A journey into Darkness

[Plantagenet]

Hi Guys

I just wanted to get my own blog up and started. After having years of inspiration from others on forums like this I wanted to see if I could contribute something of my own.

Last year I entered the Raging heroes painting contest and since that time I have continued to add to the army. I finished my first unit of Black Guard and I am now well into a unit of corsairs.

While all the models shown are the older metal models it isn't because I don't love the newer Dark Elf plastics. It just happens that for what ever reason I felt inspired to paint them and hence went in that direction. It has been a refreshing change to paint metal models due to the fact that getting the models from packaging to paint station to finish has taken so much less time. Scraping plastic models is very much a mission in comparison. Its also nice to have a much smaller number of models to paint to make a unit. I was painting Orcs and Goblins and Vampire counts before

Anyway over the coming months or due to the slow pace at which I paint years I will add to this blog and hopefully provide a little bit of inspiration to others.

Black Guard - I have decided to go for an autumn basing theme for the army. I like the splash of colour the red and yellow fallen leaves add to the army.

I am currently working on a corsairs unit and have 15 done of 21 models. Sorry for poor picture but will try to get something up that is better soon

[MangoPunch]

Looking great! Very nice color of purple/pink. I look forward to seeing more. 15 of 21 done... are you doing them in batches or individually?

ps. If you are interested in growing that BG regiment I am thinking of offloading 20 of the same line of metals and buying the new plastics (pm me if you have any interest).

[Plantagenet]

Thanks for the reply. I paint in batches of between 4 and 6 models normally when I do rank and file.

Thanks for the offer on the Black Guard but I have another unit I will probably want to offload in the future as well so that I can have one metal and one plastic unit. I think they are better than people would have you believe but fielding them in large units doesn't feel like the way to go with them either.

[Amboadine]

Looking nice , good colours and technique. Look forward to seeing the army grow.
Might be worth looking at the size of the pictures though. Could do with a resize or link them to an external source such as photobucket.

[Plantagenet]

Thanks for the feedback. Resized the photos to make it easier for everyone going forward.

[xFallenx]

Very nice start to the best army in the game, welcome!

[Heartshiver]

Beautiful work so far! Even though the pictures aren't close-up you can still see how sharp they are. Also I'm surprised to find that the light pinky colour seems to work rather well, perhaps because it's offset against a bit of black as well. It gives them a very Cult of Slaanesh look which seems to be a popular theme.

[Wiggen]

looks great! well painted, you really made the pink work, sea dragon cloaks look really nice aswell

[Setomidor]

They look absolutely lovely, well done!

[Plantagenet]

I did a witch elf test model thought you might like to see

[xFallenx]

I love those models & the overall job is great, the skin tone is fantastic.
My only suggestion is to shade a bit lighter on the face, as it is she's looking a bit haggard (If possible, it could well be the model itself). Not that there is anything wrong with that if it's what you're going for.... but boobs that perky rarely reside on a crones chest.

[T.D.]

I can see breasts.

[Gidean]

I love those models & the overall job is great, the skin tone is fantastic.
My only suggestion is to shade a bit lighter on the face, as it is she's looking a bit haggard (If possible, it could well be the model itself). Not that there is anything wrong with that if it's what you're going for.... but boobs that perky rarely reside on a crones chest.

She's wearing a support bra. Can't you see?

[Plantagenet]

Ok I sent the witch elf to the cauldron blood I think she is looking a little more spritely. I have thinned her eye brows out. And taken all the heavy lines out fo her face and around the breasts and bottom of her legs. Added some lipstick and got rid of the purple eyeliner above her eyes. Wasn't nearly as visible in real life but none the less made her look a little older than she should have. Actually relatively pleased with her now. Tidied her hair up as well as I noticed a bit spoty before. One last thing to say is these models are really petite so these large images don't flatter them. I think all look far better in real life than the pictures.



And a side by side shot with a corsair who clearly thinks she is a bit of alright.

[Dirty Mac]

Awesome, Can i get the recipe for the Pink/Purple on the Black Guard please?

[Plantagenet]

Sure no problem

So the base is screamer pink

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500066a

Then I wash with Druchii violet. This is what gives the purple pink effect

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500248a

Then I paint over that with Screamer pink.
Then I add a little emperor children to this and apply another layer covering slightly less.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500206a

Then I do a jump to the pink horror as the mix color and go quite heavy 50/50 type mix. Then I do pure pink horror and finally add a little white for spot points.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500208a

Any questions give me a shout.

[manadar]

That's an awesome explanation ! Thanks.

[Darkmark]

Love those units, really cool scheme.

When painting elven skin remember less is more. You really only want to add contrast in a few selected places e.g between hairline and face, 'cracks' in fingers etc. In other words don't layer extensively like with human skin, and keep the layers subtle.

[Amboadine]

Nice colours on the corsair. Good job.

[Gidean]

Ok I sent the witch elf to the cauldron blood I think she is looking a little more spritely. I have thinned her eye brows out. And taken all the heavy lines out fo her face and around the breasts and bottom of her legs. Added some lipstick and got rid of the purple eyeliner above her eyes. Wasn't nearly as visible in real life but none the less made her look a little older than she should have. Actually relatively pleased with her now. Tidied her hair up as well as I noticed a bit spoty before. One last thing to say is these models are really petite so these large images don't flatter them. I think all look far better in real life than the pictures.

Awesome! You gave her a 'Spa' day. She looks much happier. Seriously, nice work!

[Ampao]

loving the skin tone! care to share your recipe?

[xFallenx]

Yup, after the dip in the pool, she looks like a hell of a lot of all right. Great work.

Message regarding recipes incoming (In that I would like to include them in our new sticky initiative).

[Plantagenet]

My Flesh recipe for Elves is

Cadian Flesh base

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500140a

Then I wash with reikland flesh wash. Please note don't put this on straight its too dark use a 50/50 with water mix.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500260a

Then I build cadian Flesh back on top. I mix in Kislex Flesh build to pure Kislev flesh. On the witch elf you could probably go straight to this color.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500142a

Then I mix Screaming skull into the kislev flesh 50/50 mix. Then use pure screaming skull for spot highlights. For flesh its important to keep the layers smooth so remember to keep the paint at a milk like consistency by mixing with water.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1500134a

Hope that helps

[Ampao]

Awesome, thanks!

[Rowena]

She looks much better now. (I think I quite liked the eyeshadow, though )
And I know what you mean about the models. I have painted them myself and... yeah. They are so tiny and smooth. Just want to say I think you did a great job here.