Spring Cleaning Military Orders
Pushing Forward.
Quick update here. Sadly nothing new in terms of techniques to update on. I did however do more freehand. I need to do much more preferably not on gradients or folds. I have grown to hate space marines and what they stand for but I would kill for a shoulder pad even if it had to to have a copy of the Mona Lisa. Anything flat would be great.
Those of you who are great at freehand may see this and think “that’s barely counts as freehand” but I went the great lengths to avoid this in the past including sculpting shoulder pads, buying components, brass etching. The only way I know to honestly get better is to force yourself to do it.
I don’t hate the process, just find it frustrating. However I am refusing to find it disappointing. Just got to keep working on it until it’s passible.
Well Now that I am posting it you can be the judge.
Knight Commander, I hated this model, now I have painted it I just dislike it. I love the "oldhammer" feel of the model. Reminds me of that Dark Angels Captain. What I still hate is the sword. Why cut it off on the ground. WHY!!! Hate that. Also as I hated this so much anyway I decided to try and do yellow NMN, not gold but yellow. I dislike it but not utterly hate it. I also chose not to have a wrestler gimp look on the model compared to the studio version. So yeah very mixed emotions around this. 
Knights of Justice, Started this model thinking I liked it more than I do now. there is so much white on this I should have airbrushed the white and painted the armour. But I do want to get better at painting white. Think I am improving on small sections but this cape is massive. Still need work but think I have another 3 white capes to do. The freehand was harsh, red and blue on white. I think I would prefer a grey on white to paint. I was going to do the red cross only, but after I had finished it reminded me of another group of people who ware white capes and have red crosses. So had to add the trim. Not pleased but had to just finish. 
Friends together.So this week has been a bit tough in terms of being pleased what what has been done . I think I can do better and there are points on each model I am happy with. I have also learned a little when doing things.
One of the best tips I have for painting white (with acrylics) is use fresh paint and mix it well. Use what you have on your pallet for that session. Soak it up then replace on the next session. You move things out of your paint without knowing it or break then down by mixing with a brush. In white paint at least me, I cant see it and then it ends up on the model and I can only see it when dry. Mixing and new paint prevents any dried up paint being transferred to the model.
Thing I need to develop more is having the confidence to use darker greys when painting white. I am so focused on the small scale and not looking at the big picture. What I have done doesn’t look incorrect but it could use more contrast.
Have not decided what’s next but there are 7 models left.
So definitely more to come.
As ever, these look amazing. As to white, I learned to really rather enjoy it once I bought and followed the Vallejo White/Black paint set. I can post the recipe somewhere if you’re interested—though it looks as though you have things we’ll in hand on that margin.
Cheers! Dont get me wrong, I love blue white, yellow white, green white and even purple white. I just dislike grey white. I didn’t realise how many layers I used until I zoomed in. In comparison of time the cape thing on the Commander was about 20 minutes. The white on the justice cape was about 2 hours. This may also be one of those things that I am messing up by searching for more contrast. I may need to start at a lighter grey than dark sea grey (even just typing that made me feel foolish). I see this… Read more »
I get what you’re saying about deck tan and the tones. I haven’t done it yet but I’ve figured I could just substitue something else (like Vallejo Azul) for the Deck Tan if I wanted to change the tonality.