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Author Topic: Sigmud's army blog  (Read 15471 times)

Offline Sigmud

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Sigmud's army blog
« on: December 02, 2010, 07:36:29 PM »
Hey guys,

Been lurking these forums and admiring all the paint jobs for a while now

Any way i have started over the last 2 years painting a small empire army ... mostly on a break for a year now. T
hought id show u some stuff and  hopefully get some feedback and comments

really love painting these guys and wanna improve!!!! so fire away!!!

Cheers  :::cheers:::

EDIT: because the pics where too dark took some more decent i think....
please send me comments and tips!!










p.s. i think the camera isn't doing them total justice they look a bit shinny here while in reality they are more mat
any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated also!!
« Last Edit: April 15, 2011, 06:55:28 AM by Sigmud »

Offline Delthos

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Re: noob empire army comments most welcome
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2010, 07:47:15 PM »
I'd like to see a shot of your Standard Bearers's Banner in the unit of Knights. From what I can see of it, the banner looks really nice.
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Offline Sigmud

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Re: noob empire army comments most welcome
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2010, 08:31:23 PM »
so some more pictures of my standards hope u like them!

cant get a good one of the knight atm will try tomorrow with some natural light the flash makes them shinny  :icon_cry:






Offline patsy02

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Re: noob empire army comments most welcome
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2010, 08:32:44 PM »
The banners are indeed excellent. Watch out for mould lines though.
I agree with the inhumane treatment of animals.

Offline Siberius

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Re: noob empire army comments most welcome
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2010, 08:46:48 PM »
I really love the pose on that fire wizard. Very original and dynamic!
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Offline Sigmud

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2010, 08:36:18 AM »

thnx for the kind words :icon_biggrin:

will try to keep a head up for the mold lines... did u mean in the banners or in general??
i try to do some dry brush to highlight the models do u believe this is messing the lines?? and if so any way to get a quick highlight with no fear of getting out of the lines?

Thanks again guys!!! and ofc more comments and tips are always needed!!!

Offline Claus79

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2010, 09:17:58 AM »
Blacklining, blacklining, blacklining.. Nothing makes the colours stand out better then blacklining mate, with the added bonus of it removing the worst of the shaky hand mistakes we all make :)

Claus

Offline DariusZero

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2010, 03:19:45 PM »
Blacklining, blacklining, blacklining.. Nothing makes the colours stand out better then blacklining mate, with the added bonus of it removing the worst of the shaky hand mistakes we all make :)

Claus

Washing  is faster than blacklining.
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Offline Dosiere

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2010, 05:46:00 AM »
Blacklining, blacklining, blacklining.. Nothing makes the colours stand out better then blacklining mate, with the added bonus of it removing the worst of the shaky hand mistakes we all make :)

Claus

Washing  is faster than blacklining.

True, but it's not the same. Do both - the washes wont really stain the blacklining so you get the best of both worlds.  If you paint over a black undercoat leaving some black in the right places doesn't take that much more work than just slopping the paint on anyway.

@Sigmud - Really nice start, I hope you post more as you finish.  I like the state troop banners in particular.

As far as your painting goes, I would also recommend blacklining and going back and fixing mistakes where appropriate.  So things like command models and front rank models I would recommend taking a look at again and fixing any mistakes on those.  You'll make a few less mistakes as you paint more and more, but they'll always be there.  You can drive yourself crazy if you try and make every model perfect, so don't do that.  But do give the most visible models a little extra TLC.

That's really all I have there, you obviously have the techniques and the skill to paint well, so just keep at it!

Let's talk about pictures since you asked.  Here is a quick rundown of how to get pictures that don't overexpose the models or cast bad shadows.

1. Backdrop.  Use a light gray if you can.  Stay away from white or black.  A pillowcase works well here.   :icon_biggrin:

2. Light sources.  Have at least two!  Three is best.  Try to have any light in the room using the same type of bulb.  So don't have a one lamp with a daylight bulb and another with an old yellow one, etc....   Have one directly above the models, and another one or two at the same level as the models, from straight on if you only have one and from two angles to either side of the camera if you have two.  This gets rid of the shadows and lets you have enough light so that the flash is not necessary...

3. Don't use a flash.  There might be a few rare situations where a flash might be better, like when taking a big shot of a full table of miniatures, but it's usually a bad thing and will change the way the colors and highlights look.

4. You have to set a long exposure time so that the camera can take in enough light that it looks bright and clear without the flash.  If you have a decent digital you can set it to either manual or just turn the flash off and have it auto adjust to the light.  Big, big thing about the long exposure times though is...

5. You must use a tripod or something to sit the camera on.  Even a tiny bit of movement will ruin the shot and make it all fuzzy with the long exposure times.  Set the camera to have a delay so that the shaking of you pressing the button is gone by the time the shot is taken.

6. Try not to use the zoom.  Zoom all the way in and move the camera to take the shot, rather than just zooming out with the camera a few inches away.  If this is not possible (likely since moving the camera back this far requires light sources, backdrops, and a high quality camera that most of us don't have) at least get as far away as you can.  I find with my camera that my pictures are usually taken about 2-4 feet away with just a little bit of zooming out.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2010, 06:21:14 AM by Dosiere »

Offline Sigmud

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2010, 06:25:49 PM »
@Dosiere thanks very much m8 for the kind words and great advice!!

i will start applying them and hopefully get some results sooner then later

much appreciated  :::cheers:::

Offline patsy02

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2010, 11:06:22 PM »
will try to keep a head up for the mold lines... did u mean in the banners or in general??
I meant in general. You can see one fairly well on the hair of the scarred and mustachioed standard bearer. And blacklining requires quite a bit of presicion, effort and time, and can make your models look cartoony.
I agree with the inhumane treatment of animals.

Offline Jonas

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2010, 11:11:07 PM »
nice designs on the banners! did you design them?
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Offline Sigmud

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #12 on: December 08, 2010, 07:13:53 AM »

@patsy02  will keep that in mind... that regiment was actually one of the first i ever tried and didn't know it will look so bad if you don't file out the lines  :icon_cry:

@ Jonas. Thanks! yip the banners are free hand  :icon_razz: one of the reasons i like empire this much is cause of their heraldry with all that doom and gloom!

Offline mr chumley warner

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #13 on: December 08, 2010, 10:03:14 AM »
Hi,

I've looked at your pics, and i think you have the basis to be really good,

just a few pointers from me if it helps?

1st i think you are trying to do too much.

Eg. patterns, free hand, decals, funky colours.

Why not try to start from scratch on a new 10 man unit with a view to simplicity, spend some time  choosing a simple colour scheme, blue and yellow, white and red etc.

Then prep all the models, and use a fine spray of skull white,

One thing i would say is that it looks like you are using far too much paint.

So start your base coats with watered down paints, aim for thin coats, solid colours, and good neat detailed coverage.

Even limit yourself to a few colours, eg. blue, yellow, silver armour and leather, and skin

when you have finished basecoating, use babab black mixed with water to wash the model,

then work some relevant washes into the base colours when its dry, eg. asurmen blue wash for the blue colour, or green wash if you choose green colour etc,

then when all is dry, start highlighting,

your chaps in the black/green/yellow look like you have highlighted by dry brushing goblin green?

try to avoid dry brushing all together, in my opinion it isn't a beneficial technique apart from in certain rare circumstances.

to highlight use the base colour, and layer in a highlight, so blue + lighter blue, then certain lines or raised creases can be touched with almos white,

I would love to see the result of you aiming for a unit of 10 troops, and painting as basically as you can,

I bet you £50 they look very very good,

:)

 
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Offline DariusZero

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #14 on: December 08, 2010, 10:36:43 AM »
This sounds too much work....for rank and file models. We are not competing for a golden demon here, right? Basically you want a solid table top quality, for about 2500 pts and that looks appealing from normal point of view, which is about 1/2 meter away from the minis.

Rank and file models starter technique:
1.Undercoat with white or black
2.Paint black all metal areas.
3.Drybrush those areas with chainmail or similar metal  colour. you can go over the borders here, because you can repair them later.
4.Basecoat the rest of the  mini with main colours of you choice, try to be very precise and neat.
5. Repair the mistakes
6.You can paint the face and hands now, but some people do it firstly. There are some good tutorials for flesh somwhere here.
7. You can use the wash of the apropriate tone now over the metal, flesh and leather areas, if you choose, but is not neccesary. It looks better thou.
8.Highlight now or before the washing or both times, not necessary thou.

The result you should be aiming is bright  and clean colours overall, with some extra effect on the command group.

 :::cheers:::
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Offline WallyTWest

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #15 on: December 08, 2010, 12:54:51 PM »
Item #1 - Please remove the noob tab on your original post, your quality of painting obviously puts you beyond that title.

Item #2 - Good work and nice models, welcome to Warhammer-Empire Sigmud

 :happy:
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Offline mr chumley warner

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #16 on: December 08, 2010, 01:51:25 PM »
How long does everyone aim to spend on rank and file units?

I usually take 4 hours all in,

maybe 5

Ask yourself , what is real? 5 sense filtered reality is a very limited perspective.

Offline Jonas

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #17 on: December 08, 2010, 01:53:29 PM »
Great! your freehand skills are amazing! A+
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Offline Sigmud

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #18 on: December 09, 2010, 07:05:23 PM »
@ mr chumley warner thank you very much m8 for your detail instructions i will try to keep them in mind as long as the rest of the guys here. Hopefully when i get some time i will make a regiment from scratch (got a hand gunner squad ready for a year that i haven't started yet) and put them in full use

@WallyTWest Will do that once my models are able to stand on the same table as the ones most guys on this forum have shown  :icon_redface:
   and thanks for the warm welcome!!

@jonas  and DariusZero  :::cheers:::

Offline Tiny

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Re: Noob empire army (updated pics)
« Reply #19 on: December 10, 2010, 07:58:56 AM »
Your skills are by no means noobish, my 1st miniatures (waay back in the early 90's) were awful in comparison.

I agree with the posters above though that in order to improve it is usually best to get back to basics and go for simple, neat painting, making sure you use thinned paints and ensuring you prepare the miniatures thoroughly (i.e. clean mould lines and undercoat properly). I'd also suggest that you try the new citadel washes as quite frankly, they're amazing for adding shading quickly and easily (and really help to neaten up your mistakes) :) .

Keep it up!

Offline Sigmud

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Re: Sigmud's army blog
« Reply #20 on: April 15, 2011, 07:03:34 AM »
Hey everyone again
sorry for the thread necromancy but i wanted you to have a comparison

Following some of your advices i did some work on one WP (my fav. mini). Hopefully its a bit better, also took the pics in macro mode. First is with spot lights and the second in natural light.

Comments more then welcome and critic needed!!! cheers!

Especial thanks for the inspiration of some amazing artists here like mr chumley and dark apostole and many many more!! All you guys in this forum make me wanna paint all the time!



Offline Commander Bernhardt

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Re: Sigmud's army blog
« Reply #21 on: April 15, 2011, 01:12:29 PM »
Wow! that fire mage is really.... Fiery! I bet he quite stands out on the tabletop!
(which actually isn't a smart thing to do, it reminds your opponent he should take him out first)

the priest is much better in the recent pictures! well done!

and great work on those banners!
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Offline Kirgan

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Re: Sigmud's army blog
« Reply #22 on: April 15, 2011, 06:59:59 PM »
Nice start I like banners you get good tips from good painters I have only one suggestion remove black/white freehand from Warrior Priest it is Orkish to me with all that red color on him  :unsure:
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Offline Sigmud

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Re: Sigmud's army blog
« Reply #23 on: April 16, 2011, 06:03:08 AM »
Nice start I like banners you get good tips from good painters I have only one suggestion remove black/white freehand from Warrior Priest it is Orkish to me with all that red color on him  :unsure:

yes i know i was had second thoughts as well but i decided to go with this look after all, where u can see the chess pattern on the sleeve of the priest...
Btw how cool is that pic!!!!

Offline Kirgan

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Re: Sigmud's army blog
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2011, 08:15:45 AM »
Very but this pic is all in black/white/grey and it is small chess pattern on his sleeve  :engel:
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