Plarzoid

Aquablight Test Scheme: Part 1

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April 15, 2014

Since the goal for Templecon is to run Legion (of which little that I want to use is painted), I need to get started.

I’ve done Aquablight in the past, it’s one of my favorite looks, and the color scheme of the site is modeled after it.  I’ve taken a second stab at the scheme since, and it looks good, but requires a few custom mixtures, and hasn’t really been fleshed out into infantry and what-not.

This time, I want to really figure out the scheme in its entirety.  I want to pre-mix batches of color to speed up the process and keep a consistent look, and I want a documented process, so I can add to it down the road, if I ever want to.  So, I spent some time thinking, and made a list of the key aesthetics of the Legion army:

  • Beast ‘chitin’ style armor
  • Beast flesh
  • Beast “blight”-y glow
  • Beast details (teeth, claws, ear membrane things, gums)
  • Wings (membrane)
  • Infantry heavy armor (metal, pressed leather)
  • Infantry light armor (pressed leather / cloth)
  • Infantry flesh (will it differ from beast flesh?)
  • Metal weapons
  • Feathers
  • Magical glow (spellcaster glowy bits)

I picked a few models that I’ll actually use at Templecon, and that give me good examples of the various Legion aesthetics: a Scythean, a Harrier,  a Legionnaire, a Shepherd and a Spell Martyr.  So, 5 models, and I get to lay out just about everything I’ll need to, in order to make feel out this scheme.

I started out with the airbrush, since it makes thin coats, and I needed to paint over some existing paint on the Spell Martyr and Shepherd.  Also, the Scythean has lots of real estate to cover, and I really didn’t want to do it all by hand.  That’s tedious, and would be prone to leaving brush streaks, and filling up those lovely cracks in the chitin.

I got a base coat down of P3 Greycoat Grey for the skin, followed by a zenithal style highlight using 50/50 P3 Midlund Flesh and P3 Greycoat Grey.  I didn’t do the zenithal highlight on the Scythean’s arms  correctly (they’re magnetized, as is the head), but I can fix it later.  I then masked off all the skin with masking tape and sticky-tac, and put down a nice coat of P3 Meredius Blue.  (I’m going to mark paint names in bold from here on out.  I think it’ll make it easier for people who just care about color recipes.  Let me know if it helps / hinders you?)

There are lots of bits to fix and figure out before diving into the details of shade colors and highlight tones, etc, but for now, it’s a start.

Here’s a quick cell-phone pic of my carrying box that I took on my way out the door this morning.  Behold the models in their aqua-y and blight-y goodness!

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View Comments (4)

  • Ok first things first, what’s my painting challenge to win a Plarzoid mellee gauge tool? (shown apr 12 in the tweeter feed upper right on this page)

    Second what was the reason to take a “second stab”? I thought the first one looked great and I’m not certain I see what changed in second stab version.

    I do really like the purple on the mouth of the beasts in the 1st take. I think it makes a good contrast and highlights the MOUTHEYNESS of it.

    So are you hoping to do Legion at NoA Open as well or just starting long term for Templecon and having multiple projects during the year? My buddy Ben is of the opinion that P3 judges tend to favor cool colors in their award winning models. So that could work in your benefit if you go to L&L or GenCon for a P3 competition too 🙂

    • For a melee gauge tool, I want you to paint a single model to the best of your ability. You have speed painting down very well, but I want to see what you can do when you take your time.

      The main reason for the second stab a while back was that my skills had changed. The first version used only drybrushing and washes, and was done in the older GW paints. The second version used a fair bit of 2-brush blending, but still used some GW paints which are now discontinued. The colors are the same (roughly), but still inconsistent and unable to be reproduced in the quantities I’ll need to for painting the entire faction.

      I like the purple / magenta, too, but I also want to experiment with greens.

      I’ll be playing Legion at NOVA, yeah. Whether or not I submit them to the Painting Comp, I’m not sure…

      • Oooh, painting competition? Is this open to all?

        I like the second one more, the fades are considerably better and the first one, though I liked it, definitely is harder edges and doesn’t have the color flow the second one does. I’m excited to see this through. Looks really good. I really hope there’s an Archangel in here somewhere…

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