Live to CRUSH

Ok!  So we covered the base coat and worked our way through the skin, both shading and highlighting.  Today we will finish up by working the under plates and top plates.  When thats done with we will talk briefly about my basing technique and spray coating to protect and pull everything together.

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7. The underplates.  I personally paint my underplates different from my top plates.  It gives the beast move of a softer under belly feel with a harder more armor top plate.  So for this result I use menoth white base and paint over each plate in a way as to leave some orange showing in the cracks and depths of the overlapping plates.  This makes it seem like the orange is seeping out or glowing through.  It also separates each  plate from one another.  This color also allows a tiny orange “feel” to pull through the menoth coat.  I also paint the teeth and eyeless sensor spot in this method along with some of the spikes.

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8.   With straight menoth white highlight I hit the edges of these plates along with the tips of the spikes and teeth and a little in the sensor spots.  This separates the plates even more and gives them that highlight to pop out.  I don’t shade any part of these objects.  That finishes those areas, make sure to leave enough orange but not too much. You may be able to see this a little better on the carny.

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9.  Now onto the plates.  I base coat over the orange Umbral Umber pretty much straight from the pot.  I leave little bits of orange poking through here and there and around the edges and between some of the plates I leave a little.  The claws I base coat bootstrap brown first and then umbral umber.  So my paint goes from a tiny bit of orange then a tiny bit of brown then umber from there to the tip of the claws.

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10.  Make a shade using umbral umber, black, and mixing medium.. this goes on on the underneath parts of the plates and around the edges, but not the very edge.  Keep it about a 1/16 away to create some nice illusion of the edge popping out. I also streak the shade on the plates, same technique as with the muscles. the shade also goes towards the top of the big spikes and to the edge of claws.

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11. Next I go back with the base coat of umbral umber and streak paint on and cover up any areas that may have gotten to much shade tone.  This step also allows me to better blend the shade areas back into the rest of the shell.

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12.   Here comes the plate highlight step.  For this I mix up some umbral umber with mixing medium and some bootstrap brown along with a little bit of menoth white highlight.  Again I streak in the color and hit some of the plate edges and areas where the highlights would be.

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13. This step brings in a tiny bit of straight black and I hit the very tips of the large spikes and the very tips of the claws.  This step makes a large difference to the dimensionality of these parts of the armor and really sets them apart as old growth and tougher than the rest.  Its a great effect.

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Note:  Steps 11, 12, and 13 are all shown together in the 3rd image of the underlying sequence.

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14.  The bases.  First step I paint the bases with a valejo game color cold grey.  Then the back arcs with ironhull grey using the cutting mat to pin point where my arcs are.  This I paint around the edges and on the small inside edge lip.

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15.  Next I base by watering down some Sobo craft glue, which is a white glue.  I paint it on with a small brush.  Then I dip it in a tupperware full of woodland scenics light grey ballast.  Fine grit.  Let it dry and shake off the excess.

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****Now I will also take the time out to say choosing a base color is very important!  I use a nice neutral grey which doesn’t clash or upset the scheme of my army but also is different enough to stand out letting the creature appear more like a creature than part of the base.  I think it is a good plan to keep them separate.  Also neutral colors are probably your best bet, i.e. greys or browns.  Try to find one that is contrasting but not garish.  Always try test schemes first.  And my opinion is that black looks cheesy because we are used to seeing unpainted bases black and also black is usually so much darker it draws your eyes to the base and not the model.  Neutral colors will play second fiddle to your model which is what you want!****

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16. Spray coats.  Necessary!?  YES!!!  It will lengthen the life of your painted model by like a million.  And if done right will bring everything together.  I use 4 coats of minwax polycrylic crystal clear high gloss.  Its water based not oil based so it will stay CLEAR not yellow after time.  This coat is for protection and the gloss is the way to go but it looks terrible after this step.  After that I let it dry for several days then three coats of Testors dull coat.  Which takes all that unbelievable sheen and somehow transforms it into a lovely mat finish that actually helps blend color and pull out highlights!!  Dullcoat really is the wonder spray of the world.  Except for the enormous level of toxicity.  So make your vented properly.  And watch out for humidity problems.  I will write up a detailed step by step on spraying in the future.

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17.  I go back with a little more watered down Sobo glue and sprinkle in some patches of static grass and such.  I use the dead grass color which works well with my grey bases and I glue on a small piece of woodland scenics natural colored lichen every once and a while to make things interesting.

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And there it is…  Completed.  Not so bad right?  Image of the finished Raek can be found at the top of this post or in our Galleries.  Thanks for reading, leave a comment and have a great day!

~ by cloudfang on Wednesday, 25 January 2012.