Showcase: Forgeworld's Carmine Dragon

Greetings!

I painted something!!!

It's been too long, dear readers, but I finally have some new content for you to feast your eyes on. 

This week (as in, it took two days start to finish, because I'm in the process of moving and needed to get it DONE), I painted up Forgeworld's Carmine Dragon as a commission piece. 

Rawr.

He wanted it to go with his Wood Elves army, mainly as a Green or Forest Dragon scheme, so that is what I strove to achieve. He wanted a more whiteish highlight on greens, so I took to Sybarite Green and Gauss Blaster Green to make that happen.

I otherwise stuck to some classic techniques that I personally enjoy using, especially for the horns and teeth, while trying out a couple other new ones.

Don't touch my egg.

I had fun with it for sure, as I'd never painted a dragon before, especially a big one like this. 

Spikes for daaaaaays.

Oh hai, I see you.

From above.

From slightly more above.

Since it was to be an epic dragon though, he wanted it to have a rider. And here he is!

I don't always take good pictures.

You can't see it, but I did even pick out the eyes, because I'm that kind of nutter. So, with a pointer on where to stick him, I glued him on at the end and this is how it turned out:

You wish you could dragon surf like this guy.

Elves care not for physics. 

Sweet elvish bootay.

  

He's stabbing this caption.

"Hi-ho, Silv-I mean Green, away!"

So that's the final product! The client absolutely loved it, so I'd call that a success for a couple days of painting!

Here are my stages for painting over a black primer, for anyone curious enough to give it a go:

Dragon
Scales layers:
- Caliban Green base
- Warpstone Green layer 1 (overbrush)
- Sybarite Green layer 2 (drybrush)
- Gauss Flayer Green layer 3 (drybrush)
- Waywatcher Green (wash)
- Sybarite Green layer 4 (drybrush)
- Gauss Blaster Green layer 5 (drybrush)
- 1:1 Gauss Blaster Green : White Scar White layer 6 (drybrush)

Belly layers:
- Caliban Green base
- Loren Forest layer 1 (overbrush)
- Straken Green layer 2 (drybrush)
- Nurgling Green layer 3 (drybrush)
- Ushabti Bone layer 4 (drybrush)
- Screaming Skull layer 5 (drybrush)
- Waywatcher Green (wash)

Bone layers:
- Rhinox Hide base
- Bestial Brown layer 1 (layered)
- Snakebite Leather layer 2 (layered, slightly lined)
- Bubonic Brown layer 3 (layered, lined)
- Ushabti Bone layer 4 (layered, more clear lined)
- White Scars White layer 5 (layered, distinct lined)

Mouth/Gemstone layers:
- Khorne Red base
- Emperor's Children layer 1 (drybrushed/spotted)
- Thinned Purple Ink wash
- Emperor's Children layer 2 (same as ^)
- White Scars White layer 3 (spot highlight)
- 'Ard Coat gloss

Eyes:

- Yriel Yellow base

- Red Ink glaze

- Yriel Yellow touch up

- Black (pupil)

Elf

Gold Armor:

- Balthasar Gold base
- Reikland Fleshshade wash
- Gehenna's Gold layer 1 (layered/drybrushed, depending on location)
- Mithril Silver layer 2 (same as ^)

Skin:
- Dwarf Flesh base
- Reikland Fleshshade wash
- Dwarf Flesh layer 1 (layered)
- Elf Flesh layer 2 (layered)

Eyes:

- Pallid Wych Flesh base

- Black (pupil)

Boots/Belt/Packs:
- Zandri Dust base
- Seraphim Sepia wash 1
- Reikland Fleshshade wash 2
- Ushabti Bone layer 1 (layered)

Green Cloth:

- Straken Green base

- Athonian Camoshade wash

Speartip:

- Boltgun Metal base

- Coelia Greenshade wash

- Mithril Silver highlight

Base

Tree:
- Raw Umber base
- Celestra Grey layer 1 (drybrush)
- Ushabti Bone layer 2 (drybrush, inner rings)

Moss:
- Castellan Green base
- Nurgling Green layer 1 (drybrush)

Ground:
- Rhinox Hide base
- Mournfang Brown layer 1 (overbrush)

Rocks (as per Ground, then):
- Celestra Grey layer 2 (overbrush)
- Longbeard Grey layer 3 (drybrush)

Thanks for reading, I'll see you again soon enough!

Bang, Zoom, Straight to the Moon!

Dang, just a single article in June? Someone slap me, I'm slacking.



Greetings!

I vow to keep up one article per week, because right now I'm doing a terrible job at upkeeping this blog. And it's my only one! My excuse is that June was a crazy month, what with weddings and events and blah blah blah.

So here I am back with something new to feast your eyes on: the moon! Not just any moon, but the Strawberry Moon featured last month during June, where it was all big and close and fabulous. Not much more to say I guess, but feast your eyes on a surface that is very, very far away.

Definitely got some spectacular shots of the moon. I always love photographing it...makes me want to play Battlefleet Gothic! Heh.

This is the best shot I can get of Mars. Naturally, being the next planet in the solar lineup it's really fething far away, but hey, if I can get a shot I'll take it!

Finally, this is a short video of the moon on full zoom for my camera, just watching it move across the sky. I found it interesting how shaky the image is, despite being on a tripod with nothing moving nearby. I assume it must be a bit of atmospheric disturbance, or maybe there are some minor earthquakes happening, who knows.

That's all for now, see you next time!

Modeling Workshop: Treads, mud, and weathering

Greetings!

This morning I have for you a short selection of pictures I took while adventuring. They are of construction equipment playing in the mud, so hopefully will be a useful reference in muddying up your tanks, construction equipment, or what have you.

Muddy muddy tracks! This shows it might be quite useful to simply use something like Stirland Mud on your tracks. Remember two things though: You still want it with very fine grit, due to the scale, because otherwise it'll look way too bloppy. Also, the mud on the tracks is darker than the mud you see on the chassis there, since it's newer and churned up and is still retaining some moisture, while the caked on stuff is completely dried out and light.

Let's move on to the dozer blade.

Their is bare metal, because obviously painting it would be a waste of money when it's going to be constantly dinged up and scratched. Here we see the two colors of mud again: dark and smeared on the lower two thirds, and dry and caked on the upper third.

It's interesting, because normally you see weathering articles showing mud on a dozer blade being stippled on more than being brushed on, but here we see there is quite a bit of smearing! I think this can be easily replicated by taking a ratty old brush where the bristles have spread a bit, wiping off a good chunk of the paint (but not as much as you would for drybrushing) and then doing a quick, streaky stroke (again and again). Easy!

Here is the back of the blade, showing how mud splatters up and dries on the rear. Overall, the machine is quite muddy and dirty, but wait! What do we spy down there?

Oooo, so shiny. This is one of the pistons that positions the blade, which means it must be well-oiled to keep it moving easily. This keeps it incredibly clean and chrome-like in the face of all that dirt, mud, and rust. A nice shiny steel paint will work well enough.


Hopefully these pictures provide a good reference, and maybe inspire a few tricks to make your models stand out something extra. Til next time!

Cantigny pt.2: Flowers!

In my second segment about Cantigny, I will be showing off my pictures of various flowers and pretty things we came across. I seriously love the colors present in the spring, and it gives such a wonderful fragrance as well (the whole park was in bloom it seemed).

I'm not a big flower guy but I'm a big picture guy, so I'll simply present them for your viewing pleasure!

Right, so, not a flower, but a fun opportunity!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading (looking?) and hopefully you've been inspired!