Deepkin Undercover

Same recipe as before for the skin, but I am going to put it down again, just to reinforce it.  Vallejo Pale Blue Grey base, Drakenhof Nightshade 2:1 with Speedpaint Medium wash, then a thin layer of the base colour back over top.  Next will be the Citadel Wraithbone highlight. For the hero, basecoat of Army Painter Topaz Skin, wash with straight Citadel Reikland Fleshshade, highlight with 1:1 thinned mix of Topaz Skin and Leopard Stone Skin (Army Painter), followed by a bit of thinned Leopard Stone Skin.

 So very little time today, I was only able to spend 15 minutes on hobby today.

 Not much to add.  Tomorrow shade and highlight the armour, then maybe skin.

Simple zenithal prime with Black Vallejo primer, initial layer of Army Painter Matt White, followed by a second spray of Pro Acryl Bold Titanium White.  My plan is to use the same colour scheme as the Reavers, so won't bother listing the paints used.

Nothing fancy today, just a two step process, where I spend a bunch of time carefully covering the bases in wood filler, then smoothing it with water.  This careful application leaves the bases in the exact same condition as before the work, but with the knowledge that extra work was done. After that they are ready for the next step, a quick slapdash of modpodge, covered with a sploosh of sand mixture.  This step takes no time at all.  There have been some who have asked why bother with the first step, when there is no obvious difference between a base that has been carefully prepared with wood filler.  What I usually say to them, is that they wouldn't understand, as it is part of the FUCKING PROCESS.  

Well, quick update.  Did some colouring in, just so there were no white bits.  Not going to document the colours, because they don't really matter.  So just highlighting left to do, which is of course a lot of work.   I think tomorrow I should probably focus on getting some more minis ready for painting.

So back to the hero of our story.  Terrain painting just isn't that satisfying, something I think I would prefer to use rattle cans for.  Maybe I should give the airbrush a go, although not sure if I could get those cheap paints through it.  Err, that wasn't supposed to be the story. So I took a stab at painting the cloak tonight.  Maybe should have finished the rider first, but I somehow managed to snap his arm off, which made getting at the cloak a bit easier. Just Vallejo Magic Blue mixed with Army Painter Matt Black and Matt White.  My wet blending was not the best today, not as seamless, nor as bright as I had hoped, but it's fine.  I am not sure I will do much more with it since there will be more opportunities to practice on other models, but maybe this is one of those models I go back to at some point.  My thousands of other unpainted mini suggest that will not happen ;)

I really did not want to paint today, so decided that tackling a hero model was not a good choice.  I also did not want to break my streak of hobbying, which has now hit almost 4 weeks I think. So here is a terrain piece with some cheap dollar store brown on it. No idea where I am going with this. Maybe a wash with really thinned black paint, then drybrush with brown again, or maybe grey, not sure.

Well, not much different to look at, except the other side of the horse is done.  Still a lot of highlighting to do before I can tackle the next daunting task.  The cloak.

 Started messing around with an idea to take the claws and "fins" to black instead of orange.  Still working on the right amount of gradient.  I think I like it, but may struggle to highlight it in way that I find appealing.  I can always paint over them if needed. I think the only new colours here was some Yutang Sunset that I used to put some highlights on a few scales and a bit of Matt Black, just for the tips.

 Well, it is just one side, but a decent start.  Going from here to a high contrast stunner is going to be a challenge, as I think I have too much of the pallette stuck in a mid-tone area.  I think it can be done, but I will have to maybe add some black to my dark red, as it doesn't go dark enough to really pop.  Then there is highlighting.  I am tempted to drybrush those scales, but it could end up looking a bit rough.  Anyway, I can probably paint him like this, and call him tabletop ready if I can't make it work.  I really wish I had not glued the rider on though, as it is making it very hard to work. Right, better add my painting details.  So far just using Army Painter, all but one from the Infinity line. 1 - Urban Buff mixed with Invincible Orange for skin areas, about 1:1. 2 - Bakunin Red for darker areas, wet blended with Invincible Orange in the lighter ones. 3 - Everything washed with State Empire Pride speedpaint.  Thinned for the ...

Well, this is it, the unit is as done as I am going to make them.  I would even say a smidge above my usual tabletop standard.  Really happy with how they turned out.  Final highlights were just the corresponding colour of contrast/speed paint, mixed with Army Painter Matt White.  For the bases, what was likely an unnecessary step of Dollar store Burnt Umber, drybrushed with Warm Beige, followed by an undiluted coat of Leviadon Blue, finished with a drybrush of Citadel Wraithbone.  The final five: The whole unit:

 Quick update.  Baldur's Gate 3 took up way more of my day than planned, but I did finish the skin highlights.  I was able to go with just thinned down Citadel Wraithbone, and the effect looks similar enough to the first batch for me to leave it there.  Maybe I can get a solid amount of time in tomorrow and get them a bit closer to being done.  A bit of potato cam today, but given the slightly lower standards of these, it is probably for the best.  

Ok, I continue to peck away at the Reavers, covering up the remaining zenithal with non-white pigments.  Well, that is not entirely true perhaps, as I am not sure if they added white pigments to some of the paints I am using.  Sneaky bastards probably did. One thing I have noticed, as I head into the skin highlight phase, is that I think the way I am doing them this time, is different from the last time.  Just the two on the right are highlighted, but I suspect the fact that I need to point that out indicates an issue.  I think previously I basecoated, then highlighted, wanted more contrast so did a shade, then highlighted again.  The previous five Reavers skin looks much better.  I will see if I can correct this with another lighter skin layer on top, but if it doesn't work out, I will try the other way when I start in on the Thralls. Recipe from last night: 1) Arrows - Dark wood Speedpaint with Speedpaint Medium, 1:1 ratio 2) Quiver (not shown) - Hardened...

 So this is an important step, that takes very little time, and quite frankly doesn't look amazing.  However, there is no avoiding it.  I mean, I guess I could change my formula, and not use contrast/speed paints, but I think this is faster. Recipe of the day: 1 - Drakenhof Nightshade shade and Speedpaint Medium in a 1:1 ratio for the skin 2 - Hardened Leather Speedpaint for the bows 3 - Akhelian Green and Speedpaint Medium in a 1:1 ratio for the clothes

 So I have started on the next, and last, group of five Reavers.  For the sake of future me, here are the steps done so far, with these first steps all using Vallejo paints: 1: Dusken Green Airbrush basecoat (not applied with an airbrush) on the Armour 2: Dusken Green Shade over that 3: Dusken Green Light drybrushed on top of that 4: Pale Blue Grey applied to skin And my next character, the Akhelian King, with only the armour done so far, but using the same steps as above.

 I could of course keep spending time on these, but onwards, and maybe upwards!  I am happy with how they look, and am not convinced any further effort will provide an improved experience on the tabletop. Work on the rest of the five elf unit has begun, along with one of the characters, to be revealed at a later date.

 So I have been quite consistent in painting for about 30 minutes a day so far, about two weeks in.  I am closing in on finishing the first five reavers, although the detail work always takes me longer than expected.  Almost all of the initial primed zenithal work has been covered, and a good deal of the highlighting as well.  I didn't quite nail the colour selection, but I am happy with the overall look of them from a few feet away.  I hope to finish these up in the next couple of days.

 Well, a very ambitious project, for me at least, is to finish assembling and painting a 2000 point Idoneth Deepkin army by mid August of this year of our lord 2026. I am starting this blog a bit late, and assembly has already been completed, with the exception of one character model that I have yet to purchase.  I am holding off on that until I am down to my last unpainted unit, and feel like my goal can be achieved. So, here is the first picture I took of my progress.  Five Namarti Reavers.