Painting Be'lakor, the Dark Master - WIP update

Two weeks ago, I started painting Be'lakor, the Dark Master. I really like this model - not only because it looks great, but also because it can fit in multiple armies I play for both Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40K. However, I think that the paint scheme on the box cover is not the best one, so I decided to paint it in a bit different way. My main complaints regarding the box cover paint scheme are lack of contrast and the model being too dark. In my opinion, certain parts of the model could be much more emphasized (base, sword and parts of the armour, for example) but instead, they are not easily distinguishable from everything else. Wings are particularly problematic, because they are a large surface with not much going on (except for the chains). So, with that in mind, I started working on the model. It's still far from finished, but I am really satisfied with the progress so far. Here are some pictures:

I tried to address all of the mentioned issues. I opted to use gold for the armour and the anklets/bracelets - because I think it works much better and it was also used on the old Be'lakor model. From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to paint the sword in very bright colours (and match it with the eyes) so I opted for this "green warpflame" effect that I used on my Lord of Change. When it comes to wings, my plan is to paint the membrane in some lighter colour and then add shading and maybe spots (similar to ones that the reptiles have on their skin). 

So far, I have really enjoyed working on this model and I can't wait to have it fully painted and put on the table. Of course, I'll post some pictures here as soon as it's finished :)

Painting Stormcast Eternals Annihlators

Recently I painted two units of Annihilators for my small Stormcast Eternals army. I wanted to take a break from working on Kairos Fateweaver and I was also pretty confident that after painting Adeptus Custodes, I was able to quickly paint gold armour. 

I really like the Annihilators - actually, I like a lot of the new Stormcast models that were released when the Age of Sigmar 3rd edition came out. However, the Annihilators with shields and Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis really stand out. Initially, I bought a unit of annihilators because I wanted to use them as allies for my Sylvaneth or Idoneth, but I ended up building a 1000-points Knights Excelsior force (because I like the idea of all-paladin army). Below you can see the picture of one of the units I painted.

I wanted to keep the paint scheme simple and effective, and use the shields as the main contrasting part of the miniature. The general process is described below: 

• Miniatures were primed with GW Retributor Gold
• Armour was washed with GW Contrast Gore-Grunta Fur
• Armour was drybrushed with GW Retributor Gold
  
• Armour was drybrushed with Vallejo Game Color Polished Gold
• Armour was highlighted with Vallejo Game Color Silver
  
• Chainmail was painted with Vallejo Game Color Silver and washed with GW Nuln Oil
• Hammers were painted with Vallejo Game Color Gunmetal, washed with GW Nuln Oil and then highlighted with Vallejo Game Color Silver
• Shields were painted with Stormvermin Fur and washed with several layers of Nuln Oil
• Central part of each shield was painted with GW Moot Green, washed with GW Contrast Warp Lightning and highlighted again with Moot Green. 
• Belts and leather straps were painted with Vallejo Game Color Leather Brown and highlighted with GW Cadian Fleshtone

With this colour scheme, I was able to work very quickly: in total, I spent about 2 hours on each model, including basing.