Vindicator Madness Supplemental - My Orange Lenses

Back on Day 13 of my latest tank, Alex wanted to know how I did my orange lenses.  So that's mostly what this post is about.  I tend to get questions like these and then swear up and down I'll answer them and then never get to it.  I owe Nikephoros a recipe for the gold I was using back on Tyberos.  One day, man.  One day.

EDIT:  It turns out that I answered that question as well.  I'm pretty awesome.

This post will also be the last painting post for a little bit.  I need to switch over to Special Lady Friend's Malifaux stuff for a bit, so I'll be taking about a week off from the daily WIPs to get that done and recharge my blogging batteries.

With that out of the way, here's an answer to Alex's question.

Required paints:
 - any black
 - any white
 - GW Blazing orange
 - GW Macharius Solar Orange
 - P3 Ember Orange
 - P3 heartfire


The GW colors are something of a conundrum now since the new paint range is incoming - and all the changes that entails.  According to the color conversion chart thing the new equivalencies are going to be Troll Slayer orange and Jokaero orange.  But the color chits I grabbed from the main site make it seem like the conversion chart has them reversed - if not just being flat wrong about things.  Now I'm sure there's are equivalencies in the new range, I'm just not sure what they are.

Really, any oranges will work in replicating my version of this effect so long as you get as close as you can to Blazing orange (the start point) and Ember orange (the end point) and then make a logical progression between the two.  Heck, my first attempt with the lenses ONLY involved those two colors.  However, the second time around I forwent mixing mid-tones between the two and went for ready made pots instead.  I find that when painting an army that the best way to ensure consistency of color is to rely on custom mixes as little as possible.    Or, failing that, make a large batch beforehand.  This also helps with the issue of speed since custom paint mixing can be a  massive time sink.    The lenses aren't a big enough area to warrant their own custome pot o' paint, so I did the next best thing.

Here's a diagram that I rushed a bit to make and is certainly not color accurate:

Here are the steps:

1) paint the lenses with a black paint of your choice.

2) then layer on the Blazing Orange.  You'll need to do a few layers to get good coverage and it's probably a good idea to thin the paint a bit.  This is an important step since it sets up all the others.

3) Next we move to the Macharius Solar Orange.  This is easy-peasy since the color we're using is one of the foundation paints and is crazy pigmented.  DEFINITELY thin this paint.  Any gloppiness in the finished product will ruin the overall effect.

4) Now it's on to a layer of P3 Ember Orange.   Keep in mind that each one of these layers needs leave some of the previous layer showing.  Also remember to do a bit of feathering around the edges if you can swig it

5) We finish things off with a tiny layer of P3 Heartfire.  remember to do some fine lines around the edges for added goodness.  This idea with this color is that it's not so much a blended layer as it is a stark line highlight.

6) and then a small dot of white in the corner and the painting is done.  You should have something resembling this:

7) After you've sealed the entire model, the final little touch is to go back and hit the lenses with some gloss varnish to really make them pop AND to tie all the colors back together and hide your layers a bit.

I know it probably seems like a lot of steps, but it's not really all that bad - especially if you do a lot of lenses at once.