Painter's Log 2019-11-23

Sometimes you just need a new project to jump-start the creative flow.

I did finish Spiteclaw's Swarm.  They came out nice though I need to do a slight fix on Krrk the Almost Trusted's hand with glue.  I'm fairly happy with how they came out.  The lab rat coloration was a challenge because it's just short of being entirely albino.  Which is a different proposition entirely.

To prove their mousy worth, they'll overthrow the Earth.

The next batch of miniatures on my plate are ten Mortek Guard for the Ossiarch Bonereapers.  I struggled with devising even a preliminary paint scheme for the army.  I knew I wanted bone colors because I really like that on a bunch of dead heads.  I also knew I wanted some flavor of green for their armor so they weren't the deep purple that the studio paint scheme is.  But I knew I needed to incorporate purple somewhere.

There is the potential for too many different colors getting onto the model because many of the hero and larger models for the Ossiarch Bone Reapers (specifically Arkhan the Black, the mortisan trio, and morghasts) also incorporate spirit hosts from the Nighthaunts into their design.  I personally love the faded blue and bright green Games Workshop's painters used, so I needed to incorporate Hexwraith Flame and Nighthaunt Gloom somehow.

I figured I'd complicate my life further by making this the first time I incorporated the use of Citadel Contrast paints to get most of the work done.  Yep, that is a thing I decided on.

Something's wrong here.

So I had to pick an appropriate primer to support the decision to use Citadel Contrast paints.  After looking at what the price of a can of Citadel Wraithbone spray was, I decided to grab Army Painter Skeleton Bome spray instead.

In what would reflect the first of my struggles with the bonereaper models, I had also decided to use the Kroma Krackle Medium I had before priming.  Because I had a whole giant tube of it and figured I could use it in place of the Citadel crackle texture paints  This was a mistake because most of the cured crackle medium blew off when I primered the models.  I ended up having to use one of the Citadel crackle paints anyway and then go back over with the brush-on version of Army Painter Skeleton Bone.

Everything went very well with the models until I got to the white bone accents, the armor, and the purple cloth.  Skeleton Horde looks great over the primer, Fyreslayer Flesh is a nice creepy cured human leather look.

Much better.

Initially I thought I could just do fine highlights over the bone color that showed through the Apothecary White but it was having none of it.  I ended up basing all the white accents with Reaper Master Series Pure White (which has excellent coverage by the way) and then coating those areas with Apothecary White.

Once I did that, I decided that just Nighthaunt Gloom over the drybrushed crackly base was too bright.  Thin coats of Nuln Oil solved that issue.

I moved on to the cloth and armor.  The cloth was originally intended to just be a coat of Shyish Purple (another contrast color) but this came out too dark and flat.  This became a coat of Vallejo Model Color Blue Violet washed with Druchii Violet.  I don't have a photo as of this writing though.

The armor, however, was another issue entirely.  The original final layer color for it was Sons of Horus Green.  Looks great!  Except the white bone accents and the Sons of Horus Green did not work well, so one had to go.  Since I loved the way the white bone came out, the Sons of Horus Green was replaced by Army Painter Elemental Bolt.  I'm much happier with this outcome.

Now to apply the scheme across the entire army I have.