How to Paint Deathmaster Snikch

*Squeek*

"The candle, just for a moment, guttered. To one engrossed in his studies, such as Master Evan Redwood of the Esteemed College of Engineers, such a movement would have passed unnoticed. Even to a man who was not a scholar (and therefore even at the best of times disinterested in the mundane) it would prompt 
no raising of the head.
No renewed focus on the immediate environment.
No inkling of the arrival of an assassin nearly unequaled in skill by any other living practitioner (and few undead or Daemonic)..."

How to Paint Deathmaster Snikch
Please note that I think that this process is good enough for "tabletop quality" (I.e. acceptable when viewed from a couple of feet away) I make no claim to be a good painter, but I still hope this will be useful.
Also, I don't write anything down as I am painting, (being an amateur I have a hard time just painting!) so all mixes are approximate - please experiment and adjust as you wish!

EDIT: Following the launch of the latest Citadel Paint range in 2012, please note that the colours listed below are from the previous range. I hope to have time to rewrite in the future, but for the time being, you can use the conversion chart/ list I made here or use the official Citadel Conversion chart here.

Step 1: Preparation.

1. Remove the model from its sprue.
2. Carefully file or trim any excess flash from the model. (If the latter, use caution!)
3. Glue model to base.

Step 2: First basing.
I like to get the application of materials to my base done at this point to save trouble later. Doing it now allows you to correct any troublesome issues with sand it glue without worrying about any painting you might have done...

1. Sand or trim any flash from around the edge of the base. (It really shows up when you paint it...)
2. Paint PVA glue, optionally watered-down, onto the base, carefully avoiding getting excess glue onto feet or shoes (also claws, paws, bottom of robes etc. Etc)
3. Sprinkle a few pieces of crushed coral onto the base. (Obtained at the aquatic section of any pet shop) I find that 2-3 is enough.
4. Sprinkle sand over the base, so all remaining areas are covered.
5. Allow to dry.

Step 3: Priming/ Undercoat.

1. Prime the whole model. I use Citadel Chaos Black spray. Black is ideal for a model that will overall be darker in tone (and more forgiving for beginners like me as if you miss painting anything in hard to reach places it just looks like shadow.)
2. Allow to dry.

Step 4: Basecoat.
In this step you will add the basic colours to the model. I used the following colours from Games Workshop (I haven't tried any other brands simply due to not having easy access to them.)

• Chaos Black: Back of cape
• Chaos Black/ Mordian Blue mix: Inside of cape. (Chaos Black/ Mordian Blue mix 2:10) I felt pure Mordian blue to be too bright for Snikch, but that is just me! 
• Mordian Blue (pure) on the cross on the breastplate on the base.
• Boltgun Metal: Weapons, including throwing stars on belt, breastplate on base, tip of hood (looks like a small mace head)
• Dwarf Bronze: Crosspiece on swords, rim of breastplate on base, Bracers on wrists
• Tallarn Flesh: Skin
• Bleached Bone: Skeleton on base, teeth, nails, bandages on feet/ face
• Blood Red: Eyes
• Snakebite Leather: belt
• Dark Angels Green: Jewel on clasp, poison on blades
• Calthan Brown: Rats on base

Here is what I ended up with after basecoats:

Note: For this model, I actually went straight to highlights (step 6) and then did washes. However, at this point I would usually do washes and then highlights. Your choice! 

Step 5: Washes. 
This step adds shadow and depth to what (at the moment) will look like a very "flat" model. 
I use Games Workshop washes, again only because these are a known quantity for me. In this case I also made my own wash too... 

• Devlan Mud: Outside of cape. Weapons. Breastplate on base. Rats. 
• Ogryn Flesh: Skin, tail, feet etc 
• Gryphonne Sepia: Bandages on feet/ face, skeleton on base. 
• Mordian Blue/ Black ink wash: Very watered down mix, applied to the deep folds of the inside of the cape and on the hood. 

Step 6: Highlights. 
In this step, we build up the colours ("layering") in progressively lighter shades to achieve more greater variation between light and shadow. This could be using progressively lighter,but separate colours (Tallarn Flesh>Dwarf Flesh>Elf Flesh) OR by adding Skull White in ever-increasing amounts to a single colour. 
I'm not great at it yet, but you can find a good guide at "How to Paint Miniatures".

• Chaos Black/ Mordian Blue mix: Inside of cape. First use a slightly lighter mix of Chaos Black/ Mordian Blue (mix 1:10) than you used as a basecoat. Then one more (slightly lighter shade) on the tops of the ridges and folds. 
• Mordian Blue/ Skull White mix. (10:2) on the cross of the breastplate on the base.
• Boltgun Metal: Reapply to edges of weapons, including throwing stars on belt, breastplate on base, tip of hood (loos like a small mace head) etc, but leaving the wash in areas where shadows should be.
• Dwarf Bronze/ Shining Gold mix (1:1): Edges of crosspiece on swords, rim of breastplate on base, Bracers on wrists etc.
• Tallarn Flesh/ Dwarf Flesh mix: (1:1) Skin, feet, tail etc. then...
• Dwarf Flesh/ Elf Flesh mix: (1:1) on the same areas, leaving some of the previous darker shade.
• Bleached Bone/ Skull White mix: (2:1) Skeleton on base, teeth, nails, bandages on feet/ face
• Snakebite Leather/ Skull White mix: (2:1) belt
• Dark Angels Green/Goblin Green mix: (1:1) mix for the Jewel on clasp and poison on blades. Follow this with Goblin Green, and then Goblin Green/ Skull White mix (2/1). For the poison, have the lighter colours at the top of the poison, on the blade, and leave the "drops" of poison darker.
• Calthan Brown/ Vermin Brown: (1:1) Rats on base

Although taken after completion, this detail shows highlights on the hands, cape, poison etc.

Step 7: Drybrushing.

Another step that adds highlights. 

Put some of your highlight colour on your brush.Run your brush over kitchen paper (or a tissue is OK) until there is almost no paint on the brush. Then run the brush very lightly across the raised areas of the model to which you want to add the highlight colour. This should leave the highlight colour only on the raised edges. (Again, information on How To Paint Miniatures is a good guide!)

• Codex Grey/ Chaos Black: (5:1 mix) Trousers, on raised folds, and back of cape, on raised folds.
• Chainmail: Weapon edges

You can just see the folds of the cape have been drybrushed Codex Grey

Step 8: Final Basing.

The last step (phew!) adding colours to the base.

1. Calthan Brown drybrush across the sand (not the rocks/ crushed Coral)
2. Calthan Brown/ Skull white mix (3/1) drybrush across the sand.
3. Codex Grey: drybrush across the sand. Paint onto the rocks.
4. Codex Grey/ Fortress Grey mix (1:1). drybrush across sand and edges of rocks.
5. Fortress Grey: Drybrush across sand and edges of rocks.

Base detail.

Step 9: Collapse!

(_ _')

 All comment and criticism welcome!

Cheers,

*Squeek*

Complete Deathmaster Snikch!

*Squeek!*

Deathmaster Snikch

I finished up the Deathmaster last night and thought I would share a few snaps today. Overall I'm torn between thinking it came out OK and thinking "hmmm, could do better".

Anyway, there were a couple of things that I did differently here than before. 

The first one was to use crushed coral on the base in addition to sand. Obviously not a big thing, but I do agree that just sand and flock can look a bit dull. The crushed coral, when used sparingly (2-3 pieces seems right) adds a very nice rocky texture without being too intrusive. I got this technique from reading the "How To Paint Miniatures" website (an excellent resource for basic techniques when starting out)

Fortunately, my kids recently started keeping fish, so crushed coral is abundant around here!

Secondly, I did more highlighting on the tail. I am not sure if I am happy with how it turned out, as it looks a bit too bright in places, but it may grow on me.

Thirdly, I did a couple of layers of highlights and then washes. Usually I do all the base colours first and then washes. I don't really see a big change, but that could just be me!

In terms of colour, I went with dark shades of Mordian Blue on the inside of the cloak, as I didn't want too much black, despite the fact that Snikch is an assassin extraordinaire.

Here are some more pics:

Base colours only.

Base detail: Note deformed toes on left feet...

Detail

Tail and cape

 If you look closely at the rat emerging from the armour in the bottom image you can see that it has no face. This is one of the casting problems that I described the other day. Not noticeable from tabletop distance at all, but still annoying. (Yes, to a certain extent my fault as I could have fixed these with greenstuff.)


(EDIT: Just added "How to Paint Deathmaster Snikch" painting guide.)
All constructive comments and criticism welcome of course! 


Cheers,
*Squeek*


p.s. I couldn't find a painting guide for Deathmaster Snikch on the Games Workshop site, so I will try to post a step by step guide in the next few days.

Deathmaster Snikch Finecast Update, Bubbles,and More!

*Squeek*

Managed to get some early work done on Queek Headtaker and Deathmaster Snikch, as well as some assembly on Scar-Skath.

I hadn't worked with any Citadel Finecast before this, so I was very interested to see how this new material would be to work with. 

• Would it live up to GW's claims about crisp detail?
• How would the moulding be?
• What kind of preparation would be necessary?

Well, first impressions upon opening Deathmaster Snikch and Queek were a mix of the good and the bad.

First, the good:

-Detail is quite good.

-Easy to glue.

-Easy to file.

That's about it.

Next, the bad:

Bubbles...

-Bubbles. Some significant detail lost from the casting process meant lots of time working with Green Stuff to fill in unsightly gaps. Maybe I was just unlucky, but these missing chunks seemed to be in particularly obvious places - not something I have ever noticed on metal or other plastics. 

Sure, I have seen plenty of gaps between parts before, but these were whole areas missing on limbs etc.

-Fiddly to remove from the sprue. (Lots of bits that take a bit of time to work out whether they are part of the model or not.

-Thinner areas of the material felt very prone to breakage. (I didn't do anything extreme to see if they were!) A case in point being the Deathmaster's cape.

-Detail didn't seem that much better than metal or regular plastic to me. In fact, some fine detail was broken or miscast.

Hmmm, not so good to my eyes, but what do you think? Let's take a look at the Deathmaster first...

(Sorry that these are a bit difficult to see. I don't have time today to edit the photos with arrows and pointers etc.)

Notice the hole in the leg, above the knee.

Missing material in the center of the cape.

Rats head on the bottom facing us (just above base) is deformed and missing

 On Queek Headtaker, nothing quite as serious, but still annoying considering GW's claims to amazing detail...

Front legs of the rat on the base - at right - miscast/ partly missing.

MASSIVE ISSUES? DEAL BREAKERS?


No. 
In fact, some might argue they are all part of the hobbyist's life. 


That is fine, but as GW charges (I seem to remember) significantly more for these than their metal equivalents, I can't think that the quality being worse would be acceptable to most people. Personally, I want to paint and display/ wargame, not patch and fix. 
BTW, although many people say that metal has less detail, it doesn't seem to be a huge difference to me.


...but maybe I am just disappointed at the time of writing from having to get busy with the Green Stuff...

(It was still sticky at the time of the photo, so I will file it a bit tomorrow.)


Anyway, I also started to work with Scar-Skath, from the Banebeasts range, who I am planning to use as a "counts as Vermin Lord". If you remember, this was the model where I didn't receive a base with the kit when I received it from Maelstrom Games (but I did receive the run-around before everything worked out just fine.)


Note the replacement Micro-Art base that in the end Maelstrom kindly sent me.

 And although I had to greenstuff some gaps on Scar, these were gaps between parts, not filling in chunks of missing model!


What have your experiences been with Finescast and resin models in general?


Cheers,


*Squeek*