Autumn Stone's Trollbloods

[Autumn Stone]

Hi everyone,

As I?ve just finished a bunch of Trollbloods, I thought I?d start a thread to collect all my trolls in the one place, along with a painting commentary for anyone who cares.

Cheers and Enjoy ?

Madrak
I must admit ? when I first met Madrak I thought he was just a really ugly sculpt. I later realised he was actually a beautiful sculpt of a really ugly troll with appalling dress sense.

I mean Madrak ?would you straighten up your sash ? You?re already a warpack figure, so think of the beginner painters ? they?re going to have a hard enough time with tartan without the material blowing all over the place. And what?s with the war-ruff? ? those things went out with the molgur.

On a serious note, the war-ruff just had to go, but it is not a small task. Trimming it off without removing his face is painstaking work, and then you find his neck is stuck out a mile from his shoulder by the darn thing, so you have to shorten his neck, pin his head, and reconstruct his neck, trapesius and back. That amulet of his that spares him some damage ? it?s really a TENS device he uses for the neck problems created by the ruff.


The Five toed Freak of Dhunia
Blessed with a face that only a dire troll could love, and with the feet of a human, is it any wonder he?s a cantankerous old coot? If he?d just had normal feet then he could fit into regular troll shoes, and he?d have a much sunnier disposition.

The two tips I?d give people if they?re painting up Doomy are: 1) glue his staff on after painting him. I don?t like having to do that, but it covers a lot of hard to reach detail ? especially his tartan; and 2) the pose he?s in is built for OSL effects, but unfortunately it covers up the best areas to see those so the effects are somewhat lost.

[Autumn Stone]

Paper – the five fingered freak
Doomy isn’t the only one with an ugly face and too many digits.

Rock
On the other hand, this guy is a gem to paint. I cannot begin to tell you what a lovely mini he is, how well he takes the colours, and how satisfying he is to paint. If you can find an excuse, get him.


Scissors
What can I say, there’s a reason this guy commands the Fenn Blades – he makes the woad look good.


Drummer
As does this guy

[Autumn Stone]

I have so far only found one other set of scouts on the forums. I’m a little surprised. They are fun to paint, full of character, they display a lot of variety, and their leader steals pigs! What’s not to love? Maybe they aren’t that great to play – though the trollblood forums seems to have found a place for them.

Anyway, here’s a set of scouts

Their leader – Tom



The twins – Coney and Braer

[Autumn Stone]

Moonshine

Ham

Crag and Shakespeare

[Autumn Stone]

And finally, I’ve managed to get some better photos of my Kriel warriors

[Autumn Stone]

It was in doing up these guys I came to a realisation about painting trolls. With their blue skin, and vibrant tartan, you really need a lot of dull colours for … everything else … or the whole effect looks too busy.

For these kriel warriors I used greys and browns, but even the browns are a little too saturated. The so for the trolls above, I substituted a duller brown and then did everything I could to dull it down more. I’m quite happy with the effect, but not so much that I’ll go back and re-paint these guys.

Anyway – More Kriel warriors.






C+C welcome

Next up I’m going to paint some fullbloods and dires.
Cheers all and good painting
A.S.

[the_Ravenous]

very nice work on those tartans, quite a colorful with a fun commentary. Bring on those fullbloods and dires....

did the blue skin wash out in the pics?

[KrankyPanda]

They look great. Love the tartans, must take you forever to do those.

[code_b]

The colors are good, I love the tartans. Great pattern choice and well executed. The basing is also really appropriate for the models. I usually stay away from static grass heavy bases as they usually don't work for me but these compliment the models really well and are well executed. What brand of static grass do you use?

[loftybloke]

Nice work, I love your blues.
Looking forward seeing the beasts

[BklynBrewtality]

Great work!

[jdeckert]

I love your names for the scouts. The painting is nice too, especially the telescope lens - that's amazing!

[panopticon]

those tartans are ridiculous, it would have probably easier to sew little kilts for them and play dress up. A+

[PG_Murch]

I simply love your Troll's skin color and shading. The green loin cloth/wrap/scarfs are fantastic.

[rvrchamp]

great tartans! They look really good

[teejayv]

beautiful clean work, and I have to agree with the tartan work, very nice and precise. Also, the amulet on Madrak is exceptionally believable. Terrific job on all of them, but Madrak certainly stands out!

[Manintights]

I reallylike the work you did on the tartans.
The skin is a bit too light for my tastes, but it's still executed pretty well.
Now let's see some bigger dudes!!!

[KamenRiderNecro]

Absolutely amazing work. I've a handful of Trollblood models that I will end up painting for the hell of it more than anything else, since I've no intention of playing them. I've not figured out an appropriate skin tone for them just yet, but this is inspiring me to do whatever I do with them well. Thanks for posting these!

[Autumn Stone]

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback. In answer to a few questions,

#Ravenous, the skins are pretty much that colour. I haven?t used trollblood base. The skins in a gradient from frostbite/spacewolves grey to cygnar blue highlight/enchanted blue. Mores specifics here

#KrankyPanda, it takes a while to do the tartans, but far less than you?d imagine. I don?t think that people who want to try their hand at tartan patterns should let their expectation of how hard or time consuming they are get in their way. Look up a good tutorial and give it a try. You too can develop the same Stockholm syndrome relationship with tartan that I have.

#code_b, I agree I usually avoid too much grass on bases, but for the trolls I was going a Scottish highlands look, which means lush grass bluffs broken by grey rock. The grass is just GW static grass. I shake the tub before applying to put some static charge on the fibres so they stand up better.

#panopticon, you laugh now about making little kilts for the trolls, but me ? I?ve realised the pyre troll has no cloth on him to show his colours, so I?m having to greenstuff him a sash, that I?ll then have to set on fire as it crosses his shoulder, and still will have to paint ? GAH! It?ll also mean he?ll be a mess of saturated blue, green, red and yellow, with only a little grey and black to tone him down ? I have no idea how he?ll turn out.

Now I?m going to go back to my impalers and axer.
Cheers all and happy painting.
A.S.

[PG_warlordgarou]

Very nicely done. The skin tones are great, and you did a great job with the fabrics - not just the tartans (which are exceptional), but with the leathers as well. The commentary is first rate too!

[Astos]

Great trolls! Have you finished anything more? I'm curious to see your dire trolls!

[Autumn Stone]

Thanks Astos.

I'm just basing four fullbloods - Axer, two Impalers, and the Pyre Troll from this WIP thread. I should have photos in a few days if all goes well.

The dires are going to be a few months as we are about to move to the other side of the earth, and my minis and paints are going surface mail.

This and my two young miscreants also explain my tardiness with the painting.

Cheers
A.S.

[Autumn Stone]

(regarding tartans) ?it would have probably easier to sew little kilts for them and play dress up?.

So I finally have my Fullbloods painted ? with days to spare before they get packed in a box and sent to the other side of the earth. This will make two complete circuits of the earth for most of them.

In honour of the way PP has been stealing Scandinavian names for their character Trolls, I?ve decided to follow suit with the full blood naming. So without further ado, introducing?


Rauður and Lilla

It has to be said ? the Axer is just a plain beautiful sculpt. I can see why it is used again and again for competition pieces. I think it was probably this guy who first got me to love trollbloods.

For me it?s the first time I?ve tried to weather metals this hard, and I?m pretty happy with the rusting. Special thanks go to GW Boltgun Metal, Devlan Mud and Badab black wash. For anyone looking at painting him, I can only recommend you put his hands and his axe on after you have painted them both.

Completing the warpack - The Impaler twins.

Grønn


and


Blar


They are again a beautiful and fun sculpt ? though their native pose makes it really hard to get a good view of their faces.

For anyone painting up these guys, plan to do the spear sheaf separately, and it will need a pin to attach as it doesn?t sit anywhere near flush with the back.

Also if you?re crazy enough to try to follow my tartan plan, the tartan on the spear sheaf is the hardest I?ve done. It?s a flat surface meaning there is not nice wave in the material to excuse your hands shaking like a leaf in the wind as you try to get those nice straight lines. I almost stopped drinking coffee for a few hours so I could paint these guys ? almost.

Gulur

As much as Madrak and I don?t see eye to eye when it comes to clothes, we were united in our opinion on this one. The wonderful sculptors at Privateer Press have given us so much greatness in the trollbloods ? their characterful models, their fine sense of humour, and TARTAN. Almost every single model can show their true colours provided you can bear to paint them. And that?s where it all starts to fall apart.

There are a few trolls who just aren?t properly dressed for battle. Oh they want to get into the plaid ? what troll wouldn?t ? it?s just the occupational health and safety officers at Privateer Press that are getting in our way.

The chemicals in cloth react with the corrosive acids of the slag troll. The pyre troll?s clothing needs to be kiddie safe and non-combustible. The swamp troll might get it dirty. Whine whine whine. Well these are trollbloods! We aren?t going to let lawyers or ... well ? sanity ? get in the way of our kriels.

So I made my pyre troll a sash.



And it caught fire. Bother.

Hope you?ve enjoyed.
Next update will be some Dires ? but it will be a few months
Cheers and happy painting
A.S.

[Forrix]

Its shame I never found this topic before now. As usual, your work is great. The scouts you did are wonderful. Did you use washes to get your metallic to look rusted on the Axer and Impaler? I tried to get that effect on mine, but it didn't come out quite that nice.

[Autumn Stone]

Thanks Forrix.

The weathered metals are:
Blotgun metal basecoat
Wash of badab black and/or devlan mud : pledge floor polish with future 5:2
Try to get the wash to sit in the areas you want darkest
Very light Drybrush with chainmail or boltgun just in the brighter or less worn areas.
Maybe a little touch up the washes in the darker areas.

The pledge floor polish makes the washes behave a bit better and they are less prone to leave a water ring or sharp edge. I have premixed bottles I made up - fresh bottle of wash (5ml) add 2 ml of floor polish. Shake and let it sit for a day or two

The devlan mud will look aged rusty without corosion (impaler spears)
The badab black gives the tarnished look or the shading (sharp blade of he axer)
For the corosion at the bronze/steel interface at the top of the axer's axe I added a thin wash of bestial brown:water 1:2 and allowed it to leave water rings as it dried, then touched up the edge where it meets the bronze with some devlan mud wash.

Hope this helps.
A.S.

[Phlippieskezer]

One on left: Angry Madrak will crush you.
One on right: Happy Madrak smiles with satisfaction!

Obviously just the angling. Great work on the models. I particularly like the look of the Pyre Troll. It is freakin' awesome; never would've guessed that model would look good painted blue.

[PG_PrOtOcoN]

Really inspirational thread!
I'm just starting my trollbloods too, awesome to see your progress and I really envy your tartan! =D


I did a small double take when I saw 'Rauður's name, really since Iceland is the only place that uses the 'ð' letter afaik (Well...and Faroe Islands, though they don't pronounce the letter, silly Faroese xD...(prepares to be beaten by his Faroese fiancée)) .

[Autumn Stone]

I love my trollkin. Love the sculpts, love the characters, love painting them, love the fluff. But when it comes to the girls ? I can't help but feel a little under-whelmed.

Well, Whelmed at most. Grissel has the most amazing legs. But above the waist, she hugs her hammer, and her face ? I bet all the other trollkin girls say she has a nice personality.

As for fishlips er sorry Janissa, it's like the sculptor made the most amazing body, then couldn't tear his eyes away to look at the face as he carved it.
?It'll be ok ? with a slammin' bod like this no-one will even bother looking at her face?
I can hear the green of Janissa weeping to this day - ?My eyes are up here!?

Don't get me wrong ? I love our frumpy gypsy queen (the most perfect of all our troll girls ? eGrissel included), but when she is known as sexy calli I can't help feeling sorry for poor old Janissa and pGrissel.

So for my Kriel, we'll give them the boot and draft their sexy younger sisters ? Introducing...

Illija Bloodsong



Tara Stonetide



For details of the re-sculpt, see Project Blodsong

As always, Comments and Critique welcomed and wanted.

Next, I promise I'll get back to my dire trolls - Maybe April

Cheers
A.S.

[Autumn Stone]

I've been planning on getting my dires painted up for a loooooooooong time, but life has kept getting in the way.
I've finally managed to create some time to paint, and so can get to my dire trolls

They are such beautifully sculpted pieces of pewter, and paint up so nicely.

I haven't yet got good names for them, but for me, this beautiful lass will always be Miss Tippy.




For anyone building this mini, it has some really odd join lines that make gap filling a little tricksy - especially where the back joins the pelvis. Take your time with the greenstuff - it will pay off in spades.
Also it is worth the time to sculpt a few extra quills to cover the join between head and back ridge. The gap is a bit noticeable without it.

Finally for anyone wanting to convert the model, the back is well sculpted under the rock ridge and quills, so you can safely leave it off if you want a muscular non-rocky back.

comments and critique welcomed.

Until next time,
Cheers
A.S.

[Autumn Stone]

I tried taking these photos with my new milk jug light box
http://privateerpressforums.com/show...k-Jug-Lightbox
Thanks for Jolly Angus for the idea.

I'm still trying to figure out how best to take these photos - they may be a little over-exposed. Maybe I just need to use a backdrop that is a little less stark white ...

As for Mulg himself, Assembly isn't too hard, but I left the club arm off to give me better access to his middle, and am glad I did. Filling the gap after gluing wasn't too hard due to the great design of the pieces and cut by PP. Lot's of pinning to keep his hollow self together - but the pins went in easily and hold well.
Painting-wise his skin will close to do itself with a simple wash as it it so ridged and rugged. I'm not sure I gained too much ground by blending it, but am very happy with the result even if you can only see it from a foot away. The kilt was a b!tch to do. Like Madrak (above) the lines go everywhere and don't follow the rules of well cut cloth. I had to cheat any number of times by losing a line in a fold of cloth, so don't look too hard at the pattern.
The club takes woodgrain, glowy runes and rust well - far better than I expected. The stones are a dream to paint - you can put as much effort as you want in, and they will repay it all - plus - FUN! The sharper edges do tend to chip a bit so you have to keep going back to touch them up before you get around to varnishing - but nothing new there.

Comments or critique of photos or mini are welcomed

Happy painting- Cheers
A.S.

[Ironmoose]

Awesome conversions on those lady-trolls! They look much, much better that way. The blues skin tones look extremely radioactive, but in a good way. I would be interested to see a group shot or two of the whole bunch.



Ironmoose

[PG_TimVanBoening]

I love the paint jobs and commentary on them. One question: why the different lady Troll heads? Grissel I understand, but Janissa I thought had a nicer female Troll sculpt.


Good work on everything!!!

[Autumn Stone]

# Tim, thanks for commenting (and resurrecting my thread from page 3).
Janissa cries herself to sleep at night remembering the horror of her sculpting.

The sculptor did an awesome job on her body and just couldn't tear his eyes away to watch as he sculpted her face.

Again and again she cried "my eyes are up here" but to no avail. When the sculptor finally realised his mistake, he compounded the error by just shrugging it off.

"With a slammin' bod like that, no-one will ever notice she has the Immoren's worst case of fish lips."

Well not on my watch. She actually thanked me when I pulled out the jeweller's saw and be-headed her. Probably the best head I've done to date.

For the whole story of the troll girls, follow the handcannon link in my sig.

#ironmoose, I'll do a group shot when I finish my kriel warriors. Thanks for the comments

Cheers
A.S.

[SchnauzerFace]

I love the vibrant blue you've got on these dudes! Mulg and Extreme Mauler are looking faaaantastic. And, as always, those tartan are unbelievable. Excellent job all around!

[CaptainPaprika]

Hey Autumn

Your trolls are awesome, really inspiring me to get back to painting mine. I have one question, what do you do to paint the rocky growths (chins, shoulders on the Axer, Mulg's Mountain). I also may have just ordered the rune bearer as well

[SlapHappySid]

I love the tartan pattern. This is really great work!

[Autumn Stone]

Thanks guys!

#schnauzer, glad you like them. It means a lot.
The blue is just white prime, frostbite base, wash with 4:1 waterledge acrylic floor polish with future and a drop of enchanted blue/cygnar highlight, then blend it all back as a transition between frostbite and cygnar blue.
I suspect it's the desaturated browns and metals that make the blue stand out so much.
More dires coming soon.

#captain, glad you like and even happier you're inspired. You'll love the rune bearer. He's amazing fun to paint. Such a nice mini.
As for the rocks, I've varied what I'm doing with them over time, but the gist of them is
Base coat with a dark grey (adept us battle grey in most cases)
Wash with badab black 5:2 with pledge floor polish with future. For my washes I tend to carefully paint them into the areas I want rather than just slather them all over the place
Drybrush with a light grey or desaturated brown or both (my current favourite is troll blood highlight)
Then as I paint the rest of the mini I keep on rubbing the edges and tops back to bare metal, so touch them up with a blend from adeptus battle grey to troll blood highlight - which makes them look more blended than they really are - for far less effort.

For those specific minis, the small rocks like chin spots or shoulder spots, I often truncate it with just carefully paint the rocks all dark grey. Wash. Just touch the top halves of the rocks with a watered down light grey/desat brown. Then with watered paints, if you finish where you touch them at the top, most of the pigment concentrates where you end the brush stroke, so much of the blending happens without you needing to do anything.

Most of the rocks on Mulg are the way I describe above, with a final bit of badab black mix into the deeper grooves at the end. The big central rock is a much more careful blend of those two colours

#sid. Wow. Coming from the house painter from the scrum... Wow thanks. Glad you like.

As for the tartans, tute is in the sig, (and hopefully soon on handcanononline)

Cheers
A.S.

[mdiscala]

great trolls. real fun comments on this plog too.

[Autumn Stone]

WHY?!?

WHY?!? Privateer Press?!? Why have you abandoned me?!?

For that plastic abomination?

I really have no idea what they were thinking. Such an amazing sculpt, so much fun to paint. I so hope they decide to continue to produce it as an exclusive release.

As for tips, this guy is a dream. Builds well, gap filling is a bit tricky in places, painting is fun. Fits the base well, has big enough feet and thick enough ankles to take some solid pins. The real trouble I had with him was photography. He casts some nasty shadows with a single light source.

Oh and for anyone who wonders about what Dire trolls wear under their kilts (and/or has heard rumors about the mauler)... Yes.

Anyway - enough of my rage. Instead you can enjoy my Mauler's rage. Next up EBDT

Cheers
A.S.

[Autumn Stone]

I can't believe it took me so long to come around to loving this guy.
I mean I always loved the dynamic sculpt, but something just kept putting me off. Then one day it all clicked. I just got it.
And the rest, as they say is history


Again, with this guy I struggled with the photography - The top pic is with the milk jug light box. The shadows look intimidating; however the lighting isn't working, and I couldn't get the correct angle
The second picture is probably better technically - still a little washed out by the light, but the only way I could get enough light on him to show his underbelly - which is usually hidden in shadow.
If anyone has any photo tips, please tell me.



"This won't end well"

The sculpt itself is amazing. It has to be. With that dynamic pose, there is an awful lot of weight and leverage applied to the joins next to the one arm that strikes the ground. I recommend solid pins both into the base and across the join of the body. Thankfully gap filling is pretty easy - but watch the join at the neck.
Painting him is again a dream, though it was a bit of a fiddle doing the tartan on his underwear. Yes my trollbloods - All tartan - All the time.


The biggest problem I had with this guy was the base. Partly because the rocky basing that comes with him has rock structure that doesn't occur in nature, and certainly doesn't match my favourite rock basing (cork and slate) so I had to do some hocus pocus with greenstuff and small stones. Also placement is a little tricky. I finally figured that the center of his fist pin lines up with the marker hole closest to the slot, and he faces in the direction of the slot. Once I'd figured this out, things became ... not really easier ... just less insurmountable.

Anyway, thanks for looking. Comment and critique (on the modeling, painting, or photography) very very welcome
Cheers
A.S.

PS - I know the trailing hand faces down, whereas the PP version has it palm up. I did some extensive testing - leaping over boulders as I smashed them into rubble with my bare fist, and found I managed to keep my balance better in this position. Thank goodness for re-posability.