Metallics, but actually maybe that is the case with all of the GW silvers vs. golds. anyway, I painted this on for complete coverage, only thinning it to keep it from being to thick.




After the Devlan wash completely dried I set about the next shadow. This was really just the antiquing of the bronze. I used a 5:1 mix of Water:GW Hawk Turqoise, and placed it around any edges/bolts/seems. Even though this is a Skaven character, His wargear should not look new.



I then added a badab black wash to the silver metallic areas. After that dried, I went back with a light drybrush of Chainmail over the metal parts, and finally a highligh of thinned 1:1 mithril silver on the highpoints. I also added some of the mithril silver to the edges and rivets of the black armor. I think this may need to be touched up, but it is a start.

[athelu]

updates from the weekend:

Next I started work on the warp blade, and the other green areas. I based them with a 1:1 mix of Dark Angels Green:Chaos black. The paint was applied looking for full coverage. This was applied to the blade, Warpstone(s), vials, tubes, eyese and hose on the backpack.


The first Highlight was 1:1 Dark Angels Green:water. The plan is to do a lightning style effect on the blade. For the other pieces, I am going with a Gem style highlight:


The second Highlight was 2:1 Dark Angels Green:Rotting Flesh. I kept the paint thinned (not too much though) and used brushes with a smaller ferrule to try to keep the spread to a minimum:


The Third Highlight was 1:1 Dark Angels Green:Rotting flesh. Applied in much the same as the previous step.


Fourth Highlight was Pure Rotting flesh. After this dried I applied a slight highlight of skull white.



I realized at this point that I did not like this color for the gem and hose on the backpack. I instead went back and did a Dark Angels Green:Sunburst Yellow gem highlight. This I felt gave more contrast and warmed up the model a bit. I also decide to paint the symbol of the horned rat on the backpack astronimicon Grey.


I took the highlight all the way to skull white, then toned it back down using glazes of sunburst yellow.

[athelu]

Next I started work on the Fur and Leather. I had previously based both in scorched brown now it was time to go back with some highlights. For the fur, I painted just the tips of the fur with Bestial brown. No drybrushing, as this model does not really support it, and I wanted to control the placement. For the leather, I applied a highlight of Darkflesh:


The Second fur Highlight was Vermin Brown, again applying just at the tips, leaving some of the previous color showing. The leather was highlighted with Snakebite leather:


Third highlight of the fur is bleached bone. Same process as before. I picked out a couple of strands in his beard for full white. I aslo decided to paint in the nozzle of the warpfire thrower. I used the 1:1 Dark Angels green:chaos black mix:


The final fur highlight was applied with pure skull white:


I went over the previous leather highlight again, with a thinned application of snakebite leather to blend the tranistion a little more:



Lastly, I used a controlled was of Ogryn flesh on the fur and the leather to help blend the steps together:

[MagickalMemories]

That's looking really nice.
Comment (not criticism):
I think the white on the tunic (or whatever LOL) might need a bit of blending. On the front, the shadowing is rather harsh, compared to the rest of the model. Also, while I like the look of "clean" white, the older, dirtier look of the rest of the model kind of makes the white stand out that much more and, honestly, I'm not sure how that's going to look in the end.

Of course, I understand it's till a WIP, so my *actual* final opinion is on hold. : )
I like what you're doing so far, though.

Eric

[athelu]

Thanks for the comments/feeback. Nice to get them.

My belief is that I am still going to do something with his robes. I originally thought some green flame, coming from the bottom up; most likely a dark angels based green if I do it. Not sure if it would be overkill though. The GW model has a hem decoration of triangles/dags. I may just do that (in green). Either way, I plan on hitting it with some mud/earth pigments ot dirty it up, at least along the hem.