Arizona_Troll's Trollbloods

[Arizona_Troll]

I was posting some pics in the Trollbloods forum on a couple of topics, so I thought I might throw them up here for the wider community. One day I'll take the time to snap photos of my entire army, but for now here's a taste of my 'bloods.



And a Rok WIP conversion.

[Ironmoose]

I am surprised nobody has posted on this yet. The color scheme is very subtle but sharp. The pics are kind of small, I would like to see these a bit larger. Your Rok is looking fantastic, any chance we could see a few shots of him from different angles?



Ironmoose

[Arizona_Troll]

Here are some more pictures of Rok in progress.

[Arizona_Troll]

And some larger pictures of other trolls...






Thanks for the compliment!

[Arizona_Troll]

And three more for good measure...

[Ironmoose]

Wow! Those look even more amazing up close. Thanks for posting the bigger pics. Great cel-shaded effect. I am really digging this style. Can't wait to see more.



Ironmoose

[jdeckert]

Looks really good, I like the skin tone a lot.

[Oreet]

I'll get back to you once I pick my jaw up off the floor...

[BakerGaspy]

Absolutely fantastic!

[SalsaShark]

Even better in person.

[Shinokaze]

Very Nice! I can't help but ask, did you use Gilbert High Schools colors on purpose?

[Autumn Stone]

Whole worlds of awesome. The freehand on the champ and the marble are astounding.
Cheers
A.S.

[Mistress of Minis]

If there was a really cool Trollblood animated series- the characters would look like your trolls

[Crusader85]

Love the skin tones, how did you achieve that?

[stormshaft]

The best trollbloods I've seen to this date.
Your choice of skincolour is so fantastic that I will snatch it for my Boomhowler-unit.

Oh, and your yellow. It is perfect. Just perfect.

Bring more pic's!

[Sworn Enemy]

Wow dude! Great work - they look great - i love that yellow! And welcome to the Extreme Rok club!! I think we're the only two on here that have done it!

Cheers!
T.

[Arizona_Troll]

Very Nice! I can't help but ask, did you use Gilbert High Schools colors on purpose?

Not at all - purely a coincidence.

Love the skin tones, how did you achieve that?

It's a proprietary blend... Unfortunately they are mostly old GW colors - I'm not sure if the new line still contains the same colors with different names or if they are new colors entirely, but here's what I use.

For the basic trollbloods (like the Fennblades) I start with a base of GW Catachan Green with a touch of PP Battlefield Brown. Then I start building up the lighter colored layers starting with GW Catachan Green, then adding a little bit of GW Desert Yellow and GW Kommando Khaki each time until I get to the final highlight color. I then keep going a bit on the face to brighten it up and help draw attention to it. On a whim I sometimes add a touch of white for the final highlight color - it just kind of depends on how the color is coming out and the model itself.

I sometimes use the same approach for my Dire Trolls, (I did for my Bomber model, which I'll post pictures of later). However, I tend to prefer a little different color for my Dires because they are mostly flesh colored and the other mix is meant to be nice but not overpowering, but it can be a bit boring on a large scale. I prefer the color I used on my Mauler, which starts with the same base color as above, as well as a first layer of GW Catachan Green, but then I mix GW Bubonic Brown and GW Camo Green into the Catachan Green to build up the highlight layers.

For my Pygmy trolls I do a similar color as for my Mauler, but I start with just GW Catachan Green as the base. I'll post some pictures of them later.

For the lighter flesh on Madrak, Doomshaper (pics to come) and some other warlocks (even thought they aren't all albinos, I tend to paint many of my warlocks with lighter tones just to help them stand out among their troops), I paint their flesh at the same time as other trollbloods - I just use the final highlight color on a model (like a Fennblade) as the base color, then continue to add white until I get to my final highlight color.

The best trollbloods I've seen to this date.

Thank you! That made my day. :-)

Your choice of skincolour is so fantastic that I will snatch it for my Boomhowler-unit.

Be my guest! Let me know how they come out.

Oh, and your yellow. It is perfect. Just perfect.

Thanks! Here's how it's done (for the most part - I vary the mixture up a little bit from time to time, but this is the basic blend). The base color is a mix of mostly GW Desert Yellow with a bit of GW Snakebite Leather, GW Golden Yellow, and GW Graveyard Earth. Then for the first couple of highlight layers I mix in a bit of white, Golden Yellow, and Kommando Khaki, then just white for the rest of the layers.

The color mixes are a bit complicated for a good reason. I've found that when I use similar colors in mixes for a variety of colors on the model (like using Kommando Khaki and Desert Yellow in the flesh color, leathers, and yellow armor) helps to make sure that the final model's colors will stand very happily next to each other - I don't have to worry much about them having clashing undertones or anything.

Bring more pic's!

If you insist . I'll post some batches of additional pictures over the next couple of days.

[Arizona_Troll]

[Arizona_Troll]

[stormshaft]

Fantabulous. Marvtastic. Splentaculour.
I hereby rename this thread "Stormshaft would marry one of these trolls if he could."
The painting is so crisp and neat, and the contrasts are perfectly executed, and Jarls' cloak... it is too good. Just too good. Incredible work here (and that being said from a person who doesn't really care for the Troll models before I saw these).





You sir, deserve to win every game and tournament you show up in, noone in their right mind would want to take these off the table.

Edit: Oh and thanks for the recipe on the yellow and the skin, I will probably never be able to come close to it, but it's great to have it for when I attack the Boomhowler troupe.

[PG_JBFlanz]

These trolls are the best ones I have ever seen as well! You need to see these in person...if you can imagine it, they are actually even better looking! Jarl's cloak is out of control!

[SalsaShark]

These trolls are the best ones I have ever seen as well! You need to see these in person...if you can imagine it, they are actually even better looking! Jarl's cloak is out of control!

The problem is he's a really nice guy too. Can't even be mad at him for making my models look so.....bare.

[Defenstrator]

Looking good. The colour scheme is an interesting one and makes them look more natural rather than cartoony. I really like the Rok conversion. You've made in look like an actual character, rather than a Dire conversion.

[Coinlord]

What does the 'Tr' on Skadi's keg stand for?

[falconslacrosse]

I should just quit now...

These are too beautiful...

[Oreet]

Ok, that cloak right there has got to be the most impressive thing I've ever seen painted on a miniature.

[Arizona_Troll]

These trolls are the best ones I have ever seen as well!

That means a lot, Flanzer - you've seen a lot of Trolls in your experience!

What does the 'Tr' on Skadi's keg stand for?

Trailblazer Bison Milk Stout - Skaldi's breakfast of choice.



Here's a few more pictures.

[PG_hisshers]

Well I'm retiring my brushes.

[Emerett]

I really like the dark skin, looks great.

The orange tartan is also amazing.

[Coinlord]

And you drew not simply initials, but a whole logo on Borka's Keg... Sweet Jesus...

[DC23]

Impressive and Inspiring stuff!

[PG_Sauklaue]

Simply stunning! Very crisp and clean, beautiful choice of colors. Easily among the best Trollbloods I've seen so far!

[zreef]

These are beautiful! Do you have any tips for mere mortals to improve their painting and try to aspire to this quality of painting?

[Oreet]

These are beautiful! Do you have any tips for mere mortals to improve their painting and try to aspire to this quality of painting?

My guess would be to eat drink and sleep paint. Well, maybe not the first 2.

[Arizona_Troll]

And you drew not simply initials, but a whole logo on Borka's Keg.

After reading this, I thought you might like to see the other side of the cask.

These are beautiful! Do you have any tips for mere mortals to improve their painting and try to aspire to this quality of painting?

Here are some of the most helpful things I figured out over the course of my approximately 13 years of painting include. I know that these aren't "hard and fast" rules as I'm sure there are many, many painters who break them and still produce amazing stuff. I would say these are more like rules to produce models in the style I try to achieve.

1) Always add water to your paint - never paint straight from the pot. Use multiple coats if you have to instead, but thick paint equals a poor finish. This also makes your paints more translucent, which is a good thing if you're building up/blending layers since you will always see a bit of the darker color peeking through which helps to ease the transitions. (I also always opt for paint brands with poorer coverage for this same reason. If a paint brags that it covers in one coat, I steer clear because it will leave hard lines between my color transitions.

2) When building up layers and highlights, always work from your base color and add other paints to lighten it. In other words, don't paint with one color then switch to another color to do the next layer. It helps the transitions become much more natural. As a bonus, you can use the same set of colors to lighten all (or at least many) of your base colors to help ensure similar undertones and prevent colors from clashing (see my instructions in an earlier post).

3) It's easy to go too light with most colors in the layering/highlighting process. Therefore, for most colors I always darken them first for the base coat, then add the color back in to start the layering process. For example, I might take a darker blue, like GW Regal Blue, and add a bit of black to it, paint the base coat, then start adding royal blue back for the first layers until it's nearly pure blue before adding in a lighter color. It's worth mentioning here that the PP painting staff have repeatedly commented about how you shouldn't add black to darken colors - you should instead use the color's complement (like green for red) because black desaturates the color. I agree, but I don't always think that's a bad thing for the shadows of a miniature, and it even sometimes produces some very natural looking tones on a model making clothing (for example) look worn and realistic instead of being super colorful like it just came from the dye factory. Sometimes I don't even mix the original color back in before lightening. For example, try mixing GW Liche Purple with a little black, then mixing in white to lighten for layers and highlights. It creates a very cool muted purple that I've use to great effect for dragon flesh.

4) Take. Your. Time. Good painting takes time. Anyway from my LGS can attest to this by watching me paint. I might go to the store for an afternoon and only get the flesh painted on 3 or 4 trolls. There's simply no getting around this. You can use techniques that speed up your painting (using brown wash over your entire model to create shading and a weathered look, drybrushing, etc.), but almost anything you do that makes the process faster ends up with a product that might look good on the tabletop from 3-4 feet away but doesn't hold up to close scrutiny. Note that I find nothing wrong with these techniques, and I don't begrudge anyone who wants to paint quickly and whose goal is a tabletop quality force - please don't misunderstand me.

[Arizona_Troll]

[Arizona_Troll]

Here's a shot of Janissa from the back (unfortunately I dropped her and there is damage on the front that I have yet to fix - you can see some of it on her right arm even from this view.



And here's pGrissel. I really dislike this sculpt.

[BLUTAXT]

Very cool minis! Maybe you can show some WIP pics of your Rök?

[Arizona_Troll]

Very cool minis! Maybe you can show some WIP pics of your Rök?

I put the basecoat on him, but haven't done anything else yet. I'm finishing my War Wagon at the moment, but he's next on my to-do list. I'll be sure to update this thread with pictures of him!

[PG_joedj]

Very impressive work! The originality in color choices is something I envy.
I'm good at mimicking/recreating the studio colors, but I'm not a creative artist like you!

I'm especially impressed with the tiny Trollblood writings on many of the weapons/scrolls.

Thank you for sharing and inspiring!