How To Paint Red Gems (the semi advanced way)

Since I've recently been painting both an eldar army and a high elf army I've had a bit of practise painting gems. Initially I found it difficult since there were no tutorials for the level I wanted to paint them, a bit better than basic table top finish but not to the extent of heavy metal. So after a bit of trial and error as well as army wide practise I thought I'd make up a tutorial on how I paint my gems.

1. Paint the gem chaos black.
2. Layer a bit over three quarters of the gem scorched brown.

3. Layer a bit less than three quarters of the gem blood red.
4. Layer about half the gem with blazing orange.
5. Glaze the entire gem with thinned blood red.
6. Paint a skull white dot for reflection at the point closest to your light source.

Unfortunately this doesn't show the gem at the end of the process, only about halfway through. The final picture stuffed up for some reason but in reality it looks very similar with the layers just smoother.

 The key I find to succeeding with gems is to use multiple thin layers so that the colours blend easily, in fact it doesn't matter too much if they end up being slightly patchy as they will usually be either hidden by another layer or add to the effect. Also here is a list of colour conversions if you're using GW's paint range:
chaos black = abaddon black
scorched brown = rhinox hide
blood red = evil suns scarlet
blazing orange = troll slayer orange
skull white = white scar

More Finished Archers

Finally, this unit is nearing completion with only the champion and standard to go and then I can get started on my war hawk conversion. After an all too long break because of exams it was nice to be able to paint again especially since I was feeling a bit down hobby wise [ a result of my local store closing, price rise and the new edition of 40K coming after I only getting two games with my old book, which makes it a bit of a waste money wise.] Anyway these guys are the product of about an afternoons steady work , hope you like them. Of course I've spotted a few spots I need to clean up but that wont be too hard. Since the last batch of archers I've changed how I shade the robes from thinned Devlen mud to Codex grey.

Commissions

Just a quick note to say a couple of things. Firstly that I'm currently halfway through exams at the moment so I should be able to start painting again after a break so you can expect the unit of archers to be finished soon. Secondly because such a thing as free time can now exist in my life I am also able to take commissions again. So if you're interested feel free to email me at w.hpaintingstudios@gmail.com or check out the painting services page for more information.

What's on the work bench

 This is the first in what I hope to become a semi regular series, where I just put up a quick post on whats on my work bench at the moment. Today I'm in the middle of two archers and have the rest of the unit built and sprayed for painting. Should get them done in the next few days.

High Elf Dragon Prince

So the second instalment to get rid of the back log of posts, so here is the first completed dragon prince. Currently all five horses are complete [ just the animal only three have the armour and such finished] and 1 rider is done. C and C welcome and click for a bigger view.

High Elf Archers

I have quite a back log of stuff to post from the past few weeks so I thought I would break it up into smaller chunks. A good idea since I have exams coming up so hobby time will probably be cut down severely unfortunately.

Anyway as soon as I tried to knuckle down and concentrate on the dragon prices I took up a challenge to paint 500 points in three weeks, currently I'm a bit behind and I don't have high hopes for catching up but it does mean that I've been able to move through the archers quickly. So here are pictures of the first batch, enjoy.

 One thing that I did learn though is with the new shades, you have to shake them really well before hand and you cant water them down, because other wise you will end up with a gloss finish.

Progress has been slow the past few days because I been trying to put a lot of effort into these models. That's because last time I painted them I rushed the job and they looked horrid. Anyway I went for a dark red scheme because I thought part of the problem before was that I had too much silver and as well as the fact I don't have very much blue paint I don't think it works as well with the existing colour scheme. So far I've only done these horses but the rest are built and under coated. As usual you can click the image for a larger picture and C & C welcome.

Personally I think it's a testament to the kit that the models can suffer two undercoat sprays, and two paint jobs while keeping stunning detail. Whats more it was only recently that I started to make an effort to really thin my paints. In other news I just bought a box of archers and I am in the process of undercoating them for the pain station, so be prepared for them to appear in the next few weeks [or possibly months if I actually finished the units I've already started, but I think that's unlikely].