High Elf Sword masters Tutorial

I did a unit of these guys way back when Island of Blood came out, and its been one of the more popular videos on my youtube channel ever since.  Well, my tutorials have changed a lot since then, so I thought it would be a good idea to paint another batch of them.  I started doing these just before the long drawn out Ork release, so about half way through I switch over to the new video camera.

Anyway, the main difference with the painting techniques is that I sprayed them silver to start, gave them a blue glaze, then did all of the other colours.  It cut out a bunch of steps, and I'm pretty happy with how the metal turned out.

High Elf Loremaster of Hoeth (finished pics and painting guide)

Here's another High Elf character, the Loremaster of Hoeth plastic mini released with the last army book.  Its a great dynamic model and fun to paint.  Check out the painting guide below as well as a tutorial video.

Phoenix Guard Finished (and video)

Here's those Phoenix Guard I've been working on.  There were a few steps that took forever, but once I got past the white cloaks it was home free.  The non-metallic gold is getting easier each time, and I'd even say that on these guys it was one of the fastest steps.  This is a good thing since I really like how it turns out.

Phoenix Guard WIP 2

I'm getting closer to finishing these guys... still working on the grey/white steps, then its on to the non-metallic gold and small details.  I'm glad I only did 15 of these guys in this batch.  If I had done more each step would have been a bit overwhelming and would have slowed things down a bit too much.

High Elf Phoenix Guard WIP

I had a request to do these guys a while back, and they finally have made it up my queue to get painted.  I decided to do 15 of them at once, and judging by the length of time its taking to get the base coats done I'm glad I didn't do more.  They are kind of fiddly, but I think I'm past the hard part.

Flamespyre Phoenix Finished Pictures and Tutorial video

Hey, after last week's distraction with those technical paints I'm back with another tutorial.  I finally got my airbrush out to get this guy done, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  Keeping the wings detached helped a lot and the design on the mini really lends to using this sort of technique.  The airbrush part is shown in the video at 4x speed with commentary, then still images for the rest as usual.

More pictures, video and painting guide after the jump.

A little airbrushing (Ultramarines tanks and Flamespyre Phoenix)

I finally had a block of time where I was able to get my airbrush out and get some serious work done.  I managed to get a rhino and landraider done before moving over to the Flamespyre Phoenix.  I'm happy with how those turned out, and once I have a chance to add some details and weathering to the rhino and landraider they will be ready to go.  I really enjoyed working on the Flamespyre, so it jumped right onto my painting table for finishing because it looks so cool.  Now I want to get another kit so I can make up the frostheart and paint it up as well.

Skycutter Finished

Here we go with a tutorial and a bunch of finished pics.  I'm glad to have this guy done as its been on my desk all summer.  I kind of wish I did the wings pointing up because this thing doesn't fit into my display case very well with the rest of my High Elves.

Anyway, check out the pics below, and the paints are at the bottom.

Skycutter WIP (Almost done)

Well, I finally found the will to finish this guy off.  Thankfully once I had the base colours done it went pretty quick.  The eagle was basically done a while ago, so it was just the flying boat and crew that needed the most attention.  In exploring some other blogs I found a neat tip for blending... its using Tamiya thinner (X-20A) instead of the usual acrylic medium.  Its an alcohol based thinner and works really well with the new GW paints.  I've also heard that it works well for pin striping with acrylics instead of oils, so I'll have to give that a try.

Anyway, these guys are looking good and will be done shortly (with a tutorial to be posted).

Skycutter WIP

This guy has been taking up room on my painting desk, and I'd really like to finish it off. I think the hard work has been completed (the eagle and base) so it shouldn't take too much work to finish off. I've decided to go with the bolt thrower, so I'm only going to paint those guys for now. The paint scheme will be a pretty standard High Elves colour scheme to go along with the rest of my army.

High Elf Skycutter Assembly

The Skycutter was the first model that I chose from the new releases High Elves.  Its a great looking model with some nice options, but doesn't nearly fit onto the chariot base supplied.  I'm sure this is more of an annoyance for people playing in tournaments, along with it being harder to transport due to its fiddly bits.

Anyway, those issues aside, its a great model that goes together quite nicely.  Check out the video below:

High Elf Dragon Princes Tutorial

Here's those Dragon Princes I've been working on, all finished now and a painting guide below.  I'm just assembling the new Skycutter now and will have an assembly video of that shortly.  Check out the video after the break and paints below that.

High Elf Dragon Princes WIP2

Here's the second set of work in progress shots of the Dragon Knights I've been working on.  They are taking a while, as is the case with mounted troops.

High Elf Dragon Knights WIP

With all the rumours going around about the new High Elf book I've started working on some models I've had laying around.  I've wanted to paint these guys for a long time, but have been quite intimidated by all the fancy stuff on them. Well, I've got the base coats and washes done now, so I'm on the home stretch now.

High Elf Mage Tutorial

This one is actually an old tutorial that I've remastered and listed the equivalent paints in the new GW range.  The old version was done when I first started doing tutorials, so its not in HD and the audio is terrible.  It is still one of my hightest viewed tutorials, so I thought I would remaster it before the new High Elves book comes out.

How to Paint High Elf Sword Masters (Remaster)

With the new GW paints and a better system of making tutorials I'm giving a try to remastering some of my most popular videos.  This one of the High Elf Sword Masters from Island of Blood is one of my most popular videos, so it's been picked to go first.  If this turns out to be popular I think the next one will be Grey Knight Terminators.

2012 Year in Review

Ok, so I guess its that time of year to look back and see what I accomplished in the hobby during 2012.  Outside the hobby world it was a busy year for me... I finished up my master's degree, switched jobs, moved to a new town and had some excellent vacations.

High Elves Army showcase

Here's something I've been meaning to do for a while... an army showcase showing the various projects I have on the go.  In this one you'll see the High Elf army I've painted up.

High Elf Teclis Finished (painting tutorial)

Here's that Teclis model I was working on a while ago.  He painted up quite quick (two evenings) using the same paint scheme as the rest of my high elves.  Nothing fancy, just a quick paint job to get him up to the level of the rest of my army.  Painting video after the break.

High Elves Techlis WIP

Here's a nasty character that I'd like to learn how to use, but need to paint first.  He's going to be quite fast, so here's a couple hours work and halfway already. Just using the same paint scheme as the rest of my High Elves, so nothing special, and much easier than painting 40 guys at once.