Arctica

Ok so i managed to get some more done this weekend, Murray and Rodger the cabin boys ! These guys are Juves for my gang.

And of course my usual group shot The whole crew are coming along together nicely now and the group shots are very encouraging for myself to see them grow like this.

Ok so i'd been asked to do a small tutorial for the skin and NMM on these models so here it is. This is going to be a fairly long post and apologies about the poor image quality, i still don't have a decent one or a second lamp etc. so it'll never been that great.

For the skin:

1. Started off with a base coat of gnarloc green, since this is a foundation paint it goes on really well on most things, but I still watered it down a little so it was slightly darker in the crevasses than the upper sections of the muscles. Doesn’t matter if you’re a bit messy at this stage, but let it dry thoroughly before progressing onto the really messy stage.

2. The next stage was to apply a splodge of brown ink to the model, this is the messiest part of the entire process for me. I love brown in and this provides my models with all the shading I need for now, I apply it over some of the other surfaces too, the ones I cannot reach later, as shading. Now you really have to let this stage dry properly too. Again I always add a little water to what I do and the same effect happens here where the upper areas of the muscles are still highlighted.

3. Now as a slight guide you can see where the darker areas are and where the highlights will be picked out. One trick is to get a lamp and angle it where you want your light source is and take a photo of this so help you see how dark or light you want your colours. I add dark angels green with a dash of brown ink as another coat over about 85% of the skin areas, leaving the darkest areas and the edges as the dark brown ink colour.

4. The next step is to use pure dark angels green, remember again to water it down so it’s not too thick and apply it over about 80% of the skin areas now. Then I actually add some paint medium to the mix, not too much as you don’t want it too watery, and one paintbrush dab of goblin green. I keep adding goblin green and reducing the area coverage of where I apply paint. You can see the progression all the way up to goblin green. Note how I only apply paint to the raised surfaces trying to leave the edges nice and dark for definition.

5. The next stage is pretty fun, using a bit of skull white I add it to my goblin green and apply it very carefully on the highest edges , I like it to be quite watery so I can control the colours a bit better. Note im not always the neatest of painters, so where im not quite happy with the blends I get some dark angels green and water it down and then glaze over the blend areas to try and smooth it out, I also do it over the shaded areas slightly to give the model some of it’s rich colour back.

6. Work your way up to almost pure white, I would only use pure white on the face areas to give it a focal point, for me the face of the model is very important. Then add details, or do it once you’ve done other bits. Sometimes I add a glaze of beige to bring out a warmer colour or I substitute white completely with beige/light flesh colours.

For the NMM the quick way:

There are actually 2 ways I do NMM, im going to show the quicker way I do this as I know some people prefer quicker results. I’ve only done this on the heavy weapons on the ork crew, the other sections I used lots of glazes and layers and blue very time consuming but neater process. Anyway this one gives a much oily and dirty feel as it is quite a messy way of doing things again.

7. First step is to use a grey, any really would do, I prefer a lighter one because in the next stage the grey shows through better when it is a lighter colour. Anyway just be a bit careful of other areas, a smooth coverage is preferable but not too necessary for this part.

8. Then apply brown ink ! yes I love the stuff, I use it on almost every model I’ve painted Just remember to let the stage before this and this current stage to dry properly or else it’ll just mix and spoil the whole effect. I just stick the model under my lamp in close proximity and go make myself a nice cup of tea at this stage (but that is of course optional )

9. Now, as I prefer a watered down mix, I get a bit of brown ink onto my palette and add a small amount of fortress grey (again any grey will do really). I add it to the lower sections of the metallic structures if it is flat, but if it’s cylindrical I add it to the upper surfaces. This is to show reflected metal as such, this forms the base of where you will be painting, I usually cover a good 85-90% of the areas for this stage. Just keep adding grey to the mix and reducing the coverage areas. I did this for about 4-5 more layers until I reached a pure fortress grey.

10. Now you should only have pure fortress grey left on your palette, I applied some pure fortress grey to some of the edges of where I wanted to target the brightest highlights.

11. Then add some skull white to the mix and again apply it over some areas where you think the light is picked up and then on the very edges too.

12. The final stage is to add a dash of pure skull white to some of the edges I don’t recommend all edges as this would look wrong, but rather the ones on very corners on a certain direction. Now as you can see there are errors where I have not been as neat as I could have been, but the beauty with the colours is that you can get some very watered down brown in and glaze over the areas to neaten it, and also reapplying some watered down brown ink to the shaded areas giving more contrast back into the model. Also add some extra details etc and et voila a nice looking model