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Hey guys im new to the forum been into the hobby for a while but thought id actually join and post a blog of my ultramarines. only got a small tactical squad to start off with. The theme was to do them in 4th company colours not that original i know but always been a fan of the green shoulder pads sum work still needs doing on the sergeants banner. sorry the photos arent that good...

Very solid start, you really have the basics down. The legs are just perfect, and your bases are especially well done for a flock/gravel base. Great job on the lenses too. Overall you have fantastic brush control, or at least are wise enough to clean up your mistakes when you finish. Great job.

I wish the upper body shading/edging could match that on the legs, especially on the pauldrens. The pauldrens are one of the most visible parts on a SM, and these are very flat compared to the rest of the mini. You've done a good job using black edging on the pauldrens, but there is no highlighting or shadowing. Either paint them with a gradient or do some edging around the rim of the blue. Or something else if you have an idea.

There are also a few places that could do with a wash in the painting process, notably the guns, chest aquila, and purity seals. Your whites are too stark (chest and gun ornamentation for example), going from strait black to very white, and would look less like a painted miniature if you based them in a grey or bone and highlighted up to white.

The purity seals are very flat and could a wash and more highlighting. Purity seals really stand out on SM considering their size, so you really want to do them right.

This isn't a painting issue, but consider not painting the top cover of the bolter metal. Your guns are currently fairly bland and it is an opportunity to bring some contrast to the gun, and show off your edging technique. Traditionally UM's guns have a red cover, but black is common too, or green to complement your shoulder trim. Do an image search for 'bolter' and to see what I mean and get some ideas.

Finally, look up some tutorials for skin or painting faces, it is a weak point of your sergeants paint job. Out of the whole squad the sergeant's face is going to draw the eye, you are going to want to get it right. Here is one of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/user/awesomepaintjob?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/22/-ac1oLYiyi8

Hope I'm not coming across as negative. These are really well done, above tabletop quality certainly. Good luck, can't wait to see more.

hey thankyou for the awesome comment ive needed someone to tell me what to do to improve them. ive only actually been painting for a couple of months so its nice to know im heading in the the right direction lol i tottally agree on what uve said alot more shading is needed. I actually repainted over the shoulder pads because i wasnt happy with the highlighting or shading but ill at least give them an ink wash to darken them like the rest of the model. The gun again your right needs more washing and will probably do a red on the cover of the bolter. faces are a weak point for me and have been looking for a tutorial to help me with them. again thankyou for the comment and as soon as i have sum money ill be posting up more ultramarines

Just a quick update here is an ultramarine with more shading and highlighting on the areas you pointed out. i didnt end up highlighting the shoulder pads as they didnt look right to me but i did the shading and looks ten times better thankyou again. Im now going to attempt the painting faces tutorial

It looks good! Your smurfs have very nice high and low light!

Great improvement already. Can't wait to see the sarge's face.

Some finished marines sorry bout the lighting in these pictures especially on the sergeants face you cant see any of the detail when i get a better camera ill retake some picks but you can at least see the extra details that have been added such as red on the gun covers, more washes highlights etc when ive finished the full ten man squad ill start on the venerable dreadnought.

oh and any ideas on what to paint the black areas of the seregants standard with i was going to use green but it would clash with the green already on the flag.