Topic: vonny's APAWDMFATM blog

[vonny]

*gasp*

vonny is still alive!

Yes, and I'm back, though without a vengeance.
As it has been the past months, I have had little fancy to continue painting my Eldar. And as my other blog has been called my Íyanden wraithlist blog', I couldn't well put too much other stuff in there.
I have, however, missed your feedback and imput, and therefore have decided to start this Assorted Projects And Whatever Draws My Fancy At That Moment blog.

First up: Some Blood Bowl.

Click here if you want a better look

As you can see, I still need to do the bases. That's where I would like your first bit of input. I was afraid that doing a 'normal' browning bloodbowl field would not look as good, as there's a lot of brown tones in my skaven already. As I expect, at max, to be building 15 models, I don't mind putting some effort in, and was planning on maybe doing some greenstuff to make some discarded armour. But on what underground?

Secondly, if you look closely, you can see I have two sets of fur color. Grey fur and brown fur are equally divided amongst the models painted so far. I have, however, another 4 to paint at this very moment, another 4 to paint. I'm wondering whether I should divide them up amongst these two, or if I should get a third color of fur going. And if so, what color?

Lastly, I am looking at my gutter runner. He's the only one who doesn't have any armour plating, so as that's the only thing I have been painting pink so far, it has no pink. Being a stealthy assassin type, I don't mind that he's quite dark. But I would like to paint a player number somewhere on him.
For this, I had thought on using some pink and painting a nice big official looking number on his cape, but I am open for suggestions.

Any other comments, questions, and critiques, are as always, very welcome. Good to be back here!

[Alienscar]

*gasp* indeed. I thought you had deserted us.

As you can see, I still need to do the bases. That's where I would like your first bit of input. I was afraid that doing a 'normal' browning bloodbowl field would not look as good, as there's a lot of brown tones in my skaven already. But on what underground?

I agree Vonny more brown and/or dark colours would make your models disappear. What about modelling the base as a cobbled floor then you could paint it a light concrete colour. I have seen other Skaven BB team with this kind of base and I think it works really well.

Grey fur and brown fur are equally divided amongst the models painted so far. I have, however, another 4 to paint at this very moment. I'm wondering whether I should divide them up amongst these two, or if I should get a third color of fur going. And if so, what color?

Well according to colour theory grey is a neutral colour so any colour will work with it and brown can be matched with blues, greens, reds and oranges. Personally I think you should add a little green to your next four models.

For this, I had thought on using some pink and painting a nice big official looking number on his cape, but I am open for suggestions.

I suppose Skaven have no sense of aesthetics but it would be a shame to add pink to the cloak that you have painted as it looks so good. Can you not just add the player number to the base?

Any other comments

Get yourself over to this thread and nominate someone.

[Cavalier]

Hey Vonny, welcome back! So glad to see you back on the boards. I love your Skaven team, they look awesome. As for your questions.... I think some sort of dead, dry yellowy grass would look cool. Or just go classic green turf if you cant decide on something more exotic.

I also like the simple brown/grey combo... a 3rd color might break it up too much... but I'm very conservative when it comes to paint schemes across an army/collection.

Also I definitley like the idea for your Gutter Runner... the big number on his cloak would be funny, but also cool to help him standout.

Anyway Vonny great stuff. So stoked to see you back on the boards!

[Grand Master Lomandalis]

The team is looking great!  And I would agree that going with a brown base would be too much.  I would second Alienscar's recommendation of stonework for the base, but I would break it up a bit as well by having chunks of Warpstone protruding through the stone.

[Looshkin]

Those Rats are looking great Vonny. I don't necessarily think that a brown base would overpower the models, but I definitely think that going in another direction will help them pop a little bit more.

Have you thought about trying to do the bases in the same style that GW does Skaven bases? Warpstone cavern stylings...kinda as GML suggested.

Otherwise, green turf might work well with your Rats, as they do have green as a spot colour, so it may well tie the whole piece together. I did mine with a turf/mud combo look, with added long tufts of grass for height variation. You can find my Skaven team on page 3 of my plog, if you were interested: Looshkin's Everything Thread - New Orc Giants - Celestine

Anyway, welcome back to the land of the living (Or at least the land of the posting!), those Skaven are a hell of a comeback!

[vonny]

Thank you for the feedback everyone.

@alienscar: I don't feel like adding too much green to the models or the base (as Cav and Looshkin suggested). The green that I use now for the warpstone football and their team numbers is a great spot color, and I feel if I use any more the oversaturation may stop them being such an eyecatcher.
And indeed, Skaven have no sense of aesthetics. I bought them nice and pretty pink uniforms, and look how they treat them! They're already completely dirty and chipped!

@Cav: Yellowish base might be an option. As explained above, I'm not too happy about using green. I  was thinking maybe a swamp like thing? But then it might be too dark again. Gah!
About the fur: I've found with little details like that, sometimes it pays to do some variety, if the basics stay the same. Like my sisters of battle, who have different skin tones and hair color, but matching uniforms, to make for a very neat looking squad. However, I think you may be right on this one. The longer I think on it, the only thing I can think of is a very dark brown, and I expect that may get lost on the model.

@GM Lomandalis: Flagstones... hmm, if I break them up, it would be with the occassional discarded piece of armour, or discarded piece of... player. And the occassional blood splatter. Any suggestions on how to model the flagstones/cobbled stone floor?

@Looshkin: The warpstone cavern style had also crossed my mind yes, but it seemed REALLY dark and not conducive to making my models pop. Your mud/turf combo might work. I like your skaven team by the way, their equipment seems even rustier than mine!

[dog_of_war]

I'm not one for esthetics when it comes to blood bowl, but with such a dark model, which look awesome by the way, I agree that they need a very light coloured base. Not sure if there's ever been precedent for this type of field on the blood bowl pitch, but I could see an ice and snow base or a desert sand base really make those rats pop. The discarded armour would look great for either base and tie in with the desolation theme. Add in a couple of skulls and bones and presto.

Welcome back to the project boards. It's great to see you back in action.

[Grand Master Lomandalis]

@GM Lomandalis: Flagstones... hmm, if I break them up, it would be with the occassional discarded piece of armour, or discarded piece of... player. And the occassional blood splatter. Any suggestions on how to model the flagstones/cobbled stone floor?

Get some plasticard and cut it into the shapes you want to use, then shave off the edges with a hobby knife to give it the rough hewn look.  I did it with my Terminators, but the way I did it and had it stacked made it look more like slate.

[vonny]

So then. It took a while (mostly because I kept being unable to find the camera when I needed it and my phone camera is by now really gone to crap), but here's some new pictures!

Specifically pictures of my skaven team which started this topic. As you guys can see, I went for light colored bases of a cave system (as that's where skaven live, and might play their games of blood bowl too!)
So without further ado, I present to you: my running gutters (that's the team name. They gut you, they run fast... or they're trash, however you wish to interpret it.)


My stormvermin. I added the white bars on their shoulders to make them more easily identifyable.


Some gutter runners. You can see how I made an area for the balls to be deposited, and how I also created small bases for the balls so you can spot them easily on the playing field and they fit in with the style of the team.


And a full team picture. Any requests for specific photos can be delivered here of course.

One thing of note that you may see is that I haven't done the warpstone fire and smoke yet. I had some ideas on them, but wasn't quite sure yet. However, I was painting some other models, and was going to test them on there, but that actually brought a new question that I wanted to share with you. This will all be coming up next, on vonny's Assorted Projects And Whatever Draws My Fancy At That Moment (or APAWDMFATM for short) blog

[Orange]

Really nice work man. Reading back I can see there was a bit of debate about the bases, and I think the dark colour has worked well with the brightness of the models.

Are the stripes on the shoulders white, or light blue? They look light blue on my screen anyway! I was actually struck by how well that shade of red and light blue work together. Don't know how familiar you are with English football but claret and sky blue get used a bit, and it's a nice combination.

On that note might I suggest pale blue for the fire rather than traditional pale green?

[vonny]

it is actual light blue, indeed, on a dark, reddish pink background. You know, it used to be nice and bright pink when I gave it to them in my position as team coach and team manager, but you know, those rats... they don't keep good care of their gear, so it's dirty and chipped and foul all around already!

[Aurics Pride]

Those Stormvermin and Gutter runners are looking great!
I love the skin tones that you've managed to get. You really have done a great job of getting a proper skaven feel to the team.
The bases for the balls is also a very good idea.

[Saim-Dann]

G'day Vonny!
First of all, I didn't read everybody's response to your questions so if you've heard these before... Oops!
Second, it's scotch night so if anything typed right now is unreadable.. again, oops!

Your painting is incredible. The fact you've used two colors on your furs and want a third says a lot. Black and/or white would tie in with the grey and brown. Have been painting Space Wolves since 2nd ed and know they look Micky Mouse.

The base? Maybe the green as Cavalier and Looshkin suggest, but splattered heavily with dried blood. Dried being reeeeealy dark so as not to clash with their armor. Have played a lot of footy back in the day and know that when dehydrated your blood is darker than normal.

Hope that helps... Pointy ears forever!!     

[Cavalier]

They look phenomenal Vonny. Always so happy to see you drop us a post. Skaven and Dwarves are my favorite fantasy faction... it'd be such a tough choice between them, but man these Skaven do get me thinking!

I love how how the big guys are red and you kept the small guys in stealthy cloaks. The color choices and execution are fantastic as I would expect. Great stuff Vonny I love it!

[vonny]

@Auric's Pride And who would've thought you'd be able to get a proper skaven feel with pink armour, eh?

@Saim-dann Thanks for the advice, but as you can see, I've already decided on the bases now (and a third fur color too, which is kind of a mix between the previous two). There is some green on it (in the form of moss) and plenty of blood too, so I hope you enjoy them even though I settled on a cave interior.

@Cav I've never been a fan of Dwarves, for some reason, in any kind of game (whether it be warhammer or D&D). But I'm glad you like my color choices. (the edited image of the whole team has a better representation of the true colors I think)
I've painted all the armour in pink, so the stormvermin just have a ton of pink (as they're in a ton of armour) and the gutter runners have no armour at all. I like how this makes them stand out in the team, they're like extra stealthy. The only 'downside' with taht is that I have no armour plate to paint their player number on, but as I intend to add those to the bases when I'm done painting them anyway I've stopped worrying about that.

Now, as said before, I was going to test their warpstone smoke and fire out on different models. While I started painting green smoke/fire on there, I suddenly had to stop, as it may present a solution to one of the few dilemmas I still had left on those models. So here they come.


Death guard! Yes, I got Dark Imperium, because I wanted the book anyway and these models just looked tooooooo sexy.


The characters from the set.


And for good measure, the plague drone.

As you can see, I have painted their armour much lighter than you usually see done by games workshop. I wanted them a bit closer to their original pre-heresy theme, but not quite as clean anymore.
I was on my way to painting parts of the cabling and especially the plasma weapons in a glowing green to tie them in to my Thousand Sons...

... when something jumped out to me. With this green color, I was reminded of their green armour trim of the heresy era! Would it work if I kept a green around this hue as a color, but then in all their cloth - cloaks, loincloths, hoods, etc. or would this be too much, too invasive? Would like to hear your thoughts  on it!

[Irisado]

It's great to see those Thousand Sons of yours again.  They're so impressive.  The Death Guard look just as good too, and I like how you've approached the colour scheme slightly differently.  Outstanding work all round.

[Cavalier]

Absolutley killer Vonny! WOW! Just love the Death Guard. It was this aesthetic that I wanted for my own World Eaters... its more of a Forgeworld, Horus Heresy type approach to painting which I just love for Marines.

Also I would keep the Thousands Sons as is. For whatever reason I like to keep the color of my energy effects different than anything else on the model. So I would keep them as is.

Anyway killer work Vonny I love it!

[Saim-Dann]

G'day Vonny! (Said gingerly with hangover)
You've done a great job on those models. The DG looks like you could catch something in you touched them, and those Thousand Sons?... Niiiiice!
 

[vonny]

@Irisado Thanks. I like to do things slightly different, just so I can sing like Sinatra. ("true story!" she said while it was obviously a tall tale)

@Cav Yes, the thousand sons are staying the way they are. They're way too cool. Now just to get the death guard to look good standing beside them. The green cloth was for the death guard models, not the 1k sons - I just posted that image because I wanted green glowy effects on my death guard similarly to what I had done on the 1k sons.

@Saim-dann Hehe, hope your evening was good enough to warrant the hangover. Thanks for your compliments, I'm quite taken with the death guard myself, and my thousand sons (while an easy and fairly quick-paint scheme) are still very good looking models which have a proud place within my display cabinet.

on a different note, for a completely different project I had to do some color testing. I didn't bring any of my own models, so the GW manager kindly let me test the colors on an intro model. After painting an afternoon, I think I quite like what had come out of it.

(to clarify, the bone colored part has drybrushing done on the bottom part, and highlighting done on the top one - I'm gonna go with the top part, and the orange has 3 different washes used on it - which isn't very visible in the picture, so you'll just have to trust me. Cookies for whoever guesses what this color testing was for!

[Orange]

Dutchmarines?

Either that or a form of Blood Angels successor

Props if you go through with it though, halved/quarter marines are hard work!