This week I have only been working on my Blackroot Vale Archers for my Fiefdoms army which I will use as part of my 450 point tournament list. I have painted some Rangers of Gondor before and didn't wholly enjoy it but the different colour scheme and doing Duinhir alongside them has actually been quite fun. It does also help that I need them done for my list as with my Knights of Dol Amroth and Imrahil I need to do this week coming!!
The way I like to paint is to apply all the necessary base layers and then gradually highlight them all up, so that I can see as I am painting which colours work with each other and get an overall look to the model before I commit to finishing the details. As well as this I paint the largest area colour first so that the details can just be picked out, allowing me to be quite liberal with the initial colour meaning quicker painting.
Firstly, I applied Russ Grey to the cloaks which may sound strange and look bizarre at first but it all comes together. After applying XV-88 to the jackets and trousers, and the main Fiefdom colour of blue, Regal Blue in this case, to the leather skirts this gives me a more general effect of what I want to achieve. The last base layers I chose, were Rhinox Hide for the bow, strapping, braces and boots. Mournfang Brown for the last bits of cloth on the arms and the quiver, with Ushabti Bone for the arrow feathers. And finally Kislev Flesh for, you guessed it, the skin. For Duinhir, I used Runefang Steel for the chain mail he wears but didn't need it for the rest, as regular Rangers don't have any on their person. Only on the swords were left to base coat with Runefang Steel with the hilt of the sword was based with Balthasar Gold.
The washes are then what gave me the desired colour for the cloaks, and I found this out after painting the Blackroot Vale Command a couple of months ago. Firstly, I washed Waywatcher Green over it with quiet a thick layer to get some deep greens in the recesses and once that had completely dried it was washed with Agrax Earthshade, a staple in all of the next steps. Then each other section was also washed with Agrax Earthshade, except the chain mail which used Nuln Oil and the skin, using Reikland Fleshshade.
Finally, the Blackroot Vale Archers were ready to be highlighted. The jackets and trousers had the edges picked up with Zandri Dust, some extra Mournfang Brown was used to pick out the quivers and an extra bit of Kislev Flesh was used to just pronounce the face. Using Shining Gold, the edges of the hilts were picked out to match them with all swords from Gondor and the Fiefdoms.
Lastly, I added the white to go with the blue of the Fiefdoms by giving each section of the skirt a white outline with Ceramite White and White Scar. Plus adding a simple motif where possible to give them uniformity and more distinguishing attributes to make them stand out from the other Rangers from across Middle-Earth. Also eyes were added using, White Scar and Abaddon Black as I want to get as much detail into all my models from now on.
I hope you like the effect I have achieved, and personally I know that I am getting better with my painting even from 18 months ago.
I came. I bought, I painted.
Other Weekly Un-Earthings.
Well done!
ReplyDeleteWell done!
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