Armies on Parade 2016 part III: Underground

Last time I wrote a post about my Armies on Parade project, I showed you the Bosh inspired Gate to the underworld. This time I'm going to show you what's underneath it.

I've entered Armies on Parade the last two years. And my model collection have grown rapidly during this time. I really like making terrain, but I don't really have room for another huge display on my table or in my glass cabinet. To fix this problem, I've decided to make this years display on a vertical base. When I'm done, I'll be able to hang the display board on my wall, like a painting or picture.

The display is based on a round pice of wood. I added the head on the top level and made a creepy forrest from twigs . 

I glued a pieces of cardboard on top of each other to make a base for the texture. This was followed by thick paint.

The next layer was created by using the insides of GW containers. 

The empty space between the layers was covered in spray foam. 

I usually think black and white pictures work better on WIP pictures, but sometimes its easier to see the materials used in coloured ones. 

I used spray foam on the other layer as well. This gave the cave a really nice base shape.

While cutting the foam into shape, I used models for scale to make sure the display had an appropriate size. 

The backside of the display.

When entering the Armies on Parade competition, you need to display it on a horizontal base. My display is vertica. To be able to bring my display to the competition, I made a stand for it.  

 At the moment I'm adding sand, grass and texture paint to the display to give it a more interesting texture. I still have a lot of texturing left to do, and add a couple of details.
Hopefully the display will be ready for paint in a couple of days.

Outgard: the Kings men WIP

The King I made for the Outgard project couldn't be alone, so I've slowly created some other characters over the past few weeks. All the models have been converted from several kits. I tried to give them a similar look as the king. I think I achieved this by using some mechanicus bits, and giving some of them long Eldar-based female legs. 

I'll get some individual pictures the next time I use my lightbox. 

Armies on Parade 2016 part II: the Gate to Hell

As I said in the last post, I've been invited to join the Outgard project. The King I posted a couple of weeks ago will be one of the characters for it. My plans for Armies on Parade have been affected by this new project, and I want the display board to fit the theme of Outgard. Or at least how I picture it. I still plan to display a new human warband fighting off my Daemons, but the setting will be a more hellish medieval world. 

I want Daemons to be spilling out of a hellish gate, or entrance to the underworld. To represent this gate, I've been inspired by paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Zdzislaw Bekinski. 

By Hieronymus Bosch

 By Hieronymus Bosch

 By Zdzislaw Bekinski

I started out by cutting away the lower jaw, and carving out a cave from a female styrofoam mannequin head.

I greenstuffed gums, and added teeth made from leftover sprues.

The face got a new nose, lip and eyelids from greenstuff. 

I've stippled the gate with a thick coat of paint, to seal the styrofoam and make the texture more interesting. 

More will follow soon. Thanks for looking!

Outgard

I've been invited to join Outgard. This is a project started by several great hobbyists. Visit our common topic at the INQ28 forum at the Ammobunker for more information and some WIP models! Also check out the Convertorum and Ironsleet so see some miniatures and illustrations for the project thats already done!

I'm very exited about joining this project!

 Outgard logo by Johan Egerkrans

Intro by Alexander Winberg:

Outgard, a world locked in primordial superstition. A world bereft of the light of the Emperor. A world of wytches.

It is said a god and a goddess once walked the land with their nephilitic hosts. They united the world before returning to the heavens to wage war upon the falcon god. 

The guardians they had left behind withered and died as all flesh will. Their deeds soon became legends, and eventually even the legends were forgotten.

The aeon of the falcon changed the world and the wytches came forth and now Outgard is trapped in it's own violent dream.

There will be no new dawning, there will be no new hope, there will only be stagnation.

Pray sons of men and daughters of women. Pray for the dying light.

Map by Johan Egerkrans

Tutorial: Painting Pale Skin

A lot of people have given me great response on the way I paint my skin tones. Some have even asked if I could do a tutorial. Thank you all for the support! Here is my skin tutorial:

The model I've decided to use is a conversion based on a Plaguebearer. I have given it mechanical limbs combined from Mechanicus kits and fantasy Spider legs, from the Goblin Spider-riders. The head is from a Dark Eldar Ur-Ghul. This model will be one of my new Chaos Daemon races, which will make an appearance on my Armies on Parade table in this years competition. 

All paints used are from the Games Workshop range. 

I. Prime the model.

II. The Daemon was given a base coat of Rakarth Flesh.

III. After the mid tone was applied I started to work on the shading. I used watered down Slaanesh Grey and carefully applied it in the recesses of the skin. This step often varies when I paint different miniatures. I paint skin in the same technique, but use different colours in the shading process. When I painted my Blue Horrors I used dark blue mixed with Rakarth Flesh on this stage. You can also use other colours mixed with the original skin colour to get other shades on the skin.

IV. I gave the skin even more contrast by shading it in the same way as the previous step, but this time using Daemonette Hide. If you use other colour combinations you should mix a bit more of the shading colour with Rakarth Flesh at this step. 

V. I highlighted the model with a mix of Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh. This was done in a couple of layers, adding more and more Pallid Wych Flesh. 

VI. Pure Pallid Wych Flesh was used as a edge highlight. This is most important on sharp details like hands and faces.  

VII. A thin wash of a mix of Lahmian Medium, Reikland Fleshshade and Druchi Violet (more LM and RF than DV) was applied to give the skin a warmer, more living feel, and to make the transitions between the previous steps smoother. 

VIII. The mechanical legs were painted Warplock Bronze. 

IX. While waiting for the metal to dry, I basecoated the base with Death World Forrest.

X. The matal was drybrushed with Golden Griffon.

XI. Followed by a lighter drybrush of Stormhost Silver. 

XII. The base and was given a light drybrush of Rakarth Flesh. The metal and base was given a heavy wash of Separim Sepia. Before the Sepia wash was dry, I painted a large area of the base using Fuegan Orange. The orange and sepia blended naturally together creating interesting patterns on the base. The lower half of the metal spider legs was also given a layer of the orange wash. 

XIII. Watered down Stegadon Scale Green was applied in the recesses of the metal, giving it a more corroded look. 

XIV. The metal was given a sharp highlight of Stormhost Silver.

Now the model was almost finished, just some details left to do. I used red glazes around the stumps of the Daemons limbs, and on some small wounds on the flesh. I also added a bit around the mouth, eyes and ears, and painted the teeth. A few touchups here and there, and the mode was done!

While I waited for the wash on the base and metal to dry, I played around with some paint and washed on my palette, creating an artsy background for the model. I really think this is a great background for the pale skin colours, so I'll try to paint my Armies on Parade board in a similar way.