Will Vale Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Hi all, Quick project this week - I started painting up some of the opposition from Blackstone Fortress. These are Ur-Ghuls - they lurk in the shadows and are generally sneaky and menacing. I started on Monday, did an hour or two per night and they were done on Friday morning, which is very quick for me. It helps a great deal that they don't have any detail on them - it's just skin and teeth - so none of the messing around tidying up edges and the like. They don't even have eyes! I painted them with thinned Contrast paints with white ink highlights, and did the gore with stringy UHU glue. Once that's started to set you can thicken it up with an acrylic like Blood for the Blood God. Fun stuff The reason I haven't painted any of these before was that I wasn't sure how to deal with the bases - I ended up trying to make them match the tiles, with scraps of styrene cut in geometric shapes and painted with a grid of purple lines. I think they turned out fairly well and I have some ideas on doing it better next time (as ever!) Cheers, Will 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Really nice Will. I like the way you've added a lot of perceived detail to what are fairly simple sculpts - the bloody hand and mouth, the speckling on the back - any chance of a rear shot to show that speckling better? The bases are fantastic too - I really thought you'd cut out a print and stuck it to the tops at first. One question though; what are the, err... clumps of 'soil'? Do these boys still need to be house trained? Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted September 20, 2020 Author Share Posted September 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Andy Moore said: Really nice Will. I like the way you've added a lot of perceived detail to what are fairly simple sculpts - the bloody hand and mouth, the speckling on the back - any chance of a rear shot to show that speckling better? Thanks! I don't have any extra pics but I'll see if I can take some tomorrow. It doesn't go very far down the back though. 1 hour ago, Andy Moore said: The bases are fantastic too - I really thought you'd cut out a print and stuck it to the tops at first. One question though; what are the, err... clumps of 'soil'? Do these boys still need to be house trained? Haha, it's supposed to be rubble but it's a bit unconvincing 😛 I needed to hide the gaps around the feet as the figures are on tabs (stupid slottabases!) I think for some of the other figures I'll cut the tabs off, fill the slots, and pin them instead. I used crushed coal to get some crystalline structure, but once it's matted down it loses most of the magic. Probably some chopped up plastic in larger pieces would work better. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Very nice! Especially like the bloody hand, and the bases are cool, they look very "ethereal" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 Thanks, the hand was predictably the most fun bit to do. Plus I keep wanting to say "Bloody hand" in the style of "Bloody eye" from Cowboy Bebop @Andy Moore here's a pic of the back. I didn't take the spots very far down as the "panels" got smaller and smaller. You can see how chunky and un-blended my white highlights are on the darker areas. That's partly why I didn't highlight the legs at all. Cheers, Will 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Cheers Will, they look equally good from the back. 9 hours ago, Will Vale said: You can see how chunky and un-blended my white highlights are on the darker areas I think that works on the spine. Makes it look like boney protrusions coming through the skin - also, I've only just noticed how the purple wash on the hands and face ties in with the base tiles 👍. Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 Cheers Andy, it was a very low number of colours overall to keep it all tied together. I'm just starting the spindle drones (weird three legged biomechanical things with HAL 9000 eyes) and trying to get a shellfish look. Will 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Spindle Drones you say? I need to take some better pics and fix that knee, but they're done too. Quite pleased with the pearly shell. W 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 I love the pearl effect, is that done with contrast paint too? Nice shading/highlighting on his pet skull. Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 1 hour ago, Andy Moore said: I love the pearl effect, is that done with contrast paint too? Thanks Andy The "diffuse" part of it is contrast, I mixed some translucent mixes of contrast medium with green, purple and cyan. Then painted the carapace with neat medium and dotted it with the different mixes and blended them out with a clean brush. The coat of medium seems to work well for avoiding tide-marks and gives a bit more working time. Once it was dry I sprayed it with a coat of Pearl Clear from the Tamiya LP range, and finally filled in the cracks again with blue-grey contrast to kill the sheen. The pearl doesn't really give a flip paint effect across the surface, but the contrast layer fakes that and the pearl has tiny mica particles (or something) which do flip. It looks *ace* in person but doesn't show well in the stills 'cos the light is very diffuse. Maybe more visible in the group shot? I've been decalling Gundam parts all day so haven't done the final photos of the drones, but I'll see if I can make the pearl show up a bit more when I do. Will 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soeren Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Really cool looking monsters here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 Those are some lovely models, I'm really impressed with how "clean" they look, plus the bases are great too! I definitely do not have enough confidence with my miniatures to show them so close up. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swralph Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Very nicely painted.😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 Thanks! On 10/18/2020 at 10:11 AM, ChrisL said: I definitely do not have enough confidence with my miniatures to show them so close up. 🙂 I really like it when I see other people's minis "warts and all" so try and do the same with mine. Plus it helps spot things I've missed, which happens quite a lot even with a magnifier. Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade2009 Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 Great job on the painting of the Ur-Ghuls, i like the effect you got with the blood. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carts Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 These look amazing! Just embarking on some minatures myself,Aliens,naturally,and will troll your threads for tips.👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted January 13, 2021 Author Share Posted January 13, 2021 On 1/12/2021 at 5:22 AM, Blade2009 said: Great job on the painting of the Ur-Ghuls, i like the effect you got with the blood. Thanks, I'd seen other people do amazing stuff with UHU and never tried it, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and less fragile (when bulked up with acrylic) than I was expecting. 4 hours ago, Carts said: These look amazing! Just embarking on some minatures myself,Aliens,naturally,and will troll your threads for tips.👍 One of us! Look forward to seeing you apply your mad paint skillz to some weeny aliens, Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now