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Shasvastii Base Color Help?

Discussion in 'Miniatures' started by Florian Hanke, Jan 19, 2020.

  1. Florian Hanke

    Florian Hanke Does not know how to stop building terrain.

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    Hi all,

    Next weekend I'm playing my Shastvastii for the first time, and after painting the minis themselves, I sort of froze on the base color.

    I intend to use Astrogranite Debris as with the Cadmus egg (left side, great idea I found on the forum, I think, or on YouTube, to use pistachios for that). Then drybrush the base white, and wash it with a color, stronger on the outside, less on the inside, such as with the Auxilia bot (green base color, right side).

    shasvastii-base-33perc.jpg

    I am now unsure whether to choose yellow (the original choice, since it's the complementary color of purple, the main mini color), or blue, or maybe even a reddish orange. I'm very wary of yellow since I find it such a tough color to get right and blue and orange may be causing a color overload on minis which already have 4-5 colors on it.

    If you do mainly-purple Shasvastii, what colours have you successfully used for bases? Or what would you suggest for me with the colors I've used on the mentor, above? Thanks in advance for pointers, tips, and examples! :)
     
    #1 Florian Hanke, Jan 19, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2020
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  2. Golem2God

    Golem2God Just a Kooky Kumotail serving others.

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    @Florian Hanke I think the green in the picture works well with your color choices. I think the other skins colors you mentioned (yellow, blue, orange) wouldn't look as good as what you have right now.
    As for the bases I'd pick a theme and stick with it. Are your Shasvastii currently in urban rubble, a jungle/forest, inside a technological structure, or something else entirely? Whatever the case may be I'd base their environment accordingly regardless of their color scheme. Whether it is bases from scratch or premade ones bought from somebody else.
     
  3. Cannon Fodder

    Cannon Fodder Well-Known Member

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    both would look decent. I personally do the astrodebis style, except I glued additional rubles before painting, and used sepia and black ink to add variation before dry brushing.
     
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  4. Florian Hanke

    Florian Hanke Does not know how to stop building terrain.

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    Thanks @Golem2God and @Cannon Fodder ! This helps – my base game is not yet where I want it to be, so I'll probably keep it simple and do a similar base as I already have with the Auxilia bot (Astrodebris, outside-in green wash, light highlighting), but with a bit more debris added.

    @Cannon Fodder How do you use the sepia/black inks on your bases, do you have example pictures or a web page?
     
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  5. Cannon Fodder

    Cannon Fodder Well-Known Member

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    @Florian Hanke here is my foxhole marker. I put the black ink in the crevasses in the rocks to accentuate the shadows, and a bit of sepia on the flat areas. It's a lot more prominent before the dry brushing. but once you dry brush its blends in and just adds a little variations to the base.

    If you don't add tactical rocks to your base, use the black to cast a shadow from your models foot. It will look odd before you dry brush but it becomes a lot more subtle afterwards.

    [​IMG]

    This is my go to basing style now. I like the fact you can do it after the model is painted. Also the grey is fairly neutral and does with any paint job.
     
  6. Florian Hanke

    Florian Hanke Does not know how to stop building terrain.

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    Nice! I noticed I have a similar basing style:

    pano-base-s.jpg

    I just don't highlight the area where the trooper's shadow would be, to make it shadowy-looking. I like that you are inking it in black, which should improve the style I have by adding more depth to it. Thanks for that!

    Also, when applying the Astrodebris, I noticed to have fairly neutral bases with the perhaps a bit too much highlighted minis (Shasvastii were supposed to be a lurking-in-the-shadows alien race, oops) could provide some contrast and have the minis "pop" a bit more:

    all-shas-bases-s.jpg

    So I guess I'll also ink black, and try the sepia, then highlight very lightly with green on the outer edge of the base, to simulate a very soft shadow towards the middle.
    Thanks again!
     
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  7. Florian Hanke

    Florian Hanke Does not know how to stop building terrain.

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    The final bases may not look spectacular on their own – just astrodebris, minimal macro-debris, some black+sepia ink, with some minimal military green wash from the outer edge, but without the feedback of you all I'd have tried yellow, and I think it would have failed. The simple dark bases without grass nicely exhibits the relatively bright lilac color of my Shasvastiis. Thanks again! :relaxed:

    shas-all-m.jpg
     
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  8. Sabin76

    Sabin76 Well-Known Member

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    Love those pistachembryos! I saw that suggestion as well. I'm thinking about cutting them to make it look like they're bored into the ground a bit.
     
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  9. Florian Hanke

    Florian Hanke Does not know how to stop building terrain.

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    Hey thanks! I saw them on the forum and here: (these are much more involved)
    Cool idea making them bored into the ground. I had to have them tomorrow, but I hope to make them much fancier in the next version. Looking at some examples of objects having impacted the ground from a height should give me some inspiration.
     
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  10. Sabin76

    Sabin76 Well-Known Member

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    Exactly my thinking!
     
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  11. Mob of Blondes

    Mob of Blondes Well-Known Member

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    Interesting tutorial, I wonder if it could be "simplified" a bit, using one part water effects for the "tubes" and liquid filling, and some kind of acrylic paste for the external texture. Those drinking straws are going the way of the dodo in some places but tips can be made with card or thick paper and superglue as "freezer".
     
  12. jherazob

    jherazob Well-Known Member

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    Here's a much less realistic but much easier way to make Alien eggs, by DM Scotty:

    You might want to experiment and get to a middle ground
     
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