Monday 13 October 2014

Scratch and Dent (Horus Heresy Rhino Diorama #5)

For those that can read the scrawl on my painting calendar for this project, you will know that today I should have already finished painting the rubble, Rhino, and both Sons of Horus, and be moving on to the detail work on the Emperor's Children. Alas, I have become distracted in my detailing of the Rhino and moved everything along one day into one of my "catchup" days at the end of the month.



After a great start thanks to the use of my new airbrush to quickly and evenly lay down the base colours, I moved on to the rubble base and other models as I couldn't quite get the level of detail or smooth finish on the large flat surfaces of my sculpted Rhino. After another stall occured when painting the gold edging on the Sons of Horus, I returned to the Rhino and worked on the "Eye of Horus" painted on the door, using some masking medium and the airbush for an even coat of red. It was around this time my camera died, so please excuse the rough snaps!




The eye turned out splendidly, though the level of detail on the scratches and dents on the doors now far exceeded those on the rest of the hull. I had no intention of over-working the model, and was aware of my painting deadline ticking closer, so I moved on to the rest of the models, and even sat on the couch browsing blogs on frustration. It was at this point I stumbled across some excellent non-metallic metal guides (cue further anguish for my basic attempts thus far), but I took a small detail from a Russian blogger's guide to silver and gold, and applied it instead to my Rhino. Using small and thin lines of paint, simply dark and light strokes placed in correct light source order, extra detail could be added to larger areas and break up the colour transitions. 




So I am almost done with the base, having omitted a few of the larger scratches and extra freehand in the artwork as I feel it would look too 'busy', and have started detailing the models both 'on' and 'in' the Rhino. I feel the sword in the centre will be a fitting last detail to paint before I can call it "finished". 

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there!




3 comments:

  1. Really love the work going into this Matt. Very impressed by the airbrush work. That eye is great! I love your color shading on the hull!!!

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    1. Thanks Greg, it's really coming together better than I had planned. A lot of the missing or poor details from the green stuff work is hidden quite well using the "scratch and dent" painting style I mentioned, I have actually applied it to the Sons of Horus and they look great. Now to switch back to the purples and pinks, and lay off the coffee for a day or two before trying the freehand...

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    2. Haha! I have the same problem with coffee. I'll get home, have a swing of coffee, get ready to paint, and then have to brace my hand to keep it from shaking. (Or just work on orks :) ).

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