Miniature Madness: Warhammer 40K Painting Re-Booted!

Say hello to Librarian Brother Turmiel, 5th Company of the Dark Angels Chapter.

I started painting this lovely model about a year ago when I first started WH40K. It is supplied together with the Dark Vengeance Starter Set. Fluff-wise, Dark Vengeance is a setting about a series of clashes between the Dark Angels 5th Company and a bunch of traitorous Chaos Space Marines. These plastic models sculpted incredibly in my opinion, along with dynamic poses, which if nicely painted, would make an excellent addition to your Dark Angels army. I say 'Dark Angels' because the models are sculpted specifically for the Unforgiven. Of course, you're welcomed to kit-bash if you like.

After a year, and many, many new things learned, I decided to put all this knowledge to good use and re-paint some of my models. This is the proud result!

In repainting Turmiel, it appears that my brush control has improved tremendously, having cleaner lines and nicer tone than before. I've also started semi-assembling my models prior to base-coating and painting - which has improved my basing by a mile!

Another thing which may not be appreciated immediately, is that I picked up on a lovely technique for highlighting. Previously, I'd draw thin lines on the edges of the model with a lighter, highlight shade, for highlights. Now I use the same shade, but instead of drawing lines, I drybrush it in instead!

Simple? Yes! But it achieves a subtle, gritty glow to the model. The added advantage of drybrushing the highlights is that now I am able to employ a SECOND thinner highlight of white to the model, using the same drybrushing technique. In the case of my librarian, I've layered him with McCragge Blue and highlighted with Lothern Blue.

Another advantage of working with the drybrush technique is that my overall drybrush ability has improved, allowing to drybrush my bases more effectively. Notice the bases here are layered with Mournfang Brown, and drybrushed with Screaming Skull, Trollslayer Orange and a tone of bright Yellow (can't remember what that is called).

More will follow!!! Thanks for reading this!

For those of you who like statistics:

Vital Stats for October: 2 post 19 pics

Vital Stats So Far: 173 posts 6,333 pics

Disclaimer: The views published in the above photoblog are the author's and the author's alone. If readers are not agreeable with the above views, well, you can bugger-off. All rights are reserved for the the photos and/or articles itself. This article may be reproduced with permission for the author or private or public usage, or other forms of general mayhem. Any unauthorized usage of the images and/or article contained therein is expressly prohibited and violators will be prosecuted with the full force of Malaysian law applicable. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.

Miniature Madness: Phantom Titan

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & PAINTED BY: CARL LUM

Carl Lum must be a mad genius, for no one else creates dioramas like THIS! You want to paint an Eldar Phantom Titan? No problem. But you want it to stand out? That's an entirely different story. How do you make a Phantom Titan stand out from the other pretenders? Here's how you do it.

Carl, when you get your Golden Demon, I'm taking a picture of that as well.

Firstly, you don't just want a 'mere' Phantom Titan. You want a Titan with ATTITUDE. Beside being painted to a Top-Notch standard, this here Titan has an entire diorama as it's base. It's a magnificent story on its own. Click on the picture for a full-sized shot.

As you can see here, the Titan's right foot is stepping on a Chaos Throne of Skulls - it's Unholy torso ripped by the sheer force of the elegant, well-manicured Eldar Super-Heavy Warmachine. Besides the lovely mess of wires and cables, you should also pay attention to the vats filled with blood (for the Blood God Khorne) at the rear end of the Throne of Skulls. Later there are other shots of the glistening pools of blood!

Besides the Unclean One, in the forefront you can see two Imperial Guardsmen on the floor, one clutching his head in utter terror, and the other hurt and laid out on the ground. More details show damaged Imperial Defence Line, supply boxes on the left and some lasguns on the right.

It doesn't stop there. You can see clearly two Beserkers of Khorne, the one of the left, hurt but roaring in defiance, swinging his power axe, and the one on the right, slain.

Lets not forget the Dire Avenger on the far right, presumably shooting at the obviously furious Beserker. Last but not least, the centre-piece of the diorama, the Exarch leading the assault, backed-up by the Farseer behind him, launching a psychic attack of some sort. Think TopGun - "You can be my wingman anytime.""Bullshit. You can be mine." Click on the picture for a full-sized shot.

Some close up shots of the head of the Titan as well as it's ---- with hand-painted hieroglyphs for added effect. Click on the pictures for a full-sized shot.

The next couple of shots depicts the said Exarch and Farseer in action, with the elegant, well-manicured foot of the Eldar Phantom Titan in the background. Click on the pictures for a full-sized shot.

These next shots are views of the rear of the diorama-base. Here you can see the aforementioned spurt and pooling of blood. One can only imagine what Carl had to go through to achieve this effect. If you look closely, you can also see the mangled remains of another Beserker.

You also can see three Dire Avengers in action, running up and providing fire support for the advancing Eldar army, and generally being all 'Eldar-ry' Click on the pictures for a full-sized shot.

The rear shot of the Eldar Phantom Titan. Click on the picture for a full-sized shot.

Some aerial shots of the diorama-base. Click on the pictures for a full-sized shot.

The Eldar pilot of the Phantom Titan. Click on the pictures for a full-sized shot.

 Some focus on the Eldar Exarch in action. Click on the picture for a full-sized shot.

 Some focus on the Eldar Farseer in action. Click on the picture for a full-sized shot.

For those of you who like statistics:

Vital Stats for October: 1 post 16 pics

Vital Stats So Far: 172 posts 6,330 pics

Disclaimer: The views published in the above photoblog are the author's and the author's alone. If readers are not agreeable with the above views, well, you can bugger-off. All rights are reserved for the the photos and/or articles itself. This article may be reproduced with permission for the author or private or public usage, or other forms of general mayhem. Any unauthorized usage of the images and/or article contained therein is expressly prohibited and violators will be prosecuted with the full force of Malaysian law applicable. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.