Testing Retribution scheme, opinions wanted

[Doopsie]

New player, getting into retribution. Wanted to go with studio scheme, but don't have the right paints (old GW player), didn't feel like buying too many new paints, so I made the following. This is a test model, MHSF (as it was either MHSF, Ossyan, or Stormfalls), and I'm only aiming for decent table-top quality, so there are sure to be mistakes noted. Sorry for camera quality, I am not (obviously) a great photographer, nor have that steady of a hand, apparently.


Stage 1. Base colors only, no washs/drybrushing yet.


Stage 2. After washes.


Final stage.

I have yet to decide on the base, but will probably go with snow, as I've never done it before. Always good to do something new.

So please, tell me what you think.

Edit: after couple hours thought, decided didn't like the skin color. I lightened it up with a 50/50 mix of GW's Tallarn Flesh and Skull White. Don't have a camera on hand to show change, so just be aware, there was a change.

[Mordjinn]

It's a good start. To me the scheme is very busy and the green cloak, grey clothes and white armor collide. I'd drop one color, probably paint the cloak medium gray, wash it with black wash and then highlight it back up. That would make the combination more harmonious and would also make the colorful hair pop. Also the white parts could really use a wash treatment as that would bring the details out much more.

[MadMasha]

It looks like the white armor needs a bit of shading to help show the contours, and breaks in the plates. Right now it looks like the armor was just left primed white, which has a very flat/monotone look to it.

I also think snow basing is awesome. I have a few armies that use snow basing. It is not that hard to do either. Just do your basing like you normally would, paint the dirt, rocks, etc. Once that is all done you just need to mix up some snow past and apply it where you want the snow to be. I personally use the woodland scenic snow flock, got a huge container of it about 6 years ago for around $12. Since then I have only used about 1/4 of the container, so it will last you forever.

If you have never made snow paste before I recommend a mixing up some water and white PVA glue at a ratio of about 1:2 water:glue. Mix it all up till you are left with some very watery white glue. If the mix looks to watery just ad some more glue, I generally would rather have a higher amount of glue then water in my mix. Then mix in some snow flock. Keep adding flock until you reach the consistency you want. I aim for what looks like pumice paste, so the mix usually looks rather thick and grainy, but still completely saturated with liquid. The more flock you add the more "powdery" the final effect will be, like freshly fallen snow. If you have less flock it will look more like the snow has melted a bit, then refrozen, or will have a slightly slushy look.

I use an old paint brush to apply the snow paste. This gives me quite a bit of control on where, and how much of, the snow paste goes. You can also apply it in several coats if you want to build up drifts.

I would suggest testing a few different mixtures types on some scrape pieces first to see how they look when they dry. I also recommend using actual snow flock instead of using baking soda, like many seem to use. The reason for this is there are some issues with the snow yellowing if you use baking soda, and I personally don't like the idea of my armies walking through a field of weee... Another reason I don't recommend using baking soda is that when it dries I think it looks more like white concrete then actual snow... If that is the look you want then go for it.

Good luck!
Keep it up!

[MasterRabbi]

I agree with the white armor plates, it needs more detail. I'd also add some color to the plates, maybe an olive green that sits between the gray cloth and green cloak. That could add relief to the armor plates while bringing the scheme together. A similar effect is on the studio models, with gray plates and white secondary colors.