Sunday, March 14, 2010

Pause for inspiration (Night Lord)

I've been working on the Pact like mad, but seem to have lost some inspiration for the project.  Having just read Soul Hunter I thought I'd pull out a couple old miniatures and paint them up in the gritty, poorly maintained feel from the book.

To that end I tested and found several products helpful:
Army Painter colored primers.  One coat of blue, one wash of black paint and I was well on my way to being done.  Thank you Army Painter, thank you.

Vallejo Verdigris Glaze, a super concentrated paint that simulates patina easily.  (tutorial behind that link)  Just remember a little goes a long way.  I was using about as much paint as would fit on the point of a pin, and then watering it down.  Try it out before using it too much, it works but it has a different consistency from most acrylic paints.

Rusted, patina-ed and bloody, here he is.  Be warned, the full size view looks poor due to the massive amounts of washes and competing colors that blend at more than microscope distance away.
Awaiting a legion symbol on the shoulder.  Fresh rust on the paint chips near the ankle.

Requisite lightning bolt, massive patina on the chaos star, paint chipping on leg and toe of the boot.



Slightly blurry pic showing the fresh rust on the backpack spikes, old rust on the wings, as well as the patina in the piping on the greaves.  Note the blood effect from the bayonet is used on the pouch and flensing knife at his hip.

11 comments:

  1. I miss your Night Lords... :) This one looks damn cool. I love the rusted look.

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  2. Very nice! I like the detail -- the lightning bolts playing on the surface of the armour and the rust.

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  3. awesome! love the weathered look! how long did that take? (ok, must take a nap on the airport floor now)

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  4. Trent: I miss my Night Lords too, but they show up on Bell of Lost Souls from time to time so it's like I have visitation rights.

    jabberjabber: Thanks, I was surprised how well the patina blended with the lightning and the blue.

    amaximus: Since it was a test model it took about twice as long as normal. I painted the brass three times and the patina twice. Four hours, maybe a little more?

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  5. Did you change the patina? It looks... I dunno, darker, maybe? It blends with the metallic tone very nicely.

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  6. Great looking mini there man! I'm pretty inspired to build some chaos myself after some Heresy novels. I'm pretty torn between the plague marines, thousand sons and alpha legion.

    So what happened to your Night Lords?
    On another note it's great to see you posting again.

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  7. i really like the different weather effects you have used, makes me want to try out the patina effect.

    I do think you may have gone a little overboard with it though, especially on the bolter. Thats just my opinion though

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  8. Hoppergrass: I went back with blue and painted over the bottom edge of most of the patina on the armor. With that much pigment, even as a watered down wash the patina spread quickly and showed up bright white against the dark blue.

    Dj Batman: Thanks! I haven't read Thousand Sons yet, but I know I was tempted by the Alpha Legion. Then I saw this and was even more tempted: http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/23988-Alpharius%20of%20Legion.html

    Musings of a Smurf: I think I may have gone overboard as well. :) It's a test model to try out all the effects, so I may tone it down in the future and leave this guy as one of the astartes without access to an artificer. Then again, it blends more in person than it does in the pictures, so I may just go this crazy on a whole squad.

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  9. Woops, forgot to answer Dj Batman's question about my old NightLords. They were my first painted army and I sold them. Eventually they ended up in the hands of Big Red over at Bell of Lost Souls: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2008/10/army-list-night-lords-2000pt-raiding.html I had no raptors in my army, and he's added a few terminators and daemons but it's mostly my old force.

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  10. excellent job - I too have been inspired by Soul Hunter, and am contemplating doing them with the Space Marines Codex, or possibly Space Wolves, as they have not "fallen".

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  11. Exactly! I was thinking the same thing, especially because I can't imagine them using scouts like the loyalist chapters. Making initiates prove themselves with less training under their belt seems more appropriate, and so blood claws work nicely. Heightened senses is perfect, as is the bolter/ccw/pistol set up of the grey hunters. Damn... now you really have me thinking... venerable dread... fenrisian wolves as creatures of the night.. drop-pods and wolf claws...

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