#DeathGuard #KillTeam Four Plague Marines - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've continued #PaintingWarhammer Death Guard Kill Team in a #Blanchitsu stylee. Technically my #NewYearNewArmy for #ArmiesOnParade. Okey doke, you all love the white pics as they tend to give a more neutral background to judge the painting, although as I've mentioned numerous times my camera app still adds some kind of smoothing filter but it's still the best I can find.

The teeth on the belly and the left vambrace! I don't know how this happens sometimes.

That skull on the backpack - accident, but I love it.

Fleshy bits worked out so well on this one. Plenty of reference for some of the upcoming additions to the force, including the Poxwalkers.

Tamiya Clear Red X-27 glossy finish has played havoc with his eye lens - making it more difficult to discern but it looks better than the pic conveys.

These 4 were such a treat to do but technically important as they happened to include numerous aspects I got to further explore and refine - giving me the confidence for what is still left to do.

That bright orange blob of rust on the top of the backpack is the only element of Dirty Down that worked, so I kept it. I may try again on some of the others...

And the quintet.

What do you think? How do these stack up against my other armies. I have to admit the freedom in painting them compared to standard space marine armour is a blessing [ a foul one but blessing nonetheless]. It has definitely convinced me that when I do come to paint my Primaris force it will absolutely be a metallic army. I do not want to blend or line highlight in the traditional sense. I really think a silver army would different for me, challenging and and interesting exploration of a faction that I'm currently finding the least appealing to do. A long way off but making these decisions now will help overcome those obstacles in the future that drain your hobby mojo. 

#DeathGuard #KillTeam Four Plague Marines -TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've continued #PaintingWarhammer Death Guard Kill Team in a #Blanchitsu stylee. Technically my #NewYearNewArmy for #ArmiesOnParade. This was 5 days work to get them finished and I am so happy with the result.

It gives me confidence that I will get the Plague Marines done at least - a decent enough force for my Ravenwing to hunt in my AoP display.

The Poxwalkers might be more of a challenge, so I have started laying down some base colours to see if they can follow a similar process. They have some different materials, rather than power armour so it's a little more challenging with flesh too.

The sickly green plasma glow worked really well here. I had been somewhat sceptical and unsure about the choice but it turned out OK, even with a little OSL glow on his arm and tiny tentacle.

And the purple cloak - plenty more purple and sepia washes to make something look filthy. So it doesn't actually look like a purple cloak just something that has been repeatedly stained. Perhaps this is how I should approach the skin of the Poxwalkers?

The occasional mustard yellow accent in place, usually on skulls adds a little extra. 

But the rust is working, even if it isn't the renowned Dirty Down Rust I'm pleased with the results.

And the slightly darker Red Planet BASE stones works better than my original test model.

I love the effect on his belly armour. Again I'm sure I could have added some highlights and it would have been equally as interesting but I wanted to move away from lighter models.

This means they're easier to paint and different to how I would normally do something and different is good. It pushes you, challenges you and maybe elevates your skill level.

The rusty sword came out OK, as did his horns. The closest to Blanchitsu I've ever done I think

The grenades were a little annoying as I still wanted orange grenades like my Dark Angels, but didn't want them to look like rust. But also some are actual skulls so I had to play around.

Here we are with my five finished Plague Marines - the difference is subtle between these four and the test model.

I won't be changing him, there's no point really as I still like what I achieved with him. 

But the point of a test model is to try things out and I was always happy with the step before I did the highlights and when I had 4 come together that I was happy with I see no point to go further.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the pics and then I've got white pics next week. 

So, here's the last Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval for the 2021/22 Hobby Season! I know, it's confusing but I'm sure you can all keep up.

#DeathGuard #KillTeam Four Plague Marines - sessions 3 and 4

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've continued  #PaintingWarhammer Death Guard Kill Team. Technically my #NewYearNewArmy for #ArmiesOnParade. I shared the previous pics with my mates and Liam mentioned how they were more colourful than his own [and liked them]. I appreciated the praise, but 'colourful' was not what I was going for. So, I went back in with Army Painter Red Tone, Purple Tone, Green Tone, Strong Tone and Sepia Tone. That helped to make the red fleshy bits blend in more and grime everything down to a more muted grimdark palette.

I chose a grey for the cloak, yes that's not grey, but originally it was and then add in all the reds, purples and sepia and we end up with pink drapes! I added some Death Guard Green straps in places. I also tried some Dirty Down Rust on the top of the back pack on the marine on the far left. It did work as it should [for once] but the results were too random, so I decided to stick to my weathering powder and rust wash mix.

Which is where we are her, the 4th night of painting. Now I'll concede that all that effort griming up and darkening down has been somewhat undone by orange rust all over the place. But, I know that the Army Painter Anti-shine matt varnish will dampen this down a bit too.

 So it will be less vibrant. I may also work in some additional strong washes and sepia washes to break up the flatness of the orange. It all seems quite consistent across the model so some variety in the weathering could be useful. That cloak got even grimier!

At this stage I compared it to the original test model and could see that the new ones should have more highlights on the armour to match... but I wasn't going to. 

I was never 100% happy with the extra highlights. Don't get me wrong I love what I painted but it was more in line with what I would normally do and its brightness did not sit right with my view of these marines living in the most horrifically squalid conditions on their spaceship and in battle.

Add to that it was more effort and I made the decision that the armour finish on these 4 would be the new level and the test model would be the outlier. With that done the following evening I would pick out all the final details, make any adjustments and start on all the varnishes ready to add the gloss black 3D texture paint for the tar bases. The next updates are the TO DONE! pics, the last of the 2021/22 Season. More importantly I painted these 4 models in 5 days - take that Imperial Space Marines, I think I've fallen to chaos! That gives me a lot of hope for the remaining parts of my Kill Team. I've 6 plague marines to do and the Bloat Drone [for #DreadTober]. That's about 2-3 weeks work and I'd be happy with that for AoP but there are 15-16 PoxWalkers that I could add too. They might be a little more of a challenge but I might simplify their colour schemes, choosing my favourite skintone from my Nurgle Blood Bowl team to use across the whole squad. Meanwhile, I may just highlight a few of my Ravenwing while I'm on a bit of a high...

#DeathGuard #KillTeam Four Plague Marines - sessions 1 and 2

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer Death Guard Kill Team. Technically my #NewYearNewArmy for #ArmiesOnParade. With my muse totally gone on Dark Angels Ravenwing I thought I'd try some Plague Marines. And what an absolutely wondrous breath of foul foetid air this turned out to be. I chose to work on 4 of the marines at once [should have gone for 5, with what remains, but nevermind]. I'd done all the red bits in some previous random fit of painting and on a Monday evening the other week added all the Vallejo Game Effects Dry Rust to the weapons, banding, backpack and anything else I wanted rusty metal.

Despite having painted a test model I didn't consult it, otherwise I'd have noticed that not all the backpack was rusty, some was also cream. But, I'm not that bothered now I've compared them.

The following night I went in with my out of print Home & Bargain, Colvin & Co, Burnt Umber art acrylic. This stuff is so good, when i run out I hope I can find something else which achieves Blanchitsu level oil effects. I also went back in with some Vallejo Game Extra Opaque Heavy Red.

Again, it's an irony that thinning it down gives a great effect. It will be shaded back but I needed better coverage at this stage. The browns though, there's part of me that wishes I could leave the armour like this and just work on all the fine details.

I still need to decide on how to handle the cloak on the marine on the left but this felt so easy to do, really quick and the results are already satisfying - bring on the next session.