Jokaero

Having finally finished the Triarch Stalker, which took what seems like forever, do I take a break? No! Obviously I need to dive head long into another project, and for another army at that!
It also seems that at times I can paint fast when I want to. Including green stuff I was able to bust this bad boy out over an afternoon. The gloss coats are still pending on the red and blue bits, but I need to get the blue gloss paint for that first.

I came across a "Monkeys and Apes Toob" (yes, spelled exactly like that) at the sidewalk sale in town the other day for $3, and I simply couldn't pass it up. While bigger than what a Jokaero would typically be, he fits onto a 40mm base without much fuss. I figured I would try painting something other than Necrons for a chance of pace, and there is always the off chance I'll win that Space Marine box in the draw I entered.

There are another 11 primates from that pack that I can still mess around with for converting, so I can give the subsequent ones perhaps less "phallic" weaponry. Truth be told, this is only my second time working with proper Green Stuff.

As for the fur, that is mostly how the model came, but I figure a fine detail brush and one or two shades of brown could help liven it up.

This was also my first shot at doing proper glowy effect, and I can't say the camera shows it off very well. Once I put some more finishing touches on it, I'll have to bring it with me down to the Den.

This is coming from the resident "who needs highlights" guy, but the fur could use a drybrush. I think it'd be worth the extra effort.

You have my kudos on the green stuff, you are braver than I. Although Robyn's right, it does kinda look like a doink. Call it "The Emperor's Blessing".

Overall I likes, I just think it needs 15-20 more minutes:)

I'm gonna make a quick guess..... Monkey is from Michael's. Toy bins in the back, by the models? Do I win a cookie?

Edit: no cookie for me:(

If nothing else, I have to say making this model was worth it for this incredible context removed quote now:

looks like a big ol steel dink. I have a hard time looking at anything else on the monkey..

The gloss coats on the shiny bits will take about 5 minutes to do and an hour to dry. As for the dry brushing, I have yet to venture into that territory. Is there a color you'd recommend from the new line? Also, this is where the big make-up looking brushes come in, yes?

Just pick a lighter shade of the base color. I'm not the one to ask a specific color though. (Color-blindness sucks).

It doesn't have to be a BIG brush, just short, stiff bristles. I'm kinda partial to army Painters drybrushes (theyre angled and are good for smaller areas.) you could make one by clipping an old basecoat/standard brush.

Just trying to figure out if there was a specific brush among my current collection, especially given that I have one or two larger, round brushes with soft bristles. As my lexicon seems to be failing me right now, pictures.



I have some brushes that are specifically paint brushes that have bristles like that. Would that be used for this application? Or is that for something else I haven't touched on yet?

In the mean time, however, I will probably turn my attentions to the base the mini is going to stand on. If nothing else, I know I can do the painting of the outer ring right now. I will have to wait for my next trip into the city to get some flock. I was thinking of base coating the rim with Ceramite White, and then going over top of that with Shining Gold. Then, after I get the base all nice and felt looking, I can finally glue the model to it.

If it were me, I'd have used the brush pictured to do the drybrushing BEFORE any other painting.

I get to show my artistic ignorance here, I'm a pen and ink guy. I have no idea what the GW brush sizes translate to on that 3, 3/0, 10/0 etc. scale.

GW makes both a large and small drybrush. The small is the one you'd use on your Clyde.

Army Painter makes 3 sizes (a monster/vehicle, lg and small), either of the latter 2 would work.

If one of your more standard size round brushes is starting to go (bristle going every which way) just clip them close, like to a 1/4" or less and go for it.

I just watched a tutorial on dry brushing for minis, and I have a question. What is the best way to go from the pot to the "pallet" for dry brushing. I am thinking that a mix of Shining Gold and Reaper Phoenix Red would more or less give me the color I need.

dropper bottles or cheapo droppers (you can get them @ shoppers I think).

This is one of the fails of GWs paints.

i'd suggest saving yourself some time and try a GW drybrush pot. maybe underhive ash, as its a light brown, almost tan color on the site, so it should be a little darker in person.

when you buy the paint, look at the small citabel paintbrush at the den. if your not gonna buy it, look closely at how the bristles look, and take one of your old brushes and cut them down to the same length. pick a stiffer bristle for this. the super soft brushes dont make 'as' good of a small drybrush, but they'll make good large-size drybrushes.

1] you'll take your small drybrush and just dipabout half of the bristle length into the drybrush pot, and swirl it a bit to get the paint on it.

2] now take your brush and swish it back and forth on some paper towel to get rid of the majority of the paint until there's no clumps on the brush; just the color of your paint on the bristles.

3] now very lightly in quick back-forth swishing motions, like your sweeping the floor, run your brush over what you want painted. dont worry if the first 3 or 4 swishes arent making a noticable color change; that's a good thing. you want the paint transfer to be slow and gradual, otherwise you put wayyyyy too much of the lighter paint over your basecoat.

So my current shopping list looks like this so far:

Tamiya Blue
Underhive Ash
Flock

Does that sound about right?

Also, if I wanted to do a bit of reflected glow on the metal bits around the "backpack", would dry brushing be the go to for that?

System Commander wrote:. The mechansim on his left hand looks like a big ol steel dink. I have a hard time looking at anything else on the monkey..

I thought the exact same thing, all i could think of was some weird barberella/planet of the apes porn crossover.

He's gonna take ALL the objectives!

Back on topic, though, I experimented with dry brushing on some of the other primates that came in the "toob" with varying degrees of success. I found that Reaper Phoenix Red followed by Shining Gold actually got me to the shade I was looking for. It wasn't until after I played around with that that I realized the base brown of the first model wasn't where I wanted it. Now I have him done up, and touched up the spots where the devices got hit with the dry brushing. My two dry-brush test-apes have since made a trip to the Green Stuff munitorium. I will get pictures of the progress up later, as I have no idea where the USB cable for my camera is, and my alternate means of downloading pictures is currently in use by someone else.

Photos taken both with and without flash. I think at this point all that is left to do on the models themselves is the gloss coating on the "glassy" bits. After that, my attentions will be turned to the bases which still need flock and such.

Additionally, these are the two brushes I used to do everything on the minis. I used a different one for the base edging.

I now consider these three Jokaero finished, standing on a flocked base and everything.





While initially meant as a bit of a diversion/break from my more rigid style-guide my Necrons adhere to, it served to help me learn several things about painting that I will be able to carry forward with me for future modeling, including the Ghost Ark I just finished. Lessons learned include the following:

• Basic usage of Green Stuff beyond simple flaw fixing
  
• How to Dry Brush
  
• How to Flock and Grit (to be show cased better when I finish building two more Deathmarks for the playoffs)
  
• Playing with a white furred cat is to happen AFTER painting, NOT before.
  
• The Tamiya Red I have works differently from how the line of paint is supposed to, acting more as a pigmented gloss varnish, rather than an opaque glossy paint.
  
• Reaper line paint actually has a use! Holy crap!

For anyone who has either never painted before, or feels like they have gotten into a rut with their current style, I would highly recommend undertaking an exercise such as this one with Green Stuff and a bargain-bin toy. Barring the cost of picking up a few extra paints (some of which have already been used on my army), this is a fairly cheap undertaking. I am still uncertain as to the proper method of cleaning a dry brush, though.