thoughts on painting RED

Got questioned a few times over the years about how I paint the red robes and cloth on my miniatures.Truth is that I have done it in very different ways from project to project and usually experiment every time I am painting another red robe. Trying new stuff improvising to get closer to what I want.
Here are a few images:

 Mercenary Captain (1999) 

 Missionary Judge (2006)

Duchess Death (2011)

A short standard write-up would be close to my description of painting red in the chaos warrior tutorial on my website.

A great colour when painting red is Citadel Scab Red since it covers horribly, but has a silky transparent finnish and a good surface strength that makes it go on very even and smooth. It is very good for mixing with strong red ink and layering over an already shaded and highlighed area. Sort of blends it all together like a tinted layed over an image in Photoshop if you know the effect.

Another colour is Bleached Bone that can give more subtle transistions for the highlights. I then only add white for the very final highlight.

More recently, I have started to experiment using an orange Winsor and Newton artist ink over an already shaded and highlighted orangy red. This is what I have done on the recent figures shown here - the checked shield on the Daemonhost and the red hood on the Skulker.

Servo Skull Collector - pre-primer picture

Finished the conversion.
The Servo Skull Collector is ready for paint. I added coins and a few parchments.
And a cord going from the servo skull in the left hand and up to his head.
Looking forward to starting the painting...

Servo Skull Collector

A sculpting session on the Servo Skull Collector.
I believe he is very close to being ready for the primer.
Maybe a rivet here and there, but he is almost there...

Oh, and maybe a few coins nailed to the staff...

Purity seals anyone...?

Building backdrops

An hour of cutting, trimming, and gluing plastics together. I have started some more terrain pieces to give me some variety for photographing my models. Some plastic wall-sections from some toy product is to pimped into proper 40K claustrofobic street settings. I am trying to find a good mix of being able to view pieces from several angles and being able to mix and match using the assembling system of the wall sections. So the goal is really to hide where the sections click together...

Looking forward to adding all sorts of detail the the walls - posters, pipes, candles, etcetera.

The ground is troubleing me though. What to do? I should probably create a copplestone-like board for the terrain to be used on. 

Stone barriers - terrain painting

Teamed up with a great friend last night and painted away - I painted up the small terrain pieces shown below:

 

Sandstone barriers, rocks, and the odd oil barrel. I sprayed on the basic colours using an airbrush, Then I added detail by sponging on little dark scratch-marks, adding some MIGS weathering powder (African Earth mixed with bright orange paint), and brushing on some highlights with a size 1 brush. Looking forward to doing some moody photoshooting using the terrain pieces in unison with my latest additions to the =I= group.

A quick sketch

A quick sketch - to do something - to enjoy the movement of the pen - to produce...

(scrap paper, calligraphy pen, white maker - 14 x 26 cm)

More work on the Servo Skull Collector and some terrain pieces

Picture first, proof of hobby work:

Got some more bits added to the Servo Skull Collector. Possibly a few too much, but I and going on and adding the final bits and sculpting to the conversion over the next evening or two to get him ready for painting. I don't want to go back to change stuff - instead I will just work on to get the look right.  The terrain pieces is the start of a little gaming setup I hope to build to support this group of Inquisitorial henchmen. Will try to continue working that particular weathered yellow from the mini-bases. I like the thought of just getting some small surroundings created to support the models visually for photography... and possibly even for the odd game.

modelling session: Servo Skull Collector

2012. A New Year. New challenges.
The Servo Skull Collector. A used-to-be hermit who walked the endless battlefields searching for devices to strengthen his lost senses. Now, he has joined the staff of Inquisitor Harkon Felsh - need to create the Inquistor also I suppose - doing research both in the study and in combat. Added several cables and will add more. Also managed do the initial sculpting/bulking out on the gargoylesk bird. Photo out of focus but transfers the general idea.