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Master Class 1: Lesson 9 - Highlighting the Fur and Warpstone; Clanrat: Start to Finish
Topic Started: 26th August 2013 - 08:10 AM (774 Views)
hannanibal
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
Master Class 1
Clanrat: Start to Finish
with Hannanibal

Lesson Nine
Highlighting the Fur and Warpstone

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Clanrat model as it was left at the end of the previous lesson.


INTRODUCTION
In this lesson we will complete the Clanrat's fur and warpstone, which, in the case of our model, consists of a warpstone amulet.

MATERIALS NEEDED
  • Your plastic Clanrat model, completed to the stage shown above
  • A Size 1 or Standard Brush.
  • A water jar filled with clean, cold water.
  • A palette
  • A sheet of kitchen roll/paper towel. Do not use toilet roll, as it will cause fibres to adhere to the brush.
  • A brightly lit painting area. Either painting on a table near a window, or using a craft lamp with a daylight bulb is ideal.
  • A rag or paper towels for mopping up spillages
  • Tweezers for removing dust and hairs that may adhere to the miniature
  • Paints: As listed, or equivalents as discussed in the Paints & Materials List thread
          GW/Citadel Chaos Black (discontinued)
          GW/Citadel Adeptus Battlegrey (discontinued)
          GW/Citadel Codex grey (discontinued)
          GW/Citadel Fortress grey (discontinued)
          VGC Sick Green
          VGC Escorpena/Scorpy Green
          VGC Livery Green
          VGC Dead White
          Glaze medium


PAINTING THE FUR
When painting fur, start at the root and work toward the tip in one smooth line. For each successive highlight, start a bit further up, leaving the root darkest. We will be adding successive highlights to an existing mix, so make sure your initial mix is nicely thinned. Although it is not essential in this stage, you may wish to add a dot of glaze medium to the mix, if you think it will help.

FUR: HIGHLIGHT ONE
Make up an initial mix of 1:1 Chaos Black and Adeptus Battlegrey. Mix up enough paint to last through Highlight Four, making sure to thin the paint to a workable consistency. Apply the paint in thin strokes on each individual hair, working from root to tip.
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FUR: HIGHLIGHT TWO
Add a dot of Adeptus Battlegrey to the mix, and highlight again, starting higher up the hair. The mix should look almost like pure Adeptus Battlegrey.
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FUR: HIGHLIGHT THREE
Add a dot of Codex Grey to the mix, and highlight again, this time starting even higher up the hair.
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FUR: HIGHLIGHT FOUR
Add a dot of Fortress Grey to the mix and highlight yet again, this time higher up the hair than you were before.
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FUR: FINAL HIGHLIGHT ON EDGES
Paint pure Fortress Grey on the extreme edges and tips.
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PAINTING WARPSTONE
Painting the green warpstone amulet uses the same techniques that have been covered in previous lessons, but with one slight variation. Here, the warpstone has a dark stripe, making it look like a natural piece of gemstone, carved and polished to achieve a deep sheen. In actuality, it's not the stripe that's painted on, but rather the additional highlights on either side of the area that create the appearance of a dark stripe.

WARPSTONE: HIGHLIGHT ONE
Mix 50:50 Scorpy Green and Sick Green and paint the whole amulet, leaving a small diagonal stripe which should be kept dark.
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WARPSTONE: HIGHLIGHT TWO
Mix 2:1 Scorpy Green and Sick Green, and paint the whole amulet except the for small stripe. (Sorry about the blurry photo).
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WARPSTONE: HIGHLIGHT THREE
Paint the amulet Scorpy Green except for the small stripe. Concentrate highlights towards the edges by painting from the center out to the edges.
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WARPSTONE: HIGHLIGHT FOUR
Mix 50:50 Livery Green and Scorpy Green, and paint highlights on the edges only, and the lower side of the dark stripe. Keep this mix for the next stage.
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WARPSTONE: HIGHLIGHT FIVE
Add a dot of white to the previous mix and highlight the edges. Add a thin flick on the lower part of the dark stripe. Keep this mix for the next stage.
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WARPSTONE: FINAL HIGHLIGHTS
Add a final dot of white to the previous mix, and highlight on the extreme top edge only. Add a tiny dot of pure white in the top corner of the amulet.
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PHOTOGRAPHY
Once the miniature is dry, take a good close-up picture of your model, and upload it here for comments and criticism by 6 September 2013. I will need the pictures to be clear and bright so that I can see how tidy your brushwork is. Store the model in a drawer or box away from sunlight and dust.

LESSON COMPLETED BY
Ratt Baron
Edited by hannanibal, 3rd September 2013 - 10:27 AM.
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Jona
Warlord
I'm affraid I won't be able to finish this or the next lesson in time, as I'm going on holiday the next weeks.
I'm looking forward to catching up though, the warpstone really looks great.
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hannanibal
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
No probs mate. Thanks for the heads-up.
The warpstone looks OK but the photo's are really, really bad and I'm embarrassed by them. You have no idea how bad these photo's look compared to what the model looked like in real life. The light was fading throughout the day so the photo's got progressively darker and worse as I went on. Plus, my setup wasn't ideal. I'm actually going to write a disclaimer into the next lesson saying not to follow the photo's too closely as they look too dark, bleached and gritty.
The final photo, taken the day after the miniature was painted, and in a proper set-up, looks as it should and I'm really happy with it.

Anyway, happy hols mate.
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Furryblueelf
Clanrat
Since my previous incident with a knife, I have been laid up and unfortunately tests have come back today and I have Glandular Fever. At this stage we are taking it day by day and week by week, but it is unsure how long I will be out for. Hopefully it is not months but that is a possibility.

I will continue to try to paint, but I doubt I will get anything in on time. So please take this as an apology Hannanibal from myself, and also as a thanks very much for all the work and effort you have and are going through with these master classes.
What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
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Ratt Baron
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Warlord
I really enjoyed that lesson apart from the warpstone bit
no mater what i did i couldn`t get the second little line in so like a fanny i gave up :wacko:

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oh yeah I added the highlight to the black cloth

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Rodyle
Clanrat
Ratt Baron
2nd September 2013 - 07:54 PM
I really enjoyed that lesson apart from the warpstone bit
no mater what i did i couldn`t get the second little line in so like a fanny i gave up :wacko:

[snip]

oh yeah I added the highlight to the black cloth
That actually looks really good. I have one question though: are you sure you're thinning your paints enough? I'm asking because I seem to notice some "texture", for example on his face in the second picture. Often, such things happen when your paint is not thin enough. What is the consistency of the paint you have on your pallet?
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Ratt Baron
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Warlord
Ah the thinning of paint!
As I said in one of the earlier stages I WAS an out of the pot painter( much to my eternal shame) so thinning of the paint is one of the most important new skills I'm adapting. If you look at my post for the first stage flesh you will see that the flesh looked quite stipplely because of the primer and I was hoping the later layers would help cover these up
So in my defence I think it is the earlier layers showing through this time
The consistency I'm aiming for is about 3-1 paint to water ratio with a blob of Glaze medium in the mix Then adding a small amount of water into the mix at each stage to stop it thickening up too much

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Olorin the Ancient
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Ratt Baron
3rd September 2013 - 08:11 AM
The consistency I'm aiming for is about 3-1 paint to water ratio with a blob of Glaze medium in the mix Then adding a small amount of water into the mix at each stage to stop it thickening up too much
Speaking purely for myself, I don't think you should aim for a ratio, I think you should aim for a consistency. Knowing or being aware of a ratio that usually works for you is a good guide, but ultimately, what you want is the right consistency, regardless of how much or how little you have to thin the paint to get there. It's a bit like cooking: you might know that you usually add around two teaspoons of salt when you make beef stew, but before you serve it, you're going to keep tasting and adjusting the seasoning until you get it right.

I approach thinning paint the same way. I normally look for a consistency similar to skim milk, and I tend to start off with one drop of water to one drop of paint (I transfer all of my paints to dropper bottles for easy measuring, if they don't already come in dropper bottles). I use mediums (glaze medium, flow improver, etc.), but I tend to add them conservatively on the grounds that you can always add more medium, but you can't take it away. Ultimately, though, all I really care about is getting the consistency right, and I don't care how many drops it takes of whatever I need to add to get it there.

Of course, Hannanibal is a better painter than I am, and you should probably ignore anything I've said here that he disagrees with, but this, at least, is how I approach it.
- Olorin the Ancient
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Rodyle
Clanrat
Ratt Baron
3rd September 2013 - 08:11 AM
Ah the thinning of paint!
As I said in one of the earlier stages I WAS an out of the pot painter( much to my eternal shame) so thinning of the paint is one of the most important new skills I'm adapting. If you look at my post for the first stage flesh you will see that the flesh looked quite stipplely because of the primer and I was hoping the later layers would help cover these up
So in my defence I think it is the earlier layers showing through this time
The consistency I'm aiming for is about 3-1 paint to water ratio with a blob of Glaze medium in the mix Then adding a small amount of water into the mix at each stage to stop it thickening up too much
I agree with Olorin here. You shouldn't have a set ratio. Instead, spend some time faffing around with your paints and see which colours need to have what consistency to have a nice feel to them. Especially with layering, you want them to be quite thin, thin enough that you don't get the brush strokes showing (of course, in some cases, it can be a really nice effect, but in general you'd rather they weren't there).

As for mediums: eh. They may be nice, but I never really use them. Water was good enough for my grandparents, so it's good enough for me. //oldmanrant
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hannanibal
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
As you progress with painting, experimenting with different consistencies of water and paint you'll get a feel for what works for what job. I would aim to thin your paints a little more than you are doing now.
If you have spare models try experimenting to see how much water you can add to the paint to keep it workable and what happens when you add to much. You'll recognise by sight when your mix needs more paint or water.
Anyway, as far as criticism goes I'd edge highlight the warpstone a bit more by mixing up a highlight and running the flat of your brush over the edge/corner where the two flat surfaces meet just like edge highlighting the weapon. It will outline the pendant a bit more and make it pop out.
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Jona
Warlord
Catching up again. I'm not too happy with this stage. The fur is a bit messy, and I think my paint wasn't thin enough on the Warpstone.
Either I give the fur another highlight now, or I wait for the cleaning up stage to do some additional lining with a black wash.

Left side
Right side
Warpstone token
Edited by Jona, 23rd September 2013 - 01:33 PM.
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