From Zero to Hero: Sword Knights - Cygnar Unit Box

Hey guys,

welcome to my quick tutorial on how I painted my Sword Knights. I experimented a bit on these figures and opted for a quick and dirty scheme, as I wanted to try my hand at speedpainting. All in all, the whole unit took me about 4 hours (excluding drying times) - and it shows, as the level of detail is much lower than the rest of my army to this point.

Preview of the finished unit.

I assembled the figures and mounted them on the bases, but left of the ceremonial blades, as they would  have interfered with painting portions of the models.

I primed the models black, as most of the figures would be silver and black is an ideal undercoat for this color. I painted half with Vallejo Liquid Silver and airbrushed the other half with VMA Steel.

The ornamental parts of the armor where then painted with Vallejo Liquid Gold Copper and VGC Bright Bronze.

For cohesion with the rest of my army, I painted some details with VGC Hawk Turquoise and the cloth parts with VMC Ivory, applied with an airbrush. I also airbrushed tiny amounts of VMC Ivory onto the legs of the model, to simulate a reflection on the bare metal parts.

With the basecoating done, I applied thinned Heavy Body Black Wash to all parts of the model except the cloth.

The cloth parts where then shaded using my airbrush and the Graphite color I used in previous tutorials, making sure the get the darkest shades in the deep recesses.

I then cleaned parts of the cloth up with VMC Ivory and highlighted the upper edges with a 1:1 mix of VMC Ivory and VMC White.

The leather details where painted with VGC Black and highlighted with a 1:1 mix of VGC Black and VGC Cold Grey.

I then started working on the ceremonial blades, which where given the same scheme as the rest of the model. I also added some details using VGC Leather Brown, washing them with Soft Body Black Wash.

The front arc of the bases where painted with Vallejo Extra Opaque Goldbrown, applying many thinned layers to get a smooth and vibrant finish. The back arc was painted with VGC Black.

Some details where painted with VGC Hawk Turquoise...

... and VGC Black...

... and then washed with Soft Body Black Wash. 

The gems on the arm where painted a 1:1 mix of VMC Scarlet and VGC Black, to which I added more and more VMC Scarlet to lighten the edges. A reflective point was then added with VGC White.

I was very dissatisfied with the end result, as the gems looked nowhere near realistic. But I chalked it up to experience and planned to be more patient and thorough the next time I'd try it.

As a last step, I added the ceremonial blades and then applied a coat of Vallejo Polyurethane Gloss Varnish, followed by coat of Vallejo Polyurethane Matte Varnish to take away the shine.

For speedpainted models they look alright, but I think I'll stick to my usual approach in the future, because as single models, the seem lacking in my opinion - although as a unit the look ok.

Some shots of the finished unit:

Front and center.

The unit from above.

Cheers,

IK-Painter