In the inky blackness beneath the Flea Fell teeming hordes of Skaven slaves toil on interminably, mining, delving, gnawing at the roots of the world. When war comes, companies of the toughest and most hateful, vicious slaves are dragged up out of the darkness and herded into battle where the luckiest amoung them will die a quick death under the blades of the Skavens' enemies.
The pit bosses who manage the slaves in their miserable labors are also the commanders who drive them into battle. Bosses like Pit Master Frikkit here enjoy some considerable status in Skaven society, for among the indolent and neglectful Skaven race little is accomplished without slave labor.
I started a Skaven army a good long time ago, but after I'd painted a few units I became discouraged because I couldn't get that marvelous, disgusting, makes-you-itch-to-look-at-'em look that Andy Chambers' Skaven had. Despite my efforts my own Skaven looked sort of natty and...cute! Horrible. Very disappointing.
Recently I was inspired by Matt Sullivan's engrossingly repulsive Vengeance of the Lichemaster Skaven to get out my own rat boys and start building on the army again. Matt's ratmen were so delightfully, inspirationally disgusting! Surely, I thought, I'll get it right this time.
Well, as you can see, my technique turns out to have changed not at all and still yields 'cute', Disneyish looking Skaven instead of creepy, dirty looking Skaven. I'm resigned to it. This is just what the army is going to look like I guess. Next up are some Jezzail teams and more Clan Moulder stuff. Hopefully I'll find a way to make them look more nasty and repugnant but I'm not counting on it.
Something with the eyes maybe? Try to glaze the eyes with some red washes, it could give them a nasty look. And your standards are possibly to clean.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. Maybe a red wash to give them an irritated, more malevolent look. I also need to enlarge the pupil, I think, just leaving a sliver of white at the back. I wanted to keep the standards simple because I thought slave units wouldn't have big elaborate standards. With the clanrat and elite units the standards are going to get a lot more elaborate, I think. Thanks for the tips. Nice to get advice from a master.
DeleteI think it might be the muzzles. They are quite light and clean. Looking at matt's stuff it's more grey muzzle with a tiny amount of lighter colour to the end. A long clean muzzle likes your maybe conveys more rats of nimh than skaven?
ReplyDeleteAre you inking? Another thing I note is the color gradiations between the darkest and lightest points are a lot 'closer' on yours. It might help to use a heavier ink wash (both darker and thicker) and *possibly* do some fine highlights even brighter/lighter. The latter may make the darks more obvious.
I agree, Dave. Their little faces need to be filthier. I've never tried inks, I just washes, and I always undercoat in white, which makes al my minis look a little lighter and softer than maybe they should, especially with the fleabags here. Maybe I'll douse a couple of their little heads with a dirty burnt brown and see how they come out. Thanks for the suggestions.
DeleteI'd suggest you work near a tap the first time. It's easy to overdo the inks, and you can sometimes save your hard work with a quick rinse off. I usually thin inks 1:1 ish. If you find the ink is staining the raised portions instead of the crevices, you've added too much water. I personally highlight after inking, but it is another step so might not be your jam.
DeleteI use Reaper paints for the most part...who do you recommend for inks?
DeleteI use vallejo (sepia to be precise), mostly for the convenience of a dropper bottle. Economy wise you can get artist acrylic (not water based) inks from a art store (often easier to access if you don't have a hobby shop nearby)....they tend to have a very intense pigment though, and need to be thinned more. I think the new GW stuff is more washes than inks (i.e. very thin tints that you don't water down).
DeleteTo be totally honest, I still have a bunch of the original (i.e. expert paint set) GW inks. This should give a general idea of how little can go a long way.
Definitely worth experimenting with some 'rear rank' figs first, and not batch painting with inks until you feel relatively comfortable identifying when it's gone on too thick.
They look great en masse - and that surely is the point of skaven? Nice work;)
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Kym! I'm going to try to get some more masses on the table soon!
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