Friday, 1 August 2008

Dark Angels: Faces

So the Deathwing continue to be a long hard slog. However, I am enjoying to process (mostly) and I am really learning and developing my painting skills. A prime example of this has been my recent attempt at painting the face of my (soon to be) Deathwing Standard Bearer.

Despite having a large Imperial Guard army I have never really attempting painting a detailed face, considering it to be far beyond my abilities. However, determined not to ruin my Deathwing paint job I 'manned up' and started to conduct a few tests on some old marines, using the flesh paints I had available.


My first attempt, as expected, was less than pleasing! Effectively making the process up as I went along, I started with a white undercoat and then applied Dark Flesh. I then tried to build up highlights using Dwarf Flesh and then Elf Flesh.

Lt. Dan, proudly displaying his 1st degree burns. One wonders where his hand went...

My second try was more pleasing. A white undercoat was followed by a further coat of Tallarn Flesh Foundation Paint (leaving the eyes and teeth white). Highlights of Dwarf Flesh and Elf Flesh followed as in my previous attempt. Apologies for the poor picture quality.

I found this a quick and simple method that produced good results. So, quite nervously I have to admit, I took my paint brush to a model I actually cared about. I've got to say I've impressed myself with what I managed:

So there you have it, my first detailed face. Developing your skills is one of the great joys of this hobby and I feel I've really made some progress with this model. The only problem with getting better is that you feel a need to go back and re-paint all your old figures! I have about 150 poorly painted guardsmen looking at me with envious eyes. But that is a project for next year!

Any further tips or hints would be appreciated.

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4 comments:

  1. Space Hulk Enthusiast1 August 2008 at 18:46

    Here's how I paint my faces but it's not the detail that most people go for... I go for the "close enough and looks good to me" approach.
    Link: How I paint faces

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  2. Anonymous2 August 2008 at 05:34

    I think the faces look great. Though it isn't as clean looking, I do like the contrast in the first one you did. But, the others do look a lot cleaner.

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  3. sovietspace2 August 2008 at 10:10

    Thanks for the comments guys, very much appreciated.

    Ron: That’s a very interesting tutorial, with some techniques I'm going to have to try and apply in the future. I think mixing paints is going to be my next self set challenge - I’m far too content to use stuff straight out of the pot.

    seemyinnergeek: I've got to admit that first attempt has some, urm, character to it! I'm considering making some Deathwing objective markers, with Fallen Angles hiding in terrain etc. I think one of them may just have to be burns victim like Lt. Dan...

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  4. Space Hulk Enthusiast2 August 2008 at 17:14

    I mix because I'm too lazy to go for all the detail... I just try and bring out some highlights and let my imagination put the rest in place.

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