Generally speaking the Veterans would all be first company. If you equip them like a regular tactical squad (instead of loading up on power weapons and stuff for basic troopers) then I could see them being a fluffy unit, but if you give them gear a regular Tactical Squad can\'t have then they really don\'t belong in the traditional company organization anymore.
Blood Raven army log
- Thread starter emopainterguy
- Start date
emopainterguy
New member
Thanks Dan. First company it is. Now I just need to come up with an icon for the banner and away I go.
Any ideas as to what would make a good icon/heraldry would be awesome. Inner field is painted (highlighted shaded all that good stuff) but not showing very well.
*edit* I may actually say screw it to the fluff since I know a lot more of the 2nd company icons/heraldry and the motto (however that\'ll probably get saved for the main banner...). */edit*
*edit yet again* No update on front, but here\'s the back... Not terribly happy (not unhappy either) with it. Poorly planned, kinda jumped right in. I didnt really think about where things were gonna start or stop and so I had to throw the Blood Raven Icon on there to even it out... I\'ll centre \"Raven\" under it.
Any ideas as to what would make a good icon/heraldry would be awesome. Inner field is painted (highlighted shaded all that good stuff) but not showing very well.
*edit* I may actually say screw it to the fluff since I know a lot more of the 2nd company icons/heraldry and the motto (however that\'ll probably get saved for the main banner...). */edit*
*edit yet again* No update on front, but here\'s the back... Not terribly happy (not unhappy either) with it. Poorly planned, kinda jumped right in. I didnt really think about where things were gonna start or stop and so I had to throw the Blood Raven Icon on there to even it out... I\'ll centre \"Raven\" under it.
emopainterguy
New member
I was thinking maybe a ravens skull over the crux terminatus thinger. Any thoughts?
Got more done on the banner, and on the dread, but no pictures as you cant really see much of a difference right now.
Got more done on the banner, and on the dread, but no pictures as you cant really see much of a difference right now.
Something based around the Crux is perfect for a Vet Squad of any kind. Are you any good at sketching stuff out by hand, I\'m not sure if a regular or raven skull would look better. The Raven skulls all over Commander Shrike don\'t exactly endear me to him, they were annoying as hell to paint.
Then again he had something like 17 wings on him in total (between the chapter badge, his shoulder pad, chest eagle, knee had a little bird on it, helmet had a bird on it, backpack had several sets of wings on it... you get the idea!) so maybe I just got sick of the eternal \"picking out details\" phase
Oh yeah, having a little square in the corner of the banner to mark out squad number would be cool. I love that style of banner. Very classic and it\'s making a comeback in the DA book.
Then again he had something like 17 wings on him in total (between the chapter badge, his shoulder pad, chest eagle, knee had a little bird on it, helmet had a bird on it, backpack had several sets of wings on it... you get the idea!) so maybe I just got sick of the eternal \"picking out details\" phase
Oh yeah, having a little square in the corner of the banner to mark out squad number would be cool. I love that style of banner. Very classic and it\'s making a comeback in the DA book.
emopainterguy
New member
I\'ll try sketching out some designs in my breaks tomorow. I did some earlier for a second company banner but I just couldnt get it to look good.
The gold is bubonic brown highlighted up with white, and shaded down with black inks.
I personally like the sheild, I think it\'ll look a lot better when the entire thing is done.
The gold is bubonic brown highlighted up with white, and shaded down with black inks.
I personally like the sheild, I think it\'ll look a lot better when the entire thing is done.
emopainterguy
New member
Ok. Heres the inner part of the crux done, need to do the gold trim and the ravens head still. NMM is simply codex grey up to white. I hate painting NMM as it never looks any good till you take a picture of it, and my pictures always suck...
Hoping to get a lot of painting done tonight and tomorow... Heck, every day this week really. Trying to get my veteran and dread done for sunday... The dread is looking somewhat iffy for that... The torso has some really rough spots I hope I can sort out.
Instead of being a double posting fiend I\'ll just edit here. Got the gold trim done. Gonna play around with skulls before I paint it. Here\'s where hes at. looks a little rough but its really quite clean in real life...
Hoping to get a lot of painting done tonight and tomorow... Heck, every day this week really. Trying to get my veteran and dread done for sunday... The dread is looking somewhat iffy for that... The torso has some really rough spots I hope I can sort out.
Instead of being a double posting fiend I\'ll just edit here. Got the gold trim done. Gonna play around with skulls before I paint it. Here\'s where hes at. looks a little rough but its really quite clean in real life...
looking good, you got the banner to look real , I mean not to overpainted and still with a symbol you would recognice. I dont know if laurels(hope it\'s spelled that way) fits with the blod ravens, if the do it might look good on the banner - the green would contrast the colors, bringing it even further to life.
Like the pose of the (was he a ) commander. he looks big and ready.
Like the pose of the (was he a ) commander. he looks big and ready.
Darkmessiah
New member
good stuff emo, i really like the lib and ur red are very strong, quite fitting for blood ravens, can i ask wot colours u used for ur gold nmm?
emopainterguy
New member
@Manus: I\'ll think about adding the laurels but right now I think the banner may be getting a little too busy, as I added a company marking in the bottom left, and squad marking in the bottom right. I don\'t think there is enough room for the laurels... Plus on the Termie banner there is a set of laurels around the cross so I don\'t want to copy that too much. Oh and he\'s a veteran sergeant.
@Darkmessiah: The NMM gold is simply bubonic brown highlighted up to white, and \"shaded\" down with black ink. I really like painting reds, I find my method is simple and effective.
@Darkmessiah: The NMM gold is simply bubonic brown highlighted up to white, and \"shaded\" down with black ink. I really like painting reds, I find my method is simple and effective.
Flightless
New member
Can i ask how you did the metal on his head? It really does look wonderfully chrome-y.
I\'m now painting that same head and, using my current terrible methods, i just cannot do it justice. It needs a lot more work than random machine metal, or larger parts of vehicles, to look decent.
Granted, my two methods i\'ve used for painting metal have been drybrushing (plus some painting), or painting solidly then black ink (i do not get on well with ink). So any hints would be appreciated.
I\'m guessing it\'s just knowing how to use inks, largely (plus skill, obviously).
Minor criticism would be that the strap on his storm bolter doesn\'t appear to be obeying gravity all that much.
I\'d be intrigued to see some close-ups of the rest of the veteran squad. They do a good job of each looking very individual. Which is the idea, i know, but...
Kudos on the librarian. It looks freakishly like Isador.
Oh, and where\'s the werewolf quote from?
I\'m now painting that same head and, using my current terrible methods, i just cannot do it justice. It needs a lot more work than random machine metal, or larger parts of vehicles, to look decent.
Granted, my two methods i\'ve used for painting metal have been drybrushing (plus some painting), or painting solidly then black ink (i do not get on well with ink). So any hints would be appreciated.
I\'m guessing it\'s just knowing how to use inks, largely (plus skill, obviously).
Minor criticism would be that the strap on his storm bolter doesn\'t appear to be obeying gravity all that much.
I\'d be intrigued to see some close-ups of the rest of the veteran squad. They do a good job of each looking very individual. Which is the idea, i know, but...
Kudos on the librarian. It looks freakishly like Isador.
Oh, and where\'s the werewolf quote from?
emopainterguy
New member
The metallics on the head aren\'t finished yet... but here\'s a run down of what i did, and what i will do. Though to be fair that picture was taken with flash so its not really representative of the head in reality.
-basecoat boltgun metal
-mix brown+black ink (more brown, and watered down), ink/wash solidly everywhere
-reapply bolt gun leaving crevaces darker.
-straight black ink into crevaces (applied VERY carefully with the tip of a fine detail brush)
-mix boltgun and chainmail highlight
-chainmail highlight (*where i am now)
-watered down black ink wash everywhere
-reapply chainmail
-mithril highlights
All my metallics are watered down significantly as well. I dont know exact ratios of my mixes as it doesnt really do me any good to keep track of that sort of thing. So play around with it till you get it right. Also I\'ve found that when I do watered down metallics I need to wait a good hour or so before washing them as the inks and what not will lift my metallics right off...
From that angle the strap does look off, but it is hanging more realistically I assure you.
I\'ll try to get some individual shots of the squad provided I have some time (surely i can scrounge some time up between layers and inking...).
And lastly and certainly not least. The quote is from an awesome little cartoon network show \"The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy\".
-basecoat boltgun metal
-mix brown+black ink (more brown, and watered down), ink/wash solidly everywhere
-reapply bolt gun leaving crevaces darker.
-straight black ink into crevaces (applied VERY carefully with the tip of a fine detail brush)
-mix boltgun and chainmail highlight
-chainmail highlight (*where i am now)
-watered down black ink wash everywhere
-reapply chainmail
-mithril highlights
All my metallics are watered down significantly as well. I dont know exact ratios of my mixes as it doesnt really do me any good to keep track of that sort of thing. So play around with it till you get it right. Also I\'ve found that when I do watered down metallics I need to wait a good hour or so before washing them as the inks and what not will lift my metallics right off...
From that angle the strap does look off, but it is hanging more realistically I assure you.
I\'ll try to get some individual shots of the squad provided I have some time (surely i can scrounge some time up between layers and inking...).
And lastly and certainly not least. The quote is from an awesome little cartoon network show \"The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy\".
emopainterguy
New member
Well got a good amount of painting done. And by good I mean very little in reality lol... Sunday deadline. Got the vet\'s head \'done\', and I quite honestly feel it puts the librarians face to shame... Very pleased with it. I was up past midnight painting. I\'ll try to get some pics up when I get home in... oh... 9 or so hours...
@Manus: The banner itself is definitely done now, and it\'s not getting anymore work on it (other than the banner pole and icon on top that is). Jericho has seen it in person and I\'m sure he\'ll attest to it looking better in person than in the photos (then again I\'m sure he\'d probably like to point out my inability to take photos anyways)
@Manus: The banner itself is definitely done now, and it\'s not getting anymore work on it (other than the banner pole and icon on top that is). Jericho has seen it in person and I\'m sure he\'ll attest to it looking better in person than in the photos (then again I\'m sure he\'d probably like to point out my inability to take photos anyways
)emopainterguy
New member
Ok. So closeups were asked for. Here we go:
Two \"standard\" vets (one more of this nature in the works)
Double powerclaws (absolutely huge... far bigger than I thought they\'d be...)
Power weapon
Somewhat \"standard\" vet (got 3 more to fill up the unit)
And finally last, and definately not least, the Vet Sergeant himself (still undecided on a name...)
Two \"standard\" vets (one more of this nature in the works)
Double powerclaws (absolutely huge... far bigger than I thought they\'d be...)
Power weapon
Somewhat \"standard\" vet (got 3 more to fill up the unit)
And finally last, and definately not least, the Vet Sergeant himself (still undecided on a name...)
emopainterguy
New member
Well some of the highlights got washed out... and theres some glare from the metallics still but thats the head in its completed glory. Very happy with the end result. Must get back to painting soon lol...
