I finally got around to finishing my Venerable Dreadnought for the Independent Characters painting challenge; he only took me a month and a half to finish (although to be fair, April was a crazy month to try to get even one model painted in). The paint scheme wasn't anything really fancy, but black, white, and gold just the right combination of simple and striking for this guy.
I'm really happy with the edge highlighting I did on this model; I'm really getting comfortable with how the effect looks on black armor, and it's definitely more subtle yet effective on a larger model than it is on a smaller standard marine. The Power Fist looks particularly good, in my opinion.
I also tried my hand at more freehand details on this guy, something I started on my Emperor's Champion. While I'm not ready for full murals (without someone else doing the linework), doing scripting on blank spots seemed a challenge I could handle, so I went for it. On one shinguard, and on his parchment, I did blocks of scripting, complete with a colored, embellished dropcap.
There's one other freehand detail, and that's on his left shinguard - the Templar cross. Originally I'd intended to use a decal, as I did on the left arm, but the decals I had were just slightly too big to fit comfortably, and I didn't want to go with a more generic numeral or skull, so I bit the bullet and went ahead and tried freehanding a cross. Actually, I think it turned out rather well, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat (although I do like the decal on the arm, as it's sharper and cleaner).
I'm taking June off from the Templars, as I have a fair amount of Tau to paint for the Gateway Grand Tournament - 2 Riptides, 3 Broadsides, a Sky Ray, 8 Pathfinders, and 6 Fire Warriors. It's a crazy amount to squeeze in, especially considering that 2 of the Broadsides and the Fire Warriors aren't even built yet, but that's what the Memorial Day weekend is for, right? I think that if I can get everything finished this weekend, I can prime and paint them over the next 3 weeks and call it good. They might not be up to the full standard of the rest of the army, but I can get them close, especially with my spray gun for fast basecoating.