Competition Entry

[emopainterguy]

I\'m currently working on my first competition entry and I have a few questions. First off the model I\'m painting is a vampire count grave guard. I don\'t have a camera so I can\'t show you what I\'ve done, but this is the model I\'m using:

I\'ve decided not to use the shield that came with it, and have put a lantern in his shield hand and added a strap to cover the shield attachment part. I plan on painting the sword blade so that its magical and glowing. I want to do some lighting effects from both the sword and the lantern but I haven\'t really decided on colors yet. I want to do the sword in blue, and the lantern in a green like witch fire. I\'m not sure if this will look good though. I\'m not sure if two different colors for lighting effects on the same model would look good. I plan on painting the cloth black and the lighting effects would be on more or less opposite parts of the model. So I was wondering what you think about using two different colors for lighting effects on the same model. Also both will need to cover some metals (painted with metallic paints) and I\'m not sure what the best way to do that.

Finally I was wondering if you think that competition models need to have freehand on them to really stand out. I don\'t think that freehand would really suit this particular model and I don\'t plan on doing any. In your opinion would this put me in any sort of disadvantage?

I appreciate any and all help/comments you can give. Thanks.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

I would imagine having two light sources would be quite a challenge. I would read the OSL article plus Cyrils article on glowing eyes (as he uses green glow effects).

My return sheet from Golden Demon has coversion as quite a point scorer and I think that is correc. So with your lantern and double OSL I don\'t think you need worry to much about free hand work.

 

[emopainterguy]

The competition I\'m entering is just a small one at my local Games Workshop. The information I\'ve found says that conversion will not score as many points as good paintjob, as it is specifically a painting competition. I read the article a while back, but I\'ll definately look again when I get around to the lighting effect on the lantern.

 

[emopainterguy]

Ok got a picture, almost done now. As you can see I scrapped the idea of the blue glowing sword. I couldnt get the sword looking quite right, and the color didnt suit the model itself so I just went with a weathered blade. I think the light sourcing from the lantern was well done. Comments and criticisms appreciated. I posted it in the WIP thread, but I thought maybe posting it here will help get more exposure and comments so I can make it much better than it already is. I\'ve been thinking about adding blood to the sword, what are you\'re thoughts on this? Anyways here\'s what I have done:

 

[bayrodney]

Wow, that is very nice, can we have a front on view...?
the lantern looks really good

 

[Legacy Account]

It looks good, but it\'d be easier to see the quality of paintwork with much larger pics. It\'s really difficult to pick out subtleties of paintjobs at this scale.

 

[Sanitarium]

Nice job!

Ok, now if you want to improove it you could paint some thin gray lines (as the tunic) over the lightned-greenish part of the tunic (to represent the shadows cast by the net that holds the glass of the lantern toghether-however you must pay great attention on the direction these lines go (emulate the pattern of the lantern glass))-you could varnish it before, so if you don\'t like the way it looks you can strip it off these lines without damaging the paintwork you\'ve already done.
Another nice option would be to paint the eyes in the same greenish glow of the lantern (simply paint it green and then add more white to the colour as you get to the center of the eye pits). and some glow around the eyes.
As for the blood on the sword, it has to look old and gruesome (undeads don\'t clean their weapons after use)-look at some nurgle models with blood over their weapons for example.

 

[emopainterguy]

Thanks for the comments guys. I\'d like to put up better pics but those were the best I could get, I don\'t have my own camera so I have to borrow one to get pictures. I dont think I\'ll try the lines from the lanters wires, but its something I\'ll think about for improving on later. I\'m going to try blood later tonight, and then varnish it, as I\'m submitting it for judging tomorow. Wish me luck.

 

[emopainterguy]

Well, I just wanted to update in case you were wondering. I did the blood, turned out alright. But I didnt manage to place. Some really great stuff in the comp I didn\'t expect. There\'s another in 6 months so I\'ll be trying again, maybe I can pull it off this time. It\'s a little dissappointing but nothing I can do about that. Just keep trying and hope to win one eventually.