My latest CSM

[Tetz]

I just had to post this guy because well he's the first unit that I have been very happy with and felt that he came out almost like i wanted. Still need to work on my highlighting for blacks but the face and such came out well I think, especially for a novice like myself. Any tips are much appreciated... on'y been doing it for a couple of months, my wife still thinks I'm crazy =)

[RocketRollRebel]

Painting isnt my strongest suit but I certainly think it looks very nice. Highlighting is kinda essential on black armor since otherwise they just tend to look kinda unfinished if you dont.

Good Job!

[Ivarr]

Very nice... I especially like the bit of color on the "horn". Black armor is very hard to get a finished look on...yours looks good.

[person person]

Awesome, really like the face.

[fuzzbuket]

i'll second that face is too good

[mstingray]

Like the colours on the face, you should try doing another lighter thin highlight on the black. Otherwise looks great

[Tetz]

Like the colours on the face, you should try doing another lighter thin highlight on the black. Otherwise looks great

Yeah I have seen the extreme highlights done so well by others with the thin lines, my hand just didn't want to be that steady. I am still so puzzled on how best to highlight black. I have seen multiple painting suggestions on either extreme highlights, shading with a color such as purple or blue, using dark grey as the black instead of black so you can shade etc. As of now I just haven't found something that works for me.

[therealjohnny5]

Yeah I have seen the extreme highlights done so well by others with the thin lines, my hand just didn't want to be that steady. I am still so puzzled on how best to highlight black. I have seen multiple painting suggestions on either extreme highlights, shading with a color such as purple or blue, using dark grey as the black instead of black so you can shade etc. As of now I just haven't found something that works for me.

I've been painting tons of RG whose base armor is black, so i can understand your pain. and it's really true than unhighlighted black armor looks blah...First off nice work i like the face and color scheme. i was just telling my wife that i should've played chaos since they use so much bronze, which is a theme in my RG army. I like that kind of steampunk\ clunky\ old school technology look. So anyway there are two ways i can think of that might help you...i'm not sure which is easier or most efficient for you...

First very thin like 00 to 0000 sable brush helps. Play with the thinness of the paint. if it's thinner it's easier to get a good highlight. Go for very little paint on your brush, basically just enough to get a thin line. and touch just the tip of the brush, very light. Stabalize your hands either by putting your thumbs together or on a table edge...i've tried my chest but then my breathing or heart beat will screw me up.

The other option would be a more time consuming one, paint the model in Adeptus Battlegrey and use Badab Black Wash to darken it in many layers...you just have to watch on the larger areas, like legs that you use many thing layers so it doesn't streak. And as a note i've not had good success with this method on any large models like vehicles. This takes much longer bc each layer has to dry completely, but you automatically have your first highlighting done....it looks nice. but is very different.

Hope some of that helps, if not feel free to disregard. Cheers bro.

[Tetz]

Those ideas did help, much appreciated. The highlights using a thin brush is somewhat where I tried to go but I think two things happened. My paint wasn't thin enough and my brush was too big. I use reaper brushes and I used just the standard detail brush, might try buying a smaller one in the future.

Ideally I would want to take the longer approach of using a dark grey and washing it/painting highlights because I feel that it looks more accurate and considering I do washes and highlights on my other colors it only makes sense to do it for the black too.

I hope to some day paint as good as some of the other models I see posted... maybe not a golden daemon level but something that could make you stop and take notice