Friday 27 September 2013

'tis but a flesh wound! (Know No Fear Diorama #10)

This week I switched teams and tackled painting Ultramarines for the first time. The new Citadel Paint range confused me somewhat as the old 'Ultramarines Blue' is not the new 'Macragge Blue' and so on. In the end I mixed up a base coat using a 'Mordian Blue' with a little 'Fenrisian Grey' mixed in, highlighted up with 'Russ Grey'and 'Ulthuan Grey' before shading down with the usual glazes from Citadel and Vallejo.


As always, you can click for a larger version. I cropped a couple of photos but the extreme zoom showed a multitude of sins! I expect (am hoping) the viewer won't peer too closely at individual models in a diorama. The red worked very well against the blue, feeling more vibrant as compared to the Word Bearer model, despite the same colours being used. In future I may try to alter the mix on contrasting colours, but that's a little beyond the scope of this particular project.


Around the back we can see a little more highlighting to represent reflections of the ship's hull catching the armour and especially the blood. I again shaded using glazes and washes all the way to black, though I kept the 'gold' more on the brown side for personal taste.


At an angle we can really see the blood shooting out of the chest, which once painted up is quite gruesome! The original model from the artwork (pictured below) had a lot brighter and sharper highlights, but I don't think I could pull it off without looking extremely washed out or looking very pastel (and the Word Bearers would end up pink to match!)


Saturday 21 September 2013

Don't lose your head! (Know No Fear Diorama #9)

Things have been rolling along nicely with the painting of my Know No Fear diorama, with both Word Bearers now finished bar some small details and possible freehand work. I attempted a little of this on the shoulder of the Word Bearer below and wasn't too happy with it so I wiped it clean and applied a quick glaze to even the colour for the photos, hence the patchiness of the right shoulder.


My camera has a hard time evening the colours between photographs, and I am not a photoshop wizz, so the base reds a closer to the next photo in depth, somehow the shot above came out a little too saturated. I have attempted to make a distinction between the blood and armour colours by highlighting the armour with grays, and the blood with orange, and then glazing the blood to give it a reflective surface.


I have again used glazes to slowly darken the shadows, from red to maroon, browns and blacks, even using black paint on the darkest areas. I probably should have done the (yet to be started) freehand prior to glazing as it may be difficult to match the transitions. My plan is to assemble the full scene before adding details where there are too many flat areas.


Finally, I have a shot which almost matches the cover art in angle, and with a little imagination you can almost picture Roboute Guilliman's fist passing through the space formerly occupied by the conjoined torso and head of the Word Bearer. This week's challenge is matching the light/dark contrast on the Ultramarines using blue, a colour I am not very experienced with. Wish me luck!


Wednesday 18 September 2013

Bearer of the Word (Know No Fear Diorama #8)

This week I finally thrashed out the final colours for the Word Bearers in my Know No Fear Diorama. After a couple of false starts with metallics, I stuck with the flat colours to simulate the harsh lighting, rather than relying on the metallics to catch the light at the right angle. I want to be able to peer in and around the finished model without the reflections changing. I have a real problem with the phrase "non metallic metal" but I guess this is what I am doing, especially on the boltgun. Enough babble, here are the pics:



As a reference, here is the same model with silvery metallic edging along the boltgun. Not only does it pick up the less-than-smooth edging of the weapon, the 'intensity' of reflections changes as you move your head. A little bit of visualisation required this week, but I hope I am explaining it well enough!


I have had a great time using my new glazes to make the colours and transitions from light to dark appear 'even', transitioning to dark washes on the edges and a little blue glaze to keep things 'cold' and spacey! Instead of using orange to highlight the red I stuck with gray, working from a very pink basecoat then glazing down to red. As another visual aid, here is the basecoat before glazing on the next Word Bearer:


I'm starting to really enjoy this project now there's some colour involved! See you next time.

Saturday 14 September 2013

"Zero Gravity Blood" (Know No Fear Diorama #7)

This week I have been painting at a feverish rate, first on test models then the real thing, from horribly metallic pinks to red glazes over a white undercoat, all in an attempt to simulate the harsh lighting in the original artwork for Know No Fear. Instead of pursuing this to a finished model that I am yet pleased with, I turned my attention to some zero gravity blood.


Using tooth brush bristles and a few balls of green stuff I was able to add some depth to the rather flat surface area of the diorama. Having no experience of blood splatter in zero gravity, I placed these between the attacker and target, at height permitted by my brand of tooth brush. I then undercoated, dabbed a little red paint on for effect, and assembled the diorama to gauge a feel for model location prior to paint.




Astute readers may notice I have already undercoated Guilliman, but he was plucked from his cork stand for these photos prior to painting. I am not sure if I can fit a fifth model in the diorama as it may become too cluttered, and I am liking the areas between models giving a sense of a larger battle going on. I will also be spinning the model on the left (with the exploding chest) upside down to better match the artwork and emphasise this is a space battle. Space Marines in space! Who'd have thought it?

Monday 9 September 2013

Roboute Guilliman Model (Know No Fear Diorama #6)

This past weekend marked the transition from modelling to painting my "Know No Fear" diorama, and while I sort out the colour scheme on some test models I want to share with you all the centrepiece model, a pseudo 'true scale' attempt at the primarch Roboute Guilliman.


This guy was a lot of fun to work on, making use of lots of parts from the bits box, a very elongated set of legs buried under layers of sculpting putty, and a bit of imagination to fill in the blanks not shown in the artwork. A big thank you to the reader who pointed out I had missed the gauntlet straps!


The biggest lesson for this model has been patience. I was a bit keen to get certain areas done, which led to many mashed details which had previously been sculpted but not yet set hard. The key was to do the fiddly bits like the eagles and skulls in the evening, then follow up in the morning before work with the easy bits like studs and buckles. Here are a few more work in progress pictures to match my previous post.



With the final undercoat on, I have put away the sculpting tools and picked up the paint brush, starting with a few spare models which also conveniently give a sense of scale when stood next to this guy. It will be a little while between drinks as I'm a slow painter but I look forward to sharing some of my progress with you all.


Saturday 7 September 2013

Know No Fear Diorama #5

The fine detail sculpting on Roboute Guilliman is taking longer than expected, especially waiting for small sections to harden before moving on the next area. I have already re-sculpted both shoulders due to mashing them while handling the model, so I have moved on to the last model for the diorama, a relatively intact Word Bearer.


Created from a very static old Chaos Space Marine, I retained the backpack, torso and legs, shaping them in a more dynamic pose. The arms and head are from my bits box, and while the helmet may not be accurate for the battle of Calth, as the least interesting model I think I will get away with most of the viewers' focus being on the blood flying everywhere around the other models.


With the release of the new Codex Space Marines, I am really inspired to be working on my loyalist Primarch for this diorama. Stay tuned for some great pictures!