Wednesday 1 June 2011

Pedro Kantor completed

I haven't done a whole lot of painting recently - partly due to attending the 2011 Fforde Ffiesta, which was a whole load of fun, and work, which wasn't.


Pedro Kantor is finished, and I'm pretty pleased with him, to be honest he wasn't actually a lot of fun to paint, and he became a bit of a chore after a while.  I have no idea why this is - maybe I've painted too many space marines?  The base came out OK in the end, but it was a pretty dull part to paint, I could possibly have made more of the metallic bits (and I may do yet if the inspiration takes me), but other than that, there's not much to it.  Does it look any better than a flat base with static grass?  I'd have to say no - maybe I just didn't use it right?


The blue is probably a little too bright in the end, I think I went too light over too large an area - the actual blending I'm really chuffed with though. 
  • Basecoat: Regal Blue 
  • First stage highlighting: Blending Ultramarine Blue into the Regal Blue 
  • Second stage highlighting: Blending Ice Blue into the Ultramarine Blue 
I wanted the "loin cloth" thing (I used to know what that was called) to look like leather, so went for:
  • Basecoat: Scorched Brown
  • Shade: Devlan Mud
  • First highlight: Bestial Brown
  • Final highlight: Snakebite Leather.


I decided to make "Dorn's Arrow" (the storm bolter) a little bit flash and paint it gold - this is supposed to be a highly valuable and powerful relic, so I thought gold was a befitting colour for it.  The laurel leaves dotted across the model were  painted with the following steps:
  • Basecoat: Knarloc Green
  • Shade: Thraka Green
  • First Highlight: Knarloc Green
  • Second Highlight: Gretchin Green
  • Final Highlight: Gretchin Green and Dheneb Stone


The metal work started follows the normal pattern I've been using recently:
  • Basecoat of Charadon Granite
  • Shade: Badab Black
  • First highlight: Boltgun Metal
  • Second highlight: Chainmail
  • Final highlight: Mithril Silver
I wouldn't usually use Mithril Silver these days as it's a little too bright for my tastes, but as Pedro is a bit special, it made sense to put a little sparkle (non-Twilight) in there.  It's amazing how pictures show up mistakes that you'd missed previously - the banner pole is pretty dreadful, I'm not sure what happened there, but it's going to need redoing...


The red is maybe not quite as Crimson as I'd hoped for, but it's come out fairly well.  I started off with Scab Red as it's always covered better than Mechrite Red - which is bizarre.  Maybe I just got a ropey pot, but it's the only foundation paint I have that doesn't do the business.  After the base coat:
  • Shade: Devlan Mud
  • First highlight: Scab Red
  • Second highlight: Blood Red
  • Final Highlight: Solar Macharius Orange.
  • Glaze: To tone this down a little, as it was a little too orange, I glazed all the red elements with watered down Leviathan Purple wash.
I'm not a huge fan of back banners on space marines, but this one felt a little more important as he's the chapter master (and it has his name on it...).  Having the symbol molded on to it made painting it a breeze, and the front was one of the more enjoyable parts of the miniature.

So as always, comments and criticism welcome!  Coming up is my latest attempt at painting a Legion of the Damned marine (which is completed now, including glowing eyepieces), something fragile from Rackham, "Boris the Evil Warrior" from Reaper, Gandalf on his cart full of fireworks (for the Mother-in-law, no, really...), and my newly purchased "finecast" Eldar Harlequin Shadowseer which actually looks to have no casting defects (he says without inspecting it thoroughly yet).  Oh and I'm on to the next article for the Ancible too.

I may be taking some time off work...

8 comments:

  1. You sooooo need to be painting some Malifaux stuff Andy – those grads on Pedro are awesome and would bring something like Pandora or the undead hookers to life!!

    I know what you mean about marines – I've painted too many myself too and am loving the break and my painting right now!

    Look forward to seeing these upcoming models on your to-do list!

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  2. Beautiful work, and I'm actually a sucker for this type of base, maybe just a little more color variation...dark rocks worn down to a lighter colored sand maybe. For some reason, grass always looks out of place to me on a 40K model.

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  3. Amazing job mate and thanks for listing what you used.
    I'm eventually getting myself one of these for my Imperial Fists. He should look interesting yellow.

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  4. This is really nice work Andy. I love the bright hues of the armour and I think you've done a nice job of making him stand out as a leader without making the model gaudy.

    Maybe it's time for a break from space marines though. I mean, if this represents a chore then your motivated stuff must be incredible.

    Pete

    PS: Thanks for being the first follower on the new blog. You rock

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  5. Thanks everyone!

    DarkTemplar - these guys keep tempting me: http://wyrd-games.net/shop/product.php?productid=16353&cat=258&page=2 - I'm going to break at some point...

    SAJ - Yep, I should have tried some different colouration, I think I'll leave it as it is for now, but bear in mind for future models. Static grass doesn't work all the time on WH40K models, but the dark brown stuff looks good (it looks like scorched fields), and the grass I used on the Eldar works well too.

    Warflake - that's the great thing about Imp Fists/Crimson Fists, no conversion work required on the special characters, just a different paint job! Red braiding would work well against yellow armour.

    Pete - cheers again mate, yep, aside from the odd Legion of the Damned model, I don't think there will be many space marines for a while, especially as I'm branching out into other games now. I've just finished the face on the Rackham miniature (Ashkasa, Warrior of Blood, provided by Jez through a "middle man"), which was an absolute joy to paint, despite being incredibly delicate.

    PS: You're welcome!

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  6. Short and sweet but that's some lovely work there.

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  7. I absolutely LOVE the vibrant color on your Crimson Fists models. I started my Fists a couple years ago but didn't get many done and didn't like the way my colors were coming out - too muted and dark. So I was searching for pictures and found your stuff on B&C. I wondered how you got that rich, bright blue - it stands out but cannot be mistaken for Ultramarines!

    I'm going to try and use the colors you chose, and maybe give a go at some better blending than I usually do. My Pedro is probably the best work I've ever done but it's not nearly as good as yours! Thanks for the inspiration - every time I see your Crimson Fists I am motivated to work on mine!

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