Friday 17 April 2009

Tyranid Carnifex

Here are some pictures of a carnifex I've just finished. It didn't take too long to do and I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I still can't figure out how to achieve a smooth finish - I keep ending up with a rather grainy/powerdery effect (much like the Howling Banshees - see previous post). Any suggestions would be much appreciated!







It's been a good week for painting (holidays do help) but I'm stuck for what to tackle next. I've got the Orks from AoBR (as well as two mega-armoured nobz I bought last week) to do which are reasonably easy to paint, there are just a lot of minis (20+). Or there are some Eldar Guardians (which I've already started) but I'm struggling to create a deep enough yellow for the Iyanden colour scheme I want. In a recent White Dwarf, there was a yellow effect for a Bad Moon Ork (using Iyanden Darksun etc.) which I could try. Does anyone have a solid method for a good yellow colour?

I'm sure I'll make it past what is clearly a difficult decision...thoroughly enjoying the painting side of the hobby at the moment.

5 comments:

  1. Grainy paint. It's a common effect that comes from drybrushing. There are a few ways to get a smoother finish...

    1.) You could dry layering instead of drybrushing. It is a harder technique, though. You start with the darkest colors, then apply a layer of a slightly brighter color (always water down each color). Each brighter layer should be over a small area, until the final layer is only edges and very raised areas.

    2.) Wet-blending. This is even harder than layering and takes a lot of practice, though the outcome is way satisfying. Timing is key here. Here's a link to how Ron Saikowski wet-blends.

    3.) Washes. Applying a wash over your model will bring the colors together and give a smoother effect overall, as well as add some dynamic shading. It's a very simple technique, but keep in mind that it will darken the model. You can account for this by either painting the base+highlights brighter than normal knowing they'll get darker, or you can apply a highlight after the wash step (suggest layering that highlight, if after... or you'll have the grain effect again.)

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  2. haha, #1 should say you could TRY layering, not DRY layering. I confuse myself sometimes. ;)

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  3. So with the colour scheme above, what wash would you recommend for the bone section? That's the grainiest part (similar to the howling banshees in my previous post). With the carnifex i used a base of bleached bone followed by a wash of leviathan purple, then highlight of bleached bone followed by bleached bone/skull white highlight. Thank you the advice so far.

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  4. I would suggest taking a few of the extra pieces in the Carnifex kit that you're not using to try a few tests.

    With how you're currently setting things up, I would suggest either another (watered down) wash of Leviathan, or if you wanted to keep the "bone" color, try Gryphonne Sepia. Don't wash heavily, just a light thin layer; enough to glaze and blend the highlights into the medium tone, and not enough to screw up your dark purple shading in the recesses.

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  5. On one of your tests, try basecoating with white. Follow with a heavy Leviathan Purple wash, then re-highlight in white.

    If it's not "bone" colored enough, follow above with a thin Gryphonne Sepia wash.

    ...just to see if there's a possible faster way (i.e. fewer steps) to get an effect that you are happy with.

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