The ninth part of this series, and penultimate model in this box, is a member of the Golden Gryphons chapter of Space marines. I’m doing something a bit different with this guy. I’ve mentioned before how I don’t really like true metallic paints on this type of model, but decided to try them.
I came across a series of Vallejo true metallic paints that really produce a great result. I can never get the end result I want from the regular acrylic ones. The Golden Gryphon’s name gives away the colour scheme, which is of course gold. It’s the largest amount of true metallic painting I’ve done in a long time, so was a bit of trial and error. On to the photos!
The glaring issue with this Golden Gryphon is that I started off the recess shading with a brown ink. I think it looked, well, completely crap, but it was too late to change it. I should have overpainted it with gold again, but I hoped the black ink I switched to would cover it. It didn’t, hence the brown, uh, rust stains…
Other than that, I’m pretty happy with this guy. The gold metallic paint was a joy to work with. I usually find metallics a frustrating misery of too gloopy or too thinned down meaning poor metallic consistency. The contrast on the eyes is nice and the green works well against the gold. Were it not for the shading error, I think this Golden Gryphon would look pretty good.
I still need to practice with these new metallic paints, as they behave a bit differently to regular acrylics. They really don’t seem to like a wet palette, and the ropey paint job on the gun is my fault rather than the paint’s. I like these paints, so will start to use true metallics a bit more than I have in the past.
All tips, trick, hints, and constructive criticism is appreciated, so feel free to message me in the comments, or over on Facebook. If you want to take a look at the previous parts of this series, you can find them at these links: Part 1 – Ultramarines, Part 2 – Blood Angels, Part 3 – Imperial Fists, Part 4 – Salamanders, Part 5 – Dark Angels, Part 6 – White Scars, Part 7 – Hawk Lords, Part 8 – Iron Hands.
I hope everyone is keeping well, and doing their best to keep busy if they’re on lockdown! We were on a limited one for two weeks, but are now on day 3 of a full one!