Hobby Tutorial: Celestial Guard (part 3)

or "Yeah, they were all yellow."

My enthusiasm for the hobby ebbs and flows, and after my last post it was at a relatively low point. Since then, I've taken a quick vacation to sunny Los Angeles where the weather is always warm, the sky is always blue, and the wimmins are usually lovely (which reminds me- one of these days I'll have to do a tutorial on silicon mold making...), and managed to recharge my batteries. I also acquired a new camera and I'm hopeful that subsequent pictures will be superior to earlier pictures. Upgrading from a 12 year old Nikon Coolpix 950 to a new Cannon G12. Woo hoo!

The idea here was to minimize the level of effort in painting by blocking out areas of one color at a time and then applying washes. Starting with the lightest color and working to the darkest, it will allow you to cover over any overpainting or slip-ups. For the Celestial Guard, that meant starting with the body armor, which is a dark yellow/light orange. The process is illustrated below.


Step 1 shows the basic color applied. In this case, Vallejo Flat Yellow. In order to preserve as much detail as possible and also provide a solid layer of color, I went over the miniature with three very light coats of paint. To prevent my paint from drying out, I use a wet palette. It's simply a re-usable Zip-loc plastic container with folded paper towels at the bottom, soaked with water, covered by a single sheet of parchment paper cut to size.

Step 2 shows the miniature after the first wash was applied. Gryphonne Sepia, straight from the bottle. The primary purpose of this was is to create shadows, and as the first wash, it was used somewhat liberally.

Step 3 shows the miniature after the second wash. Ogryn Flesh, again straight from the bottle. This wash warms up the sepia from Step 2, but also adds more depth to the shadows.


Step 4 shows the miniature after the third wash. Baal Red, straight from the bottle. This wash pumps the overall color into a more orange hue, but can easily overpower the prior washes, so I apply it very quickly and do not allow it to linger in one place to pool up under any circumstance. Gotta be quick on this wash.

Step 5 shows the miniature after applying highlights of the original Flat Yellow. This brings out the contours of the figure and allows for some further definition of fabric seams, armor plates, and other prominent bits.

On my Celestial Guard, the armor uses the most numerous washes, so I've used it as the example here. The pants (green) and padding (gray) are more simple but follow the same process.