Don't get Boar-ed. An interesting ride for a dwarf

Something else from Fenryll.  A dwarf hero on a boar, which I think is pretty unusual for that line.  

You can also see that I did a bit of mosaic tile action here.  This was a more of a blend with the marble chunks than what you saw me do as a base for the Razorwing.  Once again, we have a painting project from years ago.

During this period, I did not 'age' the tile as much as I do now.  There was a point where I realized that I can't break up the tiles and marble without staining it at least a little bit :-)

The face on this figure was very nicely sculpted.  One never knows what sort of approach a company might take with the dwarves.  Sometimes those faces are not always so fantastic for painting, as the sculptor tries to distinguish his style of dwarf perhaps. :-)

A Bird's eye view...

Today we have the top views of the finished Venom.  These show the freehand details a bit better. :-)

With each vehicle that is completed, this overall pattern becomes more and more interesting.

Seeing them all together for the first time will certainly be a treat!  I'm looking forward to that!

I was glad that these 'half canopies' were provided with the venom kits, since the full versions really have a tendency to hide most of the pilot and cockpit...

So, more to come!

Stay tuned :-)

A captive audience...

Another set of minis from the Fenryll archive.  I wonder if these are even available any more.  As with the previous Fenryll figures, I am pretty sure these were painted in 2005/06.

I could have used  a bunch of these captives for the Dark Eldar  :-)

The face that launched a thousand ships...

Wouldn't you go mess up a crummy Imperial world if this lady told you to?

She is Asharah, the Archon of my Dark Eldar army.  She is also a special character figure from Raging Heroes (you can see the blog post on her here: http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/03/introducing-ashara-archon-of-fire-talons.html

These images show the Razorwing prior to the freehand.  I used a variety of filbert brushes, which helped me to paint all the surfaces and shading rapidly.  While its flat shape allows you to cover a lot of area quickly, the rounded edges almost act like an airbrush if handled correctly!

It works well on the more square and boxy space marine vehicles, but  that brush truly excels on organic shapes such as this.  Plus, it still has a chisel edge, which means that you can even do a fair amount of details with it!

I kept the ventral section a bit darker than the dorsal, which would be catching more light...

On to the freehand!  You have already seen this design on the Grotesues, a jetbike, and some Venoms.  It was even more of a challenge here, just by the sheer surface area that needed to be covered.  Keeping a variety and randomness to the patterns can be tricky, since we humans like to arrange things into nice, orderly objects.

Since vanity is definitely a part of the Dark Eldar, I wanted to include images of  the Archon on the key vehicles, just to let everyone know who is boss. :-)

The freehand begins with a darker orange, which establishes the basic parameters.  I made sure to feather out the edges at this stage.

Now you can see that I went progressively lighter and lighter with the patterns, almost creating patterns within patterns.

I also tried to reflect some of the freehand tattoos from the Wyches onto the fins and elevators.

Another view of Asharah...

And some of the other freehand bits you have seen on other vehicles such as the Blood Star...

And the flaming skull.  The next stage is to do some streaks of soot and get some scorch marks on this with the weathering powders.  But, I need to get some dullcoate spray first!

I also have to finish off the cyberwolf hero from Raging Heroes... stay tuned!

More deepest Africa from Fenryll

One more of the Fenryll ladies for you on this very late evening...

Off with his head!

More goodies from the Fenryll vault.  This time, a dragon slayer!

A tiny sword for such a big head... must be pretty sharp!  I can see such a difference in the way I do blood now from the way I did it back then (between 2005 and 2006).

Blood is way more fun these days with my recent techniques...

Ground control: A base for the Razorwing

As I work out the fluff for the Dark Eldar, I realized that I also needed to do the same for their opponents, the Knights of the Broken Blade.

As you have probably seen in previous posts, the Dark Eldar are after a Hippodrome on this Imperial world, which is being defended by that particular chapter of marines.  I had to figure out what it was that they were racing in that Hippodrome.  When I saw the Raging Heroes cyberwolves, then I knew... dire wolves!

The locals gather by the hundreds of thousands to watch these spectacles.  The marines take the largest and most powerful of these wolves and 'enhance' them with cybernetic parts.

The final battle takes place in the Hippodrome, similar to the battle for Manila during WWII... part of which took place in a baseball stadium.

So, to begin, I knew that I wanted the locals to have a more Romanesque feel, which meant one thing... mosaics!

I started the process by laying down some basic colors and patterns.

I didn't want to get too crazy with details at this stage, since the mosaic tile effect would not be very visible if there was a lot of blending.

I kept the basic colors as greyed down and neutral as possible, so that the final brighter colors would stand out more as individual tiles, without having to outline every single one!

I took some Reaper dark liner paints, and my liner brush, and set about making those tile patterns.  They tend to be pretty straight, but they will also follow curves, a bit like directional brush strokes.

Cracks were also added at this point.

You can see that some lighter (and brighter) colors were added on the shield design and the surrounding part of the patterns.  A few 'missing' tiles were designated by some very dark paint.

More of the interior design was brought to life by adding those brighter colors.  You can see the increasing contrasts in the wolf and the two figures beneath it.  I had looked for Roman Wolf Mosaics online, and had found an image that had an 'ancient' feel.  This was to contrast with the sleeker more modern Dark Eldar freehand...

With a few more bright tiles added, you get the impression that some of the tiles are catching more light than others, or are at a slightly different angle, etc.  It's a little like an impressionist painting, as you are working with dots of paint, for the most part!

I also added some clumps of grass and flock, for a bit of color and texture contrast.

Next up is the Hero on the Cyberwolf, kindly donated by Raging Heroes!

I am hoping to do another one of these designs on a Venom base, and a few more on the jetbike bases... stay tuned!!

Up and away! A Venom is ready to go!

You have seen the pieces and parts of this figure already... now it's time to see it all together!

Like the Periodic Table, lots of elements went into creating the entirety of this Venom.

Lots of freehand, OSL, basing, blood, and much more!

I have finally gotten into a comfort zone painting these guys... a point where constant experimentation becomes a more routine process.

It is always a relief to get to that stage!  Everything gets a bit easier then.

Identifying exactly what sort of icons and symbols I want is an agonizing process of rapid decision making, but once that is done, you can have lots of fun with it!

I have some top views of this which show the upper skin of the vehicle even more.

Stay tuned!!!