Deathwing Terminator Master

So the Deathwing Terminator Master is finally over. It was a kind of test for a lot of techniques. Let's say that I've used the 85% of my "painting firepower". Honestly I'm quite satisfied. ;)

As usually this model is for sale, on E-bay. Just click the button on the top of the page.

Deathwing Terminator Master - almost done

Almost done! I just need to take more pictures. In the meanwhile take this small preview.

Deathwing Terminator Master - wip #5

Almost at the end of the road with this Deathwing Terminator Master. This is the last wip since tomorrow I hope to close this miniature.
I still need to finish the cloak, add some lights, correct the mistake on the weapon (2nd picture) and make & paint the base.
I really like the final deeper shadows made with brown oil glazing. I like this technique.
For the sword, I've avoided the horrible Games Workshop mix of NMM and True Metal. I've painted it entirely with metal colors, blended together.

As usually, this model will be sold on E-Bay.

Wips Of the Week - Episode 3

Third installment with the Wips of The Week, the WOW!
New models this week in my WIP cabinet. You can see two tactical Ultramarines almost finished (still 8 to go...) and the new entry another Terminator: an Ultramarine converted from Brother Deino of the Space Hulk boxed game.
In the meanwhile I've almost finished the Deathwing Master, I hope to show it to you this week.

Deathwing Terminator Master - wip #4

Very little updates this week. Sadly I did not have much time to paint my Deathwing Terminator Master. Anyway, I've almost finished the cloak and I've started the right arm. The pieces are not glued, I've used a bit of Patafix (that white stuff you see in the pics) to hold everything in place.

DIY Corrugated Metal Sheets

Some time ago I was talking with a friend of mine, a fancy of car models, and I’ve asked him if he knew an online shop where I could find corrugated metal sheets for my models. He looked at me and said: “Just do it yourself!” …and he explained me this method.

The tutorial is ultra easy and in a few minutes we will be able to produce a huuuuge amount of metal sheets!

Note, the tutorial was written in Italian (here) for the painting website I admin along with other friends, so this is the reason why you will see the watermark with the logo of Triplozero.com on the pictures.

Ok, let’s begin! We will need some instruments we can easily find in any hardware store: cyanoacrylate glue (or any fast-drying glue), two small chunks of wood or of MDF, some toothpicks and a latten (copper or tin) to mold.

It is time to build the printing press itself.

We need two small pieces of wood or MDF (I usually use this material) of quite small thickness, at least 1 cm. The ones shown in the pictures have the dimensions of 10x5 cm.

Let’s glue the toothpicks, alternating an empty space with a filled one. We can use a toothpick that we did not glue to separate the small sticks. I suggest to leave slightly bigger gaps between the toothpicks since it will be helpful if you are going to use a thicker latten.

With the cyanoacrylate glue we can speed up the gluing process of the small sticks.

Now we have to arrange the second piece of MDF over the first and with a pencil let’s mark the empty spaces in order to glue the second row of toothpicks.

We have to repeat this phase on both sides.

We glue the second set of toothpicks remembering to check if the two halves fit with one other. I suggest you to make this check after every toothpick glued and not only at the end of the procedure.

 

Our pressing mold is ready!

Take a latter and put it on the bed of toothpicks. Put the first halve of our tool over the second one. You can use the pointy ends of the toothpicks as a guide to help yourself aligning the MDF.

Press the mold increasing the pressure. I’ve noticed that you can obtain better results on the final corrugated metal sheet if you push with more strength on one side first and then on the other instead of pushing with a constant pressure on the whole surface.

Remove the top of the mold and here it is! Your corrugated metal sheet is ready for your model!

You can obtain different shapes of the metal sheet using different kind of toothpicks (maybe even flat hard metal bands) of leaving bigger gaps between the sticks.

Enjoy yourself!

pAKHing miniAKHtures

How do I pack the models I send to you?
Read the answer here!

I start enveloping your model in a air bubble sheet...

...closing it with adhesive tape

I take the box. I always use new boxes of hard cardboard. I made a thick layer of "packaging curls" ( I do not know the name of these stuff) and I put your wrapped model inside the box.

Another upper layer of curls...

...and I close your box with strong packaging adhesive tape. I glue the label with your address (I've removed it from the image for privacy) and cover it with transparent adhesive tape to protect it.

The box is ready!

Deathwing Terminator Master - wip #3

Next update of the Terminator Deathwing Master.
Damn, I'm spending too much time on this model... and when I do such thing I start to lose my "painting momentum"... I have to finish this miniature for the end of the week!
Anyway, the main body is almost finished. I have to add more shadows, especially on the metals.
For this model I've used a mix of all techniques I know, even oil colors...

Stop chattering and take a look at the pictures!

I also remember you that in less than 24h, two auctions of my model will finish... so hurry up with the biddings: E-Bay link

Painting Human Skintone - the Face

The face of all our miniatures is often the focal point of the model. There are thousands of ways to paint the skintone of a Caucasian and today I’ll show you the way I use most in this period. 

Note, if you are Italian, you can read this guide here: Dipingere un incarnato umano - Pittura di un volto

In this tutorial we need some colors different from the classic “skintone” because we will recreate the desired effect starting from dissimilar tones that maybe you already have in your box full of colors. So we will not use 42 pots of “skin-something” often quite useless in everyday painting…


For the whole guide we will need of a Vallejo Model Color Light Brown VMC 929, a red, a yellow, an ivory, a purple, a black and maybe a brownish green.


The very first step is to understand where we have to put our lights on the model. Let’s use a small trick. Give a uniform base of black primer on our face.

Now we use a lamp to highlight a model. In this guide I put it over the miniature, slightly shifted on the right of the face. You can put it everywhere you want the light to came on your finished model. Now, using any software to edit images let’s pump the “levels” of the lights (Ctrl+Alt+L and Auto on Photoshop) to get an effect similar to the one shown in the image below.

In this way we can easily see where are the maximum lights: on the top and on the tip of the nose, on the cheekbones, on the eyebrows, on the forehead, on the top of the ears, on areas under the eyes, on the higher lips, around the mouth and on the chin. Even inside these areas we can see zones with more or less lights.

This process is needed only the first times in order to understand exactly where to put the lights. One you have mastered it, you will be able to highlight the face to your liking, totally skipping this step. 

Let’s start giving an uniform base of Vallejo Model Color Light Brown VMC 929. This color is a warm orangeish brown, slightly light. If you want you can even recreate this color starting from brown + yellow + red + white, but honestly I prefer to start from a fixed base, made from a color producer as Vallejo, as a reference point.

Now, it is better to give two or three layers of watered down color instead of one thicker layer. 

Let’s work on the lights. Add a bit of yellow and a tiny bit of red to the VMC 929. Use this mix on the areas with more light, as seen before in the photoshopped picture. 

Let’s continue painting adding more and more yellow color, always in very small amount. Give many layers in smaller and smaller areas. In this phase you can already notice the volumes on the face. 

Let’s add more and more yellow. 

When the skintone is becoming too yellow, it is time for the white to come into play. I prefer to use an ivory instead of a classical white because the first one is warmer and usually dulls less the skintone. 

Let’s add more ivory to the mix… 

…and a bit more. 

Perfect! Let’s work on the shadows now. Ok it’s time to use the purple color. Take the color and water it down… use a lot of water and let’s make some glazes in specific areas of the face, especially around the eyes and the nose.

I use the purple color for two reasons. First, I want to give the model a more realistic and wearied look. Second, I use this color to temper the yellow tones; remember that the purple is the complementary color to the yellow.

When you make a washing or a glaze you have to avoid one thing: the watered color must not dry in “spots” or it will create lines and gaps that will ruin all the blending work done up till now. If you notice this kind of spots, quickly remove them with the brush cleaned in the water.

I use to blow air with my mouth on the model in order to speed this process… I do it every time I use glazings. 

Let’s go on with the shadows. Regain the starting color, the Vallejo VMC 929, and add some black. With this mix let’s glaze the color in the deepest zones of the face, do you remember the starting image?

Keep going on adding shadows until you are satisfied with the result.

At this point I sometimes add a very little glaze with a brownish green, something like a Catachan Green from Games Workshop. 

The skintone of the face is finished! Now we have only to add other finishing touches like painting eyes, veins, beard and shaved hair… but I’ll talk about these things in other tutorials! 

Here you can see some examples of miniatures painted in the way I’ve shown. Changing the amount of the colors it is possible to create a lot of different skintones.