Paint It Black.

Another successful day for the Orks today as I managed to finish their white tops and all of the black straps and rucksacks, etc - barring one liberal wash of Badab Black to finish off.

In the end, I only went with one wash of Gryphonne Sepia on the white tops because I thought they looked quite good as they were (although I still did the final Skull White highlight as well):

On the Njal front, I decided to hold off on (or bottled) the second stage of the Terminator Armour in favour of another very thin layer of the basecoat, as it was looking a little bit patchy in places.  With any luck I'll manage to get the shading done tomorrow night - and then no doubt I'll need to re-apply some more of the basecoat around the carved runes - they're so small that not even a Fine Detail brush could get in there without touching the sides.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to finishing the black on the Nobz tomorrow, as then the fun bit starts - the Orky skin...

Steaming Through.

I'm very happy with the rate at which I'm getting through the Ork Nobz today.

I have managed to finish all of the browns and have moved onto the white tops.

If anyone is interested, this is how I painted the brown:

Scorched Brown.
Devlan Mud wash.
Bestial Brown.
1:1 Bestial Brown / Snakebite Leather.
Snakebite Leather.
Thin Devlan Mud wash.
Re-apply Snakebite Leather highlight.

And if anyone is STILL interested in this blog after that, this is how I'm doing the whites:

Space Wolves Grey.
Two applications of Ogryn Flesh wash.
2:1 Ogryn Flesh / Space Wolves Grey.
2:1:1 Ogryn Flesh / Space Wolves Grey / Skull White.
Skull White highlight.
Two applications of Gryphonne Sepia.
Re-apply the Skull White highlight.

So far, I've just applied the second coat of Ogryn Flesh and will let that dry overnight:

Meanwhile, I managed to apply the first layer onto Njal Stormcaller last night - a 1:1:1 mix of Kommando Khaki, Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey.

The next coat, due tonight, was a 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Shadow Grey to be carefully painted as a shade along the joins in the armour.  I didn't get time to do this tonight though, as I was quite haphazard with the first coat (I always am, I don't really see a reason not to be) and I thought I should neaten it up a little before doing the next, rather tricky part.  So, that said, I spent the rest of tonight painting Chaos Black onto all of the various runes and teeth and bits of fur where I had painted outside the lines:

But there he is, proof that I've now actually started my Space Wolves army.  Rooooooaaaaaaar!

So Far So Good...

Well, the plan is almost coming together for tonight.

I've finished the Orky armour and the first two stages of the brown (and uploaded pictures!!):

I hope you'll agree that so far, they're looking pretty nice.  The black and white markings are quite good I think in that they don't immediately jump out at you, but they aren't too muted either.

And who's this ckeeky chappy hiding behind a paint pot...?

Yes, it is indeed Njal, undercoated and waiting for the first coat on his armour!  It's not looking like a very auspicious start for him (hiding and all), but I promise that the paint pot is in fact only holding him in place while the glue dries on his temporary base.

It should be set by now, so I'm just about to go off and do a 1:1:1 coat of Kommando Khaki, Shadow Grey and Space Wolf Grey on the Terminator armour.  Detail brush all the way on this one, I think.

Wish me luck as I put my first dab of paint on my Space Wolf army...!!!

To Glyph or Not To Glyph?

Glyph.

In the end I decided to add a couple of black and white markings onto the shoulders of the Ork Nobz - although as with the Boyz, they'll be very muted once all the Devlan Mud washes are on.

Speaking of which, the last wash is drying now, so hopefully tonight I'll be able to finish off the metal with a drybrush of Chainmail - and then it'll be brown trousers time, literally.

I undercoated Njal yesterday and have borrowed the base from the Black Reach Warboss while I get him painted.  I had hoped to make a start on the Terminator Armour last night, but got a bit sidetracked.  Depending how quickly it all goes tonight, here is the plan:

1 - Drybrush the metal on the Nobz.
2 - Paint the brown areas on them with Scorched Brown.
3- Wash the same areas with Devlan Mud.
4- While that dries, do the first coat on Njal's Terminator Armour, using the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass for the Wolf Guard.
5 - Get some pictures on the Blog!

I know that I'm probably not going to manage all of that, but I'll definitely give it a go...

Bleaaaaargh!

Okay, the cold seems to have spread beyond the confines of the nursery and has infested the rest of the house, including my wife and I.

I feel terrible today.

But, with the mantra of 'I'm a Space Wolf, I'm a Space Wolf...' running through my head, I still managed to get a bit of painting done.

I'm still not 100% happy with Njal's base, but I think there's not much more I can do, really.  I think it should look quite nice when the Stormcaller is painted and mounted on it, although there may be a few final touches to add when he is...

Above is a photo of the almost-finished base, to which I added a touch more white (as well as some grey stippling) before tidying it up:

And of course, not forgetting the Nobz:

Now, all I managed to do on these in my snot-fuelled misery today was to apply the next wash, Devlan Mud.  According to my usual method for Orky armour, I should then paint on some glyphs before a bright highlight, dirtied-up afterwards with even more Devlan Mud.

However, I'm having to decide whether or not to do the glyphs (and the extra washing that would be involved), because the armour is starting to look very nice as it is - and there aren't as many flat areas to mark up as there are on the standard Boyz.

I'm sure I'll be posting all about my decision tomorrow, but until then, sleep (and Strepsils) are calling me...

Six Inches Deep...

Despite various illness-related distractions, I managed to get a respectable amount done last night.

I managed to get the first Badab Black wash onto my Nobz, and even with just this coat, I think they're going to look very nice indeed.

I've also sort of finished Njal's base - but (as I knew I would) I think I may have gone a bit bananas with the snow... At the moment it's quite deep - I never realised how fluffy it was.  It is in danger of looking a bit like the white mold you get on strawberries that have been languishing at the bottom of the fridge for too long.

However, I haven't taking into account the matte varnish that'll be sprayed onto the whole thing when Njal is finished, so I hope that should stodge it up a bit.

All-in-all, I'm looking forward to getting a bit more done tonight - and then hopefully I may get some pictures on tomorrow...

Snot Tonight, Dear.

I had an unforseen delay in my painting last night as my poor daughter has come down with (another) cold, so most of mine and my wife's evening was spent looking after her.  It was a case of going to bed early and cramming in as much sleep as we were able to before the inevitable mid-night wake-up calls.

We managed to do okay in the end, with only a couple of hours up each (well, less than that for me, possibly more for my wife...) but we're bracing ourselves for more of the same tonight, so maybe not too much hobby then either.

Still, I did manage to get a good deal done on Njal's base:

The red-brown areas that you see are Dark Flesh washed into the recesses.  At the moment, where it's spilled onto the edges of the cracks, it looks like I've tried to do some sort of blood effect, but I assure you it's not.  I'm going to put a thinned-down Badab Black or Devlan Mud wash over the Dark Flesh to make the cracks a little bit darker before tidying up the edges with a drybrush of Skull White and then a sprinkling of snow.

Up until the snow, I've followed the same technique as on the Games Workshop website for painting the stone on the Skaven Screaming Bell.  It seems to work quite well so far, but of course we'll have to wait for the finished item before passing judgment...

I also managed to start painting the five Ork Nobz from the Black Reach box (along with the big gunz on the two remaining Ork Boyz):

This stage is the one that I find the hardest on the metal bits, simply because they look very uninspiring to start off with.  But soon, after two washes of Badab Black, a Devlan Mud wash, some black-and-white glyphs, a deliberately very rough edge highlight of Chainmail, another two washes of Devlan Mud and finally a drybrush of Chainmail, they're going to look pretty good.

I think on the Nobz, I'm going to keep all of the washes slightly thinner than those of the Boyz because I reckon the Nobz will get their pick of the shiniest scrap to use for their armour.

Anyway, I'd love to muse more on these big buggers, but I can hear a little monkey coughing upstairs...