Greetings,

Setting my pace with a hobby thread. I intend to share trips and tips as well as get advice and feedback to become a better painter.

Up first is my Rune Golem. I am diligently following Sorastro's Youtube painting video. The red Sparta-esque intention of his scheme appeals to me. He is also a master at selecting colors to blend together to create something unique.

I utilized Army Painter primer, as it is my method of choice. Thin and covers well, the bottom half is a Uniform Grey. I applied some GW Corax White to the top at an angle to create some natural shading.

Here he is thus far:

While working on him, i am tackling some spearmen next as they are a bit less daunting than the cavalry. I will demonstrate various stages that may prove helpful for you, and most definitely motivational for myself.

Comments and constructive criticism along the way are always welcomed. Enjoy your hobby time...

~ Blut

Looking good so far. that chalky texture suggests the spray didn't go as planned though. Not sure what the temperature/humidity is in your area but those can be factors, generally speaking chunky bits like that means the spray is drying before it hits the target, aka the spray was too far from the golem when applied. You may be able to correct it with good base coating, if it isn't too bad. I've never had my Corax white do that in Toronto, usually it applies very evenly.

i cant tell if the white specks are spraypaint issues (too far away it will partially dry before it hits the model) or intentional splatters for a specific kind of stone (i did that for Diorite where i had a gray-white stone speckled in black dots)

Judging by how clean the rest of it is, im guessing you did that intentionally. Is that a specific kind of stone then? Or for that matter he almost looks made of metal lol
Either way it looks good. The specks just caught my eye but not in a bad way.

On 7/14/2017 at 9:31 AM, Darthain said:

Looking good so far. that chalky texture suggests the spray didn't go as planned though. Not sure what the temperature/humidity is in your area but those can be factors, generally speaking chunky bits like that means the spray is drying before it hits the target, aka the spray was too far from the golem when applied. You may be able to correct it with good base coating, if it isn't too bad. I've never had my Corax white do that in Toronto, usually it applies very evenly.

Absolutely Correct Darthain. It's 90 degrees by 8 AM in miserable Central California, and I know at least Army Painter brand works best when applied relatively close to the model. Lesson learned here.

Thankfully the base coat, a mix of German Field Grey and Olive Drab tempered with some equal parts mix medium went over the patchy primer well enough for his skin tone:

Now to touch-up the red armor and chains before starting the dry-brush process. More to come.

Excellent save.

On 7/14/2017 at 0:31 PM, Darthain said:

Looking good so far. that chalky texture suggests the spray didn't go as planned though. Not sure what the temperature/humidity is in your area but those can be factors, generally speaking chunky bits like that means the spray is drying before it hits the target, aka the spray was too far from the golem when applied. You may be able to correct it with good base coating, if it isn't too bad. I've never had my Corax white do that in Toronto, usually it applies very evenly.

hmm I never thought about that in regards to my mixed results I've had in the past priming things...I'm kind of in a similar temperature zone as @Blutsteigen but my humidity is pretty high most of the time since...FL...but yeah definitely learned quickly that the distances suggested on cans don't work...

3 hours ago, jek said:

hmm I never thought about that in regards to my mixed results I've had in the past priming things...I'm kind of in a similar temperature zone as @Blutsteigen but my humidity is pretty high most of the time since...FL...but yeah definitely learned quickly that the distances suggested on cans don't work...

I grabbed a can of purity seal (GW) and tried it.. (only spray varnish I could grab easily). So naturally my first batch was 16 spears and 4 horse, as a trial run to see if I like it... Yeah, it clouded. (it was at least 25 centigrade and very high humidity, as always in TO). There is a secret to cloudy/slightly grainy varnish though, and the answer is gloss varnish. Toss a coat or 2 of gloss, then matte them back down to where you want it. Screw spray on varnish, not worth the potential time saved when it cost me 3x as long.

23 minutes ago, Darthain said:

I grabbed a can of purity seal (GW) and tried it.. (only spray varnish I could grab easily). So naturally my first batch was 16 spears and 4 horse, as a trial run to see if I like it... Yeah, it clouded. (it was at least 25 centigrade and very high humidity, as always in TO). There is a secret to cloudy/slightly grainy varnish though, and the answer is gloss varnish. Toss a coat or 2 of gloss, then matte them back down to where you want it. Screw spray on varnish, not worth the potential time saved when it cost me 3x as long.

I'm using testors dul-cote, smells horrible but does not cloud even when I did it the same day as one of our LOVELY rain showers... @Sorastro turned me onto the stuff...I was worried because his area is known to be soooooooo dry...I jest... I jest

2 hours ago, jek said:

I'm using testors dul-cote, smells horrible but does not cloud even when I did it the same day as one of our LOVELY rain showers... @Sorastro turned me onto the stuff...I was worried because his area is known to be soooooooo dry...I jest... I jest

LOL, yes indeed, I use a coat of Testers Glosscoat (1260 I believe) followed a full coverage of dullcoat (1261) for every completed model. Nothing works better IMO, simply excellent and never clouds.

You cannot even buy the stuff in the UK it is so toxic, but screw it, works in any weather and totally worth every inhalation.

4 hours ago, jek said:

I'm using testors dul-cote, smells horrible but does not cloud even when I did it the same day as one of our LOVELY rain showers... @Sorastro turned me onto the stuff...I was worried because his area is known to be soooooooo dry...I jest... I jest

Yeah, thing about dullcoat is I can't find it in spray, and it dissolves acrylics so brush in is no go (spray dries so quickly the damage is negligible).

That and I really don't like the dullcoat finish. I find it takes some vibrancy out of the colours.

8 hours ago, Darthain said:

Yeah, thing about dullcoat is I can't find it in spray, and it dissolves acrylics so brush in is no go (spray dries so quickly the damage is negligible).

That and I really don't like the dullcoat finish. I find it takes some vibrancy out of the colours.

What I do, is I put on a gloss or semi-gloss finish first, then brush the dullcoat over it. That protects the acrylics and also keep some of the color vibrancy better. My problem is now, that in German I can't even get the brush-on Testors anymore. Very annoying.

12 hours ago, Uthoroc said:

What I do, is I put on a gloss or semi-gloss finish first, then brush the dullcoat over it. That protects the acrylics and also keep some of the color vibrancy better. My problem is now, that in German I can't even get the brush-on Testors anymore. Very annoying.

If you wanted to pay shipping I could try to mail you my brush on... Albeit I'm sure the pre-qualsof internationally mailing something 'hazardous' are pretty arduous, probably not worth while. Good to know in the states you are still allowed to poison yourself freely though . Frankly I'm happy with a double coat of Vallejo Matte when I want matte, works well enough.

Nah, but thanks! I'm fine with Army Painters matte spray for the Runewars minis, and I have a little Testor's left for my smaller projects.

Progress tonight. Completed most washes, with highlights still needed on cloth. A pleasure to paint.

Word of Warning, and a learning mistake:

I started some Spearmen to practice my feathering technique, which is required to follow @Sorastro 's Rune Golem video on Youtube.

I only applied one thin coat of Mephiston Read, instead of two in this image. then I hit it with a wash.

The mediocre result is night and day in comparison to the Rune Golems lush, rich and full-coverage appearance.

check it out:

The lesson: always thin your paints, always, but don't get lazy like I did and skip that 2nd coat to flush it out. It would of only taken a few minutes. Not a fun lesson to be learned.

Enough self-deprecation, I proceeded with the first highlight on the Rune Golem armor and cloak.

I'm pleased enough with the result, as this technique is not my strong point.

Tomorrow night is feathering with the Mephiston Red and Mars Red blend. That makes me nervous.

Should be fun -- Ever forward in the process!

Here you go, an updated WIP pic:

I wouldn't worry too much about how your feathering is (lots of small strokes makes a decent feather) and remember one thing when it comes to highlighting - it often looks odd until it is finished entire. So don't do one spot and evaluate, do it all.

Also don't forget to really push the contrast, too lower and highlights are easily lost.