Learn some new miniature painting techniques.

Ulrik the Slayer

Week 2 Update:

I’m rather happy with my progress on Ulrik the slayer. I found painting black armor to be a lot less scary that I initially thought.

Problems:

1. I primed Ulrik in gray a while back before I knew I wanted to paint him black. It didn’t make too much difference, but I need to make sure I paint all the deep shadows otherwise the gray looks kind of weird against the Abaddon black. I have primed my Primaris Chaplain in black so we can compare the difference.
2. I’m still struggling to get the yellow to pop. I painted with an undercoat of brown to try to layer it into yellow, but it always comes out kind of smudgy with lots of brush lines. Need to find a better way to do this. I’m not sure if it’s the paint brand/type or if it’s a technique thing.

What went well:

1. I really like how the highlights on the armor pieces turned out. Shading from black to a light gray was actually not too hard. I found it infinitely easier to just focus on one small piece and complete it one at a time, as opposed to my usual method of paint everything in base coat, then layer everything, then highlights. That works fine for bulk painting, but for really working on details I find smaller areas to work well.
2. Shading the purple cape worked really well. I feel like the cape was a really good spot to learn about blending. It’s very obvious light sources and very forgiving if I mess something up.
3. I feel as though I’m starting to get a grasp on spending time on a model. Previously I could spend 5 hours or 100 hours and the model always comes out about the same. Really focusing on shading and the small details I could see how I could improve a model with time.
4. I seem to be improving my edge highlighting skills which really pays off on a model like this.

I plan to start on my Chaplain next week instead of finishing up Ulrik. We’ll see where I get, and maybe spend week 4 really finishing up Ulrik and maybe my Chaplain.

After starting my dreadnought and from my progress this week, I don’t think I’ll be able to make substantial ground in just a week or two. Let alone I need to build the thing while painting for my current week. Instead I’ll take on a smaller, but still complicated model. The Wolf Priest (Primaris Chaplain) on bike.

Wolf Priest on bike

For week 2, I will continue with Ulrik and hopefully have him completed within the week. For week 3 and 4 I will paint the wolf priest on bike in black armor. I may also add some battle worn effects to the bike, but we’ll see how far I get.

DK30 Week 1

Week 1 Update:

I am a much slower painter than I had hoped. I completed 3 marines. Not the bare minimum, but not quite the goal. I think they turned out, fine. Battle ready, we’ll say. I definitely respect those that can shade effectively though. It is much harder than I predicted.

Problems I ran into:

1. I primed my models poorly. I don’t know if I didn’t shake up the can well or just applied too heavily, but the lower half of my marines had a sort of texture from the primer. I tried to file it down a bit, but it didn’t do much. The overall effect game my marines a chalky look even after painting them. Need to be more careful on this front.
2. I think my Fenrisian Gray paint dried out a bit due to not closing properly (GW pots, amiright?). That added with the priming issue gave it a chalky look and doesn’t look smooth. I bought a new paint for future marines.
3. I didn’t have a wet palette, so mixing paints was a real pain. They would dry out fairly quickly and so I had to mix up more almost every time I went back to the palette. Made it take longer and feel less consistent, because when I got the ratio right, I had to remix it which may not feel right. I bought a $10 wet palette so I’m going to try that going forward.
4. I am an engineer by day, so color is not my forte. Find the darks and lights that would mix well and create a shadow was really tricky for me. I definitely am finding some that work together. I really like Screaming Skull mixed with Fenrisian Gray gave me a pretty nice highlight.
5. Trying to guess where the shadows should end and the lights should start is tricky. I think I should try out Zenithal highlighting at some point. I tried it in the past, but shadows and light was not my focus, maybe this time around will go better.

What went well:

1. Paying attention to the darks and lights I feel is helping my eye to notice these things, and therefore improve on them. Overall I feel my mind is becoming more aware.
2. I feel like after focusing on the minutia details between shadows and light made my gunmetal painting better. adding a few highlights here and there make a world of difference. As well I found metallic metals to shadow and highlight really easily. And it just looks good. I’m quite happy with it. Particularly the shoulder pads.
3. I’m starting to learn some little things and areas that with a slight touch of Nuln oil or a small highlight makes it really pop. And it’s feeling easier to do each time.

Week 1 & 2 models primed and ready.

State of mini painting 10/9/2020

Here are pictures of what I believe are my 3 best painted models. Hopefully by the end we can see a dramatic difference in my abilities. Also side quest, learn how to take photos of my minis.