Avelorn Themed army blog -- UPDATED 7/31 bsb conversion

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prelude_to_war · #61 Post by **prelude_to_war** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:19 am

Aside from the paint job - which is excellent - the quality and background of the photos is superb. You must have a high quality camera with a good lighting set up. Your use of terrain in the shots is great. They look like GW ads!

Eärendil · #62 Post by **Eärendil** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:54 pm

Thanks so much guys!

berit--you might have to wait a while since my painitng is temporairly on hold since I am in the process of applying to grad school. I might have some time to finish up my unit of dragon princes between taking the GRE and starting work on essays in mid November, but I am not making any promises. I'm glad you like my scheme!

prelude--I have a Nikon D40 which is a good camera. The lighting setup is not too fancy though. I have 2 spotlights which just have regular 100 watt bulbs. I have my camera on a tripod and use a remote instead of pressing on the sutter to avoid moving the camera at all when the picture is taken. This is important when the shutter speed is as long as 1 sec. I won't pretend to know too much about photography though, it was just a lot of trail and error and following advice from the experts. I was actually quite surprised at how in focus the terrain in the background it.

berit · #63 Post by **berit** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:16 pm

well I guess that grad school is a good excuse for not painting, that pesky little thing called life

. Anywho, I will be waiting for that update when it comes. I will take some pictures of my Earendil inspired elves when I get some more painted. Not as good as yours imho (that prince btw is just amazing) but its the best I can do.

Eärendil · #64 Post by **Eärendil** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:23 pm

I would love to see them when they are done

Sfinx · #65 Post by **Sfinx** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:43 am

I really like your painting, especially the clean matte colours. I also like it that the theme sets them apart from the norm. I think the idea to swich the prince's mount to a sleeker steed works out really well! The basing looks nice and lush as well.

Oh, and you use the same camera as me! Cheers for that

Eärendil · #66 Post by **Eärendil** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:45 pm

Not quite to the standard of my swordmasters, but I was happy with how quickly I finished this unit. I have a few other things that I have finished recently as well which I will be posting!

Mantriel · #67 Post by **Mantriel** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:21 pm

Your army is one of the best looking ones - color scheme wise - on the net.

I'm trying to achieve a Green (dominant)-brown(second)-orange/yellow look, but I'm not quite on your skill level.

I'm not sure what your problem is with the PGs, imho they look as good, or even better then the SMs.

Post more pics, if you can.

Si'anelle of Avelorn · Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:24 pm

(staring blankly at the wall.....)

I surrender my crown to you as a player of Avelorn Armies Eärendil. Your model figures are beautiful and the brown and white colour scheme is perfectly inspired. There is an earth and Autumn quality to your model figures that I find to possess a quality of regret, of sadness. Pathos perhaps. The bare tree as a shield device fits perfectly and I am amazed that you have been so successful at painting this freehand.

And finally I have seen a regiment of multipart spear Elves that don't look like an ill-disciplined rabble!

I think I will remain a 'green' Avelorn painter, but I am grateful for the sight of your wonderful army as a means to shake the moss and cobwebs out of my senses.

Eärendil · #69 Post by **Eärendil** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:21 am

Mantriel--thanks so much. i think color scheme decisions are so critical to making an army look good, perhaps as important as painting skill. The mistake so many make, in my opinion, is not including enough neutral colors. I really love white and brown together--I actually wear white and brown a lot!

I don't have any problem at all with the PGs. I am quite happy with how they came out. The only reason I say they are not up to the standard of the SMs is that they aren't quite as crisp. If you picked up a SM and picked up a PG you would see the difference, although on the table top they look equally good. I will post more pics soon

Si'anelle--thank you for your fulsome praise! Beauty was my goal and the reason I choose high elves in the first place--the only truly beautiful army in my opinion. No need to surrender your crown though! Let's form an alliance instead!

I am glad you pointed out the autumnal vibe of my army because I never really thought about it myself. I am glad that you sensed the sadness in my army since I think of sadness as integral to elves. I am always sad when they die during battle!

And yes, I did manage to whip my multipart spears into shape and get them looking like a respectable high elf unit!

Don't be afraid to work some brown into your future models!

cb_rex · #70 Post by **cb_rex** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:41 pm

Nice work completing your Phoenix Guard regiment, although the gold seems somehow different from your previous models. It's more brown looking, maybe its just the photo but they seem to be lower contrast, not quite as well highlighted or shaded as the Sword Masters.

How long did it take you to get this regiment painted compared to the Sword Masters, was it a lot faster?

On a different note, I really like the free hand design on the banner and the faces look really good too, especially the guy on the left hand side.

Eärendil · #71 Post by **Eärendil** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:24 pm

Well they are the first unit that I have posted that has a lot of gold on them, so it is new. I mix brown into it and use a brown wash to mute it. I think the highlighting is the same as the swordmasters. It is always hard to get the highligting on the white to come through in the photos. I probably painted them in half the time the SM took. Mostly because I have gotten everything down and can paint a lot faster now in general, but also because I didn't give these guys quite the TLC the SMs got. I let the little errors go.

Thanks for the feedback!

cb_rex · #72 Post by **cb_rex** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:46 pm

Half the time it took you to do the Sword Masters! They are deffinately not much less good than the Sword Masters, I think your right about them having more gold actually, so to do the unit in half the time of the other is pretty impressive. I tend to get slower with every model I paint.

Out of interest how many hours would you say roughly, did you spend, per model or for the whole unit? (I'm always curious to see how fast or slow other people paint).

On looking at them again the only other piece of feedback I can think of, would be to make the banner pole, and the musicians drum and drumstick black to match the halberds, but thats personal preference.

Keep up the good work.

Eärendil · #73 Post by **Eärendil** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:00 am

well, it is hard to come up with an estimate, but I want to say maybe 15-20 hours for the unit of PG.

I agree that the banner pole would look better black from the front. However, in the back, where it is pressed up against the banner, it looks better as it is, and i think the black would look a little harsh against the cream colored banner.

Eärendil · #74 Post by **Eärendil** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:35 am

Well, these guys have been 80% done since last fall, here they are at 100%, finally!

Si'anelle of Avelorn · Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:49 am

Oh my...... Oh they're beautiful. Everything's beautiful, their bases, their banner...... the green gems....... Glorious, simply glorious model figures.

Alquawen · #76 Post by **Alquawen** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:13 am

Really beautiful, this is one of the best armies, both in colour composition and painting I've ever seen, theyre all really nicely done.

I saw these on the gamezone site and was going to use them as Avelorn knights, they might fit in well with yours!

Aristin · #77 Post by **Aristin** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:53 am

I must say I'm really impressed and it's truly inspiring!

Skybreaker · #78 Post by **Skybreaker** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:13 pm

The last two updates - really excellent!

Those Dragon Princes are outstanding...

berit · #79 Post by **berit** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:33 pm

Yay updates! Amazing as ever, I tried to take some pictures a while ago to show you my army you inspired, but I can't take pictures of minis to save my life...

Eärendil · #80 Post by **Eärendil** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:36 pm

Thank you everyone for the kind words! The prospect of sharing always gives me a little extra boost to finish the next unit I am working on. I have my 2 eagles done and will post them soon, although they don't seem to look that good in the pictures i took. I might try again. I am about half way through 8 WLs. My goal is to have my 2250 army painted for a tournament on 4/4. I just have to:

-finish the WLs (50% done) ~1 week
-finish second DP unit (30% done) ~2 weeks
-make base for second bolt thrower ~2 days
-paint another mage ~1 week
-convert and paint bsb ~1.5 weeks

Eärendil · #81 Post by **Eärendil** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:38 pm

Alquawen--I have taken a look at those but wasn't quite sold on them. I really like a lot of gamezones stuff, but I don't particularly like any of their high elves, besides the eagles which I have.

berit--thats dissapointing that you weren't able to get any pictures. Give this a try: wait for a day when it is slightly overcast (i.e, there is no direct sun but everything is still bright) and take pictures of them outside. You could try it with and without the flash. I assume there are no manual settings on your camera? Does it have macro mode? Can you tell that I really want to see your minis?

Aristin · #82 Post by **Aristin** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:47 pm

I'm looking forward to seeing your next units as well, especially the BSB. Some WIP photos of your units perhaps?

I keep coming back to look at your Dragon Princes, they look especially stunning.

Eärendil · #83 Post by **Eärendil** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:51 pm

I am really hoping that the bsb is going to be something special. I plan on going all out on him!

I will post a pic of the WIP WLs tonight for you! Perhaps I will post pics regularly of the bsb as I work on him, although that hasn't even started yet.

Doombreeze · #84 Post by **Doombreeze** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:39 pm

so that's why you are called Master Painter

!!!

Aristin · #85 Post by **Aristin** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:54 pm

Eärendil wrote:I am really hoping that the bsb is going to be something special. I plan on going all out on him!

I will post a pic of the WIP WLs tonight for you! Perhaps I will post pics regularly of the bsb as I work on him, although that hasn't even started yet.

Looking forward to it.

Darvon · #86 Post by **Darvon** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:38 pm

Alot of the stuff posted here is mediocre at best, but your stuff is actually good. A+ lol

Eärendil · #87 Post by **Eärendil** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:46 am

Thanks guys! Here are the WLs about half done:

cb_rex · #88 Post by **cb_rex** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:42 pm

Your Dragon Princes look great, the off white details on the armour creates the contrast I think the Phoenix Guard are lacking but this is becuase of the style of their armour. Your horses are really nicely painted as well.

15-20 hours is impressive when you think that works out just over an hour per model, and your producing a great looking unit.

Kiwi · #89 Post by **Kiwi** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:51 am

All i can is wow just amazing, the detailing on the bases is simply outstanding and I really really like the Dragon Princes - the highlights and contrasts just really highten the depth of the moulding

Eärendil · #90 Post by **Eärendil** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:55 pm

cb_rex--Yes, I am very happy with that speed.

Kiwi--thanks!!

both--I am glad you like the contrast on the DPs, especially since there were times I worried that things looked too high contrast.