Hi all,
Taking a break from the old Grenadier box sets for a display-level commission, I got a chance to work on a Forgeworld World Eaters Dreadnought. This was a bit of an experiment in painting almost entirely with inks, either straight from the bottle or mixed with some opaque Reaper and Vallejo paints. There were a few main ink colors used throughout the mini, Liquitex brand Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Napthol Crimson, and Turquoise dark hue. Those formed the bulk of the color. How they were applied varied a bit between areas of the figure.
To start, the model was primed black, then given a zenith coat of desert yellow, then white. I probably should have held the model on a wire for priming as the blowback from the ground negated most of the effect, but it still worked okay in the end.
The red plates were painted with a mix of napthol crimson and some Vallejo red-orange, in a thin layer, adding some more crimson as I made the gradients. After that dried a bit I build up the gradient further using turquoise mixed in with the crimson to make a dark red, and pure turquoise to make a semi-black. This ink is very dark, and not anything like the normal turquoise paint one gets from GW or Reaper, which would have white binder (talc) to make it brighter. The smoothness of the blends was done with many rapid strokes with different mixtures of ink. Liquitex ink dries a bit slower than hobby acrylic paint but once dry will not lift up, so it is very nice for glazes and layering. I cannot say the same for some other inks. It is also much flatter than old GW ink and some W&N ink I have tried. Edge highlights were done with some Reaper Golden Highlight mixed with Vallejo GC Hot-Orange paint. The scratches and dings were done with thinned black with the edges highlighted with the golden/orange mix. One thing about an ink-paint mix is that it is very smooth and flows well off the brush even when there is little loaded on the tip, so it is nice when trying to paint fine lines. Adding some extender did not help with blending at all though, as it made the previously painted ink start to lift up.
The gold trim was given a base coat of gold paint, then washed with a mixture of 50/50 burnt umber and raw umber ink, thickened with a mix of matte medium/water. The raw umber is the key here, as it gives the gold a warm yellowish-brown midtone. Once this was all dry, I used a mixture of Vallejo GC polished gold and silver to add the highlights, and thin layers of burnt umber ink to make the shadows. Edge highlights were plain silver.
The superstructure was given a base coat of bronze (Liquitex metallic ink actually). When dry I gave it a thick wash of turquoise/burnt umber ink mix, with matte medium. This gives it the dirty blueish-brown hue like very old bronze, but not with a patina, as that would mean the metal was corroded and might freeze up (not good for a mech). Some additional highlights were added with thinned bronze/silver, with edge highlights in pure silver.
cables were turquoise+black, highlighted with thinned white added. The optical sensors were turquoise and white, to give them more or a pop. The world motif was given a wash of turquoise and pthalo green ink, with a touch of white used to pick out the details.
The base was pretty simple, done with mostly raw umber and white for the GW Skullz(tm). The sand was given washes of many different colors for subtle tints.
That's pretty much it. Here is the pic combo.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/281816
Taking a break from the old Grenadier box sets for a display-level commission, I got a chance to work on a Forgeworld World Eaters Dreadnought. This was a bit of an experiment in painting almost entirely with inks, either straight from the bottle or mixed with some opaque Reaper and Vallejo paints. There were a few main ink colors used throughout the mini, Liquitex brand Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Napthol Crimson, and Turquoise dark hue. Those formed the bulk of the color. How they were applied varied a bit between areas of the figure.
To start, the model was primed black, then given a zenith coat of desert yellow, then white. I probably should have held the model on a wire for priming as the blowback from the ground negated most of the effect, but it still worked okay in the end.
The red plates were painted with a mix of napthol crimson and some Vallejo red-orange, in a thin layer, adding some more crimson as I made the gradients. After that dried a bit I build up the gradient further using turquoise mixed in with the crimson to make a dark red, and pure turquoise to make a semi-black. This ink is very dark, and not anything like the normal turquoise paint one gets from GW or Reaper, which would have white binder (talc) to make it brighter. The smoothness of the blends was done with many rapid strokes with different mixtures of ink. Liquitex ink dries a bit slower than hobby acrylic paint but once dry will not lift up, so it is very nice for glazes and layering. I cannot say the same for some other inks. It is also much flatter than old GW ink and some W&N ink I have tried. Edge highlights were done with some Reaper Golden Highlight mixed with Vallejo GC Hot-Orange paint. The scratches and dings were done with thinned black with the edges highlighted with the golden/orange mix. One thing about an ink-paint mix is that it is very smooth and flows well off the brush even when there is little loaded on the tip, so it is nice when trying to paint fine lines. Adding some extender did not help with blending at all though, as it made the previously painted ink start to lift up.
The gold trim was given a base coat of gold paint, then washed with a mixture of 50/50 burnt umber and raw umber ink, thickened with a mix of matte medium/water. The raw umber is the key here, as it gives the gold a warm yellowish-brown midtone. Once this was all dry, I used a mixture of Vallejo GC polished gold and silver to add the highlights, and thin layers of burnt umber ink to make the shadows. Edge highlights were plain silver.
The superstructure was given a base coat of bronze (Liquitex metallic ink actually). When dry I gave it a thick wash of turquoise/burnt umber ink mix, with matte medium. This gives it the dirty blueish-brown hue like very old bronze, but not with a patina, as that would mean the metal was corroded and might freeze up (not good for a mech). Some additional highlights were added with thinned bronze/silver, with edge highlights in pure silver.
cables were turquoise+black, highlighted with thinned white added. The optical sensors were turquoise and white, to give them more or a pop. The world motif was given a wash of turquoise and pthalo green ink, with a touch of white used to pick out the details.
The base was pretty simple, done with mostly raw umber and white for the GW Skullz(tm). The sand was given washes of many different colors for subtle tints.
That's pretty much it. Here is the pic combo.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/281816
