Necroghast WIP, painting again after a long hiatus

[Necroghast]

Hello everyone,
I used to paint and post here a lot back when I was in high school, but took a long break from mini painting through art school and some years after. I work as a background painter in the animation industry now and really enjoy it, but was recently feeling like I needed to get back into a creative hobby that wasn't traditional painting. I picked up mini painting again a few months ago to scratch that itch and I think its finally time to start a WIP thread as I've been feeling really motivated to paint recently. I started just painting some one-off stuff, but after I heard about GWs Kill Team game, and remembering how fun it was to collect armies, I decided to put together some Kill Teams. WHo knows if I'll get around to playing, but I've been having fun planning them out. Right now I'm working on a Raven Guard kill team, I had a Raven Guard army back in highschool and I really liked all the new upgrades they got recently so it seemed to make sense.

I'm pretty much finished with the leader, an Intercessor Sergeant. Going for something akin to the Eavy Metal style with these. Pretty much finished with all the painting though it might need a few touch ups and I'll definitely be adding some decals. I'll be trying for a smoother transition on some of my edge highlighting with the next few marines as I think I didnt paint some of the initial highlights thick enough to really show up in the final paint job.

Whats really bothering me right now though is the base. Obviously its still a WIP, but I'm not sure where to take it. I usually do more natural style bases and I think I'm pretty good at them, but for these guys I wanted to do an urban/city style. The problem is that in my opinion flat greys and metallics look pretty boring with a mostly black paint job. I feel like it needs to play off the black color scheme better. I'm thinking about maybe doing some rusty red colors, but any suggestions you all have would be appreciated!

Oh and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to take pictures so I have some variations here.

Thanks for looking!

 

[ten ball]

Welcome back
very good work, clean and sharp :good:
On the armour a few more progressions of darker greys or a wash or two of black just to tone down the step in the blends.

 

[ekipage]

Really nice work on the Raven Guard. Welcome back to the hobby

 

[Necroghast]

Thank you! On the next one ill try to make my darker edge highlights a bit thicker so theres more of a transition. Theres 5 layers on this one but its a bit hard to tell!

 

[Sik Willy]

Welcome back to the hobby, I just got back in myself a couple years ago after about 10 years out. Great work, very clean, and definitely looks very Eavy Metal. For the base, add some more shadow in the recesses and toward the bottom, maybe some red/purple/blue tones with inks to give it more interest. That may help.

 

[Necroghast]

A few quick phone photos. I decided to give the base a rain forest mud color with a transition from a yellow brown to a red brown. Some red dry pigment and Army Painter grass tufts finishes it off! I'll take some better pictures when I have time and the I'll start working on the next ones.

 

[Coyotebreaks]

welcome back to the hobby. thats some nice sharp painting

 

[Dexter0015]

Welcome back to the hobby. I know the feeling too...

Good job on this sergeant.

As for the base (or futures one anyway), you can use some plasticard to create fabric ground and use masking tape to paint yellow stripes. Yellow will work very well witht the black armor I think.
And of course rust!

 

[Necroghast]

Thats a good idea! Might try that with future pieces.

Here are some finished pictures, still messing with how to get the best photos, so maybe I'll get some better ones eventually.

And heres the next Kill Team member, a Reiver. Excited for this one, I really like the dynamic pose.

 

[Necroghast]

I'm still painting! Been really busy with work so I havent gotten as much time as I'd like. Here are some quick photos of the Reiver. Not super happy with how the transitions in the edge highlighting came out, its definitely smoother than these photos show but I think I did a better job with the first sergeant. Oh well! Still got 4 more to do after this guy.

 

[Rowwwsdower]

As others have said, welcome back! That feels a bit weird saying that just because I'm new lol.

I like your style! You've managed to combine the edge highlighting characteristic of the 'eavy Metal approach with some NMM, and it looks really good!

You also paint black armor well, so you have my respect by default haha.

 

[Kallfa]

Nice edge highlighting indeed, especially when black is quite painfull to paint in my opinion. I like your basing work as well, it brings out your minis.

 

[gorb]

I agree, the bases are all great. I like how the second model is posed at an angle, gives it a very dynamic feel.
The black armor looks great! The edge highlights are very neat.

 

[ekipage]

I really like this latest one as well. The only thing I really notice is that it seems to have more texture on it (like the primer was drying before it hit the figure). If you aren't happy with the edge highlight transitions you can always paint over them and redo them, black is very useful as a main color for covering perceived mistakes or things you don't like

 

[Necroghast]

Thanks for the comments! I think you're right that this guy did pick up a pit more texture from the primer but I'm just dealing with it. Also realized that it might feel a bit off to me just because there are so many more panels to highlight than on the first guy. Just ends up looking a bit busier than I was used to. 4 more to practice on though!

Heres a bit of progress on the face and the shoulder

 

[gorb]

Nice, the shading on the shoulder insignia is great, and those eye-lenses are perfect, especially the color choice of orange vs the white-blue.

 

[Necroghast]

I was away for the holidays. but now I'm back and painting again. This guys almost done, just gotta do the metallic parts and a few touch ups. Decided to take some pictures last night, my phone camera has decided that I should also show off every tiny speck of dust and hair on him too.

I think I'll take a break from the Raven Guard after this guy and paint up a Dark Angels Chaplain I did a light conversion on.

 

[Necroghast]

The Reiver is done! Had a lot of fun with this one. Taking a break from Raven Guard for a bit, but not from Space Marines. Got a converted Dark Angels Chaplain to work on next.

 

[gorb]

These guys look super sharp, love the armor and the leather work too.

 

[Necroghast]

Thank you! I'm really having a lot of fun with them.