This unit reminds me of why “we” don’t highlight up anymore. Hard chalky edges, and patchy solid colours.
I need some time to reflect, but I think I’m into it. There’s a couple problems preventing me from coming at this with a more painterly mindset.
(1) This is a “massed battle” game, where my first 1000 points will have about 30 models in it. So if each individual model looks less awesome, but the army looks great, that’s a win. This is how my Night Goblins got so much attention back in the day — bright purple lines make make come to you. In this case, starkly contrasting white/orange is my game plan.
(2) White. I’m not certain at all how to paint white, like white white, in a manner of “highlight up, wash down”, because wash down by necessity turns the white into a grey. I’m sure it’s something like “highlight up, wash down, then go back with white”, but I’m pretty certain that I would not get what I wanted out of that, which is big panels of all white. And besides, that’s almost what I did with these guys since they started at primer white.
I think for the next squad, my starting steps should be a lot lighter. I did these guys with a mix of Nuln Oil and Asurmen Blue, which started them out really dark, but after my highlighting I still needed to hit the recesses with a dark wash because I wasn’t as precise with the highlighting as was necessary. I think that if I just did the Asurmen Blue, then started the highlighting, then went back with the Nuln to increase recessed contrast, that my highlighting could end up a lot more smooth. As it was, I needed a mid-layer of Ulthuan+Asurmen between the base and the Ulthuan to prevent it from being super chalky.
I also ended up drybrushing Blazing Orange at the tips of the rocks. My game plan is white/orange contrast, so anything I can do to pop those rocks even more is a good plan!
No Comments