WIP, scouts all except the cloaks

I've done everything on my scout squad except their camo cloaks, I think I may be putting this off due to fear of mucking it up.....

These two are completely finished as there cloaks are rolled up in their packs.

Missile launcher scout.

Hopefully you can clearly see the freehand chapter badge on his left shoulder pad (see here for method) and the squad/company insignia on his right shoulder pad.  This squad has a vertical bisection in blue and white as their squad heraldry and obviously being scouts they are 10th company, hence the X.  Here is the post explaining my squad and company markings.

At ease sniper scout.

The two cloaked sniper scouts. (cloaks not yet done)

Finally the sergeant.



I've tried to give the army quite a uniform look, his sword matches the one on my tactical sergeant and his shield matches the squad heraldry.

Things I am pleased with; the shading and highlighting on cloth and skin (having done power armour for a while I wasn't sure how this would turn out), the stubble on the sergeant, the extreme highlighting on the black barrel sections and the sniper goggle lenses.

Things I'm not sure about; the stubble on the other scout (it seems a bit too much) and the cloaks.......

Further thoughts on camo pattern have lead me to this.

Bonus marks for anyone who knows where it comes from and why it is an inappropriate use of camouflage?

As always any comments, hints or questions are gratefully received.

WIP, scout squad

I've painted the silver armour, grey fatigues and blue gloves, boots and chest pieces.  As hopefully you can see I've tried to match the scout paint scheme to the standard marine paint scheme, aiming to tie them into the rest of the force.

 

I've tried to make the colours a little bit more muted so far, hoping to reflect the more covert nature of the scouts.

I have also adjusted the conversion work on the sergeant slightly, improving the scale of the arm holding the sword and the angle of the shield, I hope it is noticeable in the before and after shots below.

Just the details, faces and cloaks to do...

Please feel free to leave any comments, hints or questions.



Ideas for painting camouflage cloaks

As you may have seen from my recent posts I am part way through painting a sniper scout squad for my astral knights chapter. I'm happily plugging away through the armour, fatigues, details etc but I am starting to worry about the cloaks.

I want to do them in a camouflage pattern but I'm not sure how to do this.  Normally I would paint a cloak by basing it in a dark colour and using one of two methods to give it definition. 

Method 1:  Wet blending.  This can be time consuming but creates lovely gradual changes of colour to give depth and definition. Here is an example from the back of my sergeant's banner.

Method 2: Layering, this is often easier and quicker than wet blending but doesn't give such smooth transitions from one colour to the next.

The Problem.

I can't use these methods with camouflage patterns.  As the cloak changes colour you can't highlight along the folds without destroying the pattern.

These are the looks I am  going for.   All these images are other peoples work that I've found on the Internet.

This one looks amazing, the digital camo pattern is stunning and there is even good definition into the folds.  I'm assuming that the pattern must have been painted on and then the shadows put in afterwards.

This is very effective and if Ron at from the warp is to be believed is very easy to do, there is a tutorial here.  He has shaded the cloak using washes and layering first and then used thinned paints and washes to give a suggestion of camouflage afterwards.

These last two images are included more as a guide for myself in terms of colours, I think that using the varied blues and greys of my armour colour scheme would give an interesting camo scheme whilst still tying the scouts to the rest of the army in way that green wouldn't.

So it looks like I'm left with a difficult choice. Do I try to paint on the camo pattern on first and then use washes etc to put the shadows into the folds, or do I put the definition in first and then go for a more subtle camo pattern using thinned paint etc over the top?

Does anyone have any experience in this area? Can they suggest a best method?  Please feel free to leave comments, hints and tips.

Converting a knightly scout squad sergeant

I mentioned last time that I was struggling to make my scout squad fit with my astral knights look.  I can't give the sergeant a plumed helmet as the scouts don't wear helmets and having a feathery plume sticking out from your head isn't good if you are trying to be sneaky and hide!  Banners don't really fit either for much the same reason.  So I came up with the following little conversions.

 As you can see from the image he has been given a power sword, the archetypal knightly weapon.  I'm not sure where the arm came from but I cut the hand of at the wrist and then thinned down the power armour cuff using a hobby knife so that it fitted with the slimmer scout arm.  I think the forearm is a little too long but it looks OK.

The other thing I did was to give him a shield.  I used one from a terminator sprue as they are nice and small, anything else would drown the poor little scout.  Like my tactical squad sergeant it has been mounted on the back of the hand holding the gun.  It also has the vertical sword on it that matches the chapter badge.

Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions....

Scout squad, a change is as good as a holiday

Having finished my first squad of Astral Knights I fancied a quick change of pace from all that power armour.  I've decided to do a scout squad, they are equipped with sniper rifles as I feel that these suit the look and purpose of scouts much better than boltguns or shotguns.  The squad is nice and varied with a number of different poses and lots of material to paint rather than flat armoured surfaces, I'll also get to have a go at painting some faces which I haven't done for a while.  I'm struggling to personalise them and make them fit with the Astral Knights look, so here are pictures of the four squad members and I'm going to try and convert the sergeant a bit to make him fit the aesthetic.

If you have any ideas for things that I could do to the standard scouts to make them look more 'knightly' then please feel free to let me know, also any hints or tips for painting camo cloaks would be much appreciated...