Isle of Blood High Elves All Done!!!

The last of the High Elves.  Worked all morning today on just the mages.  I'm sure after Bob gets them flocked he will post final pictures of the entire lot of them in all their glory.  Figures always look better flocked.

Here's the beginnings of the Sea Guard, simply sloppy base coats.  There is some highlighting in my usual pseudo-Dallimore method.  :-)

Again, the beginnings of the Warriors of Hoeth.

Mages.  Bob and I decided to leave their cloaks separate because getting behind them would be a pain in the butt.

Close-up of the mid-stages of painting.  Still pretty basic, some highlighting and a still a lot of sloppiness.

Here we are, done.

Voila!

Same mage, different color scheme.  Funny how a little paint makes them look so different and gives them a different feel.

I decided not to do anything fancy with the backs of their cloaks.  I was going to put the little stars on them but decided against it.

A little close-up.

 Sorry, no real time to add all the details about how I painted them, too many papers to grade.  Perhaps I can go back when I have the time and post color choices.  Hope you enjoy!

More High Elves!

Well, here we go with some more High Elves.  This happens to be the last of this batch for the Isle of Blood box.  This was yesterday's project: High Elf Mages, Sword Masters of Hoeth and Lothern Sea Guard.

This is the whole lot of them.  The thingies on the blue bottle lids are the mages and one flag.  When I can't hold onto something I put it on a bottle cap that has the blue tacky putty on it.  This helps me let it dry without leaning it on something and then having it fall over.

 

You can see that things are only based coated and only the Mithril Silver is washed in Badab Black.

For the two Bladelord Kalaer figures I've decided to make them stand out, one in Red (Model Color) and one in Ocher (CVC).  The red will eventually be highlighted with Red (CVC) and Vermillion (CVC) and the Ocher will go to Ocher 15 and Ocher 11 (both CVC).

Sea Master Althin stands out in the same reds as above.  The blues are the same as on the Reavers, Regal Blue.

Yep, I haven't gotten far with these yet.  I was on a roll yesterday, started around 9am, took a break at lunch, then ended at 5.  Oh, and don't forget that I messed around in between with bathing, getting drinks and Facebook.

Too much school work for this evening so I might not get much more done this weekend.

High Elves Reavers - Finally Finished!

So, it didn't really take me this long to finish them.  I just had tons of other stuff to do and I've been working every day now as a substitute English teacher.  Here are the finished products from roughly where I left of in the last post.

Here they are with the base Burnished Gold color added as well as the Regal Blue.

Now I've added the skin tone of Golden Shadow (Reaper M.S.), pseudo-Dallimore Golden Highlight (R.M.S.) and wash in Ogryn Flesh.  The Feathers are in Stained Ivory (R.M.S.), highlighted in Creamy Ivory and washed in Sepia wash.

Now, I've added Red (Cel-Vinyl Colors) to the feathers and they are to be washed in Leviathan Purple.  Red (Model Color) has been added to the gemstones and will be detailed in Red (CVC) and Yellow Orange (CVC) with a white accent dot.

You'll notice that the white has been added to the enamel inlays on the horses gear.  I used Gray 1 (CVC) and White (CVC).  The blue enamels are just Regal Blue and Deep Sky Blue.

This is a pretty good close-up.  You can really see how taking the time to do the gems is important.  They really seem to glow.  Eventually, after a clear matte spray, they will be glossed to make them extra shiny.  I also add that making sure you put a dot of white in the horse's eye is important.  The eye will also get a touch of gloss when it's all done.

The various stages of the blue are as they are in the White Dwarf for the High Elves: Regal Blue base, pseudo-Dallimore on Enchanted Blue, then p-D a mix of Enchanted Blue and Deep Sky Blue (they call it Ice Blue in Citadel Colors) and a final tiny highlight of Deep Sky Blue...just a sliver.

My number one suggestion is this.  Don't go overboard with colors.  Sometimes we think that colors will go well with each other and they don't.  Because I didn't feel like thinking about color choices I went with what the White Dwarf offered by way of pictures.  I changed things a little and since I don't know exactly what they used, I used comparable colors from my own paints.

Another nice color combo for these would have been purples instead of blues.  I've seen some people do High Elf armies in purples (royalty) instead of blues (nobility).  Perhaps you'd do it just to make these Reavers stand out.  Another thing to do would be to make the gems different colors.  That wouldn't be too much, it wouldn't distract from the model.  Technically there are two units of Reavers here, I was going to make the gems of one unit green and the others red.  In the end I just chose to make them all red.  I could have done the same with the feathers to differentiate the units.

High Elves and Classic Country

   So, I promised progress.  Well, ummm...I was busy procrastinating.  You know, I needed to watch some CSI, talk to my mom on the phone and Facebook with people.  No, actually I needed to get new bottles of Regal Blue and Enchanted Blue and had to wait until Norm Flam opened today.  There is nothing like brand new canisters of paint.
   I was going to use the Necron Abyss for the blue but I decided it was far too dark and far too purplish.  I think I've used it previously for High Elves but I also know I've been more satisfied with Regal and Enchanted.  Unfortunately, when I went to open the canisters last night they were dry.  Blech.  Why is it when you want something or really need it, it isn't there?  Kinda like that beer I've been wishing for...<<grin>>

   I'm considering some further procrastination...but here's what happens between classic country:

"...but when they turn out the lights she's still a lady to me, because when we get behind closed, when she lets her hair hang low, and she makes me glad...Oh, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors..." 

This is just an initial base coat of Brown with a dry-brush of Light Brown; a base coat of Mithril silver.  No white has been done on the fronts of the horse coat or the taberd on the elf.

 "...mommas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys don't let em get guitars and ride in old trucks...let em be doctors and lawyers and such...cuz they'll never stay home and they're always alone...cowboys like smokey old pool rooms and clear mountain mornings, little warm puppies and girls of the night..."

This is after all the browns and the silver have been washed with Badab black.

"I've got a good woman at home, who thinks I do no wrong, but sometimes lord she just ain't always around, and you know that's when I fall, and I can't help myself at all, and I get whiskey bent and hell bound..play me some songs about a ramblin' man put a cold one in my hand cause you know i love to hear those guitar sounds..."

Just another image like the one from above...

 "...my heroes have always been cowboys, and they still are today...cowboys are special, with their own brand of misery from bein' alone for too long..."

The white is done in a base of Cel-Vinyl gray 7, then pesudo-Dallimored with gray 1 and white.  You'll see that there are distinct gray creases.  Some people like this and at a distance it looks good.  Up close though, it is a bit too distinct so... 

"...and leather boots are still in style for manly footwear, beads and sandals won't be seen, footballs the roughest thing on campus I'm proud to be an Okey from Muskogee...we still wave old glory down at the court house and white lightnings still the biggest thrill of all..."

...in this photo you'll notice that the creases are subduded a little bit and up close it appears softened.  I achieved this by diluting the white until it's like 2% milk and washing the cloth with it.  I know, I could have used an actual white wash, but I prefer to do it this way.

"...well you wonder why I always dress in black, why you never see bright colors on my back...I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down livin' in the hopeless hungry side of town...well were doing mighty fine I do suppose in our streak of lightening cars and fancy clothes...you'll never see me wear a suit of white...till things are brighter I'm the man in black..."

This image is with the gold drying in preparation for washing with Ogryn flesh; the trim is done in the base coat of Regal blue waiting to dry for highlights of Enchanted and Deep Sky.

 I think it's Legion time...in other words, more procrastination.  Okay, maybe I'll paint for a few more hours, it is kinda early for beer:30.  This is why it's not called Evil Allison's, we'd never get anything done.  :-)

This Week's High Elf Extravaganza! Snow Days Rock!

This is Allison (Evil Bob's wife):
I'm working on an order of High Elves, two Isle of Blood boxes without the Skaven.  I had to ask Bob though because I just paint stuff.  He then said, "Quit bothering me while I'm trying to do math."  <<chuckle>>  I think he hates it when I have snow days (I'm a substitute English teacher) because I drive him crazy.  Anyways...

At the beginning of the week I painted the war griffons with the prince riders and for the past two days I've been fiddling with the Ellyrian Reavers when I've felt like painting and not crocheting.  To forewarn you, I use a mixture of paints: Cel-Vinyls, Reapers, Model Color, Vallejo etc. and I use a number of methods of painting: dry-brushing, damp brushing, pseudo-Dallimore... I kinda go with whatever will be easiest on the model and look appropriate.

As for paint schemes, I decided that I'd pretty much go with the images from White Dwarf; I like them well enough.  However, if you notice, I painted the griffons more of a golden brown coloring instead of the duller wood gray that they are in the White Dwarf.  I have nothing against the paint scheme chosen in WD; I believe they chose it because it really makes the rider stand out from the griffon, I just prefer a brighter eagle overall and I feel that it complements the lion body better <<shrug>>.  In order to get my coloring I chose images of golden and Asian eagles from online; I also admired their patterning.

In order to get similar colors as the image above; but ones that 'pop', are noble and golden like I feel High Elves should appear, I chose from the Cel-Vinyl range: Burnt Umber, dry-brush of Brown, dry-brush of Light Brown and dry-brush of Ocher only on the Light Brown areas.  Finally, there is a Badab black wash over the tips where the Burnt Umber is in order to make it almost black.  The white patches are Polished Bone and highlighted with Stencil.

As for the prince himself, it's pretty much just like the WD.  Burnished gold armor with a Ogryn flesh wash and Mithril silver dry-brushing; Necron abyss cloak with Mordain blue and Deep Sky blue high lighting.  I don't know what colors were used in the WD; but these are what I was using.

Now, for today, I'm onto the Ellyrian Reavers.  I like the scheme in the WD so I'm gonna go with that one.  This is all the farther I am for the moment, sorry.

I think I'm going to keep it simple: The horses are done first in Cel-Vinyl Gray 25, 15 and 5 (dry-brushing the other grays on).  I like the spots on the ones in WD, but I don't feel like doing them; it's a busy model already.  For the brown leathers I'll use Cel-Vinyl Brown with a dry brush of Light Brown and a wash of Badab black.  Metals will be Mithril Silver with Badab black wash; Burnished gold with a wash of Ogryn flesh.  The feathers will probably be Stained ivory, washed with Sepia and dry-brushed with Creamy Ivory.  The red will most likely be Cel-Vinyl Red with a wash of Leviathan purple.  The blues will be the same as for the griffon riders' cloaks.  Lastly, the white in Gray 5, highlighted in Gray 1, highlighted in white, and then washed in a watered down white.
Well, I think it's about time I get back to painting... depending on how far I get the the Reavers perhaps I'll post pics of them later.  BTW, if I misspelled something by way of the paint colors, I apologize, I'm typing quickly so as to get back to painting.  I don't get paid to blather on and type professionally.  ;-)