Friday, September 10, 2010

My Return to Painting

I painted something! Yippee, it's a Chaos Spawn.

Well, it certainly has been a long time since I previously had anything newly painted to show here. Hopefully this will be the last warm-up miniature that I have to paint for a long time. This particular model has been waiting for something like five years for me to get to it, one of the last few unpainted minis for my Beasts of Annihilation chaos warband leftover from when I was last working on them. I came across him earlier this summer and decided I would save it a little longer until I was about to starting painting again in earnest and would be in need of something on which I could practice.

Since updating the Beasts of Annihilation is one of my current projects I thought working on the Spawn would be a good way of getting back into my painting groove. Having just finished I am very satisfied with the experience. It was fun to paint, I got to have freedom with the colors and techniques used, and I added a cheap throw-away unit to one of my armies. Cool. The best thing for me though is knowing that I have this mini out of the way and now feel comfortable setting into the models that I'm more excited about painting.

May my brushes henceforth stay rust free.



As for the actual painting, I wanted to keep this Spawn related to the Beasts but with a little extra touch of color as befitting its warped natured. The bulk of the creature's body was painted to resemble as closely as I could the army's unit of Plague Bearers. I don't think I was terribly successful in achieving the same effect but I'm happy with the results nonetheless. It was a joy painting the rest of the miniature as I worked with the vibrant colors and experimented with an approach to highlighting and color progression different from my usual habits. I love models like these as you can just be free and try out new things.

One new technique I tried out which can be seen in the picture above was using slightly off-shade variants of white and black to paint the model's eyes. This was described by Brent of Strictly Average not long ago and I tried my best to follow his instructions. I didn't get the shape quite right but otherwise I really like the way they turned out. I think the eyes look appropriately vacant considering this fellow's circumstances and I'm going to look for opportunities to paint more eyes in such a manner. In this case I used P3 paints, going with a 1:1 mix of Thamar Black and Coal Black followed by Underbelly Blue for the off-white center of the eyes. Even with a wobbly looking right eye I am overall very pleased with the results.

I'm considering applying some gloss to the eyes or mouth but otherwise I think he's done. It's truly such a relief to finally get some paint on a miniature and I feel much better already. Thanks, weird Spawn guy!

17 comments:

  1. Nice.

    The colours you've used really help the "the thing" feel of the sculpt :)

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  2. Really nice! I like the leathery feel to the skin and bits. Good use of washes and drybrushing if I'm not mistaken.

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  3. @ Karitas - Thanks, I appreciate hearing from you. When I was working on this spawn Wilford Brimley did keep coming to mind....

    @ Zigmunth - Thank you! After I got the initial colors in place almost everything else was done with washes and some light drybrushing. I went heavy with the washes and tried layering a lot of different colors on top of each other to get a mottled, splotchy effect on the skin. I used only a little Devlan Mud on the toe nails, and I don't think any Badab Black, but I used all the other GW washes at some point while painting the Spawn. It was a fun process for me. Thanks again!

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  4. Very nice. I like that old spawn fig, and great job painting it up!

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  5. Thank you, I appreciate that. I've always liked this model though I know it wasn't popular with everyone. I just wish there had been more options like extra tentacles for the back. Thank you for the kind words!

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  6. Nice spawn!

    As Karitas said, it clearly has a "the thing" look! The transition of colours it's great!

    Glad to see more of your paintjobs ;D

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  7. Thanks, Nesbet, it's great to hear from you! I'm glad you like my new Chaos Spawn, hopefully it won't be quite so long before I have some more painted minis to post here. Thanks, buddy!

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  8. I really like this spawn fig in contrast with the newer plastic ones... I love how you created this simple yet effective look! Great stuff, can't wait for more!

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  9. Papa JJ, check your email inbox!! ;D
    I need your answer!

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  10. It seems a lot of us have the Spawn bug eh? I hope to have mine done by Wednesday just need to get the fur done and thats it! I got distracted by the shields for my knights. This guy looks suitably disgusting! Great work.

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  11. @ Mihalis - It's a pleasure hearing from you, thanks! I started working on a model last night to test out the color scheme for my next project so it would seem the painting momentum is finally building. Thank you!

    @ Nesbet - Whoops! Thanks for the reminder, sorry to make you wait. I just sent you an email... I appreciate you being patient with me. : ) Thanks!!

    @ redmanphill - Haha, I did notice an unusual amount of Spawn running around the webs lately... spawning season, I suppose. (Wow, that was terrible, I'm sorry.) Thank you very much for your kind words, I really appreciate hearing from you. I can't wait to see more of your work, those Chaos Spawn you've been working on are incredible!!

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  12. Very nice job. I agree with Nesbet, nice color transition on that last shot, the flesh to purple.

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  13. @ Thor - Thank you! I'm really happy with how that area turned out and I appreciate all the feedback. I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to do something similar.

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  14. I really love this job. It's very effective in bringing about a mood and a certain mindset. That's what I look for when painting- what mood do I get- Very nice!

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  15. Wow! Thank you very much, Loquacious. That's great to hear, I'm glad that this guy is so evocative for you. That makes me feel very proud. Thank you. : )

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  16. im sorry i died laughing at the title. you're return was the same day i got diagnosed with mono :P glad to hear you're back at it now show me some work :D!!!

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  17. No kidding! After this delay and me talking so much about getting back to painting, this will be very anticlimactic if I now don't get a bunch of models finished. Even then it might still be anticlimactic for everyone but myself. ; ) Sorry to hear about your illness, I hope you're on the road to recovery if you aren't feeling better already. Thanks, buddy!

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