I began with the face.
The focal point of the model, I wanted to spend extra time on it, and get it
out of the way first. I began by mixing some Vallejo Hull Red into
Vallejo Dwarf Skin (from the new Model Colour line). I added a drop of
Dwarf Skin into the mix for each successive highlight until I reached pure
Dwarf Skin. To this I added Elf Skintone, also from the Model Colour
line, bringing the highlights up to pure Elf Skintone, and did final
highlights with Vallejo Basic Skintone.
There are a number of strange cables hanging around and coming out of Stern's head, and I chose two strong "Classic GW" colors for the different cables; bright red and bright blue, harkening back to the 'Eavy Metal paint schemes of 2nd edition 40K. The service studs were picked out in the same "real" metallics as the shield studs from Day 1. The Imperial Aquila branded into his forehead was painted with Games Workshop metallic golds -- Beaten Copper, Brazen Brass, Dwarf Bronze, Shining Gold, and finally Burnished Gold. Some thinned down chestnut ink provided some separation of the metallic bits from the skin.
His hair began with a base mixed from Vallejo Hull Red and Light Brown, adding more Light Brown for each layer of highlighting, and Vallejo Buff added for final highlights. Eyes and teeth were pure white over a Hull Red shadow, the pupils dotted in with a black Pigma Micron pen, size 005.
The ribbing of
the armor, as well as the vents on the back, were first painted Black, and
then given an initial highlight of a 50/50 Black/Shadow Grey mixture.
Second and third highlights were applied adding more GW Shadow Grey, and
finally these areas were given a very thinned-down wash of Vallejo Smoke,
which added a brownish tinge, making it look more oily and rubbery.
The largest and most
time-consuming portion of the model was going to be the grey armor, so I
wanted to knock this part out right away. As this model is a
Brother-Captain of the Grey Knights, I wanted the armor to, naturally, be
GREY (rather than the silly notion of silver Grey Knights...).
I began with Vallejo German Grey as a shadow coat, and repainted most of
that layer with Vallejo Dark Grey, leaving the German Grey only in the
darkest recesses. To the Dark Grey basecoat, I began adding Vallejo
Light Grey a drop at a time for each layer of highlighting. He
received about seven layers of grey before it was time for me to hit the
hay; unfortunately, he needs about three more layers to finish the armor,
and I really wanted
that out of the way by the end of Day 3.
Other accomplishments on Day 3 included matte-varnishing the shield, and finishing up the base. Now that the Hudson & Allen Snow had dried, I flooded each patch with some brush-on Vallejo Matte Varnish, to help hold it in place and stick it more firmly to the base. While this was still wet, I sprinkled some of the un-mixed snow powder on top to keep the sparkly effect.
With limited time on Day 4, I'm hoping I can at least get the Daemon Hammer converted and ready to go. Halfway to deadline, and not nearly halfway finished! Zoinks!