Nyeave's plog - Lothern Skycutter

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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#241 Post by Nyeave »

Prince of Spires wrote:I like it. An improvement perhaps could be an extra color between the green and the white highlight. Having that extra light layer in between would take the ethereal feeling a bit further I think.

As for the base. You could turn it into a graveyard kind of thing. Or add more dead bits to it. Or, something swampy (high grass, flock etc). Or, since this is GW after all, MORE SKULZ! ;)

Rod
I wanted the swampy look at first but I cant figure out what kind of flock to use to make it look right. As for the dead grass I tried it on the skeleton. The color is okay but it turns out the flock is really just too short in the fibres. It wont stand up like the green I used on the elves. It just lies flat like someone dropped a handfull of hay. I might have to find another brand - crap though it is to have payed for a full box that then turns out not to fulfill your needs...

As for the extra color. I actually think you are right. The sharp highlight was on purpose but I think a drybrush of Celestra Grey before the wash might do the trick.
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Prince of Spires
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#242 Post by Prince of Spires »

I know the issue of flock simply looking like a handful of hay. I find it quite common when I flock bigger areas on models...

If I would give that base a swampy look, I would try the following I think (I actually make a swamplike thing a while back: http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 91#p774791). Get some tall grass, just 2 or 3 strands, spread them around the base. Add some splotches of water-effect. Don't cover the whole base, just a few pools. Paint the 'dry' bits a bit lighter. Finish it of with a little flock.

Rod
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#243 Post by Nyeave »

Thanks alot! I have never worked with water effects before, Is it possible to "poolify" the base as it is now or would I have to make some unsanded areas on it to pour it into? Also I really like the dark green tufts. I really need to find something like that myself. Just the look I was hoping for initially.
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#244 Post by Prince of Spires »

Water effect, at least the one I have (vallejo water effect), looks and acts an awful lot like clear drying PVA glue. I think you should be able to simply put it on top of the sanded area, though you would probably see the sand through it a bit. That shouldn't be a bad thing necessarily, just something to keep in mind. You could also probably add the water effect in 2 layers. Give the bottom one a color (just a theory I have, never tried it, but I'm guessing mixing in some paint/wash should work) let it dry and put another one over it. 2 thin layers should do it. But it is something I've never tried before. So I'm just guessing here. You could try it out on a small bit (even with some PVA glue for that matter).

The dark green tufts are the 'hairs' of a doormat, the very basic kind (like this one: http://charlesandhudson.com/wp/photos/blank-doormat.jpg). I had an old one left over. Cut it up and you get those tufts. Glue them on and the can then be undercoated and painted as normal.

Rod
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#245 Post by Nyeave »

Just to let you know - i didn't die or stop painting or anything :)
Appart from having had a very busy autumn doing lots of non hobby related things, I have been working on my secret santa gift (so obviously no pictures) and the dragon (not at a stage worth taking pictures of yet).

I promise you there will be pictures of some sort up again soonish.

In other news, my cousin and I was asked by the local game store to paint up a Glottkin Model (apparently they are having trouble selling the damn things - I could have told GW, money was better spent making a huge 10x15 cm dragon model than anything Nurgle :twisted: ). So far we have it assembled and spray coated - ands it's huge! Progress has slowed a little due to my cousin being about to have a daughter and us wanting to paint the model together. Anyways I will post as soon as we have something and until then I will work on the dragon.
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Gandalf_82
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#246 Post by Gandalf_82 »

Looking forward to seeing some updates from you! Big fan of your work so i'm sure it'll be worth the wait! :)
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#247 Post by Nyeave »

Gandalf_82 wrote:Looking forward to seeing some updates from you! Big fan of your work so i'm sure it'll be worth the wait! :)
Thanks alot - I'll see what I can do :wink:

All the skin on the dragon is now done I will post some pictures as soon as I have finished the claws and glued the body to the leg I painted as a test. That should give the best image. If only I could get a few hours to actually get it done!
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Help needed

#248 Post by Nyeave »

WIP pics of the Star Dragon. The skin and some of the details are done. Most noticeably the spine, armor and horns are yet untouched. The spines I plan to highlight and then blacken towards the tips. The wings are also almost finished but lack a few features before pictures will go up.

Image

Image

Image
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John Rainbow
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#249 Post by John Rainbow »

You make me jealous with your abilities! Great work!
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#250 Post by Gandalf_82 »

Jaw dropping stuff!! Really impressed and looks great.

Can you tell me what colours you've used please so I can shamelessly copy?! My army is blue/white so I reckon a dragon with a similar colour scheme would add a nice bit of variety!
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#251 Post by Nyeave »

Gandalf_82 wrote:Jaw dropping stuff!! Really impressed and looks great.

Can you tell me what colours you've used please so I can shamelessly copy?! My army is blue/white so I reckon a dragon with a similar colour scheme would add a nice bit of variety!
Thanks for the kind words.

As for the colors I use mix of old and new GW colors but I am sure you can replacements :D
It's a basecoat of Mephistion Red with a heavy wash of 1:1 Baal Red and Devlan Mud. I then layered everything up with Mephistion Red. The Scales were painted around the edges with Evil Sunz Scarlet and then I just threw around some random highlights on the scales with Blazing Orange. The skin was highlighted with Wild Rider Red in very fine lines.
The different colors are probably best seen on the middle picture.

Hope that was helpfull
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NexS
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#252 Post by NexS »

Tasty!
If anything, I'd suggest a little bit of a highlight over the scales (to make them stand out from the skin).

Other than that, very smooth, clean work :) Can't wait for the rider!
Regards,
Brad
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#253 Post by RE.Lee »

Looking fierce, very Smaug-like :wink:
cheers, Lee

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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#254 Post by Nyeave »

Merry Christmas everyone and thanks to all of you who keeps me motivated and full of ideas and inspiration.
Last edited by Nyeave on Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Gandalf_82
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#255 Post by Gandalf_82 »

Merry Christmas to you too :-)

Cheers for the pointers on your colour scheme as well!
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#256 Post by Andrew_uk »

You have a very beautiful army there!!

I've been away for a while but it's always a joy to drop back in and read through threads like this :)
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon WIP

#257 Post by Nyeave »

Picture spam below!

My wife went to bed early today and I took the chance and went into a proper painting frenzy and finished my Star Dragon. I am really pleased with how it came out!
the horns alone took me on the wrong side of 4 hours (and I even managed to fuck the left one up a bit due to impatience but I think I did a decent job at fixing it without starting all over)
Its a rather monotone red, but I think once the rider - painted in my usual blue and White scheme - is added, it will add enough of a splash to make the model pop a little more. Speaking of the rider, I am not sure I will put the seat back on the saddle. The sculpt is very nice, but once added to the model it just looks impractical, over the top and pretty ridiculous. What do you guys think of it?

Anyways, on to the pictures. Feel free to comment all you like.

First a few pics without the wings:
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And a few with the wings on (Hmm, I need to figure out how to improve the sharpness of the photos when not using my tripod)
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#258 Post by mousekiller »

I have not painted a dragon yet, lots of other models, but never a dragon... yet. You have done an excellent job on this, and I can only hope that my first is half as good as this beast you have presented. And the green gem is excellently done, you can see the dimension to it from the side and from the top, which is not easy to pull off.
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#259 Post by Nyeave »

Thanks a lot. I really dreaded the big gem on the brow and waited with it until the very last. It helped that I made it green (my gems are usually red but that would look silly on the red dragon) as the GW green paint range is really forgiving when it comes to transitioning through a range of colors.

On another note. I am building the Prince to ride it and have a decision to make. I hope you guys can help me out. I am torn between equiping him with a sword or the lance. I think they would both look great but I was thinking of running something along the lines of Star Lance, Dragon Helm, Talisman of Preservation and ToTS. This makes me lean towards the lance. I have never used a monster like this before so I have no idea if this makes sense. My usual opponent is empire so the dragon itself is already risky :)

Any input?
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NexS
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#260 Post by NexS »

If i might offer some observations..
Other than FANTASTIC WORK!! I have one peeve about it, the horns. The blending is great, but I feel it's missing the final touch.
1. There should be, at least, a bit of shadow at the base where it protrudes from the skin.
2. Horns are rarely perfectly smooth, especially on a beast centuries old. He's probably been in countless fights with humanoids and beasts alike. I generally always paint grain lines on horns/teeth/claws.
Here is a great example
Image
It has similar colours and gradient as you have used, so it's almost a perfect example :)





Other than the horns, this dragon looks great! Can't wait for the rider :D
Regards,
Brad
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#261 Post by Nyeave »

Thanks for the input.
1. On the first point I absolutely agree. I have simply forgotten to add a shadow there. It will be done :)
2. You are ofc right again, but the horns are painted a way I just had to try - blending up through thinned washes over a light base coat. There can be no doubt the technique would have had a better effect on a textured horn instead of a smooth surface like this, but I think I'll let it stay as it is. There has simply gone too much work into them for me to paint them over :P

Btw the Blight King - is he yours or did you borrow the picture from the internet?
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NexS
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#262 Post by NexS »

blight king belongs to the great wide googletron! (I wouldn't be caught with chaos in my possession!!!!). However, my Stegadon has some big horns ;)

re point 2: What I'd do is get that light browny colour you've used and water the crap out it... Like 1 brush of paint to 3 or 4 brushes of water... and apply it sparingly (with a small brush) from the base of the horn up to the tip. That way, there's a good chance of a nice, fine point facing down. Also, i'd brush off the paint toward the end of the horn, in the black area, to not spoil the charred black look.
The lines don't have to go all the way down to the base, they should just be present enough to give the illusion of texture

However, if you're happy to leave it as is that's fine too :)




Edit: upon further investigation. It seems I do this with all my sauri's spikes, but paint it all darker to begin with and use the technique to apply the lighter colours a liney fashion!
see chakax:
Image
oldblood:
Image
and razordons:
Image
Regards,
Brad
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#263 Post by Gandalf_82 »

Having read NexS' feedback I'm inclined to agree re the horns needing a bit of shading at the base but I didn't spot that when I first saw the pics. It's a lovely paint job and I think you've done a great job with the highlighting. Intrigued to see how the rider in your traditional colours looks on there and whether or not it works. I would definitely go with the lance if that is what you are leaning towards playing, will work well with the dragon.
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#264 Post by ArcaneSnow »

That's a really cool paint job on the dragon! Colors you chose really pop.
I've actually never seen that model in person before, didn't realize till now that it looks kinda odd from top down. It's not a very dynamic model.
GW should have sculpted the tail a bit bigger so it looks more... dragon like than drake.
Sweet wings though, those look nice too.
Check out my High Elves R3K Plog! It's super picture heavy though... You've been warned..
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon Finished!

#265 Post by Nyeave »

First of the two riders is done (the archmage is close but missing a few details).
I tried experimenting with adding a blue tint to his armor and I thought it looked really cool until I put him on the dragon and realised it wasn't nearly as blue as I had imagined :P
Also when I set out I really liked the figure of prince but after he was assembled I realised there is simply too much going on on him - maybe its just too many little details on a very small surface. So all in all I like what I did to it but the model itself is perhaps not one of GW's best sculpts.

Anyways enough b****ing - he is done and I really like the overall model - it took me about 2 years to muster the courage to paint it but boy was it fun to do and for the first time I have a proper centerpiece model to put on the table. The skin on the dragon is my favourite part but all-in-all I am very happy with how it all came out.

Stay tuned for archmage on dragon.

Image

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And yes Nexs - I know the horn aren't fixed yet. I just noticed and simply forgot :)
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John Rainbow
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon - Now with rider!

#266 Post by John Rainbow »

Just crazy good!
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon - Now with rider!

#267 Post by NexS »

Most excellent, friend. Most excellent.
Regards,
Brad
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon - Now with rider!

#268 Post by Gandalf_82 »

Looks fantastic mate, a lovely centrepiece to the army!! :)
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Nyeave
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Star Dragon - Now with rider!

#269 Post by Nyeave »

So my latest hobby project began when my sister of all people decided her brothers hobby had turned from geeky into something worth displaying. In other words - she wanted me to paint a display model for her. She choose the Empire Witch Hunter and I began to plan a pretty elaborate scenic base to go with it. State of the project is that the Witch Hunter is done and I am now working on the base - its going to have a stream with a small waterfall so I'll have to play around with some water effects.

Anyways - picture time:

It began as a sketch that maybe even I could decipher once it came to it...
Image

Next up I murdered a dish mat from Ikea - seriously, it was about time...
Image

After adding some sand and stuff it ended up like this:
Image

Now I need to make a small wooden stand for it before I spray coat and begin painting but in the meanwhile I could play around taking pictures of the figure on top - hope it gives you an idea of how it will look in the end (hope my skill live up to my imagination):
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For some reason the pictures just don't do it jsutice. He looks alot better in life where the highlights aren't as stark and blending looks better :(
Image
Last edited by Nyeave on Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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John Rainbow
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Re: Nyeave's plog - Empire Witch Hunter and display base

#270 Post by John Rainbow »

Very nice and up to your usual crazy-good standard! I think the model might be a bit too muted for a display piece at the moment though? Maybe its just the light?
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