179 replies to this topic

[Lord Alisk]

Thanks for all the kind words everybody. It's very much appreciated. Foe-Hammer, I really don't know about Golden Demon quality, but I really appreciate the compliment. BradleyKadrin - I'm glad you like the beards and bases - doing the bases is really easy, and does help make the miniatures feel a bit more complete. Many thanks once again.

 

Darkblade - cheers for the feedback. The machines might be a little dull (the dark pictures don't help, for sure) - do you mean sharper highlights on to heighten the contrast between the green shades? I've got some more OOP artillery off ebay, so when I get round to stripping and re-painting them, I'll try as you suggest, and maybe touch up the ones I've already done.

 

Double Misfire, thanks - I have to say, I'm really a big fan of the 96 Grudge of Drong releases. Actually, I like the hammerers now I'm painting them. I've only got 12 done, but when they're up to a more respectable size, they'll be posted up too.

 

In terms of what's coming next, well, I'm consciously trying to get more plastic warriors painted, and hammerers too, of course. It might be a while before the next update though. I might get some of the new releases - we'll see.

 

Anyway, thanks for all the kind words and pointers for improvement - much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

David.

 

[newby]

Hi . I just bought some old metal slayers and i am thinking about starting a dwarf army . I really like your work . Can you tell me how you painted all the red beards ? I can't get the color right . Which red orange did you use ?

[Lord Alisk]

Hi . I just bought some old metal slayers and i am thinking about starting a dwarf army . I really like your work . Can you tell me how you painted all the red beards ? I can't get the color right . Which red orange did you use ?

 

Thanks very much! I'm happy to help.

 

I started with a black undercoat. Then I painted that with a mix of the (now discontinued) GW scab red (so a very dark red) mixed with a bit of yellow, to get a pretty dark orange. Then I lightly washed it with nuln oil (now, in retrospect, I'd probably wash it with a mix of nuln oil and agrax earthshade to take the edge off the black ink).

 

After that, I re-painted the raised bits with the same dark orange mixture, and slowly worked up to a bright orange with lots and lots of layers. 

 

This was a very multi-stage process, using lots of different mixes of oranges. I always used the discontinued GW golden yellow for the yellow (a strong bright yellow), but I used 3 different reds - GW scab red, army painter 'dragon red' (a mid-red colour), and then GW blood red (a very bright red), each mixed with the yellow, adding more and more yellow to the brightest red, until I ended up using pure yellow on the most raised parts. Basically, lots and lots of layers, getting lighter all the time.

 

I'm afraid it wasn't the easiest way of painting the slayer's beards/hair, and I mix a lot of my colours from multiple manufacturers, so it isn't the easiest thing to replicate! I'm very happy with the results though. 

 

Many thanks indeed for taking an interest, and best of luck with the slayers - they're great characterful models.

[newby]

Thank you . God you are detailed . To tell the truth I am not that thorough in my painting . I was looking for an easier way .... do you think I could skip some layers using a brighter redish ink

[Lord Alisk]

Almost certainly yes.

 

For the beards of most dwarfs, I paint a basic colour, give it a wash of ink, re-apply the basic colour, and highlight.

 

One reason why the slayers were so involved was because I like the models a lot, partly because I painted them in the middle of moving house, and the rest of my army was in storage/transit, so I could lavish a lot more time on each slayer, and partly because I didn't have any red inks at the time, so had to do it the slow way.

 

I would say that the good old cast coat, wash, re-apply, highlight approach would do fine.

 

Good look, whichever method you go for.

[Darkblade]

 

 

Darkblade - cheers for the feedback. The machines might be a little dull (the dark pictures don't help, for sure) - do you mean sharper highlights on to heighten the contrast between the green shades?

 

 

 

I agree the dark pictures probably don't help. I think probably both, take for example the blond beard of the shield bearer there are both nice sharp highlights and a good contrast in shades, one thing I've learned, this weekend even, is don't be afraid to go too light or too dark.

[Lord Alisk]

Thanks Darkblade - much appreciated. I think you're right on the highlights. I agree, sharpness is something to aim for very often.

 

Cheers,

David.

[Zlatan]

Some really really nice stuff here! I'm bowled over by the slayer banner - is that freehand? It looks so neat and clean it could be a transfer.

Love the dark gritty shading but it agree with dark blade that some sharper/brighter highlights would make the models pop more - maybe just on the centrepiece and stand-alone models like the lord on shield bearers and the war machines and crew.

[Lord Alisk]

Cheers Zlatan - much appreciated. Yes, the banners are all painted by hand. I'm glad you like them, and thanks for the kind words.

 

You're right regarding the highlighting - though I do think many of the models look better 'in the flesh' than in pictures. Neither my wife nor I are very tech-savvy/gadgety people, so the camera we have is one my mother in law considered obsolete - which of course doesn't help the presentation of the figures.

[Lord Alisk]

Hello all.

 

Here are a random assortment of small updates. 

 

Firstly, I finally cracked and bought some of the new models. I'm extremely pleased with them, I have to say. Quite possibly, the iron breaker/drake kit is the nicest plastic kit I've ever worked with. If GW brought out a basic warrior kit of the same quality I'd be all over it. 

 

Anyway, here is a nearly finished WIP iron drake which I've just bashed out. Because it's nearly all metallic they're fast to paint. I wanted to go for a bronze/brass look, partly to differentiate the model (my hammerers have gold armour, the long beards and, when I get them, the iron breakers, have silver armour), and partly because a bronze/brass colour scheme feels more 'fire-y' if that makes sense.

 

Though part of me thinks he looks like a walking coal scuttle (which I guess is quite fire-y too, in its way). 

 

Anyway, he isn't quite finished, and the base is only very basically done, but I'm fairly happy with how he's turned out: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, here are a series of random small up dates from the main army. I can do more close ups if people want, but ideally I'd like to get these units more finished before then - all of them are meant to have over 30 models, so there's a very long way to go!

 

A few more basic warriors (now 21 of them):

 

 

Some miners:

 

 

Some Xbows/rangers:

 

 

The hammerers, led by King Grettir and Prince Gunnar:

 

 

 

 

Some of these figures have turned up in painting competitions before, so they're not all that new in some cases.

 

As I say, when any of these units get up to a more beefy size, I'll post them up.

 

All best, and comments and criticisms eagerly sought, as always.

[Theatralic]

This is becoming a plog to watch, I love your color choices and your eyes are just amazing. I really like the Bronze/Brass, do you want to share that recipe so lazy fellas like me can shamelessly steal it? And the Gold? I would also be interested in how you paint your beige, beige can easily look shoddy yours looks great.

Edited by Theatralic, 27 February 2014 - 03:04 PM.

[Lord Alisk]

Thanks Theatralic - you're too kind. 

 

Re. the iron drake, he was very easy. I painted the body/head separately from the arms/gun, by the way. I just base coated all the bronze bits a mix of Balthasar gold mixed with rhinox hide, the gold bits a mix of gehenna gold mixed with mournfang brown, and the silver bits are painted with lead belcher. Then the whole lot is given a coat of nuln oil. Then all the base coat colours are re-applied except in the crevices.

 

Then the highlighting begins. On the bronze, firstly I used pure balthasar, then brass scorpion, then a mix of brass scorpion with a little gehenna gold. the gold was highlighted up with pure gehenna, then gehenna mixed with the old burnished gold, and then burnished gold alone, and finally burnished gold mixed with the old mithril silver. For the silver parts, I simply highlighted up with iron breaker, and then the old milthril silver on the highest points.

 

All in all, I found this guy one of the quickest models to pain I've ever dealt with - quicker than a basic RnF model anyway. I hope that rather clunky description was OK.

 

By the beige, do you mean the trim on the mail and such like? That's just old snakebite leather (I'm dreading the day I run out), given a dark brown wash (agrax earthshade, I think), and then highlighted up, using a mix of snakebite with vallejo ivory. I love vallejo ivory, and use a lot of it for highlighting yellows, pale browns and flesh tones. I feel it is ever so slightly warmer and softer than using pure white. 

 

Again, the eyes aren't too difficult - just painted with rhinox hide, carefully filled in with vallejo ivory to leave a line, and then the pupil/iris painted in with rhinox. 

 

Anyway,thanks for dropping by, and I'm glad you like what I've done thus far. I'm sorry the camera is a bit rubbish, and my photography skills are even worse. 

 

Still, any advice warmly welcomed. 

 

All best,

 

David.

[Alebelly_Cragfist]

Fire Drake looks great. Great warm colours for the metals, practical and decorative, like proper Dawi work!

[Darkblade]

Nice job on the new plastic stuff.

 

That miners banner is lovely!

 

But the absolute highlight for me is Prince Gunnar, great skin tones and the eyes are very well done.

 

Are you planning to enter the unit challenge with the Fire Drakes?

[CH1LLYD0GG]

Some really good looking minis.

 

I have to comment on the banners. The warrior/hammerer's banner very clean work but it does kind of look like a "I swear too much" and two balls going into a cave - sorry. Maybe I should start doing gobbos if its only me that see's it. The banner for the miners is excellent, great work and its much better than anything I can do.

 

I really like the look of your rangers too. Although they have the same colour scheme as everyone else I seem to like them best.

 

Keep up the good work and please don't get offended by part of my comment

[Oridur]

Fantabulous work!  I agree w/DB the lord is amazing!

[Helblindi]

Some really good looking minis.

 

I have to comment on the banners. The warrior/hammerer's banner very clean work but it does kind of look like a "I swear too much" and two balls going into a cave - sorry. Maybe I should start doing gobbos if its only me that see's it. The banner for the miners is excellent, great work and its much better than anything I can do.

 

I really like the look of your rangers too. Although they have the same colour scheme as everyone else I seem to like them best.

 

Keep up the good work and please don't get offended by part of my comment

 

Lol, I hadn't noticed until you pointed it out, but now it can't be unseen!

 

Love each and every model. The overall earthy colors are working out really well. I could never restrain myself enough for that (I mostly use bright and contrasting colors) but man, does this look good!

[Lord Alisk]

Thanks for the kind words everybody.

 

Darkblade - for the unit competition, I've already put the rangers down for my entry (as you see, 5 down, another 30 or so to go...). The drakes are nicer models, but (as you see from my sig.) I have a huge number of unpainted dwarfs, and I need a kick up the back side to get some of the older ones painted. The drakes are such lovely models and so much quicker to paint that I think I don't need any added motivation to get them together. The older plastics have been very much unloved, and I do want to get more of them finished.

 

Chillydogg and Helblindi - OK, I see what you mean....I'm not offended, I'd never seen it before. 

 

Mind you this often seems to happen. I do think the last (rearward) picture of the iron drake looks like he's suffered an unfortunate smelting accident too...

[Cradik Brightkiln]

We know where those Dwarfs come from...

 

 

 

 

 

And yes, that was a real Judges Guild module... Ah, the early days of RPGs

[CH1LLYD0GG]

I'm glad people can see the funny side.

 

The one on your miners truly is great. I know it would be more work but maybe the head can be the symbol and like where you've added the candle for the miners you could add a different element depending in the unit.

 

• A great hammer behind the head for hammerers
• a shield behind the head or axe under the head for warriors
• crossed arrows under the head for quarrelers
• The eye changed to a target for thunderers

You get the general idea of what I'm saying. Just an alternative option.