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I have been toying around with doing this, so here we go!

I picked up Ultramarines as my first army and I have begun painting them. Please note that I don't consider myself a great painter, so this will mostly contain WIP Space Marines and maybe a few pics soliciting opinions.

So here are my first ones:


Any comments or advice is appreciated!

Looking nice dude i'd like to see some more, I love ultramarines done well.
Oh and try do some gold scripture on the blank parts of the armour it really makes them look more noble.

Thanks! I want to get to the point of being able to do freehand scripture on then, but I am not that good yet.

Also, I have the attention span of a 5 year old with painting, so I currently have Terminators, Assault Marines, a Drop Pod, a Land Raider, and a handful of Heroes that are primed and ready to be started so I will probably be jumping around from mini to mini.

Looking good so far. Could possibly do with more of a wash in the crevices to counter the highlights.

Did a darker shading experiment tonight with a brighter highlight line. I think the shade made the blue base a little too dark...

EDIT: I may try an enchanted blue base to see how that comes out. I am a little curious.

They look pretty good. what are you using for your dip. I have a bunch o marines and i was thinking about the dip?

sennacherib wrote:They look pretty good. what are you using for your dip. I have a bunch o marines and i was thinking about the dip?

Army Painter's Quickshade . In the first pics, I used their SOFT tone product. With the darker marine, I used DARK tone. I wanted to see what effect it would have on the Ultramarine Blue base.

Also, if you use the Quickshade, I can't begin to express the importance of being able to get the excess dip off them. If you dont, you get an odd pooling/shading effect on them that does not look very good. I attach the mini to a power drill and get most of it off and follow-up with a brush to get the pooled stuff that is too stubborn to come off.

My Rank and file marines tend to have Babadab black slapped all over them And yes they are darker than the under coat. This is the general look i am going for. You could also go back over the armour in your blue everywhere apart from the recesses, so the over all colour would not be too dark, but the areas you want shaded will be darker. Takes a lot longer though, and I have only done this on one model so far, my WIP Apothacary.



But i think your UltraMarines look good that little bit darker, i think your second attempt is looking great I think the darker shades show that they have been out fighting in the field

M0rdain wrote:My Rank and file marines tend to have Babadab black slapped all over them And yes they are darker than the under coat. This is the general look i am going for. You could also go back over the armour in your blue everywhere apart from the recesses, so the over all colour would not be too dark, but the areas you want shaded will be darker. Takes a lot longer though, and I have only done this on one model so far, my WIP Apothacary.



But i think your UltraMarines look good that little bit darker, i think your second attempt is looking great I think the darker shades show that they have been out fighting in the field

Thanks for the kind words.

I like the overall look with the darker shading as well. I am still getting the hang of the best way to dip and get the excess off so that it is even all the way around. I may try painting over the armor again after the dip if the color does not come out exactly right. I will probably have more pics posted over the weekend since I plan to do a few more test subjects for dipping as well as start Captain Sicarius.

Lots of people are down on the dip technique but i think yours look great to start. are you really going to dip sicarius. When you do please post pics. i would love to see them.

If you got some gold or white writing on the blank spots of their armor (shins, shoulder pads) they would look wicked. I like them so far.

Am I also jealous of your freehand on the tactical sign.

sennacherib wrote:Lots of people are down on the dip technique but i think yours look great to start. are you really going to dip sicarius. When you do please post pics. i would love to see them.

Thanks for the kind words! I guess my painting skills are not as bad as I thought they were.

With regard to Sicarius, I have not totally decided on whether or not he will get the dip treatment. If I do, I will have to reinforce my makeshift mini attachment on my drill to handle the extra weight of a metal mini.

Campbell1004 wrote:If you got some gold or white writing on the blank spots of their armor (shins, shoulder pads) they would look wicked. I like them so far.

Am I also jealous of your freehand on the tactical sign.

Thanks! I tend to think of my freehand skills as a work-in-progress. Since they are my test batch, I may give some freehand stuff a go on my next mini and see how it comes out. Worse case, I can always strip them and try again.

Hey Havok. Great job on your first army. It looks like you've done a great job. Two things I noticed are:

1. The edge highlighting seems a bit thick. If you're using one general brush to paint everything I would suggest getting a smaller detail brush or an artist brush (Windsor & Newton Series 7 or Raphael 8404). The artist brush holds a tip very well since they use natural hair and will allow you to get much finer lines.

2. The primer spray looks a bit 'off'. There appears to be a textured grain, especially on the edges of the shoulder pads. This could be caused by priming the model too far away so that the primer actually dries in the air before reaching the model giving you more of a textured surface.

Look forward to seeing more of your models.

Eggroll wrote:Hey Havok. Great job on your first army. It looks like you've done a great job. Two things I noticed are:

1. The edge highlighting seems a bit thick. If you're using one general brush to paint everything I would suggest getting a smaller detail brush or an artist brush (Windsor & Newton Series 7 or Raphael 8404). The artist brush holds a tip very well since they use natural hair and will allow you to get much finer lines.

2. The primer spray looks a bit 'off'. There appears to be a textured grain, especially on the edges of the shoulder pads. This could be caused by priming the model too far away so that the primer actually dries in the air before reaching the model giving you more of a textured surface.

Look forward to seeing more of your models.

I noticed that too. I have been trying to prevent adding too much primer paint on the minis by pulling the spray back a little. I have stripped the grainy ones over the weekend to redo them.

As far as the highlight lines, they are still a work in progress for me. Just picked up a new highlight brush since mine was at the end of its life. Hopefully that will show in my next pics.

Regarding the status of everything else, I have Sicarius primed and will be getting him basecoated and started this evening. I did get some work done on my Dreadnought in the process. I will post pics of him once I get off work.

A few new WIP pics to share. Still up in the air on Ultramarine Blue v. Enchanted Blue as a base, so I attached a pic of my first ever painted marine, an ultramarine blue base, and then enchanted blue.

Status Update: Enchanted Blue Base test mini is close to completion. I should have pics to share in a day or two. I will be looking forward to the feedback I get as I just can't decide which color I like better for the base.

Ok need a few opinions. Just finished the Enchanted Blue base marine and debating which shade looks better. I have my darker shaded marine with an ultramarine blue base in my earlier post. Here is a comparison pic using my lighter shade marine next to my enchanted blue marine.

Opinions please!

Edit: His dip is still drying so that is why he is still shiny.

The Enchanted blue, seems to be a richer brighter blue, were as the Ultramarines blue seems more muted, possibly even pastel like.

My opinion is i prefer the Enchanted Blue

As long as there isn't a noticeable difference between the wet and dry colours for the dip I'll toss in another vote for the enchanted blue.

M0rdain wrote:The Enchanted blue, seems to be a richer brighter blue, were as the Ultramarines blue seems more muted, possibly even pastel like.

My opinion is i prefer the Enchanted Blue

Eggroll wrote:As long as there isn't a noticeable difference between the wet and dry colours for the dip I'll toss in another vote for the enchanted blue.

The more I stare at the Enchanted Blue one, the more it grows on me.

I will dullcote him when I get home from work and post a less glossy version so that the color can can be seen.

Updated: Here is the enchanted blue base marine de-glossed.

That looks very nice indeed . I agree with my previous vote

Update: I had Sicarius almost finished, but I dropped and broke the helmet plume. Had to buy a new one and will be starting him soon (again).

In the meantime, here is a WIP of my terminator Captain:

Update: More work done on the Terminator Captain.

Latest Update: I am totally greatful for the job I have because it allows me to afford GW stuff, but it really cuts into my painting time.

Now that the iPhone 4S craziness is starting to wear off, I will be back at it this weekend. I plan to finish the Terminator Captain and also start work on my regular Terminators and Tactical Marine squad. Pics to follow after I get my paint on!

Update Time: I FINALLY got some time to do some work. Some more work done on the Terminator Captain and Dreadnought.

Also, I am working on a Drop Pod (man those things suck to paint) along with some CC Terminators and other vehicles. Photos should come soon.

As always, feedback is welcome.