How I painted the Forgeworld Abaddon

This section will be small compared to most of the parts because it involves the black highlighting and the metallic trim of the armour. It receives a part by itself because of the time involved, effect on the model and the large area it encompasses.

Once I was finished with the head I sprayed the model with GW Matte varnish to protect all the work to date. This spray caused me to doubt my black highlights because they were flat and the model was a slight gloss. This effect was hard to see around and I had to trust that the line highlighting I was doing was going to look good when finished.

Line highlighting the areas around the trim is not realistic at all. But I wanted to be able to show separation between the black of the armour and the soon to be silver trim.

I first applied a broad highlight of 80/20 Chaos Black [CB]/Shadow Grey [SG]. This was not a neat controlled highlight since I hoped it would blend into the black once the model was finished and sprayed. Now, by not neat, I guess I mean tight and sharp because the pictures show I still had smooth lines. In the picture that follows you can see how stark the contrast is, and that is what I mean by the effect of the spray.

Once this was finished for the entire body and arms I applied the next highlight of 80/20 SG/CB [dark SG]. This was a true line highlight and the paint had to be at just the right consistency for me to keep the lines so smooth and even. I had to dilute the paint a number of times as I worked due to evaporation over the time it took me to do the lines. It is funny that quite a few people that commented on the statue mentioned the straightness of the lines. Now, from a painting standpoint they are unremarkable and unrealistic and were not intended to catch any ones eye. They were meant to fade into the model as a contrast breaker. So I was quite surprised by these comments and at the same time flattered. Lining so much large area was tedious and I spent many hours at a near oxygen deprived state holding my breath between strokes. The real ‘trick’ is to have the correct paint consistency, which is just thin enough to not have the positive surface tension seen in thick paint. This means that when the paint is in the pot and you tip it a bit the surface of the paint just flows up the side without a raised ‘lip’. So, this paint was much thicker than I usually use but still thinned quite a bit. The other ‘trick’ is to start your line over the preceding line section. This makes it seem like one smooth line when you are finished.

The third highlight on the black was 80/20 dark SG/Codex Grey. This was done only occasionally over the above highlight where I thought I would like a bit more contrast once the silver was on the trim. It was done totally to feel with no regard for lighting effects.

At this stage the black was finished. There is battle damage all over the armour and I decided to leave it unhighlighted. Basically, I didn’t do it and so the damage disappears on the final model. I didn’t want to draw the eye to the armour plates and I felt that the damage would have done just that.

With the black highlighting done I sprayed the figure so I could see what the final effect I had achieved would look like. I really liked it once it was sprayed and the entire plate was semi-gloss. At this stage I did however, find the grey line highlights a bit too sharp and hoped that the metallic trim would shift the focus of the eye.

Like I said in part IV I found the basis for my trim while doing the airlock seal for the terminator helmet. So just like before I based the areas in 40/60 CB/ Boltgun Metal [BM] then proceeded to highlight the inner and outer rims and the inside raised areas [like rivets] with: 20/80 CB/BM, 100% BM and 80/20 BM/ Chain mail [CM]. Once this base was done for the body section I started to add selective highlights to angles that mirrored where the lighter grey highlight was. The purpose for this was to act as a bridge between the black and the metallic. These highlights were 50/50 BM/CM, 30/70 BM/CM, 10/89/1 BM/CM/Cammo Green. This touch of cammo green allows a subconscious tie in to the face. I then did 100% CM followed by 100% Mithril Silver at most of the rivets and sharp end points of the trim. The reason for this sharp transition in brightness is I wanted these areas to really stand out on the armour and this increased contrast does just that.

PREVIOUS FINISHED NEXT

PART I PART II PART III PART IV PART V