Learning Curve...black....your doing it wrong.

Well well...can someone say epic fail. I thought I had the right idea, thought I would whip out a quick mini that is somewhere close to what I want. Then I could figure out some shortcuts for the basic soldiers.

WELL WELL WELL...I could not have been more wrong.

So that makes test number 11-12. I am not even really sure where I went wrong. But the mini on the left could not look more grey. I might try to work some black into some shadows to see if I can pull it back to what I want.

If you want to see test model 9 check after the jump....

Learning Curve...black.....still working

Well not much to report right now. I have had little time or inspiration to work on minis. When I do get time I tend to work a bit on some black and then quit in frustration. I have done a few trial pieces and have not been satisfied with anything I have..so no pictures.

You see the problem I have is two fold. First off, you can not shade and highlight black like you do other colors. Normally you have your base color then a shade and a highlight. The highlight is simple. The shade not so much. What do you add to black to make a shadow? So after a bit of hard headed struggling I gave it up. The other problem I have is that I am not terribly hot for the traditional hard edge lining that most people use for black.

So what am I going to do? Well the last couple of test models I have worked on (and I think the count now is up to 9 or 10) I am using a bit of a mix. Instead of hard lining both the top and bottom edges of the model I am only hitting the areas that would get light. For the most part that means just the top edges. In addition to that I will be hitting some of the larger flat areas with some normal shading to try to give a nice contrast. Could this work? I hope so. It could also lead to test models 11 and 12. Hopefully I can get something to a point where I take some pics for you soon.

Learning Curve...black

So about nine months ago I discovered Roman and his group of talented painters over at MassiveVoodoo. After spending quite a bit of time reading his blog and the articles he had, I decided it was time for me to change my approach to painting.

My technique before the switch could best be described as make a mess and spend time fixing it. This often left me with results that were sub par and blending that was not quite good. So after reading Massive Voodoo I decided I would change to many, many, many, extremely thin layers. Along with this I have forced myself to use higher contrast start to finish with my blends. Roll all this together with a two color Zenithal Lighting priming. This has been rather successful for me so far, but some of my fall back recipes require reworking. Up to this point I have managed to figure out what to do to create the blends I need to get the colors I am happy with.

Here are some models that are in an extremely early stage.

WIP: Eldar Guardians...Time for some troopers

So I figured it was time for me to get off my ass and post something. Since I have been concentrating on painting individual models I figure it would be a good time to take a break and do some units. We are doing a Ard Boys build up again this year and I am working on Eldar. So that means I am going to be painting Eldar. I already have quite a few models painted up for this army, but I am going to be starting over and replacing the old painted ones with new ones.

The pieces of my new Eldar models

Here they are ready for new paint

Eldrad Conversion Painted and Finished

Well, here he is I hope you like him. Thanks to a fairly rules knowledgeable group of local gamers I was able to finish him during this weekends 40K tournament I was hosting at the FLGS. I turned in the pics over at Dragonpainting forums and know I just wait to see what they think. I also hope you like it as well. Maybe my next project will be a bit less intensive.

More pics after the jump