Monday 10 September 2018

Saint Celestine, Sisters of Battle Painted

Well, here's a project I started in January 2017. Nothing like finally blowing the dust off of a miniature and getting it off of the "to do" list.



I'm not sure what inspired me to work on my Sisters of Battle, I think it might be the news that GW are working on the plastic miniatures. That and all of the Inquisitor Martyr that I've been playing has left me with a hankering to work on something Inquisitorial.



Handily, I was also looking for a new project to experiment on with some paints that I picked up at Salute this year. One of the stands was selling old Vallejo paints really cheap (I think they were old stock or something that had been gathering dust in storage). I picked up a few, but I held back because I wasn't sure if they would have survived. I was a bit cavalier about what I got as well, as I just bought them because they were cheap. Anyway, one of the colours I got was Transparent Red, which as it turns out is rather vibrant and nice to use. I also used some Vallejo Emerald which is a really nice saturated green that I used as a base for the power weapons and things.





Overall, I think that they're some of my favourite models I've painted this year. There's something about them that really captures my own personal style; from the strong contrasting colours to the mix of both non-metallic and metallic techniques. Even the weathering on the robes and the bases are some of my trademark bits, but I don't usually get the chance to do it all on one place.



As far as the paint scheme is concerned, I wanted to try a few different things. For the red armour, I actually based the models in purple and then highlighted it in purple and white before adding a coat of the Transparent Red, which gave the armour a sort of plumb kind of look that I was going for. It was fun to add the high contrast shine to it too, and I mirrored that reflectiveness almost everywhere; from the yellow to the black and even a little bit on the hair.



Playing with that Emerald paint, I also had the opportunity to try to develop my wet blending skill a bit more. I used this to get the blend on the power weapons. In the past this has been something that I've struggled with a bit as it isn't exactly my forte. I think I finally get wet blending though, and I actually got good results with the technique. The thing seems to be - basecoat the whole area and let it dry. Basecoat again and then highlight in the direction you want; blending a bit as you go, but still adding a few mixes of more white or whatever. Then, this is the part I never got -  go back with a dry brush (too much water will just remove the paint you've added, and blur all the transitions; pulling towards the brightest point. You just have to clean and dry the brush between all of the transitions and work fast enough that it doesn't dry completely. A bit hard to explain, but that dry step really makes a lot of difference and allows you to smooth things without taking the paint off.







Anyway, that about does it for now. Check back later for more updates.

6 comments:

  1. Those are so nice man! Now we gotta get some photos of the Triumvirate of the Imperium.

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    1. Definitely. I'm really happy with these minis. The colour scheme came out great. The only downside is that I have to wait for Sisters of Battle to get a release before I can do any more!

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks. I'm really happy with them, and I'm glad to have them finished after a few years hanging about half built.

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  3. Magenta and cyan?

    Mmmmhyessh!

    The wings look awesome. I also love how shiny you made them look.

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