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Painted Shadespire Warbands - Please post


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On 6/17/2018 at 12:38 PM, Kugane said:

I wanted to get magores fiends done since I do not plan to play the warband, but still wanted to finish it in case I change my mind in the future. So I decided to experiment and see what i can produce speed painting. I spent about 15 minutes per miniature with the below results. Still need to finish the rims and such. What is your honest opinion about these? I overpainted a lot due to the speed, but the wash seems to have fixed most issues. Is this a decent enough standard? The hound failed slightly, but oh well.IMG_0119.jpg.03ef8472d10a09e167edc8c3de8d1700.jpg

I love 'em. I'm not a fan of obvious highlighting as I find it can have something of a "magic eye" aesthetic to it in that the colours and patterns of the highlighting often break up the composition of the model. These are very different to that, their tone and identity comes across very clearly.

For me I'm far more about the narrative of a painted model than the technique, technique is just what you use to create the narrative, it shouldn't be the thing you notice first or most of all. I would be delighted with these if they were mine. 

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On 6/17/2018 at 1:38 PM, Kugane said:

I wanted to get magores fiends done since I do not plan to play the warband, but still wanted to finish it in case I change my mind in the future. So I decided to experiment and see what i can produce speed painting. I spent about 15 minutes per miniature with the below results. Still need to finish the rims and such. What is your honest opinion about these? I overpainted a lot due to the speed, but the wash seems to have fixed most issues. Is this a decent enough standard? The hound failed slightly, but oh well.IMG_0119.jpg.03ef8472d10a09e167edc8c3de8d1700.jpg

I think these are excellent but may suffer from a lack of contrast if being viewed at distance. 

The detail is obvious when you zoom in on them so anyone picking up the model will appreciate that it's well done, but at arm-length or further on the game board the muted colour-scheme will tend to blur into a homegenous "charcoal". 

I know not everyone cares about marking contrast to allow for distance appreciation, indeed it sometimes spoils the close up inspection. For example, pulling up the brightness of your gold/bronze here would immediately make the figs pop more on the game-board but will feel a bit "too shiny" if you're holding them in your hand. I like your scheme, I wouldn't really touch the figurines any more at all. If you start picking up one or 2 details or add a distinctive element like Blood, that would draw the eye to just that particuliar element to the detriment of the others.

My extremely reductive rule of thumb to solve this is to paint the base to contrast the figurine. Here, you're running dark, muted, matte colours on the figurines, then you should probably run a lighter scheme on the base. If you had gone with an extra clean, Khorne-Red & Gold-trim armour colour scheme, your base would be better muted so as not to pull the eye away from the bright colours etc.

So, what I'd do, if I was running your scheme, is to pull the tiles underfoot right up into a cream/light-grey. You can just dry-brush successively brighter greys into whites to achieve this. I'd pick out the skulls (all of them, base & figs) in fresh bone-white (or maybe a slightly aged tan-wash for the base ones if you want to differentiate). You need to get the luminosity on the fig skulls just right though, you don't want pure-white splotches of colour in an otherwise muted scheme, so brighter but not too bright.

For the crevase colour, you need something that would compliment the new lighter base scheme. Avoid brown earth or grey stone. You want a noticable contrast but not one where it's the only thing that draws the eye. I've seen a lot of Blood for the Blood God & Lava versions that are nice, but would probably be too flashy for this scheme. Have a look around for an etherial, ghostly Shadespire aqua green finish emanating out of the cracks & around the skulls. It's maybe my favourite one. It's striking enough to contrast the skulls & tiles and is cold enough not to take the spotlight off your excellent scheme. I'll try to find an example and edit it in here for you.

 

Edit: try this link, specifically the last image of the base flat on, of an idea of what I mean.

 

Edited by Zimagic
I can'ts spellz good & links
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11 hours ago, Nos said:

I love 'em. I'm not a fan of obvious highlighting as I find it can have something of a "magic eye" aesthetic to it in that the colours and patterns of the highlighting often break up the composition of the model. These are very different to that, their tone and identity comes across very clearly.

For me I'm far more about the narrative of a painted model than the technique, technique is just what you use to create the narrative, it shouldn't be the thing you notice first or most of all. I would be delighted with these if they were mine. 

I sort of liked the grimdark theme for these. I have not been a fan of the bright red Khorne models, despite that that is kind of their theme. At this point I keep searching for quick paint techniques to get large batches of models done in a short time, but like pointed out by many people, contrast can suffer from that though :P

1 hour ago, Zimagic said:

I think these are excellent but may suffer from a lack of contrast if being viewed at distance. 

The detail is obvious when you zoom in on them so anyone picking up the model will appreciate that it's well done, but at arm-length or further on the game board the muted colour-scheme will tend to blur into a homegenous "charcoal". 

I know not everyone cares about marking contrast to allow for distance appreciation, indeed it sometimes spoils the close up inspection. For example, pulling up the brightness of your gold/bronze here would immediately make the figs pop more on the game-board but will feel a bit "too shiny" if you're holding them in your hand. I like your scheme, I wouldn't really touch the figurines any more at all. If you start picking up one or 2 details or add a distinctive element like Blood, that would draw the eye to just that particuliar element to the detriment of the others.

My extremely reductive rule of thumb to solve this is to paint the base to contrast the figurine. Here, you're running dark, muted, matte colours on the figurines, then you should probably run a lighter scheme on the base. If you had gone with an extra clean, Khorne-Red & Gold-trim armour colour scheme, your base would be better muted so as not to pull the eye away from the bright colours etc.

So, what I'd do, if I was running your scheme, is to pull the tiles underfoot right up into a cream/light-grey. You can just dry-brush successively brighter greys into whites to achieve this. I'd pick out the skulls (all of them, base & figs) in fresh bone-white (or maybe a slightly aged tan-wash for the base ones if you want to differentiate). You need to get the luminosity on the fig skulls just right though, you don't want pure-white splotches of colour in an otherwise muted scheme, so brighter but not too bright.

For the crevase colour, you need something that would compliment the new lighter base scheme. Avoid brown earth or grey stone. You want a noticable contrast but not one where it's the only thing that draws the eye. I've seen a lot of Blood for the Blood God & Lava versions that are nice, but would probably be too flashy for this scheme. Have a look around for an etherial, ghostly Shadespire aqua green finish emanating out of the cracks & around the skulls. It's maybe my favourite one. It's striking enough to contrast the skulls & tiles and is cold enough not to take the spotlight off your excellent scheme. I'll try to find an example and edit it in here for you.

 

Edit: try this link, specifically the last image of the base flat on, of an idea of what I mean.

 

Thank you very much for the advice! I think most of this can even be achieved with a couple of glazes to lighten up areas, so shouldn't be too difficult to pull off. I still find it hard to find the right colour schemes for the bases at times. I quite like the green bases as well. Once I am done with current projects I'll go back and fix that. I'll probably do the same for the dwarf warband, since those too have a quite bland colour scheme going on.

Edited by Kugane
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21 minutes ago, Kugane said:

I sort of liked the grimdark theme for these. I have not been a fan of the bright red Khorne models, despite that that is kind of their theme. At this point I keep searching for quick paint techniques to get large batches of models done in a short time, but like pointed out by many people, contrast can suffer from that though :P

Thank you very much for the advice! I think most of this can even be achieved with a couple of glazes to lighten up areas, so shouldn't be too difficult to pull off. I still find it hard to find the right colour schemes for the bases at times. I quite like the green bases as well. Once I am done with current projects I'll go back and fix that. I'll probably do the same for the dwarf warband, since those too have a quite bland colour scheme going on.

The other technique you can try with contrast is simply to focus on areas that you want to draw the eye to-probably the head or top of the model in most instances-and highlight those to a greater degree, or glaze them with something interesting etc. I'm not saying leave everywhere else flat, but just be selective.  Not everything requires a line highlight and often if you give it one it just makes everywhere look the same. Most of the Great painters, as in artists, not mini painters, create drama through selective contrast. It's a big reason why John Blanche's stuff is so evocative.

I've not painted in about a decade so I'm not saying my own work should be held up as any sort of prime specimen, but my interest in returning to painting is in part due to my renewed interest in actual art and trying to use some of that theory, rather than how I learned to paint from White Dwarf. And there's nothing wrong with that approach at all but it's not me, I don't have the patience to give e erything equal attention. I've found it far more interesting and enjoyable to think about the overall drama or tone of each mini and being that out, have it be an expressive experience rather than just stick to "this bit is brown because it is a belt".

I'm half way through the Jimi Steelheart experience and I wanted to try and give each one more character in their paint job, so the intent was to convey that through the way I did the armour; Hammer Guy is no-nonsense and pragmatic so a lot of his core is left dark, and the focus is on his hands and ch st, Hammer girl is more liquid and fluid so I highlighted her curves more, and Jimi Steelheart is a bit pompous and flash so his pec and six pack armour got special attention and he gets the shiniest highlights over all. Ive no idea if any of that comes off at all but the point is it was fun for me to work with those ideas and made each mini more unique to paint and less like an assembly line job. It also made me keen to experiment because I was enthusiastic about creating a concept rather than worried about ruining a neat paint job.

 

IMG_7191.JPG

Edited by Nos
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5 hours ago, Nos said:

The other technique you can try with contrast is simply to focus on areas that you want to draw the eye to-probably the head or top of the model in most instances-and highlight those to a greater degree, or glaze them with something interesting etc. I'm not saying leave everywhere else flat, but just be selective.  Not everything requires a line highlight and often if you give it one it just makes everywhere look the same. Most of the Great painters, as in artists, not mini painters, create drama through selective contrast. It's a big reason why John Blanche's stuff is so evocative.

I've not painted in about a decade so I'm not saying my own work should be held up as any sort of prime specimen, but my interest in returning to painting is in part due to my renewed interest in actual art and trying to use some of that theory, rather than how I learned to paint from White Dwarf. And there's nothing wrong with that approach at all but it's not me, I don't have the patience to give e erything equal attention. I've found it far more interesting and enjoyable to think about the overall drama or tone of each mini and being that out, have it be an expressive experience rather than just stick to "this bit is brown because it is a belt".

I'm half way through the Jimi Steelheart experience and I wanted to try and give each one more character in their paint job, so the intent was to convey that through the way I did the armour; Hammer Guy is no-nonsense and pragmatic so a lot of his core is left dark, and the focus is on his hands and ch st, Hammer girl is more liquid and fluid so I highlighted her curves more, and Jimi Steelheart is a bit pompous and flash so his pec and six pack armour got special attention and he gets the shiniest highlights over all. Ive no idea if any of that comes off at all but the point is it was fun for me to work with those ideas and made each mini more unique to paint and less like an assembly line job. It also made me keen to experiment because I was enthusiastic about creating a concept rather than worried about ruining a neat paint job.

 

IMG_7191.JPG

Looks good! :) I tried something very similar with my idoneth deepkin, making the armour dark and cool colours, but the skin and ornaments warm colours, so far it has been working out. Still have a long way to go before I can consider myself a good painter. I think for the khorne warband I'll just give them glowing weapons. I've had success doing that with the orc warband, in fact, painted those orcs in a few hours as well. I guess I'll give the edges a blue glow or something sometime soon! :)

Orc warband:

5a2e5f94d2509_Orcs(2).jpg.1229d6917d83b5a619f7419b2b80b397.jpg

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So the next Warband done. This time the Chosen Axes. 

 

I do not care for these models a lot as I do not like the almost naked style of the dwarven slayers, though I know the lore. Other dwarf models would have been my preferred choice. The sculptor and or writer who came up with the the gold pieces in the skin should, well, get metal pieces jammed into their skin and forced to paint them. Super finicky stuff to paint when the skin is already blended.

 

I had super bad trouble priming the guys with army painter skeleton primer (rattle can) and consequently lost Vol Orrukbane to some bad melting in the stripper bath and had to replace him with a deafen berserker. Can anyone recommend a stripper solution in Germany / Europe?

 

Finally, it has been my very first attempt at doing a three stage highlighting of the skin parts with my new airbrush.

 

8AC4B9FD-8F4D-4D7E-A18F-C6B866C13C88.jpeg

Edited by DeviantDoc
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hiya everyone! Took the plunge with Shadespire, and I must say I love it! Really inspiring warbands here does help :)

I like how Steelheart's Champions play, but I'm still not sold on the Stormcast Eternal vibe. So I thought I'd do something a lil different.

Presenting my Bretonnian Warband! They are still wip, but thought I'd share my progress.

First up is Annette Bertrand (Angharad Brightshield)

WIP

2vink36.jpg

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2 hours ago, Alezzika said:

Hiya everyone! Took the plunge with Shadespire, and I must say I love it! Really inspiring warbands here does help :)

I like how Steelheart's Champions play, but I'm still not sold on the Stormcast Eternal vibe. So I thought I'd do something a lil different.

Presenting my Bretonnian Warband! They are still wip, but thought I'd share my progress.

First up is Annette Bertrand (Angharad Brightshield)

WIP

2vink36.jpg

Really nice conversion, what are your plans for the other 2?  Keep up the good work :)

Edited by Kugane
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Hey everyone! Still waiting on bits in the mail to finish my warband. I think I've finished Brightshield though, yay! I added more highlights to hair, gown and magic effects.  If you think I've missed something, or have a suggestion, please let me know :)

5xonsi.jpg

2qktgly.jpg

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My Lords and Lady's! Finally got the bits I needed to finish making Obryn and Steelheart. I think you will agree, there is no confusion on who is who :D

Hope you all likey! Again any suggestions are welcome.

WIP

Obryn Remix. Decided to remake him from scratch. I wanted him to look like a giant of a man. Think the Mountain GOT

2powfwp.jpg

j8ch1u.jpg

 

WIP

Sir Severin Steelheart, Hero of Bretonnia

r29f95.jpg

2wg99qd.jpg

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Finished the last warband for Edition 1 for Shadespire. Woohoo! These have the same basic colors as The Farstriders (less white ... more gold). I painted them at the same time. I also edge highlighted using Troll Slayer Orange instead of Fire Dragon Bright Red (to give them a "warmer" glow).

1532543778400.jpg1532543707905.jpg

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Hey guys! Work is progressing slowly on Obryn, but it is progressing :D Still can't decide if the blue looks too Elfy? 

Still needs more highlighting and I'm planning on using osl on the hammer, so it will look all storm magicy. 

 

t69k76.jpg

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Awesome Fiends Darkwing and Hammer! It's amazing how the same minis can look so completely different. 

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