Space Marine Commander - WIP

KingUlrikFlamebeard · Post by **KingUlrikFlamebeard** » 1 Aug 2005, o 17:24

My newest project, to concentrate upon my DIY SM chapter. As of yet they have no name or fluff and only a nine man tactical squad to their name but I plan to have a fully painted 1500pts army ready by the Librarium-Online Meet next year. So I figured I'd start early.

What I will be doing is painting two squads/tanks/characters and then take a break to do something inbetween (most likely an FB model). This way I'm not gonna get completely bored painting the chapter as one.

Now for those who have never seen my chapter before -

https://img74.imageshack.us/img74/6152/smsquad0ui.jpg

This is the first squad. Their colours are -

The blue armour is done by layering Midnight blue followed by Regal Blue. The cream armoured parted is Bronzed Flesh, Flesh Wash, Bronzed Flesh and Bleached Bone mix, bleached bone followed by a skull white highlight. Boltgun and metal is boltgun metal inked followed by a highlight of BGM once more. The shoulder pads are Firey Orange to depict which company they belong too and the blue arrow followed by the white numeral equals the squad type and squad number. The empty pad now has the chapter icon of two crossed swords, but no new pics of that yet. And finally the base is sand painted black with a drybrush of codex grey followed by a lighter layer of fortress grey.

Now that's the normal marines, the commander is slightly different. His blue armour has an extra mix or two of regal and midnight blue followed by a highlight of adding enchanted blue to the mix. The cloak is done from a black/scab red mix up to a highlight of blood red mixing all the way through red gore to blood red.

The banding across his chest is the only part I'm not too sure on. I've had the idea to do the banding so that it matches each commanders company colours, hence the orange. But I'm unsure and it could be redone in gold, thoughts on the orange? Does it work?

The bolter is the same as the others only with the plasma gun being done tin bitz, brazen brass, chestnut ink. The blue on it, to represent the plasma coils, is the same as the armour then enchanted blue followed by ice blue. And of course the purity seals, from scab red to red gore to blood red. Writing in black or white. That's it so far.

I chose to do it in parts, the other parts are stuck to old paint pods via bluetac. He has a lightning claw to go on as well as his helmet and backpack.

https://img71.imageshack.us/img71/4521/w ... der0uo.jpg

Now a couple of questions I hope you'd help me with -

How should I do the lightning claw? I'm not very good at blending and just plain blue doesn't seem to work.

And his helmet, the normal marine has a cream one with silver face guard. For veterans I was thinking a blue stripe across the top, but what do you suggest for a commander's helmet?

Thanks.

KU

tidoco2222 · Post by **tidoco2222** » 5 Aug 2005, o 18:35

That is going to be a sweet looking chapter and quite an imposing sight on the battlefield. Keep posting more pics as it comes along, but it is looking great so far.

KingUlrikFlamebeard · Post by **KingUlrikFlamebeard** » 9 Aug 2005, o 19:53

I feel I owe anyone watching this an appology. I am currently stuck on the claws, I figured I had a few things lying about and so I am trying a few different ways and colours on these spare power swords. I have chosen to do either - red, green or orange. The green I've done three swords and done each side differently, or tried to and I'm now trying out the red style.

This is taking so long as I'm trying blending for the first time, I have a small tutorial from Jenova Project and I'm going for the layering technique. So far my attempts are ok, but I can see the changes in colour too sharply on the red or too gradual on the greens. The good news is I can practice as much as I like as the weapons are metal and can be stripped easily.

Just letting you all know, and any tips on blending (not wet blending as I don't consider myself good enough just yet.) would be useful.

KU

Post by **Demi_morgana** » 9 Aug 2005, o 20:22

You chose really eye-catching colors combination so it should work very well on the table

about claws - if You don't feel good with blending or just don't like it - screw it and make claws metallics!

matal color followed by wash can give very nice result

and about helmets - I'd paint seregants' and commanders' ones in red - imo it should contrast nice with the rest of miniature;

KingUlrikFlamebeard · Post by **KingUlrikFlamebeard** » 9 Aug 2005, o 20:31

I did consider the plain metal claws, but the thing is I want this to be a show army as well as gaming. So I will put some of my best skills into everything I do, even individual squads and so the claws colour would mean that would be the colour of every power weapon in the army.

Also I've never tried blending and would like to give it a go, but your words make sense. If I don't think my blending is good enough my Thursday then I'll choose another colour and do them flat with shading/highlighting where I can. I can try and practice blending on other stuff proberly between squads.

KU

Post by **Demi_morgana** » 9 Aug 2005, o 20:41

KingUlrikFlamebeard wrote:I did consider the plain metal claws, but the thing is I want this to be a show army as well as gaming. So I will put some of my best skills into everything I do, even individual squads and so the claws colour would mean that would be the colour of every power weapon in the army.

I don't know what is Your experience with painting metallics but I know one thing: painting metallics may also be very challenging and if nicely done - it can be good-looking in any show army for sure;
You can mix metallics, blend them, wash, glaze...

there's a damn lot of possibilities

KingUlrikFlamebeard · Post by **KingUlrikFlamebeard** » 9 Aug 2005, o 20:46

My metallics skills are basically - ink and highlight. I made a thread on here about metallics, mine always come out too bright. But I'll keep with this for a short while, if I can't do a decent looking claw then I'll probably just do a basic colour with shade and highlighting. I'll have to see.

KU

Post by **Skrit** » 9 Aug 2005, o 23:53

If they come out too bright then add some darker colours to the metallic paint, this way it will effectively become a bit darker.

KingUlrikFlamebeard · Post by **KingUlrikFlamebeard** » 10 Aug 2005, o 21:08

Update.

I decided to go with a green claw. I did spend some time attempting to blend but it'll take a lot more practice than a few times on some spare swords, so hopefully as I'm building my army I'll be able to do some blending correctly. But in the meantime the claws were done with a base of Dark Angels Green and Scaly Green, then Scaly followed by the highlight of Scorpion and Scaly Green. The highlight is put slightly on the tips of the claws.

The armour was done the same as usual, and the metals were done using boltgun metal; with a slight highlight of chainmail. The wires I wanted them to stand out, as if the claws are either really old technology or new stuff. So the wires are exposed and done in bright colours.

The final part was the aquilla on the back of the claws. This is my first real freehand piece and tbh it's not too bad. It's not perfect, the left hand wings are slightly out of proportion with the other part and there's no detail but I'd say it works quite well.

Anyways, I'm now working on the backpack followed by the shoulder pads. The head will be done last as it'll give me the chance to see what different heads will look like upon the complete body.

https://img245.imageshack.us/img245/9506 ... erb8yt.jpg

KU

Lonewolf · Post by **Lonewolf** » 10 Aug 2005, o 21:25

not that my opinion matters but i would have gone with a red or gold/yellow claw to keep it in tone with the rest of the mini.
by adding the green it looks a bit out of place to me