Blue glow effect - Airbrush tutorial in 3 easy steps

I have been asked to do a tutorial on how I get my blue glow effect on my Tau figures and through the passed 8 months I have been on a journey, not just writing this blog but also learning new techniques and skills, Airbrushing being one of them.  So on that note please remember I am still learning and developing my airbrushing skills and this is my easy 3 step to airbrushing a blue glow effect:-

Step 0 - Your figure/model must be complete including weathering effect, damage and decals, because light will effect everything.

Step 1 - I used watered down Citadel Colour "Ultramarine Blue" but the new "Altdorf Guard blue" will do just the same.  I applied the colour using an airbrush, very finely building it up in layers and fading the colour to the outside edge where I wanted the light to effect to stop.

Step 2 - Once completely dry I used watered down Citadel Colour "Ice Blue" but the new "Lothern blue" will do just the same.  Application is the same as above just try and keep it smaller so the darker blue can be seen.

Step 3 - This last step doesn't involve the airbrush, I applied watered down Citadel Dry "Etherium Blue" I know it's a strange selection as Citadel Dry is for dry brushing, but once watered down to a milk consistency it worked really well, apply the mix in all the recessed areas and to get a nice vibrant colour you can apply two coats or even a splash of white into the mix, but for me recently I have been avoiding a pure white in the centre of light sources, it just seems to loose the colour and effect. 

In the end on my finished Riptide shields I decided to change the blue glow effect around the red part the the Farsight emblem because I thought it looked cleaner painted plain red, but I had already taken all the images for this tutorial, as you will see when I post all four of my Riptides in the coming weeks.  Well I hope that this has been a helpful tip for everyone new to airbrushing, good luck and happy airbrushing :)

The New Tau XV109 Y'vahra from Forgeworld

I've just found my Christmas present to my self, exactly 1 hour after writing my To do list stating "I will not give GW all my money", well that didn't last long did it!

The XV109 Y'vahra looks amazing a cross between a Riptide and a XV9 armed with a Pulse submission cannon variant and a super heavy flamer hopefully with the torrent special rule.... Available at the Forge World European Open Day this Saturday http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Events/FWeuro-openday.html bring it on.

The 2014/15 Hobby Season Alumni

I have been invited to take part in my good friend Dave's "Hobby Season To Do List" sorry it's a bit late I've been away with no free WiFi :( 

 I have had a good 12 months - finished my Nurgle Space Marine army. 

Entered it into Throne of Skulls and won an award or two.  

Painted the Forge world Avatar for my friends 40th birthday and I'm also half way through painting my Tau Farsight Enclave army for the next Throne of Skulls.

I have my work cut out for me if I am to beat that year, that said lets get started on my to do list for 2014/15:-

1.  Enter Armies on Parade in October as goaded by Dave.

2.  Finish project X for Armies on Parade, not stolen the idea from Dave.... honest.

3.  Finish project Y for Armies on Parade....

4.  Paint Commander Farsight.

5.  Paint a Tau Battlesuit Commander or two.

6.  Paint 4 Tau Riptides.

7.  Paint 2 units of Tau Fire warriors.

8.  Paint a Tau Hammerhead gunship.

9.  Enter Throne of Skulls with my Tau Farsight Enclave Army and get one player vote with my ultra competitive list and get nominated for best army. (no pressure).

10.  Complete my Dark Eldar Tantalus which has been in the loft for 2 years.

11.  Paint the last of my 10 Dark Eldar Incubi.

12.  Paint Dark Eldar Drazhar and Lelith Hersperax.

13.  Paint my last Dark Eldar Venom.

14.  Start painting my Vampire Counts Army which has also been in the loft for 2 years.

15.  Outside chance of this happening but... to have one 4000pts WFB army painted, either Bretonnia or Vampire Counts.

16.  Not to give Games Workshop all my money and also to resist buying Nagash,but he looks so good.  

17. And lastly but most important ....Not to get divorced as I have just realised how much I have to paint :)

That's my list and it seems I will have a very busy 6 weeks ahead of me including moving house, I'll just have to take it one item at a time and cherry pick what would look best for Armies on Parade, because they will not all get done in time, but they all need doing anyway.

Good luck to every one taking part, I know I'm going to need it :)

Tau Tetra - Farsight Enclave

I have finally finished my 4 Tetras and I am happy with them, but in hindsight I think they could of done with a few more markings even if it was just to number them 1 to 4, oh well too late now.

The blue Tau statue is not a statue at all.  I wanted it to be different from the barracuda base http://bluewarpstudios.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-barracuda-so-what-is-it-part-4-tau.html so I opted for a holographic projection, which are used as public service announcements or issuing orders on the battlefield "for the greater good" and such.  I liked the idea so much I'm going to make 3 more of these and use them as objective markers but next time I think I'll paint them a little lighter. I had toyed with the idea of casting them in clear resin and placing blue LED lights in the base, I thought that would be cool for objective markers doted all around the board, maybe be I should put it to a vote?   Anyway I hope you like :)

Tau Tetra and The Magic Round about

Just hum "The Magic Round About" theme tune in your head or out loud and it makes all the difference :)

Tau R'varna "you have 20 seconds to comply"

Straight off the back of my Farsight Enclave Barracuda - I have been working on my second airbrush project, the Forgeworld R'varna, and I have to be honest here and say that when I first saw this model I wasn't that impressed, but the original experimental rules were fantastic with a potential of 6 haywire hits per shooting phase.  Nothing last for ever and FW realised it was a bit good and toned it down a bit, now that I have one and can field it in a ordinary 1500 point game I thought it about time to paint it and I have gone from not liking the model but liking the rules to loving the model and indifferent about the rules with regards to the guns, Oh and the pointy things at the end of the guns they had to go too.

Second airbrush model complete just a few more Riptides to go :)  anyway I hope you like it and any comments are welcome. 

The Barracuda - So what is it? Part 4 Tau flying base

After many many hours of learning how to use an airbrush, I have finally finished my first airbrush project.  I have to admit that in the passed I would consider the use of  an airbrush as "cheating". but now after undertaking this project I wont be saying that again, it's true that the light effects are a lot easier the doing them with a brush but having to mask every individual panel was wxtrememly time consuming.

As this is my first attempt any hints or tips are welcome. or if you can identify any mistakes please don't hesitate to message, i hope you like it :)