Hellspawn's Salamanders

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Hellspawn
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by Hellspawn »

Took me some time, but I finally managed to get some painting done and I think I found what I wanted for my Salamanders.

This is basically just a test, thus not that much done on the mini. It was more to see if the methods I wanted to use would meet my expectations and I must say, I'm happy with the results.

No complicated or fancy stuff.
  • I did two tests:

    First one: primed in white (skull white GW), a spray of black while holding the mini upside down to add some shadows, and then a simple green layer with airbrush. Nothing else.

    ImageClick to see full-sized image

    Second one: primed in light grey (uniform grey AP), spray of black for the shadows while holding mini upside down, and spray of white on top for the highlights. Nothing else.

    ImageClick to see full-sized image
Here is a picture of the two methods next to each others:

ImageClick to see full-sized image

Now I need to decided which method I'll use. I like them both. I like the one primed in white cause the color is brighter, but I like the one primed in grey cause it has a better contrast.

On all the previous minis, I was priming in white, then adding one airbrush layer of green, and then one layer of darker green and another of black in specific spots while holding mini upside down for shadows, and then three layers of lighter greens for highlights.

Not complicated things since it was airbrushed, but the colors weren't had some variations and in the end, not really the results I was looking for. Sadly, it took me too long to notice it.

Now I'll just need to decide if I go for white or grey primer and then, I guess I'll be able to resume my army (and hopefully make it playable).

Again, this is just a test to see the renders. Once I'll be settled on a color to prime the minis with, I'll do the edge hightlights, the lining etc, but regarding the general shadows/highlights, nothing more will be done.
sea.man
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by sea.man »

Interesting comparison. I like the skull white more, because the green looks more vivid.
miniatures painted:
2011 - 83, 2012 - 38, 2013 - 45, 2014 - 56, 2015 - 95, 2016 - 106, 2017 - 22
Hellspawn
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by Hellspawn »

sea.man wrote:Interesting comparison. I like the skull white more, because the green looks more vivid.
It does indeed. Though, I did try to take a picture with another environment, to see how the minis would like from a gaming Point of View, without any fancy lights, nice background, etc., just minis on a table and here is the result:

ImageClick to see full-sized image

As you can see, and you were right, white base is definitely more vivid, and grey version is more contrasted.

Also, I think that this picture clearly shows how different minis can be seen when showed under fancy lights with staged background and when put on a simple table without lights etc.

Now, when I first gave a try to those methods, I thought: "uhm, the grey version looks nice, but I really like the white one cause it's more brighter".

Of course, this was under fancy lights. The thing is, I don't play under fancy lights.

So, I gave it a few days of thinking, and seeing the minis in differents lights conditions (daylight on the table, lights of the room, lights for when I'm painting), I'll prolly go for the grey version cause in the end, I think it'll look better in overall because the contrasts are stronger.
Hellspawn
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by Hellspawn »

Beisdes priming, unspruing, cleaning some mold lines and gluing some body parts, nothing more has been done.

Those two are still "sitting" on my desk and I think that giving a few more reflection days on which version I should go for wasn't that bad as I'm not sure that the grey version would be THAT good in the end.

So now, since I'm hesitating, I think I'll do another test but with some different minis to have a better idea.

Yes, this might be a silly idea and a waste of time, but I prefer doing that now to avoid ending up with something that I won't like in the end like the marines I have painted already.
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by Ariakas »

My advice would be to pick the white based one. You're painting an army, you want the stuff to shine and to achieve that with the less work as possible, so i think white undercoat with preshading is the way to go, i do however believe that some extra work will be needed on shadows/lightning, just using the preshading won't be strong enough or even smooth enough (so just 1 more coat of shading with the airbrush should be enough and should smooth it all, without being much more work, same thing with a zenithal highlight)
Grey undercoat, is, in my opinion better suited when you intend to do a full work on lighning and shadows, since you're going from a neutral base...
Hellspawn
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by Hellspawn »

Regarding the latest news arriving from Forge World concerning the next release, I might need to put the plastic models on hold.

Reason? Simply because Forge World announced during their even lots of news things, especially new units for the Salamanders (new terminators, Vulkan). So, considering they might as well release some options (torsos, new shoulder pads, specific weapons, etc), I've decided to stop working on plastic minis that are easily convertible.

I'll keep working on the army, but will limit myself with metal minis that can't be converted so then I won't need to restart them :)
sea.man
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by sea.man »

but aren't those new FW releases for HH?
miniatures painted:
2011 - 83, 2012 - 38, 2013 - 45, 2014 - 56, 2015 - 95, 2016 - 106, 2017 - 22
Hellspawn
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by Hellspawn »

sea.man wrote:but aren't those new FW releases for HH?
Well, some units are indeed, like the Pyroclasts, but the upcoming Firedrakes (Veterans of the 1st Company in specific terminators armors) can be used as normal terminators with an awesome look.

But the firedrakes aren't the only thing.

Yes, some other units are to be released, for 30K (so Horus Heresy), but they're also planning to release lots of accessories like helmets, torsos, specific weapons etc and this won't have to be specificaly used for 30k but will work as well for 40k, thus me waiting.
I don't want to strip minis another time :)
sea.man
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by sea.man »

I think Spellcrow also has released tons of salamanders bits :)
miniatures painted:
2011 - 83, 2012 - 38, 2013 - 45, 2014 - 56, 2015 - 95, 2016 - 106, 2017 - 22
Hellspawn
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Re: Hellspawn's Salamanders

Post by Hellspawn »

sea.man wrote:I think Spellcrow also has released tons of salamanders bits :)
Indeed they do, but I really don't like them :) Also, the pictures we've seen from the FW day showed products that were ready, so they should be released over the next few weeks, so now it's w&s mostly.
On a side note, GW is also releasing some news for the Orks with the next coming waves, which will allow me to check some other minis while waiting for some Salamanders love from FW :dance:
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