With the converted figures assembled, its time to put some paint onto the Delaque inspired gangers. I've got a general idea around the colour scheme I'm going for, so undercoating in a flat dark brown I was ready to start things off.
First the skin.
Delaque gangers are supposed to be 'creatures of the dark', sneaking about in the shadows of the underhive and so on, so I felt they should be pallid, sickly looking chaps with their skin being washed out pale, greyish, with blotching and unhealthy red showing through.
The paints I'll be using for the skin are as follows:
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| The only product I regularly buy from Games Workshop... |
Normally my painting is dominated by the desire to get the figures 'table ready' as rapidly as possible but with this gang I'm going to take a bit more time than usual and try and make them look better than my basic painting quality.
I'll be indulging in the slow process of mixing paints and other such alchemy, along with taking a bit of time to try and make these figures look as good as possible.
So to the first base layer. This is a light grey layer, that I built up with three watered down coats. The point here is to get good coverage without obscuring detail and a 60:30 paint:water mix gives good coverage without being too thick.
Once dry the skin is then washed with brown ink and left to dry.
The next stage is to mix the original grey with a light flesh colour. carefully pick out the higher areas like cheeks, chin, nose, bow, ears, cranium etc. with this mix. Keeping an even tone isn't too important for me with these models as I want them to have sickly mottled flesh.
Once dry the next stage is another wash. this time with 50:50 brown ink:water all over. I let this wash dry and then used an undiluted red ink wash applied selectively around collars (where the skin may be rubbed raw), and in and around the eyes, mouth and nose. I also dappled a few bits of red about where I thought it might look good, such as scuffed knees and scars.
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Once the ink washes were fully dried I applied the final layer. This time the light grey and light flesh was mixed with pure white to provide a highlight.
This highlight is applied to the highest parts of the figure; the tip of the nose, the ears, the brow, and spots on the cheeks. I also dabbed on small dots of highlight to add to the mottled effect.
Blending in you can see the lighter tones on the upper skull and the brownish / reddish tones on the 'underside', in the recesses and the back of the skull.
So the skin sections are done.
Next up comes the metal sections. This is a relatively simple process. Firstly I applied a flat coat of gunmetal across all the metal sections and then applied an undiluted wash of black ink. this was applied quite thickly to take off the metallic sheen. Finally, using a silver colour I did a bit of rough edge highlighting.
For the banner, I felt that this would be a relic handed down through the gang-tribe for generations and so I went with a rust effect on the metal.
This is a relatively simple effect. Firstly apply a flat coat of dark brown. Over this, stipple a lighter brown and then a light orangey brown. Don't cover the whole area as you want a patchy look. Finally, along the edges and in patchy spots across the 'mobile parts' like chain links, I applied a gun metal colour.
Now the main common colours across the figures are done, I'll switch to concentrating on the detail of each figure in turn. I started with the Hasselfree miniatures and have them basically finished, so here are a few quick pictures (once the gang is finished I'll get some decent final images done).
Firstly the gang leader. As you can see I settled on the brown/blue theme and that's perhaps the first thing to note. When painting figures, unless you're following a historical uniform colour, I find it best to pick a colour theme and stick to it. For these Delaque gangers I've gone for brown and blue and so all the colours I choose will compliment those tones. I'll specifically avoid bright and overtly red colours (except as muted 'spot colours') to keep the gang 'themed' with a consistent colour tone.
You can see this on the gang leader. Brown forms the main tone and is reflected through her skin-tone, coat and hair. The blue forms a 'T' of colour up her body and across her arms. The only variance to this tone are the muted dark red lips.
I also decided to reflect this 'reddish' tone in her hair, making it a sort of 'red-blonde' brownish colour.
The techniques I use are a mix of flat colouring, drybrushing and colour washes.
Next up is Harby. He seems to me to be a bit of a loner and so I wanted to tie him in only loosely to the gang tones. He's wearing a blue glove and a brown long coat to keep this thematic element together, but took make him individual I painted his shirt and trousers in neutral white and grey. To continue the downward line created by his grubby scar I also made his T-shirt and trousers filthy-looking too!
Finally (poor picture this one), the moody little girl. Her main colours are blue and yellow (which echoes the colours of a rather adventurous 'Alice'). I wanted to try a technique I've not attempted before - to try and give her a see-through dress. I'm sort of happy with the result (although this photo doesn't do it justice), and I think I've achieved a decent paint job worthy of the quality of the figure.
This is a relatively simple effect. Firstly apply a flat coat of dark brown. Over this, stipple a lighter brown and then a light orangey brown. Don't cover the whole area as you want a patchy look. Finally, along the edges and in patchy spots across the 'mobile parts' like chain links, I applied a gun metal colour.
Now the main common colours across the figures are done, I'll switch to concentrating on the detail of each figure in turn. I started with the Hasselfree miniatures and have them basically finished, so here are a few quick pictures (once the gang is finished I'll get some decent final images done).
Firstly the gang leader. As you can see I settled on the brown/blue theme and that's perhaps the first thing to note. When painting figures, unless you're following a historical uniform colour, I find it best to pick a colour theme and stick to it. For these Delaque gangers I've gone for brown and blue and so all the colours I choose will compliment those tones. I'll specifically avoid bright and overtly red colours (except as muted 'spot colours') to keep the gang 'themed' with a consistent colour tone.
You can see this on the gang leader. Brown forms the main tone and is reflected through her skin-tone, coat and hair. The blue forms a 'T' of colour up her body and across her arms. The only variance to this tone are the muted dark red lips.
I also decided to reflect this 'reddish' tone in her hair, making it a sort of 'red-blonde' brownish colour.
The techniques I use are a mix of flat colouring, drybrushing and colour washes.
Next up is Harby. He seems to me to be a bit of a loner and so I wanted to tie him in only loosely to the gang tones. He's wearing a blue glove and a brown long coat to keep this thematic element together, but took make him individual I painted his shirt and trousers in neutral white and grey. To continue the downward line created by his grubby scar I also made his T-shirt and trousers filthy-looking too!
Finally (poor picture this one), the moody little girl. Her main colours are blue and yellow (which echoes the colours of a rather adventurous 'Alice'). I wanted to try a technique I've not attempted before - to try and give her a see-through dress. I'm sort of happy with the result (although this photo doesn't do it justice), and I think I've achieved a decent paint job worthy of the quality of the figure.
