Gaunt test paint

[Icepick]

So, this is the first model I've painted in over a year, and I decided I wanted to try out some new shading/highlighting techniques. This is the first time I've used the new washes, so it was something of a learning experience for me.



A few notes;

The base isn't done, obviously.
The hooves/claws normally have an extra highlight of brighter red, but all my bright red paints had dried up in the year+ since I last used them.
There are a couple of splotches of paint in places I didn't notice until I looked at the photo.

I'm quite happy with it, although I'm not too sure about the darker shaded areas - I used the Gryphonne Sepia wash, but I don't know if it stands out enough except in the areas where I used a lot of it. In contrast, the Devlan Mud (which I used on the face areas) seems to be too dark. Next time I'll probably mix the 2 and hope for something in between.
For the next model, I'm going to try doing some more layers; I'm thinking a Sepia/Devlan Mud wash over Golden Yellow, followed by some layers of Bubonic brown and then more golden yellow. I'm a little concerned that doing so will dull the overall brightness of the model though, so I'll have to see how it goes.

Anyway, I'd like to know what people think!

[Aux]

Looking pretty good, you just got to base it and the hooves looks fine the way they are

[gael]

This looks really good. And those are my school colors, so bonus points. Just do that touch up you mentioned, and it will be fine. Then again, its only a gaunt. Touch up is optional....

[Icepick]

Thanks
I'm trying to avoid the 'just a Gaunt' mentality. I don't really have much opportunity to actually play 40k, so really I'm just doing it for the painting, so I want my models to look their best. I've got one more Gaunt left ready to paint from the models I put together last year (and a couple half way through being painted with my old method but I might just drop them altogether), so hopefully using this last Gaunt I can find the best way to get the effects I'm looking for.

[hivefleetsiafu]

thats a very nice gaunt, i wouldnt spend that much time on a gaunt but if u like painting then spend as much time as u can

[bigpig]

Beautiful! A lot of work if you want to go horde army though

[Icepick]

Here's an updated version thanks to some very helpful feedback from Gareth:

[Aux]

very good!

[speiread]

A substantial improvement! The white specular highlights really add a lot of depth to the model. I'd be curious to hear what pointers Gareth gave you.

[gareth]

Oct 14, 2008 20:10:23 GMT speiread said:

A substantial improvement! The white specular highlights really add a lot of depth to the model. I'd be curious to hear what pointers Gareth gave you.

Well, I can answer that... you can read it on the painted dragon site.

www.thepainteddragon.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1676.0

[Icepick]

Final version!



Thanks again, Gareth!

[Sledgehammer]

Wow, nice. Also I, personally, wouldn't spend that much time on a gaunt (But them I'm painting them in batches of 8 minimum) I also like the scheme, blue and yellow work really well. The only critique I have is that I'd do the eye on the fleshborer the same color like the gaunt's eyes. But that's just a matter of personal taste...

[Icepick]

Yeah, I had considered doing it in red, but I wanted it to stand out from the rest of the gun and I don't think making it red would have done that - there's already quite a bit of red on the model. Green was just a random choice really, the next one will probably have a different colour.

[weenog42]

This looks really, really nice, and is somewhat similar to the scheme I've been wanting to do, which is yellow skin with a dark red carapace.

You don't actually say anywhere in this thread or thepainteddragon what your process was for the skin. I'm assuming Golden Yellow was your basecoat over a white primer, but did you end up using the Sepia wash, or did you just highlight? I'd be really interested in a more step-by-step explanation.

[Icepick]

Here's how I painted the skin:

Prime white first. A solid coat here is very important - if your white coverage isn't 100% your yellow will come out looking dingy.
Cover the whole skin, including all recesses and other fleshy areas, in Golden Yellow. You'll want to do a couple of watered down layers of this to get smooth, complete coverage.
Now wash the model with Gryphonne Sepia. You'll want to vary the amount you use depending on the area (for example, you want to use much less on the tail, which is a completely smooth area, than you do on the face or rear legs). As well as adding shading, it will give the yellow a very rich colour.
Now start the highlighting. First up, use plain Golden Yellow to create general highlight areas. Neatness starts being a concern here, so make sure you don't cover up anything you want to be shaded.
Highlight again using a 50/50 mix of Golden Yellow and Bad Moon Yellow. Make sure the paint is thin so that you can layer it up slowly to get some nice blending between the colours. Then do the same again using pure Bad Moon Yellow (again watered pretty heavily).
Once you've done that, you can do your final, extreme highlight. Use a mix of Skull White and Bad Moon Yellow (the ratio is up to you, depending on how bright you want the highlight to be, but as long as you aren't using pure White it should be ok - I used about 80/20 White/Yellow) to highlight the highest edges, like the face ridges, neck cords and elbow joints.
And that's it!

A couple of notes though. While I'm hardly the fastest painter in the world (indeed, I might infact be the slowest painter in the world), this certainly isn't a speedy process, and isn't ideal for someone trying to just paint up an army with some speed. You could speed things up a bit my missing out the Golden Yellow/Bad Moon Yellow mix highlight.
Unless you plan on using wet blending to blend your layers (I don't), it's very important to let every layer fully dry before starting a new one - especially the wash layer.
If your carapace is a dark colour, you might want to consider painting that before you do the yellow skin. Its very hard to cover darker colours using yellow, and if you make any mistakes after you've finished with the skin, they'll be very difficult to correct.

Heres the second Gaunt I painted using the above technique: