LPL Round 10: ....This is the End.

As I finished up the Averlanders' from my last post my mind shifted quickly to thinking about the teams that I wanted to put together for the last round of the LPL....which was also a themed round: Sci-Fi.  With this topic in mind, over the last couple of months I have been slowly expanding my very modest collection of 40k models....first with some Squats and later with some Marauder Orks (the only 40k models produced by Marauder).  I had two excellent teams picked out and was already thinking about how to display them for my final shot....when the whole ankle thing happened....and those thoughts went right out the window.

My new reality for the foreseeable future was that I would only be able to sit at the painting desk for very short (30-45minute) sessions once per day.  This is required a new system.  So I quickly forgot about the squats and focused on a group of the Orks.  Having read about some new (to me) fast painting techniques I decided to give one a try. 

I started by base-coating the figures with my normal Dark grey primer.  I then attempted to give them a Zenithial Highlighting...which I found was hard to do with a spray can....but there was no time for a second attempt...so I went with it.  Here is what they looked like....as you can see the droplets of spray from the can are too big and coarse...I can see why most folks that employ this technique do so with an air brush.

Here is what they looked like.

I then started to apply a very watered down coat od my ancient Goblin Green to the Flesh areas.  The idea here is to let the zenithial highlighting "shine" through the thinned payers of paint to add some instant shading.

I then did the same thing to the cloth, leather and armor portions of the models.

Areas that were going to end up as metal were painted solid black and teeth were given a coating of bone.  When all areas had their thinned base coats applied I then slapped a coat of Miniwax Tudor Stain on them and let them dry overnight. 

Once dry and coated with Vallejo brush on Matte varnish I painted up the metal areas using my normal technique and took care of any details like eyes and teeth.....and they were done!  Record time for me...I bet I spent less than 3 hours painting 6 miniatures...thats fast for me!  No they won't win any prizes...and they got stomped in the competition...but I got a new team in (personal victory) and I didn't further injure my ankle by spending too much time at the desk...here is the final result

I found this new (to me) technique to be very interesting and something that I hope to refine in the future....perhaps a post dip highlight on the flesh might make them "pop" at bit more.  I think a finer spray for the zenithial highlight like you can achieve with an airbrush would make a major difference as well....I might just have to put one on my wish list.

Cheers,

Blue