Chief Librarian Mephiston (finecast)

Face of the Black Rage.

 Now that there are two models for the Lord of Death, I thought it would be appropriate to have them both as models in the background. It's fair to say that the newer model is of a much more dominant presence on any shelf, with the older model showing its age from the tools used in its original design.
So despite the older model being nevertheless an impressive sculpt, I wanted to use it as the practice run for how I intend to paint the robes and cloak. The armour that has been painted is for now inconsequential - it will be repainted with a brush later on; I was merely testing my level of control of the airbrush.

The majority of the model has been so far done with an airbrush. More details on that in a moment, but first an explanation of the intent might be worthwhile. Mephiston is a powerful psyker, can carries a darkness within that should express itself in the colour scheme. I wanted the robes to impress a sense of artistic refinery, but still reflect a burden of terrible power. A burgundy velvet, growing darker towards the torso, to show the shadow of Mephiston's might. This will additionally help to later outline chest armour, with the highlighted hems balancing against what will be a pale face.
The same ideas for the robes is intended for the cloak, although the latter being based on black rather than the warmer burgundy.

The method for the robes is as follows:

• 1:1 mix of Dryad Bark / Mephiston Red, airbrush, applied all over. This is the same base as I'm now using for Blood Angels armour.
• Gal Vorbak Red, airbrush. I didn't have the air variant, so instead thinned some of the base paint. This was applied all over, but focused on raised areas to leave some of the previous step in recesses.
• Khorne Red, airbrush, applied over the lower half of the robe and again focusing mostly on raised areas. Some of the bend from a knee was also covered; an exact horizontal line across the lower half would look strange.
• Mephiston Red, airbrush, across the bottom quarter of the robe and again some of the knee. This was again only thin, and mostly used as an airbrushed glaze. The intention was to increase saturation of the red rather than tint the robe with further pink.
• Druchii Violet, normal brush, applied into the folds of the robe. This was slightly watered down, and more glazed than anything else to keep the transitions smooth.

Shiny cape.

The method for the cloak is much fewer steps:

• Corvus Black, airbrush, applied all over the cloak. Inner areas on the front are exempted because it would cover up some of the robe.
• Mechanicus Standard Grey, airbrush, over the edges of the cloak. This was done in several passes, building up the transition and focusing on raised areas of the folds in material. The dropper bottle I use was also pre-thinned, which helps this step, but the colour is an easy highlight against Corvus Black regardless.
• Deathshroud, airbrush, to darken some of the transition and to deepen the black towards middle of the back. I possibly had some cleaner still in the pot, as it's come out with a high degree of shine to it, but that will be fixed by a coat of Purity Seal at some later stage.
• Nuln Oil, normal brush, in the recessed areas of the folds, and applied in multiple thin passes to act as more of a glaze than a heavy wash.

Not shown, I've also started the backpack in the traditional method of Blood Angels armour. That will be glued on once it no longer impedes brush access to the surrounding areas.

A decent start, and encouraging results that hopefully will be replicated on the Primaris version when I get around to figuring out the painting and assembly order of that model.

-- silly painter.

Brother-Sergeant Victorno

Shiny Hammer Time.

And with that, Victorno is done. Or at least, I'm considering the model finished, even if I could always do more.

The thunder hammer head is a simple two-stage drybrush:

• Stormfang over a large area.
• Etherium Blue over a smaller area, concentrated on edges and corners.

The cabling has a little Thunderhawk Blue over Corvus Black, just to act as being lit from the power field. Works fairly well I think. The handle was:

• Doombull Brown
• Tuskgor Fur
• Carroburg Crimson

Some of the metal flooring on the base was done with Leadbelcher covered in Athonian Camoshade, and some Agrax Earthshade in select places to haromise it with debris. It gives a little bit of extra green to the model, contrasting to the red armour, but without overtly attracting attention away.
Tiles are a simple Celestra Grey covered in Black Templar (Contrast paint).

There are many other little details that I won't go into, but one to note is it seems contrast paint can be made to work over silvers for small lenses. Just need to be careful with it.

I think this is a nicely designed model, and well deserving of a place in anyone's (Imperial) army. Many more of the Space Marine Heroes: Series 2 to go yet however!

-- silly painter.

Mephiston Base

Back to basics.

I'm not expecting to have the Primaris Mephiston done anytime soon, but rather as a model I poke around with in the background. To that end, and because I thought it would look cool, I started on the model's base.

I figured a black marble with inlaid red would be suitably impressive for something from the Blood Angels. Quite why Mephiston would be standing on a broken piece bearing the chapter icon I'm not sure - he became Primaris after the Tyranid invasion - but I suppose it's just for show.

Colours used are as follows:

• Abaddon Black over the entire marbled area.
• Corvus Black to add some lighter areas, edges, etc.
• Eshin Grey to create thick striations.
• Dawnstone to create thinner striation lines.
• Dark Reaper for edge highlighting along cracked areas. The marble is already black, and so shading recesses doesn't work; edges must be highlighted instead of recesses shaded.
• Word Bearers Red thinned to a wash and pooled into icon outline.
• A mix of whatever I had on the palette (Mephiston Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet, even a little Screamer Pink) to add some marbling to the icon. This was then glazed over with very thin Word Bearers Red.
• Mephiston Red in the grooves for the word "BAAL", and glazed over with Word Bearers Red.

I purposefully wanted a more burgundy colour for the icon, and something slightly more towards a purer red for the wording. This keeps the two linked, but separate, and makes reading the letters a bit easier.

Overall I'm fairly happy with the start to this. There's some dusting to be done yet, and I'm still deciding how to surround the base. It will need to offset against Mephiston himself, which will be a relatively dark model, so probably the normal desert colours for other Blood Angels will suffice.

Sadly, most of the work going into the base will be covered up once the model is in place, but at least I get some more marbling practice without worrying about messing it up.

-- silly painter.

Blood Angels Intercessors

Mr Statue Pose.

The last of the Dark Imperium Intercessor Marines is now done. Finally. They've served the purpose of practicing with an airbrush rather well, at the cost of each looking slightly different when it comes to the highlighting, but I needed something to practice on.

And what have I learned? It's really hard to be consistent with the airbrush highlighting when not doing them in batches, but also that getting a smooth transition is a case of choosing the right mix, the right air pressure, the right angle, and so on. I'm definitely better at it than when I started.

These models have also been excellent in figuring out a good method of decal application. The solvent step being done before any sealant is applied does indeed seem to work better - there is again hardly any noticeable difference between the decals and actual paint. There's a bit of shine before the sealant (Purity Seal) is applied, but with a proper spray application of the sealant it vanishes entirely.
The decals can become slightly damaged in the process of working with the solvent, but a bit of paint to fix them up works well.

With this last model I could have done a little more aggressive edge highlighting in places, but at the time it was feeling too much. I need to strike a balance still with that, but I suspect it will end up being Wild Rider Red fairly strongly, and then glazed back with Evil Sunz Scarlet. I just need to get the right amount to show a smoothly transitioned edge without making the Wild Rider Red disappear completely.

There's still another eleven or so Primaris Marines in the Dark Imperium boxed set to go. I have a thought of batching painting all the Hellblaster heads, and then all the backpacks, then all the guns, etc. So long as I keep the lighting angle correct it should work ok.

Blood Angel Intercessor squad.

-- silly painter.

Intercessor Sergeant

There! A cookie!

Next Intercessor done, a Sergeant this time. It honestly took a bit of mental effort to get this model done, which is a sign that I need to take a bit of a break; I'll have a short hiatus for a week or two after this.

Nothing much to really say though. The face was done with Kislev Flesh, Guilliman Flesh (Contrast), and a bit of Seraphim Sepia in a few areas as it seemed appropriate (e.g under the nose). Also in this case I painted the eyes first before anything else to try and get a black line around them. It worked, but I'm not sure I prefer it over perhaps a different colour, or maybe the line is too thick. In any case, it was easier to paint in the eyes before anything else.

I might have preferred black for the hair; black just seems a more natural fit for the close cropped appearance. As a Son of Sanguinius however, it would have a natural tendency towards blonde and I wanted to see if I could make it work. I think it does, after a fashion, and so this Marine's moniker will be "der Krieger".

Decals worked better this time with using the airbrush cleaner on them before applying any varnish or sealant. I spent a bit more time on it as well, letting the solvent sit for longer and worked more at it with the brush. Not sure if any of that helped, or if the base colour helps, of it's just a matter of the decal. In any case, it looks far better this time around.

Still one more Intercessor to go before those included in the Dark Imperium boxed set are finished.

-- silly painter.

Brother-Sergeant Victorno (continued)

One wonders how long parchment lasts on a storm shield.

Not much of an update, mostly just an excuse to try some writing, but it's good to compare how a few small details start to make so much difference to the model. Details can be everything - while overall armour highlighting give a basic shape and form, it's the details that really bring it to life. It's one reason I try not to simply do everything the same; too much gold and silver lack character.

In this case the wreath and skull atop the armour mirror that on the chest, with the bone and white colours balancing left to right, and also against the brightness of the thunder hammer head. This should form a ring of balance that naturally draws the eye to the focal point: the head.

I've considered a jade colour on the grip of the hammer to match against the wreath of the shield, but instead a darker tone would suit against the rest of the shield better. Something closer to Dark Reaper. I think the wreath isn't enough to draw attention from the face too much, but at the same time does give the viewer an incentive to look more around the model by contrasting against the red.

Obviously much work remains on this model, but I probably should finish it after the Dark Imperium boxed set Intercessors. If nothing else, it would allow me to move onto other models in the background.

One more note: the baltea. It's not easy to see in this photo (I should find another light to angle from the front more easily), but it was highlighted with Word Bearers Red, then glazed over with Barak-Nar Burgundy to soften it slightly, before using Shyish Purple as a kind of directed shade. Word Bearers Red isn't a normally a natural highlight for Barak-Nar Burgundy, and so creates a very distinct highlight. This gives the baltea a much greater depth, and sense of texture.
I focus too much on highlighting with a natural colour lightness that a shift in hue can be overlooked. I'll have to remember to experiment more there.

-- silly painter.

Genestealers (Hive Fleet Leviathan)

Sneaky 'stealers looking for jeans.

The genestealers are finally finished. Levi is there, obviously, and look closely and Tyranood can be seen as well. Overall the paint scheme is very similar to the termagants, with some adjustments to account for differences to the model.

As usual, start with black primer, followed by Wraithbone spray over the entire model. It might take a couple of coats, but better to spray it lightly twice than a single, thick spray that obscures detail. An even coat helps later stages, so it's worth the extra caution at this point. Once everything is dry, a rundown of the paint scheme is below.

Main body:

• 1:8 (Volupus Pink / Contrast Medium) over the whole body.
• Volupus Pink directly in gaps between chitin.
• Skeleton Horde over "bones" (typically elbow and heel).

Face:

• Volupus Pink around the "gums", shadows under veins on the head.
• Guilliman Flesh around the "gums", inside of the mouth.
• Highlight teeth with Wraithbone if necessary.
• Flesh Tearers Red over the tongue.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight over the tip.
• Barak-Nar Burgundy, thinned, over the whole tongue.
• Iyanden Yellow over the eyes.

Claws and blades:

• Flesh Tearers Red all over.
• Carroburg Crimson near the base of each.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight along edges and the tip.

Carapace:

• Shyish Purple
• Xereus Purple in lines along edges
• Genestealer Purple in overlaying lines

Base:

• Astrogranite over the whole base.
• Mechanicus Standard Grey if necessary to cover some areas missed by the texture paint.
• Drakenhof Nightshade over the whole base.
• Agrax Earthshade in a few random patchy areas.
• Stormfang drubrush over the whole base.
• Rhinox Hide around the edge of the base.

Little details on the base were painted similar to the genestealer, mostly as extra support to glue in, but also as a hint that genestealers don't openly attack until the world is already in a lot of trouble, and tyranid flora is starting to appear.

Of course Purity Seal was applied at the end to help protect the models. Hopefully it should stop paint rubbing off too easily - something I've noticed can happen with the Contrast range.

Centrepiece type models will be up next for the tyranids, so I will probably spend a little more time on them, but fortunately they're fewer in number.

-- silly painter.

Genestealer WIP

Levi Genestealer

No back pockets.

Wow, yet another post. On a roll. Don't expect this to continue however, as I intend to finish all eight genestealers before showcasing them.

For a genestealer from Hive Fleet Leviathan, obviously the name of the first model should be Levi. I should probably paint that under the base.

These particular models take a little while to assemble. Many mold lines to clean up, and the arms can get in the way if not positioned properly. The good news is that once assembled, there's really nothing blocking any part of the model - no need to paint in parts and assemble at the end.

Nothing too much to say about the painting techniques used: they're identical so far to the termagants. I've been using a medium glaze brush with contrast paint on finer details - I find the brush keeps the tip better than the layer brushes with those particular paints. It really helps when trying to be neat around fine details.

Volupus Pink is very useful here in the joints, and seeing as it's thinned down and used all over the model, then it's also excellent to accent various details. It's mostly a matter of intensity. I've used it to draw out the veins on the head a little more, and to add a little more contrast (heh) around the nostrils. The head was always going to be the focus of the model, and so it deserves that little bit of extra attention.

I tried to thin out the Shyish Purple and sort of fade the back carapace into the rest of the body in places. The idea is to make the carapace look more like it's a part of the genestealer; hard lines would make it look more like something attached to, rather than grown from, the beast. It can be difficult to use water for this purpose, as it breaks the flow properties of contrast paints and turns it into more like a wash.


Not a bad start though, and shouldn't take too long until the brood is finished.

-- silly painter.