Friday 23 August 2019

CCXXIX. Iron Golems Painting Guide - Skin

I picked up the Warcry starter on preorder (mainly for the fantastic terrain and the new Furies). I'll probably try the rules at some point. My next project will be painting up the two warbands: Iron Golems and Untamed Beasts, who will both be going to their new owners once finished. 

Iron Golems are getting done first. I think these minis have a lot of potential. I made only minor changes on them for this project, but if I ever decide to do them again for my own collection, I will definitely change their weapons. I think they're the weakest part of the designs. 

Here's a step-by-step of how I'm doing the skin on the Iron Golems. I'll be doing the same for their armour next. 


IRON GOLEMS SKIN

 
1 - I start by applying black primer over the entire figure, followed by white primer at a downward angle. I find this great for painting with glazes and washes. The recesses remain dark from the black spray, which gives me automatic shading in those hard to reach areas. The white provides a bright underlying surface for the glazes.

2 - Since I'm going for quite a light skintone, the next step is to give the skin a couple coats of thinned white. I focus on the areas that are exposed, leaving the parts in the shadows darker.
 
3 - Thinned Zandri Dust is applied on the skin to provide a yellow tint and mild shading. I use plain water to thin the paints. Make it really thin. It's better to make it too thin and have to add another coat than mess up with one that's too heavy (this is not irreversible, mind you, but it wastes your time).

4
- Thinned Russ Grey tones down the yellow, and makes the shadows more prominent.

 
5 - At this point first highlights are added with slightly watered-down white. 

6 - A thin glaze of Zandri Dust helps even things out.

7
- The proces finishes with the final white highlight to pick out the detail - muscles, folds in skin, etc. In case this highlight is too stark, it can be toned down by lightly glazing it again. All these paint coats are very thin, so just adding more coats will not cause any problems.

Painted Armator and Ogre Breacher.
 

10 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for sharing. It looks awesome.

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  2. Looks great! I'm torn between going with a super rusted scheme for these guys, or an incredibly shiny one with lots of blue and purple glazing over the metal.

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    1. Thanks! I was in two minds, too; between this and brass armour + colder tone skin.

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  3. Great work, as always. I like how you reigned-in the look of the Iron Golems. The "cherry-red-enamel" look that GW settled on doesn't really jibe with chaos cultists running around a ruined city, in my opinion. And I like how you kept the rust red in the colored areas of the original scheme, while keeping a toned down silver/verdigris on the trim.

    Are you planning on painting all the warbands, or just these commissions?

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    1. Thank you! I wasn't planning to buy and paint the rest of the warbands.

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  4. I totally agree on the weapons being the weakest part- I don't know what it is with GW and oversized, toy looking weapons.
    Great painting as always, and a very helpful guide!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah. The Untamed Beasts also have ridiculous weapons...

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  5. Thank you for the insight into painting the skin on these pallid warriors. I have not done much painting in the past few years, but I like reading about techniques. When I get back to it, I will have lots of things to try.

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