IG Stormtrooper

[CMDante]

Started painting on this chap today. Just a bit of base work on the face and a quick spray and coat of skull white for undercoat but enjoying it so far:




Using this as a warm up for some upcoming pieces so will be trialing oils for blending on him too.

Also, did my first ever pumpkin carving with my girlfriend Ioana tonight. Think I was maybe a little ambitious with my design given it's my first go, but pretty pleased! (Mine on the right, Ioana's on the left)



More soon!

Cheers,

Dante

[mangozac]

Wow this will be interesting to watch!

What's the story with the parts you've used for this guy? Is his torso FW resin? Looking at this picture for your sculpting tutorial shows that he is made from quite a few different bits including some serious sculpting:



One thing I will say is that I feel that the scar on his cheek is a bit deep looking - wouldn't a cut that deep actually go all the way through and expose the inside of your mouth? Maybe it will turn out ok when painted...

[CMDante]

Yep, he is the FW cadian tank commander with a new set of legs, head and arms.

I haven't painted anything in a few months so using him as a nice piece to get back into the groove.

Cheers,

Dante

[CMDante]

Done a little more work on the stormtrooper's face this afternoon:




It's actually been really fun to do too! Haven't painted (properly) in a few months but don't feel too rusty for it.

Excuse the brown/grey on the fatigues etc, it's just an early, rough bit of shading to make the details easier to see when I come to paint it.

I'm thinking a nice, cool wintery setting, hence the pinkish tone of the skin on the cheeks. Still debating camo schemes etc for the fatigues though.

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

[paulson games]

The resculpt on the legs looks great. I do kinda agree that the face scar looks a bit deep, would work fine for a fresh wound which would need ample blood, but if it's a older wound it would have been pulled tighter or been stitched. I think the scar on the top of the head looks great.

It's off to a great start and looking forward to seeing the painting progress.

[CMDante]

Did a little painting today, not a lot as was quite tired after 10km run (and tasty squid dinner! - http://twitpic.com/o9fpo).

Managed to get some base work on the fatigues painted. Going for a sort of WW2 US airborne style with them. Early days yet but you can see where its going.



Also, on a polar opposite in terms of setting, thought I'd post a pic of a Tallarn trooper I converted up a few weeks back. He was originally intended for the base of a sentinel conversion I was putting together but I rapidly lost motivation with the large vehicle so might base him up on his own.



Cheers,

Dante

[mangozac]

I love where the Tallarn guy is headed but it's a shame you won't be doing the entire diorama - it sounded particularly awesome

It's always interesting to see the different progressions people use in their painting.

[Warhound]

Don't you dare give up on the sentinel!

It is a truly worthy idea for GD standard, and given the start of this trooper- I would be over the moon with it!

Great pose- nice proportions and tight sculpt work!

The Cadian, though has lost some love from me recently:-( I can't put my finger on it, whether it is the scar being too deep, or the way the legs separate at the groin- it is almost like the material has twisted (jeans style) under the armour plate?

That does not detract from the painting however and the pallet choice is superb! I love the way that you use washes in their purest form to achieve tone and shade!

Keep up the great work man!

WARHOUND

[CMDante]

I was asked by a friend over on Warseer about brushes and , to which I have responded with a blog post including a short tutorial on painting eyes, and a look at the equipment I use to do so.

I've made this as a blog post tutorial as it is a fairly common question and it's handy to have a reference to point to if it's asked again in future rather than simply leave it as a post lost in a thread, also, I'm actually finding blogging about my hobby for a change, rather than clients at work, a lot of fun!



Hope that helps some folks and answers any questions.

Cheers,

Dante

[CMDante]

Wooo feels like its been a long time since I got anything done on this guy! Finally got the first of the arms done tonight so thought I'd post some pics. Really just want to get him finished now!

Sorry about the quality of the images. Couldn't get the lighting right and was too lazy to dig out my proper background. I'll save the proper pics for when he's finished!:D






He's not my best of most tidy bit of painting, but I've been trying out some new things on him so he's certainly been fun. The base looks terrible in the pics but the snow looks fine IRL. The light is just bouncing off the varnish on the snow making it look like a big white blob!

Going to try and finish him off this week so stay tuned!

Cheers,

Dante

[paulson games]

He's looking really good, I know it's a minor detail but I totally love the medic style cross on the hip pouch very nice touch.

The weathering on the armor looks nice, it's minimal and not over done like a lot of minis I see. Comes off quite realistic.

[Warhound]

Hey Dante!

Welcome back

Good to see some serious progress on this dude.. I have to say that your attention to detail has really worked out and the weathering and markings really stand out!

The base looks frigging awesome, but then I noticed something... tonally the entire model seems to 'blanche' (other than the orange)

As you have used quite a cold green, tied with the white and because he has quite pale skin, the whole piece seems to look too pale? As you say, it might be the lighting (bouncing off the snow), but I suspect (from pre snow shots) that the overalls need some sort of wash or glaze just to make them 'pop' a little more against the white armour. Also, and this might seem a bit weird, but the armour could be more white? The weathering is fantastic, but now where there are no mucky marks or scratches, I would touch the white up just to make it stand out again?

Picky points, I know, but that's what I am here for .... as Zac will testify

cheers
WARHOUND

[mangozac]

I agree with Mark's sentiments, however I do suspect that it's just the lighting.

My only other comment, and I do realise that it's probably a bit late now (although maybe that's your fault for not giving us more WIP shots ), is that the right shoulder seems a bit weird. I feel like you could shave a mm or two from the join between the arm and the torso in order to bring it back in line with where the shoulder should sit.

[CMDante]

Yeah, your right about the arm but its too late now. Not hugely detracting but one of a few imperfections typical of a test piece I suppose.

Anyway, finished at last!






Correct set up for the pics this time too so hopefully they are better than the last lot! The snow even looks better in these pics which makes a change.

Normally I find painting arms quite tedious, but these were actually a lot of fun and really quick (for me!) to do.

I also tend to try to avoid freehand work as much as possible, both for a fear of wrecking the area beneath, and because normally I struggle with it. The freehands here were kept very simple for exactly that reason. I had originally thought about going completely over the top and attempting some kind of extravagant personal heraldry on the left pad to practice, but decided it really didn't fit with the theme or image of the rest of the fig so it got scrapped in the end.

The gun might get some markings added to it at some point, though for now I'm happy enough with him. He was only a test piece after-all so don't want to keep going back and tweaking him too much.

Something Empire related up next I think. Assassins, in particular a remake of Vesperro's vendetta is looking particularly appealing at the moment....

Tutorial on the chipped armour coming soon on my blog (as soon as I finish writing the accompanying text!).

Cheers,

Dante

[mangozac]

Very nice (apart from the gimp arm )! My favourite detail is the 5 o'clock shadow of his shaven head.

The lasgun could definitely benefit from some extra detailing - as it stands it's just a little bit bland compared to the rest of the model.

The base is great too! What did you use for snow?