Desert Khador log

[Seventhprophet]

Edit: My MoW shocktroopers, posted on page 3. One year after painting my first model, Kodiak, below.



A couple of weeks ago I painted my first mini, The Kodiak shown below. I got some good feedback, mainly that I need to thin my paints. I finally got some more minis in so I thought I would start a log to share. I am still very new, so any constructive criticism or tips are very welcome! Thank you!

[Seventhprophet]

Here is my second attempt, My favorite piece so far in my new army! (I know i should have painted up my warcaster but i love this little guy, looks like my boxer!)

[Seventhprophet]

Hrm, just realized I missed the studs on his collar... dang.

[Seventhprophet]

I think i need to slow down when I paint. I start out slow for the base, but i get in a grove and start moving way too fast and start making mistakes. From start to finish the Dog too 3.5 hours.

I am starting The Butcher tonight. With the same scheme, what color do you guys think the fur on him should be? I'm stumped.

[Mugu]

I really like your scheme. I've always been a fan of alternate color schemes and conversions.

It'd be helpful if you laid out how're you planning painting him otherwise. I'm assuming the tan(?) armor with red accents? You could go with a dark grey base and lighter grey drybrush or go with dark brown base and a lighter brown drybrush. I think either one would work with the colors you've chosen to go with.

I wouldn't worry about going too fast, that's not something most painters can "complain" about. However, if you think you're painting too fast is affecting how good or bad your figures turn out, then you may want to slow down. One thing you can do is after you think you're done with a figure, work on its base/basing. This will allow you to focus somewhat away from the miniature and then come back to it later to get a fresh look at it again. I've found that to be helpful several times.

[Loki_333]

I think it's cool. It's well executed with just enough red to make it interesting. I'm actually kinda excited to see a few casters in this scheme.

[PG_LunarSol]

Hrm, just realized I missed the studs on his collar... dang.

I take pictures of everything I paint almost entirely because I notice something I missed after I post them.

[Seventhprophet]

It'd be helpful if you laid out how're you planning painting him otherwise. I'm assuming the tan(?) armor with red accents? You could go with a dark grey base and lighter grey drybrush or go with dark brown base and a lighter brown drybrush. I think either one would work with the colors you've chosen to go with.

Yeah, same scheme for pButcher. Tan armor w/ boltmetal accents (left shoulder plate, belly, legs and back) Red right arm and shoulder with brass accents. Thinking of a light red leather on his axe. a dark grey would be interesting. I wish i could take the fur off, either way its going to look weird to me on my desert force. Same with upcoming fur hats on my widowmakers :P

[LeiferAxe]

Heh ehh another Desert Khador.

Welcome to the sandbox!

[WereRogue]

Nice work, glad to hear you took the critiques to thin your paints out. The Wardog is considerably better than the warjack in that aspect. The scheme looks nice, I'm a fan of desert schemes!

EDIT: Oh, about the fur, I would recommend looking up desert foxes or coyotes and see what color their fur is.

-Ken

[Mugu]

EDIT: Oh, about the fur, I would recommend looking up desert foxes or coyotes and see what color their fur is.
-Ken

Nod, that sounds good. Or you could go with white, white goes with everything, though better if its an off-white or ivory color, I think.

[Seventhprophet]

Nice work, glad to hear you took the critiques to thin your paints out. The Wardog is considerably better than the warjack in that aspect. The scheme looks nice, I'm a fan of desert schemes!

EDIT: Oh, about the fur, I would recommend looking up desert foxes or coyotes and see what color their fur is.

-Ken

Ohhh, thats a good idea! I have started the base coats on the butcher, looks really rough atm. I am waiting on some scorched brown for his cloak. Desert fox might be the winner for the fur. Will upload a WIP in a few seconds. Thanks for the encouragement. It helps, lol.

[Seventhprophet]

ROUGH work in progress. Need to clean a lot of this stuff up, base coats went of a little haphazardly.

I am thinking about making that little plate on his left side a PoM plate.... kind of like a war trophy. I fear freehanding that symbol though.

[Seventhprophet]

WIP update: Did a little shading this morning. Trying to work slower on this one. Taking my time with the little details.

[Seventhprophet]

I'm debating on if i want to try to do a fire effect inside the burner. Is the a tutorial somewhere out there that shows how to do it?

[WereRogue]

I've found the best option is to mix up an orange-yellow blend and paint that in, the hit it with a coat of thinned down Chestnut Ink wash. That's what I use for my fire effects.

BTW, I like what you're doing with the Butcher so far!

-Ken

[Bravey]

The butcher is coming along well! Is the base on the Wardog finished? Just wondering, as plain sand looks pretty raw, and detracts from the look of the whole model. If you want my advice, check out this tutorial on desert bases, from Brushthralls > http://blog.brushthralls.com/?page_id=3381&page=3

[ClaireBear]

Great looking models so far! I especially like the dog! The colour scheme is really good!

[Seventhprophet]

The butcher is coming along well! Is the base on the Wardog finished? Just wondering, as plain sand looks pretty raw, and detracts from the look of the whole model. If you want my advice, check out this tutorial on desert bases, from Brushthralls > http://blog.brushthralls.com/?page_id=3381&page=3

I am really intimidated by the bases, lol. I am trying not to think about them. I agree that the sand I have looks bad and I need to do something about it. I will try to hit up the bases after the butcher is done.

[Bravey]

I am really intimidated by the bases, lol. I am trying not to think about them. I agree that the sand I have looks bad and I need to do something about it. I will try to hit up the bases after the butcher is done.

You shouldn't be intimidated by the bases, they are the easiest part of the model. Even just basecoating the sand in a light tan color, and then drybrushing it once or twice looks very nice!

[Seventhprophet]

Update: Just finished the right arm, the brass is still wet, waiting for that to dry so I can dull it down some. First try ever on skin and eyes and stuff. My eyes were straining so hard to see the details that I have a headache now, lol. Still towing with the idea to make a fire glow from the burner but I worry about ruining it. Still havent decided if I want to do a Menoth shield on the left breast as a war trophy or not (Menoth is my friends faction, pretty much my only opponent, it will rile him up, hehe. Dont have the right colors for that either atm. If I dont do that shield I'm not sure what I will do there.

I think i ahve been looking at the model for too long. I know theres a lot left to do but I dont know what to tackle next. Anyway, here is the WIP:

[Seventhprophet]

The pics are taken on my phone, the camera doesnt show it well but the cloak is dark brown leather looking.

[WereRogue]

Looks good, Prophet. I might lighten up the fur another shade, just to help it stand out from the coat - it looks a little dark in places. The face (from what I can see) looks good also, very detailed, it seems.

All you'd really need for the shield to have a Menoth symbol would be some white paint and then black for the Menofix. I'm worried, though, that it'll make it look like the Butcher is showing his true religious feelings and it might not even seem out of place (remember Khador has a very large contingent of Menite faithful - the IK equivalent of the Russian Orthodoxy). if you do decide to make it a "war trophy", make sure that you damage it up a bit. Scuffs, holes, etc.

Can't wait to see the rest of the forces.

-Ken

[Seventhprophet]

Done for now. Still at a loss for good base ideas. I decided that the menoth shield was a bad idea too. Just generic painted it for now. Once i feel more comfortable painting I might try to freehand the Khador symbol. Oh well. I tryed to lighten up the fur a little, didn't really do much for it. Now that I look at the photo I notice spots I missed... damn. lol. might fix it tomorrow. Cant wait to field this bad boy. Thanks for the critiques, help and support guys Think its going to be the beserker tomorrow. Need to give my eyes a break before trying to tackle the marksmen.

[WereRogue]

Nice work, man! Looking very good. I like the semi-quartered theme you started there, and would've liked to see it carried over onto the chest armour, too. I think what might help the color balance would be to paint the shield that was giving you trouble in that same red color you did the opposite arm and shoulder.

As far as your basing goes, I would recommend some Fine Buff Talus (http://woodlandscenics.woodlandsceni...m/GCT-B/page/1), blend it about 50/50 with some Medium Brown Talus (http://woodlandscenics.woodlandsceni.../GCT-BR/page/1) and then maybe add the occasional clump of Fall Foliage (http://woodlandscenics.woodlandsceni...m/CF-FM/page/1).

-Ken

[Seventhprophet]

K, I tried the red on the shield and didn't really like it, Changed it back. I touched up a few spots I didnt like and highlighted some area a little better. I spent a ton of time trying a gradient thing on some of the metals, like the plate on the boiler on his back, going from Mithral to chainmail to boltgun down to a boltgun/black mix. When i was done I realized its such a small area to gradient that its way too subtle, you cant even tell I did it. I guess I need to be a little more exaggerated next time.

Mererat and Bravey: I took your advice and tried to be a little braver on the base. I went to a hardware store and got some epoxy and sculpted this rock from scratch. Painted it and stuck it on. Its not perfect but it does enhance the whole thing a ton. Thanks for the input.

Any criticisms are welcome and wont be taken as an insult. I'm still extremely new as this is only the 3rd mini I have ever tried to paint and I know there are lots of things I am doing well. I learn fast though and try to fix any mistakes pointed out. Thanks again for the help guys. Thanks for keeping up with the log too

Current state:

[WereRogue]

Looks good, man! The rock certainly helps your base to be more dynamic (though it's not something you'll want to put on all your models). Did you look into any of that Woodland Scenics stuff? Finally, do you use any inks or washes on your figs?

-Ken

[Seventhprophet]

My Berserker WIP. Still need to work on the axes and touch up a few rough spots.








I am also working on painting my greatbears and widowmakers. Will post some when they get to the point where they aren't embarrassing to show (tiny models suck)

[Seventhprophet]

Widowmakers done.

[WereRogue]

Pics kinda make it hard to see details, maybe just take one of the leader (she's sooooo hot), so we can see 'er up close (she's soooooo hot).

-Ken

[dvskugai]

nice job, I like the colors. the work on the 'zerker looks better than on the kodiak. maybe some touch up? I have a special place for the kodi's, first WM model so I like to see them specifically done really well. great job!

[Seventhprophet]

WereRogue: Yeah, Phone photo. Sorry. I need to do some touch up work on her good eye before I can show it off close, lol. But will soon. I need to find a smaller brush.

dvskugai: Thank you. The Kodiak was the first mini I had ever painted, the beserker was my 4th. Getting a little better but its slow learning. Painting minis is much different than canvas. The paint consistency is tough to get right. After I paint all my minis I have laying around I plan on going back to redo the Kodiak and the war dog.

I am almost done with the great bears, i will post them as soon as they are based. I will post better shots once i get a tiny brush for eyeballs

[WereRogue]

I will post better shots once i get a tiny brush for eyeballs

Have you looked into Micron pens, SP? I use them for my eyes and though I'm still learning to master the technique, they've made my eyes leaps and bounds better than they were when I was trying to use a brush. I use a .005 tipped pen.

-Ken

[Seventhprophet]

Oh, no, thats a good idea! Do they sells those at stores like Micheal's, Hobby Lobby etc... or do i have to find a drafting store. (I can always order online but I am itching to show off faces I am proud of.

[Seventhprophet]

little closer of the Widowmakers. Still waitin on the micropens to do the eyes better.

[Seventhprophet]

WIP, Great Bears:

[Seventhprophet]

WIP: Joe

[TheConstantWay]

I really like what you're doing with the red arm/shoulder accents! It personalizes the force very nicely. Keep up the good work!

[WereRogue]

Yeah, SP, you can get the Micron pens at either location, however, I've noticed that Michael's carries individual pens while Hobby Lobby only carries a small selection of them. IIRC, I bought my black pen at Michael's for about $2.50.

Forces are looking awesome and I love the bases on the Widowmakers. You've got a nice color scheme there.

-Ken

[roddo]

Pics kinda make it hard to see details, maybe just take one of the leader (she's sooooo hot), so we can see 'er up close (she's soooooo hot).

-Ken

I agree, shes awesome. best mini made by PP in my opinion. Just something about her, looks like shes looking at you trying to decide if you need to die or not. Well painted minis here, i love the scheme, very cool. Those bases from Micro art studio?