Saturday, June 13, 2009

PAINTING: Blood Angels army 1600 points

First things first - I've painted the tracks on my Land Raider Crusader and here is the proof:

I'm still struggling with my photography, especially with the light. At one point I had the blind pulled up on my window, two lights pointing at my models and the room light on and the camera was still telling me I needed the flash!

It's clear I need to get some seriously powerful lights but for now I'll have to struggle on.

Terminators
I'm really pleased with the finished Terminator squad.

I painted some black around the building ruins on the bases to help them to stand out. I still might go back to them in the future.

I haven't varnished the models yet as I plan to paint some heraldry on the shields.

I've also left space on the fists to add detail later if I want to.

Pretty good for starter models out of the Black Reach boxed set.

Dreadnought Eluvies
Again this model comes from the Black Reach boxed set, but I modified it to carry an assault cannon.

This model painted up very quickly and I'm happy with the finish.

The fluff I'm developing for the Dreadnought is that he was a former Terminator, hence the black powerfist.

You can clearly see my assault cannon conversion in the photo above. What do you think?

I was very happy with the base too. As it's my third Dreadnought it had to be different from the other two which have the standard plastic base.

Army shot
These are all of the Blood Angels I've painted since August last year.

Of course I have a few more models I already had painted since before the challenge, such as my Predator, Furioso Dreadnought, melt Dreadnought, etc. If I get the chance I might take a photograph with everything together.

14 comments:

  1. That's a superb set of models there, mate - I love your clean, crisp style of painting.

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  2. They look superb. Do you have a step-by-step guide for how you painted that red? I've tried and failed in the past - my SM are now Salamanders!

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  3. B E A utiful! You have some models to be very very proud of.

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  4. Thanks for your comments guys!

    The red is painted over a black undercoat. Start with a layer of Mechrite Red then paint Blood Red over that. I then wash it with Baal Red. The highlights are a mix of Blood Red and Blazing Orange, pure Blazing Orange then Fiery Orange. At this point I blackline all the crevices to tidy everything up. The last step is to touch up mistakes with Blood Red.

    It's slow but worth it.

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  5. Your painting blows me away, its so crisp and clean.

    How do you get the metallic effect on the dreadnoughts legs? Mine always ends up chalky and covered in smears as I drybrush the thing to death...

    Please film yourself painting in action, I will then paypal you some money so I can learn to paint like you do!

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  6. Thanks for your comments Drew. You might have a long wait for a painting video though!

    The metallics are actually quite easy to achieve. I use a black undercoat and then drybrush Boltgun Metal over the top (it's more of an overbrush with a fair bit of paint on the brush).

    Next I drybrush Mithril Silver lightly over the top.

    A Badab Black wash ties everything together. I can't praise the new GW washes highly enough!

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  7. Those look really great. I can only hope that my first army will be half as good.

    You might want to look into decal softeners and other techniques that help the decals go on so they look painted on, and you can not see the clear material under the pigment on the decal. I read up quite alot on this when I was a kid, but have forgotten all I learned. But I remember seeing before and after pics, and the results were incedible.

    Here is an example of a technique for putting on a decal over a rough surface that might include some other good tips:
    http://www.rlm.at/cont/thema11_e.htm

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  8. Hey there, I hope you still watch the comments on this post. The red you achieved prompted me to strip what's painted of my army and start over again. I'm following a different formula, starting from a white undercoat and going directly to multiple coats of blood red for a brighter red overall, but I want to deepen it with the new Baal Red wash and your marines are the only examples I could find on the net. Most people go for the Devlan Mud Wash instead. I want to use Baal Red to deepen the reds then blackline with Black Ink. I was hoping you could tell me how you used the Red Wash on these terminators. How much do you thin them, how do you do the glazing, and how do you avoid pooling? Thanks a ton in advance!

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  9. @tahrikmili - I just spotted your comment. The wash is really simple to do. I just use it straight from the pot but very sparingly, almost painting it on in one uniform layer, rather than sloshing it on all over the place. I leave it to dry overnight and then apply another layer if required. That's it! No great secret, just a bit of patience.

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  10. Here's to hoping you still look at this :) Thanks for the reply on your recipe for painting red and using red wash. I've been able to achieve a similar red to yours (albeit brighter since I started from a white undercoat) but I was wondering what you blackline with. Normally I do it with Black Ink but now that I also have a bottle of Badab Black I was wondering if you use this instead, and if so, do you use it straight out of the pot into the crevices once again? Thanks :)

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  11. I blackline with watered down Chaos Black. I don't use washes or inks for this as I find the pigment isn't dense enough.

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  12. Nice set of models just about to start my own BA army. I noticed on your Dreadnaught that you put scorch marks at the top of the exhaust bits,it looks really good in my opinion, but on my Death Company dreadnaught i have left them silver, do they have need to be exhausts? if so could you leave a guide on how you do it? Cheers.

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  13. Hey there, I have been painting for a long while now, constantly improving my skills with my painting, however I have never used the outlining strategy you used to give the model definition. Thus my models look good but they don't stand out. I have a great dread in the making but, I gotta learn how you do that. My out-lining always comes out too fat and it looks clumsy (which irritates someone as detail oriented as myself).

    By the way, one of the greatest things I have ever learned how to do is paint my own logos, decals and other stuff because then you can make it just the right size and position on the model. I would encourage anyone who hasn't tried it to invest some time learning how, its really rewarding.

    The other thing I am learning about is what I have been calling jeweling for lack of a better term (the process of making lenses and shiny things look like there is a light in it idk if has another name). Mayhaps you could enlighten me on the process you follow to make your jeweling look so great.

    Fantastic models, great modifications (love the dread ammo belt, that is badass), and clean paint jobs. 5/5, and I very much admire your paint jobs.

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  14. I look at your terminators and just start to drool!

    I WISH I could paint as well as you!

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