# Gharofs beastly painting log



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

Hey all, Iv recently started beastmen and decided that a painting log would be the best way to keep me motivated and to finish painting without it taking 3 years. (My VC from 3 years ago still aint all done...) I have several pieces I want to paint. The goal here is to rise above my current painting level. I therefore hope that besides marveling at my attempts of painting you guys will just flat out tell me what to do better. Iv already gotten started a little bit. 

This time I want a army that draws attention because it looks awesome. Iv started with the bases the figures will get love soon.

I already started working on 3 of my bases. Seeing as my beastmen will be from the blackspine woods near the blackspine mountains the ground is made of rubble. Provoked by the deforestation of their lands by dwarfs and man they have assembled at the top of the mountains to wage war on all the lands. I finished the first 3 minotaur bases. Id like to have some feedback. so here are some pics.


































Iv already had some great feedback from some people. So these bases will get more painting love based on some advice some people gave me. Please give more if you feel you have tips that will help me out.

Id also like to get a few things figured out do. 

first off. I noticed the spaces between the sand and these need to be filled with looser sand. How the heck am I gonna get enough glue in between the spaces to get the sand filling everything? scrape off the old stuff first? Can you mix PVA glue with a bit of water and spritz it on? What works best for you guys? 

Iv had some feedback concerning the 25mm bases for my gors, bestigors and ungors. Id also like these to pop. Is it at all possible to keep to the theme and still have them rank up? Iv tried sculpting roots but they always look like worms... anyone got a good tip for this? I can scrounge up enough small pieces of barite (mineral stone) to base my entire army. still, the theme isnt all rock. For my Ghorgon im even gonna make a entire piece of dead forest on the base for him to crash through. 

anyway hope you guys will join me/help me on my journey to complete my first higher class painted army! HOOZAH!


----------



## Angelus Censura (Oct 11, 2010)

I like what you've got so far. My tip for the gaps in between the rocks is to possibly paint just those gravel sections like a grey or brown stone with drybrushed highlights and such. Then you won't have to worry about the gaps, it will look fine. Otherwise I'd say to water down a pva glue a lot and just dabble it over the gravel, then sprinkle on the smaller sand - too much of a pain to try and get it in between all those rocks. It should still look fine, but I think either wya it owuld look better painted.

Love the tree stumps and mossy rocks though, keep it up!


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Gharof von Carstein said:


> ...a painting log would be the best way to keep me motivated and to finish painting without it taking 3 years. (My VC from 3 years ago still aint all done...).... The goal here is to rise above my current painting level.


My painting log has helped me with both of these goals for my work - however, not usually at the same time. My experience has been that raising skills a step makes it take longer per model for a while, so try to keep the big picture in mind rather than getting disheartened.



Gharof von Carstein said:


> I finished the first 3 minotaur bases. Id like to have some feedback. so here are some pics.


The placement of items/textures on the bases looks artificial to me; they need something to break up the four-quarters arrangement they have currently.

On a more mundane level, have you checked to ensure the models will fit on the bases.



Gharof von Carstein said:


> Can you mix PVA glue with a bit of water and spritz it on? What works best for you guys?


PVA loses adhesion if too diluted; however you can make it quite runny (3:1 ratio) and still use it.

To make sure everything stays on the base, I put a runny mix of PVA over the sand after the initial layer has dried to deal it together.

If you are trying to apply to fiddly areas then putting the glue on with a rigid item like a cocktail stick give better control than brushing it.



Gharof von Carstein said:


> Is it at all possible to keep to the theme and still have them rank up?


It is possible and can look great if done well.

You can achieve this two basic ways:
(i) Bluetak the bases onto a piace of rigid card/plastic in the formation you want and build the basing across it as one piece then attach the models;
(ii) Build the unit to rank-up then apply areas of basing material next to each other on certain bases.

Building the models to rank up them basing makes it easier to get the models to rank properly as you can glue them is good spots but reduces you options for logs, &c crossing bases.

If you wish to be able to change formation it is probably better not to build the unit as a single sectional diorama.

Materials wise, rock is very hard to cut without special tools so I suggest making a rock shape out of cork or balsa then cutting it into two pieces to mount across two bases.


----------



## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Good job starting a log as it really will help you stay motivated to paint, it has for me. 

I am going to echo pretty much everything that Dave just mentioned. When working on ranked regiments I would always advised to start with everything ranked up, then make sure all the arms fit in there, then move onto basing. You want to make sure that the bases themsevles don't cause you any headache when trying to rank because of over hanging stuff.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

in reply to you Dave,

The minotaurs fit perfectly. thats the open spaces you see. the champion will be pinned to the rocks. he fits on them nicely, even with his dorky wide stance. 

I see where your coming from with the corners thing. I hadnt noticed it really but now that i do ill probably be adding a little stuff to it. I also had to place the items there seeing as the minotaurs wouldnt have fit that great otherwise. 

Great tips on the pva and sand thing. I have some loose sand here and ill try to get that on as good as possible. Or else it will just be painting it to look good.

A problem I have with the ranked up part and the 25mm bases is that I didnt really want to attach my guys to the bases just yet to give me freedom of movement while painting and making the bases. 

Dont worry about working with this rock. its not as hard as rock just heavier. it actually breaks pretty easy. Thats why im using it. My company works with this stuff and personal can take little bits home. its actually a mineral thats pretty workable and looks great. Iv got a big beautifull piece im turning into a real herdstone.

Another issue I have before I actually touch a model, which you guys can also help with, is the colour scheme. I dont like the brown skin colour of beastmen in the books. yet I feel that the fur needs to be either black with grey highlights, or some kind of brown possible even dark green. I cant however come up with a suitable skin colour that tickles my fancy. Im afraid if ill go with a black and grey combination that it will look too dark. Any thoughts concerning this? what would be a good colour scheme? 

thx for the tips and support everybody!


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

Here are the pictures of the painted bases. I did them last night, the wash took out some of the detail. I might give them a light drybrush later, although I have to say I kinda like how they look now. Beastmen bases shouldnt be bright. They are surrounded by chaos and chaos corrupts, hence the dark look.





























what do you guys think? next step will be to make and paint movement trays along with all 25mm bases


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Whilst it is hard to judge exactly how they will look without the models on them, I like the darker look for the bases.


----------



## wombat_tree (Nov 30, 2008)

Looking good, I always love it when people put extra effort into their bases as it is something I fail to do.


----------



## alasdair (Jun 11, 2009)

I like the finished bases, very realistic.

The mossy effect on the rocks is brilliant.
Carry on working hard!


----------



## CLT40k (Jun 18, 2010)

Nice bases.... Looking forward to seeing the beasties

One suggestion, perhaps paint the bases a base color that will blend in with the sand a bit... that way you won't notice the pebbles looking out of place against the black of the base.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

Thx for the support everyone! Im gonna start to make movement trays pretty soon. starting the 1st of May, Ill start to paint actual mini's  Ill probably start with my minotaurs, doombull and the avatar of war beastlord which ill probably use as a doombull/gorebull as well.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

So i started painting on my first minotaur. This guy is by no means finished. the skin is done with fortress grey and badab black wash. I cant make it look any other way than this. My camera is highly detailed so it looks a worse than it does to the naked eye. Still its not perfectly neat. How can I make it look neat? Feedback of all kinds is greatly appreciated.





































what do you guys think? the cloth is not yet finished, I consider the horns somewhat finished, dont know what I can do to help the skin.


----------



## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

I think the skin tone looks good. I prefer this scheme to GWs very pale scheme


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

My problem with the skin is, it looks ragged. I tried highlighting a little but it still looks blotchy, dont know what im doing wrong. I highlighted him with some fortress grey and it just looked fake... threw some badab over it again and it looked good again...yet blotchy. Im kind of at a loss what to do. it all just looks a little ragged, I cant get the measure of quality im looking for, dont know if im missing the paint skills to do it or what.


----------



## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

Maybe you could water down the badab black slightly. Im sure theres people with greater knowledge and skill who can help you more so. 
Maybe you could it up as a query on the modelling and painting forum.


----------



## wombat_tree (Nov 30, 2008)

Gharof von Carstein said:


> My problem with the skin is, it looks ragged. I tried highlighting a little but it still looks blotchy, dont know what im doing wrong. I highlighted him with some fortress grey and it just looked fake... threw some badab over it again and it looked good again...yet blotchy. Im kind of at a loss what to do. it all just looks a little ragged, I cant get the measure of quality im looking for, dont know if im missing the paint skills to do it or what.


I'd paint a layer of fortress grey (or codex grey) over the skin, leaving the recess dark. By this I don't mean a slight highlight I mean a proper layer of paint. If the paint is looking blotchy then you should probably thin your paints a bit.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

I agree that the grey is much better than the GW pallid skin.

Is the hair finished, as it lacks contrast at the moment?

Badab Black does tend to make things look slightly blotchy if applied as a glaze. I suggest applying it only to the recesses with a thin brush.

Overall, looks like a good choice of palette.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

the fur hasnt even begone yet tbh. Its going to be scorched brown base with graveyard earth highlights. I might add some devlan mud to tie it together. thx for the tip on the wash. I think ill mix badab with fortress grey and clean out the edges some more. I like the skin colour the way it is. Now I just need to make it look neat.


----------



## aquatic_foible (Mar 17, 2010)

Great skin tone, sir! Looking forward to seeing them finished...Will you be using the same skin tone [once you work out the kinks!] on the whole army?


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

Thank you sir! Yes I will actually, it will be the factor that ties my army together. the furs will primarly be a darker brown with some highlights of graveyard earth (maybe with some kommando khaki highlights but very small) these will also be treated lightly with a devlan mud wash. than I hope a combination of boltgun metal armor with tin bitz and dwarven bronze will look good. I dont want my beastmen to look too shiny. With the tin bitz and dwarven bronze heavily diluted with water I might also be able to throw in some rust effects. We will see how it goes  

I actually helped move some friends yesterday and now my legs are so cramped I cant walk. So I'll probably be able to get some painting in today.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

I cleaned up the model thanks to the tip from Dave (thx!). I mixed codex grey with fortress grey and badab black wash and thinned it down with water, I used this to repair the blotches. Than I highlighed with fortress grey and badab black/water mix. Than I applied some more badab black in the crevasses. The result I am might pleased with. The toes and hornes are now also done, kommando khaki with a light devlan mud wash (looks great!). I am not yet done with the fur. I have done every single hair seperate with scorched brown, after this I will highlight them with a graveyard earth/scorched brown mix and than a very small highlight with graveyard earth. Let me know what you guys think!


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

It looks much tidier now; glad my suggestion helped.

Having painted fur hair by hair myself, I commend your determination.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

I edited the foto's of the model so far. The fur is done now (hair for hair baby), its a scorched brown base with graveyard earth/scorched brown highlights and than light graveyard earth highlights covered with gryphon sephia. It truly looks awesome, the foto's dont do it justice. I took foto's at several angles this time so you can see the badab black recess application is good. I noticed the lack of it on the chest while uploading the foto's, Ill definetly go back and fix that. Next stop is the armor, cloth and weapons and than I think the prototype for the rest of my army is completly done. I wont post pictures till this guy is done and is on his base. Thats the one with the log on it. 

anyone got any good tips on giving a brown rust look? I dont like my rust to look too orange.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Gharof von Carstein said:


> anyone got any good tips on giving a brown rust look? I dont like my rust to look too orange.


This might be what you seek:

(1) Base with Tin Bitz
(2) Wash with Badab Black
(3) Stipple with Bestial Brown
(4) Wash with Devlan Mud
(5) Drybrush areas of wear/extremities with Boltgun Metal

If you want less or more oxidation then adjust the stippling.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

Thx dave! Ill definitely try that out. There is another thing thats bothering me...Id like to tie the models look together with a wash. The skin is now a little blotchy compared to the fur. That way It would look as smooth as the fur does. Can badab black be watered down so much that it wont stain the model again? I would hate to do everything over again. I dont wanna use another type of wash (perhaps devlan mud but that would really be too much brown) as that would give too big of a colour switch.

some advice please. After this guy is finally done id like to get on with the rest, I really do want a immaculate model to base the rest of my army on.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Gharof von Carstein said:


> Can badab black be watered down so much that it wont stain the model again? I would hate to do everything over again. I dont wanna use another type of wash (perhaps devlan mud but that would really be too much brown) as that would give too big of a colour switch.


Watering it down is possible, so several thin layers might help.

To avoid any clumping it might be worth adding a tiny amount of liquid soap as well.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

The first model...is finally finished. Im completely happy with how he turned out (cept for maybe the club) I love the rust affects i made on the axe and the plating on his arms. The plating has pretty shiny highlights which the rust just all seems to tie together. Anyway, I love this little guy, and lord knows Iv put the effort in. Just nice to see it paid off. Ill be assembling 3 new minotaurs later today that arrived yesterday, this way ill be able to create a fully ranked up unit of 6. Since I finally figured out the skin and the colors for the fur, id say the other guys will go a heck of a lot faster. Anyway without further ado; the pics. 





































What do you guys think? The pictures really dont do him justice. Its just that with a state of the art camera like my girlfriend has its so detailed that it looks messy, to the human eye he is actually very neat.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

visually a good whole, and the base adds a suitable frame.

The wash on the fur has made it a little shiny, so it looks a little similar to the metal where the light catches it; a touch of matt varnish will solve that though.

I am looking forward to seeing more.


----------



## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

Minotaur looks very good. Look forward to seeing more of your work.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

matt varnish is no longer in the GW range. Any suitable alternatives? I wanted to buy some matt varnish to use on the model but too bad..


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

I use Testor's Dullcote as it is more resilient than average so levels and protects.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

Bought myself a matt varnish and will go to town on my minotaurs coming next thursday, Ill finish the unit before proceding to go on with...my miss painting group ghorgon... assembled it yesterday


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

After weeks of silence I finally present you the fully painted up 3 minotaurs with hopefully 3 to follow soon. I still have not received the package to make the other 3 so my next project will be the ghorgon and after that Malagor the dark omen as my great bray shaman. Picked up the new finecast model today and I'm thinking of entering a local painting competition exclusively for finecast models  

Dont look at my painting table, its seen better days  

Without further ado, I present my minotaurs:














































Let me know what you guys think  the only thing that still needs to be done are the white wrappings on the champs axes and rusting them up sligtly. Dont think I will do it too excessive to show that he can wear magic weapons.


----------



## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

Fantastic work. I think the rusting up of the weapons will help greatly.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

thx! I always appreciate positive feedback


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Consistent results there; the unit fits together very well visually.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

Hey guys! Im busy doing my finecast Malagor for a painting competition for finecast models. So I finished his base today. See pictures below! I want to do malagors wings black with grey highlights... Dont know how best to go about this. any sort of advice would be greatly appreciated. Also I want to freehand some end of days latin on the scroll on his staff anyone got a good one? btw what do you guys think of the base?


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The base looks very good.

To highlight black skin I usually layer several lighter grey highlights up to quite a pale grey then take it back down using several black glazes. To me, this blends the layers better than just highlighting up to mid-grey.


----------



## CLT40k (Jun 18, 2010)

Nice job on the minotaurs... + rep.

Ignore this bit if you're doing this already... Might try laying all your base colors down at once... especially when you're doing large numbers of models (Ie, all the Gors) It will allow you to be a little more sloppy in getting the paint on the boys, then you can go back and clean everything up later to make them crisp. Also, this keeps you from having that slip of the brush that puts a big red streak or something over a "done" part of the model. Once the basic stuff is done and everything is crisp, you can then go back in for the washes, highlighting, etc... Just find it helps me get through the production parts...


----------



## CLT40k (Jun 18, 2010)

Dave T Hobbit said:


> I use Testor's Dullcote as it is more resilient than average so levels and protects.


Same... also, spray matte varnish from army painter is pretty good too... usually, I hit them first with the spray and then go back in with the testors.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

its been a hectic couple of weeks. All my orders are finally in. My birthday is coming up and my boss is riding me to get all my work done. between that and social life I still was able to knock this out for todays finecast painting competition entry at my local GW. Enjoy! feedback will be appreciated but only for personal use. Cant change anything anymore as I just came back from the painting competition where I took 4th place, so no prize.





































had to change the rock up as my free hand demonic circle didnt look to demonic. Seeing as Malagor is a big bad bray shaman Id figure he liked sacrificing humans to Chaos, the gore skeleton was ripped from ghouls bits along with the bones. Malagor remains unaltered as I didnt know If I was allowed to convert him in any way. Next up will be my new 3 minotaurs to first complete my unit than the ghorgon.


----------



## greenee22 (May 12, 2011)

the skin could use a highlight, but the rest is pretty good!


----------



## Saulot (May 25, 2011)

Grats on taking 4th place.. 

That's a great cast of Malagor.. I never quite understood the old metal version before. hehehe


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

they look darker than they are. And I like them the way they are. I am not going to put another highlight on them


----------



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Fourth place is good (unless there were only three entries :grin.

I like the revised base; very gory without being comical.

He looks like the will coordinate well with the Minotaurs, so great work there.

The only thing that does not quite look right to me is the bloody rag on the staff; the shading and highlights do not seem to match up with the depth of the detail.


----------



## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

just started my movement trays. I have a tourney coming up and I want to at least have something to carry my men on. the movement trays have been hand crafted from balsa wood with aluminum plates in them. I will be magnetising my beastmen so they will be nice and easy to transport and wont ever fall off  pictures coming when they are all finished. I have so much balsa I made movement trays for every possible combination of unit


----------

