Monday, July 27, 2015

Trollbloods Starter Done!

I'm trying to get more back on track. I've had more steady time to paint this summer, but less time to photograph and upload! That said, I've managed to get a bunch of things done on my Trollbloods, specifically the entire starter plus Bouncer!

First up is Madrak: He's painted a pale blue rather than a true white, but he does look paler than these photos make him look. The tartan pattern is a modification of his 'official' one in the book, because quite frankly theirs ignores how tartans should work. I went for a glowing orange on the runes, to help contrast the blue skin, and otherwise kept him fairly earth-tones. He's the most mundane coloured of the models, in part due to his tartan. You'll see a consistent theme with my Trollbloods having a very bright and verdant styled basing, partly because it's Hordes, partly because they're Dhunia's favourites!

Next up is the Axer: I had a hard time with his tartan, mostly because the blue kept wanting to come up. It's sort of a full spread of the colours that make up the Trollblood skins the  I paint them, which makes it gel nicely with the model. Otherwise, his armour's not brutally rusty, but is clearly old, weathered, and worn. I know the 'default' paintscheme puts that entire back tabard just leather, but come on, how can they give me such a big space and not expect me to go tartan-wild?

One of the two impalers, convereted with his spear lowered, has a brooding countenance, lots of dark leather, and a mostly green tartan. Not much to say about him other than his sharing of the Axer's armour cleanliness (including streaks on the back-plate) and a nice camo green drab shirt.

Then, the second impaler: His leather sheath was bloody hard to get looking anything close to right! Something about my leather brown makes it come out poorly mixed and glossy, no matter how vigorously I shake it. His tartan was the first I painted, and has a kind of busy look, but also looks to me the most like the tartans I casually see. I realize, looking at them all together now, that I accidentally themed the tartans to the colours already found on each! (Red shirt, red tartan; green shirt, green tartan...) - I'll have to pay attention to that from now on and try to vary it.

And finally, the bouncer: This guy was fun to paint! His tartan was a rich dark red before the green went on, and I was half tempted to go back on my idea of painting them as tartans! He's also the only member of the force to have different colours of metal in his gear. I did the repair patch in a more bronze colour, just to break up the surface a bit. He was a great test of my 'beaten metal' theme for the rest though!

Now I have four Dire Trolls staring at me from my desk's 'holding zone' while I get a bunch of my Infinity models finished up, and I'll jump on them when I hit a wall on whatever comes after the Alguaciles (only one more layer of armour paint, then it's hair, details, and done!)

Monday, July 13, 2015

Incoming Dire Trolls

So I'm being really good at updating...

A quick update now before I get better pics together to put up: I was stuck at my parent's place this weekend cat-sitting, and decided to bring along all my airbrushing gear, and some models that need the work!

For now, the photos are the best a cell phone can pull off in a dark basement, but I assure there are better photos on the way, once I can hook my better camera back in. The first set of trolls (and Madrak) are done, by the way, and I'll have photos of them finished as well shortly, I hope.

This is all balanced on a sink, giving me quick and easy access to water and washing. Instead of a fancy airbrush holder stand, I have an old vice clamp that while it's not so good as a clamp, it's great as a holder!

I quickly determined that I wanted different colour depth on each troll, to give them some variety. That also meant I had to start lining up the hands for each to their various DTs!

The next layer was a more purple tone to shade, and also darken around the various rocks and whatnot on them. I figure purple's the Dire Troll equivalent of more ruddy skin on humans.

Here you can see a bit of the purple on the palms.

The next layer was the skintone mixed with pale sand, providing an appropriate highlight. The mix was thin enough I got to overlay a few times to make the colour build up. Due to a happy accident, it didn't highlight entirely cleanly, so their skin looks rougher as a result. This chap above is both converted in pose, and in getting a kilt, and looking more like Rok.

Here's the Earthborn Dire Troll, with purple, and highlight. I may yet do a green wash to make him look more earthy, but I'll have to decide once I get the stones done.

Yay cellphone pics
Here you can see the overall effect on the dire trolls after all the airbrushing was finished.





Hopefully it shows through that Rok (bearded/kilted troll) is paler, while the middle guy with bonus armour plates is the darkest skinned of the lot. I'll be able to bring out the differences slightly more with washes, and then it'll be on to detail painting!

Here's hoping it's not a month that slips by before my next post!