Thanks @FutaManticore, glad you like them!
The highlights didn’t take all that long really. What’s great about these minis is that you don’t have to be precise due to the limited colour pallet and the fact that they are mostly bark/vines.
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What an absolutely gorgeous army of elves! Keep it up, i want to see more of this army, youve knocked it out of the park, particularly on the treefolk!
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Thanks @Kharegim! I plan to keep going with this for a while yet!
Time for another weekly update!
I’ve been working hard on my Tree herder and I’m satisfied with my current progress.
I have painted 1 or 2 large miniatures before, but this is my first “titan” sized one (on a monster base!). I’ve tried to incorporate some techniques that I don’t normally use on this mini, namely glazing. I did this with the transition of dark blue into turquoise and with the runes. I think I did an ok job but it’s clear I need to work on it more.
This mini has also been a real pain to paint! So many little bits in hard to reach places. I’ve also had to almost completely change the way I paint as the thing is top heavy. However, no pain no gain!
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Another week brings us to another update!
I present to you all Ornuk’la, my sinister looking Tree Herder.
He prefers to be called Osothrin, the Lost Shepherd. The Elves would probably still call him that too, if he hadn’t had (allegedly) orchestrated the death of the kings youngest son because he felt slighted…
As I mentioned previously, one of my main aims with this mini was to try out new things, in this case glazing. This was done on his glowing runes, sword and claws. I loved doing the runes, hated the sword and claws.
I watched a lot of videos on making magic looking swords and thought, I can do that! There were 2 things I didn’t appreciate.
- Painting a magic sword on a human sized mini is probably a lot easier than on a titan sized one.
- Blending to make a magic bone sword (Ha!) doesn’t look as cool as a magic green/red/blue/pink/etc sword.
If I had my time again I would have painted the fingers blue like the bark and the claws/sword green with glazing.
I’m still very proud of this guy, but my experiment is not over yet. Next up is some water effects on the base!
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Big lad looks great! I’m a fan of your non-traditional scheme on these Sylvaneth models, the blue is a lot of fun and the bone heads pop really well. Certainly a lot of highlighting involved as well, props on that 
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Thanks @Boss_Salvage!
Early on when I was testing the scheme I thought the blue made the sylvaneth look a little too much like coral. I’m very happy with it now though, it gives the trees a more otherworldly vibe that fits with their “fae” aspect.
I actually really like line highlighting. Good thing these minis have lots of hard edges!
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A quick update for this week.
Finished the tree herder base complete with water effects!
I used a cheap UV resin I bought off eBay. It says it should cure in about 5-10 min in direct sunlight. Well, here in Australia it was about 1 min! Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t have enough time to get rid of 2 giant air bubbles that formed. I managed to cover them up by placing tufts close to the water and sprinkling some leaves on the top. I’m satisfied with the results. My wife deserves all the credit for the idea and execution.
Here is a sneak peek of what’s to come.
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Amazing work!
Do you have a link or name for the dragon mini? no worries if not
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No worries @MarkG.
It’s from Archon studios dungeon and lasers 2nd edition Kickstarter. It’s now available on their web store.
https://archon-studio.com/shop/home/201-freyr-the-stormbreaker-5901414670887.html
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Cheers! That’s a really interesting range of miniatures I’d not seen before.
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What’s this? A middle of the week update, madness!
So I have a little confession to make. Even though this is an Elf army painting blog, the last time I painted an elf was over 2 years ago! As the next item on my 2021 completion list is a dragon lord, I though I better practice painting elves.
This guy is from the old chariot kit, and is one of the oldest GW elf model I’ve painted (mainly been focused on island of blood and up).
First thing I noticed? I don’t paint the same as I did 2 years ago. This guy is much brighter than my other elves.
Secondly, I don’t like him. I think he has a “putty” face. It could be because he is an older model, but I don’t think so. I might go back and add some purple to the recesses, maybe a white dot in the lower lip?
One things for certain, I’m going to be painting elf models until I’m happy with the formula before working on the dragon. I might even paint up a test dragon as well!
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Weekly update time!
You probably saw it in the monthly painting thread, but I completed a second elf this week.
I went all in on this mini, applying some new stuff I’ve learnt about blending and glazes. My brush control could use some work (I want crispy thin lines!) but I’m really happy with this one. Also, I can paint faces!
I’ve gotten over my disappointment with the axe elf. I think I wasn’t used to seeing so much red on a mini, which is something I have to get over for the red dragon I’m putting together.
Speaking of dragons, here is an update!
One of the reasons I got into elves back in warhammer was high elf wizards, so it makes sense one of my centrepiece minis is a mage on a dragon.
I picture him flying over the dragons lair (feeding ground) amongst an old abandoned temple in an enchanted glade. I think I will paint the base seperate from the dragon first.
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Not much to report on this week I’m afraid. Things have gotten a little busy in the Sturgeon household recently which has cut back on hobby time.
I do have something to show though!
A war band of sea guard with a few base layers down. I don’t like painting over a black undercoat anymore. However, these guys will be joining my existing sea guard when I multibase them, and they were undercoated black several years ago. Most of these were converted with a sword arm using the old GW shadow warriors kit (ran out of spears!).
No progress on the dragon. I really want to take my time on it and I’m not ready to commit to such a big project yet. I might start it next month.
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IMO getting characters to sit on creatures convincingly is possibly the worst bit of the hobby. Looks like this wasn’t too bad?
Great work on the dragon’s 75mm base - loads of detail.
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Thanks @MarkG!
I was really happy with the rider, just needed a bit of greenstuff to get a good fit. The hardest part was finding a dragon I liked without any spines on the neck!
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I removed the spikes on my Dragon’s neck with a sharp knife @MechaSturgeon … also an option! 
As far as I know… there are no Dragon rights movements against Dragon cruelty yet … I hope
But yours looks absolutely great, can’t wait to see it painted!
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I wouldn’t worry about it @Mikes, you’re dragon doesn’t look too upset about his “haircut”!
I’m looking forward to painting mine too. The biggest problem I have is that there aren’t many painted examples of him online. I’m so used to seeing what you can do with GW models that I now realise it’s become a bit of a crutch!
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My problem with Dragon painting was different @MechaSturgeon : I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like … but no idea what colors & techniques I should use. So i actually did some test painting on some mini/baby dragons and on a larger cheap plastic model. Just to try out different things and see which end result I’d like best.
Turned out I worried too much and my first tries were already very close to what I was trying to get 
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