Thursday, January 3, 2019

Dauntless December: A Few Elucidian StarStriders

The last group of Models I did for Dauntless/Diabolical December, or at least, the last I got photographed. I actually finished them before the Ogroid Thaumaturge, but posted him first. For Dauntless December specifically, I painted up Voidmaster Nitsch, Knosso Prond, and the Galaxy's one and only Good Boy, Aximillion. (Voidsman Riguez is also included in this post, but does not count for Dauntless December, partly because he's just a squaddie, but mostly because the background describes him as being as much of a whiner and slacker as possible without getting sacked for it.)

I decided to change the Elucidian colour scheme to primarily white, since I haven't ever done much in white, and it seemed like a good chance to do some without having to do up a whole Army in white. I'm glad I made that decision, because not quite halfway through, and I'm already kind of sick of dealing with it.

First up is Voidmaster Nitsch. The sculpt kind of reminds me of John Wick, but with the white colour scheme, there wasn't really much I could do in that direction other than giving him black hair. I tried to do a bit of a wood grain effect on his shotgun's stock. Didn't come out as well as I wanted, but it did come out better than any previous attempts I've made, so I'm calling that a win.

I really wanted to do a pic in this pose, but couldn't get my camera to focus properly, and it sort of makes his cranial implant look like he's got cornrows.
Next up is Knosso Prond. The decision to go with a white colour scheme really changed the look here, but I like it. I also trimmed away the head she was holding, because it just didn't really feel right, and I liked it better as merely a counter-balancing part of the pose. I also had to perform some "breast-reduction surgery" because I couldn't deal with the fact that her nipples were sharper than her sword.

Dammit, just noticed I forgot to do the darts in the little holder on her left shoulder.

And now, what you've all been waiting for. The one, the only, the Galaxy's favourite Good Boy, Aximillion! I was a bit worried about getting his fur pattern to look good, but it was actually surprisingly easy. Very pleased how he came out.


Last, and least, the slacker Voidsman Riguez. He was my test Model for the group, which is why he's done ahead of the rest of the squaddies. I'm of two minds about my approach to new colour schemes, especially when they seem like they might end up being a serious pain to deal with. On the one hand, as in this case, I can do the least important Model first, in case I screw something up. On the other hand, I can do the most important Model first, so it will still be done properly in case I decide it's too much trouble and start cutting corners later on. What do y'all think about it?

His boots could use some touch-up. I'm sure Nitsch will have words with him about that later.

I like painting cigars. Trying to get the glow effect is fun when you only do it a little, but can become tiresome when you have to do a lot of it.
And a group shot to round things out

Incidentally, I didn't actually use white for any of this. After an article over on FLG a while back, I started taking Cavalier's advice and working just with off-whites instead. In this case, it's a Celestra Grey base coat, then Ultuan Grey over everything except the shadowed areas. As long as there are some strong contrasting colours, the eye pretty much reads it as white.

Well, that's it for Dauntless/Diabolical December. I have a few more minor things, some of the little gribblies from Rogue Trader, and then I should be done with my first Models of 2019. Until then, y'all have a good one, y'hear!

9 comments:

  1. Nipples shaper than her sword - LOL.

    They look great and that dog pattern did come out very well. I'd have been afraid of mucking that up as well but you pulled it off.

    My only criticism is the lack of contrast on the white. White, somewhat ironically I guess, should have more contrast/depth than any other color we paint. I like to work up from something very dark, like Eshin Grey, go through the greys and then white highlights.

    Alternatively, a good old wash of Nuln Oil does the trick and then you highlight in white.

    Some of it may be your lighting in the shots too. Looks a bit bright.

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    1. Thanks! And yeah, my lightbox has kind of harsh lighting. Riguez is kind of washed out, because he was my first try, but I don't really care. Prond could also use a little more shading in places, but there's so much fine detail around most of those spots that the risk/benefit analysis doesn't look good. Nitsch's suit looks great in person, tho.

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  2. White is by far the WORST color to work with, GW's especially! Vallejo's white is much easier to work with though still no picnic. These are looking pretty good though.

    As for which one to do first when testing a new color scheme, there's no rhyme or reason to my methods, meaning equal shares of grunts and leaders get 1st crack at a new color scheme.

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    1. Thanks! I actually find yellow to be even worse. The difference in difficulty between the two of them is way less than that between either of them and any other colour, tho.

      I've never really settled on one way or another, either. I've had both ways work out well for the overall project, and both work out poorly, too.

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  3. Vert nice work once again. The white uniform gives Voidmaster Nitsch a real "naval officer" look, especially with the cut of his uniform and trousers. The white I've finally settled on is Reaper's HD one. It's actually good, which brings it up a mile from GW's whites and even the other alternatives out there (Vallejo, AP, etc). Also loving the Good Boy!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, I was kind of thinking of naval dress whites when I was working on Nitsch. I'll have to check out that Reaper white. The GW ones just have too many issues.

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    2. Yeah. I've got a Ceramite White here that's basically entirely separated and set inside the pot. I like a lot of their paints, but some are complete garbage.

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    3. And most of their Base paints are so good, too.

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    4. Yeah. I'm literally in love with their range of reds.

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