August Painting Challenge: Lurtz

Sacrilege83 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:36 am

^ I'm trying to remember exactly, but I did nothing out of the ordinary, just time consuming. I did use GW's Dark Flesh. I can't remember exactly what I've done. What I think I've done is that I painted all the skin either Scorched Brown or Scorched Brown + Chaos Black, after that I'm pretty sure I gave it a wash of Chaos Black (heavily diluted with water). Then I dry brushed a mix of Scorched Brown + Dark Flesh, whether I did that last step or not I'm pretty sure I did these next two: I then dry brushed Dark Flesh in areas I wanted highlighted, and then on top of that I did some very light highlighting dry brushing Dark Flesh + Skull White (either 1:1 or 2:1 mixture respectfully)

Draked's skintone on his model impressed me very much, especially the texture of the... left leg... I say this because when I was looking at stills of Lurtz's skin, Draked is the one that nailed it very close. Because there's black on the skin that has this rippled texture effect with tiny lighter parts of the skin and I was too tired and lazy to figure it out and improve upon my model. He said it's all highlighting, wonder what was his brush and technique being used.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:54 am

Agreed! Draked and you really have a good visual capture. I didn't understand the power of washes when I first started (technically restarted after a few decades away) painting again a few years back. I was always more of a drybrusher. So I know I can get a more realistic look than I did the first time. Just trying to pick the brains of those that come before.

I also like the armor work on yours, Draked and Wah's.

Sacrilege83 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:16 am

Yeah I never used wash techniques all that much until I started participating in these competitions. If you want to go the extra mile you pick up the inks that GW has, but I'm not to stingy with that sort of thing and I'd rather not blow my money away, unless I want with all determination to win a contest. Also when you're washing with paints you'll figure out there's different effects with the amount of dilution and pin pointing areas to be washed, not entire surfaces. All trial and error as I found out. Somebody can correct me on this, but I think the reasons why inks are better than using paints is because it only goes into the cracks and deep areas where when diluted paint dries it can leave border lines on the surface that shows where the paint has been applied depending how you applied it on with your brush.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:26 am

Yeah, I have several of GW's original inks and their newer washes that I started using about 2 years ago. Even then I wasn't making enough use of them for a while but once I did it really started to help. And amazing the subtle difference you get with a black vs. brown wash (vs. the ink version of either) and if you take some wash directly from the pot vs. mix with various amounts of water. It's actually nice because you can have 3-4 models painted exactly the same and still get them looking unique just by how you wash them.

Thanks for the tips on the underlying skin tones. Scorched brown in the dark flesh mix is probably a key take away as I didn't do that initially and they just look too red for me...even after a wash. The SB in there would help a lot in that area.

draked · **Joined:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:17 am **Posts:** 266

Wow guys! I really appreciate your comments! I try to use dry brushing and highlighting together on skin. People always complain that dry brushing leaves specks of paint, but look at an Uruk, look at anyone. Whose skin doesn't have flecks of color? By using dry brushing in between highlights I can control the amount of "flecking" (that can not be a word). Washes as you say are crucial. I don't buy inks, I dilute paint. It's trial and error as S83 said and sometimes I wash the same thing 2 or 3 times always searching for the right concentration. If there's not enough concentration I can add more. If there's too much concentration I can rehighlight or dry brush.

The captains skin tone- varying amounts of dark flesh (most prominent), scab red, red gore and black washes.

As for brushes, any 5/0 sized brush I can find. I always buy the cheapest one but stick to the smallest size I can find.

Once again thanks! Any other questions please ask!

Sacrilege83 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:45 am

draked wrote:

...sometimes I wash the same thing 2 or 3 times always searching for the right concentration. If there's not enough concentration I can add more. If there's too much concentration I can rehighlight or dry brush.

^Yes plenty of this while I was working on the leather garbs of Lurtz.
Are you sure Beowulf that you want your entire army to look fantastic like the models being done in the challenges? There's a reason why you save you best for the Captains and heroes and just do a mediocre job on the grunts and peons. When I do my Uruk-Army, the grunts will just be painted flat Scorched Brown and dry brushed Dark Fleshed to get them over with.

draked · **Joined:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:17 am **Posts:** 266

Sacrilege83 wrote:

draked wrote:

...sometimes I wash the same thing 2 or 3 times always searching for the right concentration. If there's not enough concentration I can add more. If there's too much concentration I can rehighlight or dry brush.

^Yes plenty of this while I was working on the leather garbs of Lurtz.
Are you sure Beowulf that you want your entire army to look fantastic like the models being done in the challenges? There's a reason why you save you best for the Captains and heroes and just do a mediocre job on the grunts and peons. When I do my Uruk-Army, the grunts will just be painted flat Scorched Brown and dry brushed Dark Fleshed to get them over with.

When I paint I mean it. If going to paint an army that I'm really going to care about I try to give every model the care and dedication I gave this captain.

Sacrilege83 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 3:00 am

It's all a question of time. I spent hours upon hours on my Lurtz. I'd hate to paint 24+ more of them in that manner, especially with the huge backlog I have I'll never finish it off. This is coming from a single man with not that many responsibilities. If I had a career and a family, forget about it.

draked · **Joined:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:17 am **Posts:** 266

Sacrilege83 wrote:

It's all a question of time. I spent hours upon hours on my Lurtz. I'd hate to paint 24+ more of them in that manner, especially with the huge backlog I have I'll never finish it off. This is coming from a single man with not that many responsibilities. If I had a career and a family, forget about it.

I understand, I understand. My time on that captain was probably around 3 hours. But I'm sure I could speed it up if I chain painted.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 11:20 am

Sacrilege83 wrote:

Are you sure Beowulf that you want your entire army to look fantastic like the models being done in the challenges? There's a reason why you save you best for the Captains and heroes and just do a mediocre job on the grunts and peons. When I do my Uruk-Army, the grunts will just be painted flat Scorched Brown and dry brushed Dark Fleshed to get them over with.

Sacrilege83 wrote:

It's all a question of time. I spent hours upon hours on my Lurtz. I'd hate to paint 24+ more of them in that manner, especially with the huge backlog I have I'll never finish it off. This is coming from a single man with not that many responsibilities.

No intention of spending that much time on my mass forces. But trying to get the colors from the masses to match the detailed elites and heroes as close as possible is critical for a good looking army.

The one on the far right is one of my earliest Wood Elves. Almost now washing, just highlight painting and drybrushing. I did him shortly after getting back into the hobby in 2008. The three to his left are more recent and are done with washes. MUCH faster to produce than the older style and I think they look better in the end. I'm very comfortable with the colors and washes I need to use on my WEs now and can add a box in pretty quick if I need to. I've worked out similar themes for my Mordor Orcs and am finalizing them for my Rohan army. So when I revisit Isengard I want to be able to do the same.

Sacrilege83 wrote:

This is coming from a single man with not that many responsibilities. If I had a career and a family, forget about it.

Lately I do about 80% or more of my painting sitting in my car on lunch break. I have a few dozen paints in a travel case and a tackle box tray (compartments) padded with tissue to hold that week's models. I go sit out side for 30-45 minutes and listen to some music or audio book and get thru a color or two. I have a (amazingly supportive

) wife, three kids and a 50+ hour per week (nights + weekends too) senior IT job that all make finding time for a hobby a balancing act. I long sometimes for the days of yore when I had time to spare.

garmenhord · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 11:25 am

Beowulf03809 wrote:

Lately I do about 80% or more of my painting sitting in my car on lunch break.(

So devoted to the hobby :yay:

Nice

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 12:41 pm

Thanks. I'll get a pic of my "work area" later today. I will be putting the final legs on my Sept entry and starting to figure out the layout of the base.

draked · **Joined:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:17 am **Posts:** 266

garmenhord wrote:

Beowulf03809 wrote:

Lately I do about 80% or more of my painting sitting in my car on lunch break.(

So devoted to the hobby :yay:

Nice

Agreed! Wow!

August Painting Challenge: Lurtz

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