My Newly Pimped-out Workspace!

For the longest time I've been painting using a halogen lamp. It cast white light, it looked neutral to me. But it wasn't very strong. Also it was very hard to position; the goose neck is on the short side, and the base is very light, meaning that the lamp would tip over easily if I tried to position it better.

In addition to the terrible light source, streaming on Twitch was pretty difficult to do at times. The one webcam I have ( a Logitech C920) was terrible at focusing in such a low light. And it was really hard to position too. I have a tripod for it, but where do you put the webcam? Between my single light source needing to shine on what I'm doing, the webcam being able to capture it, and myself being able to see it too, something's got to give.

So here's my new setup!

I've been painting and streaming for the last few days and I'm really happy with this. Here's what's going on:

• Two long, swing arm lamps. They are easy to move around and stay steady. I can position them right next to my head as I'm painting, if I want. And because there's two of them, there are no shadows to worry about.
• Two Philips Hue White Ambient lightbulbs. I have these in the bedroom and love them, so that choice was a no-brainer. You can change their temperature (orange/yellow/white/blue and everything in between) and intensity. And because they're "smart", they can be controlled remotely. That means that I have a single switch that controls both (you can see it on the picture, just under the base of the right lamp) and I don't have to fumble to reach two light switches to turn them on and off. The same goes for setting up light intensity and temperature; the two bulbs are in perfect sync.
• Another webcam! You can see it on the left lamp, taped to it with some black electrical tape. It's a Logitech C922. It captures great, especially in low light (although that's not a problem anymore). Since it's attached to the lamp I can move it around easily, it's never in the way. The light source is right there for it so it really makes a clearer shot compared to what I've been doing before.
• My webcam is now to my left, not to my right. It makes sense since I'm right handed, so my hand was always in the way.
• The old webcam is still on its tripod, but used as a face cam now.

I'm very happy with this setup. I'd like to spend some time watching my streams to optimize my camera and streaming settings. For example, I'd like to try streaming at 20 frames per second but offset that with a higher image quality. That seems like a good idea for streaming painting, but we'll see.

Hope this inspires you to reevaluate your painting environment. Thanks for looking!

Should GW worry about 3D printing?

After my Monolith got featured on natfka.blogspot.com (thanks!) there was an interesting discussion about how 3D printing can, or will, change wargaming in general. This is my take on that topic.

There are several steps needed to get 3D printed bits onto the tabletop. The first step is to make or find a design. The second is to get it printed, which includes getting a fine quality capable 3D printer and the materials.

First, designing bits isn't easy when you're starting out. I was watching tutorials for days, and would more than once go to bed stressed out because I just can't get something to work. I learned how to use Blender and FreeCAD, including python scripting.

You can bet emperor's firm, toned buttocks that GW will stop us from sharing designs. I feel this is where they can, and will, stop us from making our hobby better. Oh well.

Design aside, what about printing itself? As of right now, no consumer grade printer can print bits this fine and with so much detail. Shapeways exists as a way to effectivelly rent out printers that are out of reach to most people, and I'm a very happy customer. But forget about printing this stuff in your garage, certainly for a few years.

Then there's the cost. Shapeways charged just under $100 for the Monolith bits. And yes, I made them as hollow as possible. This is steep, and I don't expect many people to be happy to pay so much for bits. Having your own printer would have made this cheaper, yes, but then there's the cost of buying a printer.

But, had I made a design error and had to reprint a new version of these bits, I might have cut my losses. And even though the dimensions weren't ideal out of the box, putty and sandpaper patched everything up just fine.

Finally, there's putting them on the model. I must have spent at least 20 hours over the course of two weeks, just sanding and applying putty. A lot of that work was due to the inherit horribleness of the Monolith itself (if you look at GW studio Necrons, you'll see clear seams where panels meet), but printed bits weren't easy to work with. That plastic is much harder than GW plastic, making sanding uneven.

In summary, no, I don't think GW should be worried. The amount of work and risk is too high for most people (I believe), and that's if it were cheap and if you had designs ready, both or which are problems on their own.

Painting Tutorial

In this post I want to show you how I make my color scheme happen, undercoat to finish. Many people asked for this one, and while it doesn't answer all questions, I hope it will answer some of them! I am yet to do a tutorial on my Gauss weapons but I will try to do that when I get around to painting my Destroyers. But enough yapping!

I undercoat my units black, then paint them Eshin Grey (or at least all the dark parts), drybrush Dawnstone, and was in Nuln Oil. This is a deep, dark grey that I build up from.

The first thing I do is paint all areas that will end up being blue in Dawnstone. This is a light, warm Grey that will look alien when drybrushed with an only slightly lighter but much colder blue. As for the yellow bits, I first paint them white (Ceramite White), then red (Wild Rider Red), then orange (Troll Slayer Orange). These are all thin layers but I'm going for solid coverage:

Once that is done, I start building yellows up from orange. I use Yriel Yellow. I usually also use a 50/50 mix of Yriel Yellow and Troll Slayer Orange as an intermediate step. On large surfaces where the color transition needs to look smooth I introduce more stages. If I were a better painter I'd do proper wet blending, but I'm not, so I don't. Considering that these are usually small surfaces, it works out.

Once I've finished applying yellows, I clean up the mess I made using Eshin Grey. On the picture below, the first model is plan orange, the second has all the yellow transitions done, and the third is post-cleanup. It looks much crisper.

Now I kinda screwed up here, because I usually clean up after the following step: drybrushing blues onto grays. It's hard to see on the picture below, but the left side of the model below and the left model have had their blue treatment. The right side of the middle model and the model to the right are still gray:

Once that is done (and post cleanup, as some of that blue inevitably reaches dark grey portions of the model), I drybrush Troll Slayer Orange on areas that are supposed to look hot. Depending on the model I might do proper OSL, but not on these guys. On the picture below, only the right side of the model has been drybrushed orange. You can tell by the glow that's lacking on the left side, both around the big three things on its spine and those little balls to the side.

And finally, with that all done, I draw white lines on the blue parts. You could call that edge highlighting, except I deliberately do not only highlight corners that would attract light the most. Instead, I follow the contours in a way that I find aesthetically pleasing but makes no sense otherwise. I'd like to think that this helps the material look alien, but in truth, I think it looks nice.

And finally, if I care about the model, I edge highlight dark greys with light grey, or do more OSL, but it depends on the model and my mood.

But that's it! It looks pretty good and is not too much work. There's lots of steps but most are pretty easy and don't require active thought or attention.

Thanks for looking!

Display Cabinet

Here is the Ikea display cabinet that I assembled! Yeah, it's not much of an achievement, but it's great for what it does, and at a nice price too. It's a Besta system, with glass doors and lights on the ceiling. Even though the doors have wooden rims, they take up far less visible space than what I had anticipated. Half of the rim lays outside the visible section. You can put infantry all the way up front and still clearly see the models.

Height-wise there is plenty of room for 2 glass shelves if you only put infantry there, however as you can see, it's already half empty. No need to do that yet.

I chose the warm wooden texture because it resembles the tint of sand the most. These shelves also come in glossy white and satin black, but you could always put terrain on the floor or wallpaper the sides to whatever you want. Just keep in mind that light, neutral-tinted sides will reflect light, ensuring a more diffuse light source that will reduce the contrasts and bring up more detail.

I have about as many models still on sprues, ready to be assembled. Can't wait to fill it up with models.

Oh, and the cabinet is composed of these three stacked (links below). I got additional shelves for the bottom unit, and that's where I put my extra sprues, materials etc. You can mix and match however you like, but the resulting height is just about perfect this way. The first image shows how high it is at eye level, and I'm about 188cm tall. Any higher and I wouldn't be looking at the top shelf from above.

• http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S19047385/#/S09047625
• http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70245952/#/20247374
• http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S19047385/#/S39047619

As for lights:

• http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10290966/#/80288352 x2
• http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70288338/
• http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30121411/

And I'm pretty sure you can get cheaper lights on Amazon or wherever. I just grabbed these at Ikea as an afterthought when I came for the cabinets.

Thanks for looking!

More Bases Done!

I finally got my 32mm bases, and with a few 40mm bases, started working on them. This was so boring to do, but they look great, and I won't have to paint 32mms for a while now.

I experimented with using multiple sizes of rocks. I think I went to coarse on these, but once painted and with a miniature on top, I hope it will not be as noticeable. Otherwise is it the same method I used for my other bases before.

Musings on Bases

Basing miniatures properly is, from what I can see online, often overlooked. Not only do bases provide a backdrop against miniatures are to stand out from, but they also provide an opportunity to complement the model.

For example, if the model is mostly flat and without detail, the base could be busy and very detailed to offset. Or vice versa. Or, if the model is mostly dark, the base should be light in order to at least help accentuate the shape of the model. Or, if the model is very colorful, a gray background could make the model stand out.

My army color scheme is a combination of dark grays and light blues, for the most part. The blues were to be on the outer parts of models, in general. So, the backdrop needed to be warmish in tone. Considering the parallel between Necrons and Tomb Kings from Warhammer Fantasy, the choice was obvious: parched, dry, desert earth. Interesting texture of a nice, warm color. Not much opportunity for props, though. Skulls, bones, some stones maybe, not more than that.

I searched online for ways to create this parched earth effect. I stumbled upon these two resources: a tutorial by Tyros on WestGamer, and a video by EonsOfBattle. There were a few others, but these two achieved an effect that was closest to what I was looking for.

I bought some Distress Crackle Paint online and got started. My first experiments were not going that well to say the least, and I ruined a few bases before getting to what I was looking for.

The leftmost base had the best cracks, but it looked very boring, pale like that. The upper base is a more classic Necron base: strange, dark material with green crystals. The model blended in completely, it looked terrible. The right base looked sufficiently dry, but too brown, and I completely messed up the cracks on that one. They were far too big. The last base, the one down, I repainted several times completely, trying to get the colors right. I just couldn't.

To get the cracks the way I wanted to, I applied a thin layer of PVA glue before a layer of crackle paste. I cannot really tell how thick the layers were, I don't remember. But some bases turned out great, some not so much. Not really helpful, is it. Later down the line, I had to completely redo the crackle on my Scythe base after getting it wrong.

Eventually, after sufficient random experimentation, I got something that looked alright:

Basically, (pun proudly intended) it's just Tallarn Sand, followed by a light application of Agrax Earthshade, followed by a drybrush of Tallarn Sand (to ensure any wash remains in the recesses only) and a drybrush of Ushabti Bone.

Here is a pic I took after applying the first coat of Tallarn Sand, before washing and drybrushing:

I painted stones in Eshin Grey and drybrushed Scar White.

And here are they!

Musing on Color Themes

Necrons have amazing models, detailed and interesting infantry with a lot of potential for object source lighting, and vehicles with a lot of depth and detail. I love the look hordes of units, and hordes of Warriors and Immortals have a huge potential to impress.

What keeps Necron armies down visually is the color scheme. Drybrushed metallic colors over black is such a natural choice and so easy to do. In addition, translucent green rods that Warriors use guide all Necron armies towards a natural black/dark metal/green color scheme. It's ok, but it's boring. Not only is it typical and predictable, but all that black does injustice to the models. There's so much detail and depth that gets lost in all that black.

Take a look at this Annihilation Barge model. This is a beautiful model, but it is hard to distinguish any detail in it. Below and behind the gun especially. And this is painted with extraordinary effort, where every single edge is highlighted with green gradients. What gives?

I decided to strive towards a paint job where no surface would be left behind. Nothing would be left entirely black, instead painted with gray gradients. If it is still dark and visible on the table top, it should have some object source lighting (OSL) to exaggerate the detail.

Finally, I like the idea of having a material theme that is closely tied to theme. For example, a plain looking metal material that would dominate on Warriors, a heavy armor looking material that would dominate on vehicles and heavy infantry, and an elite material that denotes prestige. Sprinkle with details and the army looks unified yet diverse.

---

So, time to google Necron armies and see what people have done. In the end, two color schemes resonated with me the most:

The light blue/gray Necron army by Element Games (scroll further down)

The black/orange Necron army by On Target Studios

What I liked about the first color scheme is how tranquil it looked, and how it stood out with its light colors. Even the metals, which are the darkest parts of each model, are dark gray at best. I find it to my liking.

On the other hand, the black/orange theme looks angry. It does a lot of OSL and it does it well, giving me something to look up to when painting.

However, both armies (though, arguably, black/orange more) have the problem of lots of obscured detail. In the light colored army, while the whites and the blues were nicely detailed, the grays just blended in together. On the other hand, the black/orange only has visible detail around OSL. The rest is an indistinguishable mass of blacks and some blue lines here and there.

The solution, and my choice of color scheme became obvious when I realized this.

The metals, the core of the mechanisms, should be dark gray with plenty of OSL. This OSL should be orange and red, to communicate the rage my Necrons feel inside. I never liked using metallic colors, so matte gray gradients for metals were a natural choice, and besides, OSL on metallic surfaces is far more tricky to pull of, if you think about it. Instead of just shining light on surrounding detail, you need to think about reflections, glares etc.

On the outside, unnatural pale materials would provide armor, serving to provide contrast and a visible outline to each unit. This would serve to determine the pose of infantry, and the pattern of which surfaces are this pale color would serve to distinguish different unit types easily. Finally, as for the color denoting prestige, I didn't decide until painting my Overlord; at which point I just tried using light khaki colors and it worked great.

I originally decided to use light gray/white gradients for the armor material, exactly like in the light color army above. However, it looked too plain. I decided to throw in a hint of light blue just to contrast orange more, liked it, and kept going until it effectively became a light gray/light blue gradient.

It looked like it was radiating, and while this was not original intent, it looked great and I stuck with it. I think that it looked radiating because the overall lightness of the two colors is about the same, but the saturation of colors differs a lot. It's a gradient from color to gray scale instead of a more typical gradient from light to dark.

The exact technique I ended up using are the following, over a black undercoat.

Black metals:
- Couple of thin layers of Eshin Grey
- Light drybrush of Dawnstone
- Heavy wash of Nuln Oil.

Oranges:
- One thin layer of White Scar. Doesn't need to cover all recesses
- One thin layer of Red, covering all recesses
- Troll Slayer Orange on surfaces. All OSL is later done in Troll Slayer Orange too
- Fuegan Orange wash in recesses
- Gradient the orange onto Yriel Yellow.
- If the area should be exceptionally bright, lines and dots of Dorn Yellow.

Blues:
- Two-three thin layers of Dawnstone
- Drybrush of Fenrisian Grey, focusing on the middle of surfaces instead of highlighting edges
- On vehicles, outline edges with Ulthuan Grey (though I might have used White Scar initially?)

Why Necrons?

I used to collect Warhammer Fantasy in high school. I had an Empire army, maybe 3-4k points. While the game was a lot of fun initially, over time I found myself enjoying painting more. Over time I got into converting, then non-metallic metal and object source lighting, and I had a lot of fun.

As my passion for painting and converting increased, my interest in the game decreased. A mixture of overt randomness, rules open for interpretation, friends leaving the game, an obnoxious competitive scene at my locale at the time, made me paint and collect rather than play. That lasted for a long while.

Fast forward into graduate school, where I found myself missing something relaxing. All work and no fun can last only for so long. In the meantime, I played a few video games set in the 40k world, and I came to appreciate the lore a lot. After a long time of pondering about getting into this expensive hobby, I decided to jump right in.

Even though the hobby is expensive, I wanted to put in an enormous amount of work into each and every model. This means that I would be buying kits slowly and over a long period of time. In addition, this meant that I would be getting many hours worth of activity per kit.

Why Necrons? Because, at the time, they were the most interesting army that would be updated to 7th edition. All plastic (except special characters) is a plus. Elaborate, finely detailed vehicles instead of steel boxes. The fact that their default color scheme is so boring made it possible to get creative and really make them look good.

In addition, I loved the lore behind Destroyers. Crazy murderous robots that started replacing their own limbs with tools that make them kill more and faster is bad ass. I loved the idea of applying this theme to the rest of my army: like warriors were being torn apart limb from limb and integrated into vehicles in order to make them better killing machines.

I know that this is not the classical way Necrons are represented. In my mind, these Necrons have no sympathy or nostalgia for life. They did not wake from slumber as rusty and ruined people in metallic bodies. Instead, they are killing machines through and through, with only the elite having any sense of self-awareness, the rest only obedience and anger.

No army in 40k resonates with me as much. I like Space Wolves too, and Imperial Guard would have been fun to collect but far more expensive. Given that I wanted to paint and collect, not so much to play, my choice of Necrons was set.

- B

Move to BlogSpot

Hey,

Originally I used a Picasa Web Album to host pictures about my work-in-progress Necron army. However, as more and more pics piled up, it became hard to navigate.

So I decided to move to a blog. It makes sense, you can actually organize stuff on a blog.

Anyway, in the next few days, I hope to migrate all pics and captions to a blog format and organize accordingly.

- B