Harlequin Carnival - La Danse Macabre

Yeah that's a fair point. Time frames can add unnecessary stress. In regards to the white, I'd be part noting it light, light grey and glaze highlighting to white ish.
Then edge highlight with pure white.
More effort than it should be, but the big bird is a worthy model

I have to say I don't work too well on tight time frames. Makes me rush and then lots of mistakes ensue. I will give that a go on the grey/white, as you suggest, and then add weathering after.

Cheers

SC

One whole month since your last update?
Blasphemy!

Heresphamy!

I know. December has been a real busy month for me. Family commitments and busy time at work has meant I have not had hardly any hobby time at all. I have done some Jan hobby resolutions so I have a bit of focus for the month. http://www.objectivesecured.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/hobby-progress.html

I have been working on the raider crew but only got so far as pairing and washing the base reds. These will be finished by the end of Jan, and I will then post up pics of the finished raider.

That drummer is beautiful

(you know i'm just stirring you!)
Models looking coolness... but i have to ask...
Why do you have a fantasy command group in your kabalites?

Cos they are part of a carnival, so banging drums and tooting horns is all part of the fun

I very much want to see how they will be mounted

In that case given the nautical element how about some type of accordian or squeeze box as well for doing hornpipes while decapitating SMs?

Lol yeah I could do that for the next one. A bit of gs work and I reckon I could make a passable accordion for one of the crew.

Aha! What? A carnival unit finished? Never!............ Yes yes I can confirm that I have indeed finished the crew for my second raider.











These have taken a month and a half (with a few other projects slotted in of course). I lost motivation part way through, as the batch painting part sapped my will. Once I got through that however I found enjoyment in them again, planning and painting all the different colours. The character of each really helped, and I found amusement in imagining them banging their drums and tooting their horns in each game whilst riding in their pimped up raider (I know, small minds, easily pleased ). The raider is finished and varnished, but the crew are now waiting for the infamous British rain to bloody cease so I can get the gloss and dullcoat applied and glue em to the raider. Hopefully I can post up the whole thing pretty soon

Although I hate batch painting it really is necessary to speed up the quite lengthy paint job that is involved. I batch painted the reds, metals, flesh and the accoutrements like the visls and pouches. Once these were done the colours were planned out and I could start the fun bit . I tried to link each member of the crew to each other, by including all the same colours on each, but in differing places and amounts. I think this works to tie them all together (as well as the red core) but at the same time giving them some individuality. I did not do my customary patterns though, as the raider is quite decorated and I did not want the crew to complicate it too much by adding their own to the mix.

Your thoughts on these are appreciated

SC

I think they really do justice to your fantastic project.

The driver in particular, with his lion pelt, is wonderfully detailed. Quite a few scars, more so than most Dark Eldar care to acquire

stunning.

*trying to be nonchalant*
Yeah, it's aight.

Extremely well executed. You clearly have superior brush control, and the thought you've put into the color layouts really shows. They're nicely balanced visually, and very original

Legendary as ever. The pilot in particular is absolute aces. I just love the colors and application... just really smooth and vibrant. The kitbashing is as always totally on point. Congrats on another success SC keep it up!

Thanks very much everybody I hope to get the raider with crew mounted up this weekend if the weather holds and I can get them varnished.

Well, here we go

What rubbish.









Don't leave them unattended for too long or they may disappear.
(do you like my underhanded compliments? heh heh)

I shall keep em safely under lock and key

Riotous color. This is really fun to look at, it's so vibrant and varied without feeling cluttered or busy at all. Do you spend a lot of time planning your color layouts, or does this come naturally to you?

Thanks eohall

It was not natural at first, but I learnt pretty quickly (mainly by doing smaller infantry models) that alot of patterns and colours mashed together do not look good. Sometimes less is more. I use more flat planes of colours as the base (especially on the vehicles) so the eye is drawn more naturally to the embellishments like the orange lava lamp effect. This makes it much more vivid as the eye is drawn to it, but it also helps to enhance the colours around it too. Having a base colour across the whole army (red in this case) also helps to tie the vehicle together with the crew and the rest of the force. I do plan a little ahead now as I tend to picture a scheme or sometimes just a pattern in my head before I put brush to model (just built up the experience by trying) and I have a general idea of what colours work well together. I occasionally use a colour wheel as well when I need to see if a colour clashes with others.

SC

Good evening ladies and gents. I have been working hard on completing painting the last 5 warrior conversions so I can finally field a full squad of 10. I am pleased to say I finished them on Friday, varnishing and basing them when the weather was clement (a rare occurence here in the UK).

These 5 models have been sitting in my cabinet for over 1 1/2 years waiting to be painted, but I could never bring myself to get them finished. I did start 8 months ago, applying the red basecoat for the armour sections, and then I abandoned them again. I was just not in the right frame of mind to get them finished. My mojo was telling me to leave them, and I did .

This year I vowed to myself I would paint enough of my DE to bring to a tournament. I am immensely proud of what I have achieved with this army so far, and would like to finally bring them into the limelight, playing games and hopefully get more inspired to continue working and painting on the project. Well, I have now bought my ticket for a 750pt tournament run by Alex over at 'From Fhe Fang' called Double Trouble. I only needed a few more units doing to run a viable list, and these 5 warriors were one. (I need 1 more venom and then I am ready). Also on the agenda is Hero for a Day in August, which I hope to get even more done for (stay tuned for my plans for that). Having a goal really is helping me push along to a finishing point, and completing these milestones, no matter how small, is really satisfying. The monthly hobby vows is really helping me focus too, and keeps my painting motivation fresh.

Enough jibber jabber. Lets talk about the models. As usual I started with the batch painted elements on all 5. Doing all stages of the red armour (base, medium highlight, wash, highlight), then moving onto the metals, pouchesm vials etc. Basically anything that is the same across all 5 I batch painted. This really speeds things up but is a tad tedious, as I do take an age to paint anything (I am very meticulous, but also just generally slow at painting). Once all those were done I moved onto the colours. I had no fixed plan for each, just picking colours from my paint rack, seeing if they worked with the model, then following the first colour choice with more and more, until all areas had a colour choice. I then started on the highlighting stages (I apply the base colour for each before I do the wash and highlights, to see if they work together). When all 5 models were completely coloured I then went onto the patterns, deciding if the model needed it or not (there is a danger of overcomplicating or ruining a paint job by adding patterns sometimes) . I enjoy both this stage all the colour work as I can have a little fun. This is where the models really come alive to me.

Below are the pics of the 5, followed by a group shot with all 10 together.

























SC