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Hello all

Thought I'd start a blog to show you the progress as I start painting (and maybe even converting) up a new Dark Angel Space Marines army. It's probably been about 15 years since I last painted a miniature (so very rusty!) and thanks to a friend of mine I've been brought back into the fold.

I've always been a 40K collector, I say collector as I don't really get chance to play the game itself much, which is fine by me as I enjoy painting and converting the miniatures more and it means I can take my time painting them up (no rush to get an army ready).

I was originally going to do a Chaos Marines army after getting the Dark Vengeance box set for Christmas however I saw some amazing Space Marine armies and conversions which made me think twice and I've always loved the Dark Angels chapter (was my very first 40K army I collected when was about 14). I love the dark, gothic feel the chapter and it's miniatures have - the background is (IMO) one of the best for the founding chapters and I think the whole noble knights harboring a dark secret really captures what it is to be a Space Marine.

Anyway, enough babbling.

So, first things first - as this is mainly about painting and converting here's my little make-shift workbench. It's got just about everything I need on it - modelling tools, paints, water pot, wet palette, and a daylight lamp with magnifier. Not a great deal of room but maybe one day I'll make something a bit bigger.

So far I've almost completed my first two figures for my 40K army. The first was my Ravenwing Sergeant/Champion (just need to base it) and currently working on a Deathwing Terminator. These are quite basic as I'm still trying to get back into painting the models but at the same time incorporate hints and tips I've picked up through extensive blog and site reading.

Apologies for the quality of pictures - I will post better ones at later dates when I've finished the models (bit of a perfectionist).

For anyone wondering about painting style/techniques I use . .

I never actually fully glue a model together until it's painted. If there's a piece that will obscure reaching another area this is usually mounted on a paperclip + cork and painted separately. It's actually quite handy painting the Dark Vengeance plastics as they are snap-fit so you can put them together to see how the model looks and take them apart again to continue painting.

I don't actually use spray primer anymore for undercoating/priming models. Following a suggestion on another forum I now use Gesso Primer (used by many artists to prime canvases). Got a 250ml tub (white) for about £8 at my local arts and crafts store, mixed a bit of it (50/50) with a half-bottle of undercoat black I had spare and it's created a nice dark grey undercoat paint. just slap it over the miniature with a brush (not too thick but a good covering so there's no plastic showing), leave to dry for about 20-30 minutes (shrinks down so no details obscured) and you have a nice fully coated dark grey surface to work on. Obviously everyone has their own preference for undercoating but I find the surface Gesso leaves on the miniatures fantastic to paint onto.

Onto that I just start painting my basecoat then details - working from the inside out to make life easier. Top tip for newbies - thin your paints (you've probably heard it before but it's still a great tip!). I've found it's so much easier to paint when the paints are thinned down and detaisl are not obscured either.

Talking of paints I generally use Citadel paints at the moment (mainly because I had some donated to me and starter packs purchased for me). There is a few non-Citadel ones in there though - Tamiya Colour acrylics that I get at my art store. They are a bit thinner than the Citadel paints and there's some really nice colours in there - Clear Blue is great for adding a blue wash effect to models (used on the Ravenwing "feathers").

Hey mate . Nice job done on the biker. He needs a bit of hardlining on the black parts with grey and it will look ace.
Regarding the gesso primer how do you find it holding up against abuse from touching and scrubbing. Do you have any problems with it pealing away?

Thanks, I'll be putting up some proper pics once the base has dried. There is a bit of hard-lining on it already but doesn't show up well on the pics - probably too faint, might lighten it up a bit.
I've had no issues with Gesso at all - seems to be more hard-wearing than the GW spray primer I used previously (and a nicer texture). Granted I haven't really man-handled the models much so don't know how it will fair after a few gaming sessions but no trouble when painting so far and they have been knocked onto the floor a few times too.

Actually just checked and the base is dry so as said, here's some photos of the Ravenwing biker. Not overly happy with the highlighting - I really need to work on this but certainly pleased I can still capture some of the fine detail on the model without making a complete mess on it. Very pleased with scorch marks on the exhausts and the technique I used on the feathers. Plenty to improve on but considering the first few (20?) models will be more practice and getting back into painting I feel I've done alright.

Very pleased with some new brushes (Masterstroke Craft and Decorative series) I picked up earlier today (used to do the writing on the shoulder pad) - certainly should help with fine detailing on other models.

And here's my first Deathwing. Quite pleased with the bone scheme though think I may experiment a bit - want it to look more old and ancient, some weathering would probably help on this.

That's some really nice stuff, regardless of whether you've been out of the hobby for 15 years!

Just one criticism! The biker's eyes look a bit big and cartoony. I've found this article helpful when doing eyes: http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/12
The basic gist of it is to paint them first, and then touch up.

How long does it take you to slap on some of that Gesso? After using spray primer I don't think I'd ever want to go back to using a brush. Took me forever.

Thanks. Yeah I'm still working on the finer details (eyes, highlighting, thinning paint enough, etc), I'll give that article a try - every bit of info helps!
Gesso painting takes about a minute or two - just get an old standard brush, load it up and slap it on. It shrinks down loads when it dries so details are not covered - prefer it over spraying though obviously takes longer - especially when doing squads.

Your paintjobs are really solid. IMO you must try incorporating inks and washes more into you standard painting procedure. For example the wings on the bike need some more blue ink and the red guns some more black.

Yeah, seriously need to get some more washes and inks - only have about 3 in total (problem when you pretty much starting from scratch again).

Well, here's my Librarian - wanted to make him seem a bit darker as I fine-tune the look of the army and test out my painting techniques. Not overly happy with it close up (looks great for tabletop distance) - think I over-worked some areas and really don't like the sword. Hopefully my new airbrush should arrive before starting on my next models so will be interesting to see how I fair with that. The blue is actually a metallic blue from Tamiya - looks pretty good from distance but not sure I like it up close, bit too glossy and reflective.

OK, so after watching countless hours of youtube videos and reading multiple tutorials and blogs I splashed out a bit and got myself some additional tools for my painting. Unfortunately these would not fit on my tiny workbench so I ended up re-jigging my room around a bit. Much to my wife's horror my PC was pushed onto the small workbench and my larger computer desk (scratch-built) became my painting area.



Managed to get myself an airbrush kit with compressor - currently having fun trying that thing out and have to say it has become very useful. Once I get the hang of thinning the paints down and regulating the paint flow I hope to do some incredible things with it. I also invested in some good quality sable brushes from a local art store - much nicer to use than my others! On the advice of some fellow forum members here I've also started using a home-made wet palette - so much better not having paint drying out before you get a chance to use it.






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Here's my first completed Dark Angel squad (hurrah!). Gone for a 5-man combat squad while I work on techniques and getting to grips with a few of my new tools, and are the first models done using my airbrush - tried for a zenithal highlight using a Dark Angels Green/Chaos Black mix, followed by Caliban Green and finally Waaagh Flesh. The rest was done with brush - I went for a bone trim to break up the model a bit (and also force myself to try some fine detailing) and decided to base them on the 4th company - just because it was fun to try the company badge with the checks.



I'm fairly happy with them, probably class them as my tabletop quality if I'm honest - don't look too bad up close but I'm sure I can do better. Still working on getting my paint consistency right - most of the paint is 2/3 coats but there are obvious areas where it's still a little too thick but I can live with that and keep it in mind for future works.

A couple of minor conversions as well - Sergeant has a Power Fist crafted from an old Chaos Marine Power Claw, bit of green stuff on one of the marines for a loin cloth. Bases are quite basic too - plasticard, sand, slap on some paint, drybrush and stick on some flock. Still, helps bring the squad (and army) together.

Here's some close-ups of the models:

Very nice, like these a lot.

How did you paint the company symbol on the knee pads? I'm also painting up 4th company marines and have used decals, but they aren't quite flat due to the small surface area and a little too white for my taste. I think painted like yours would look better.

Do tell!

Regards,
Reavsie

Hello, sorry for late response - been away and busy with other things.

The company badges are done free-hand. Basically I paint the knee-pad in a bone colour then paint half in white. Once that's done I use a fine pencil to rough out the squares then just paint them very, very carefully with a fine detail brush, cleaning up the lines as I go. Once it's dry I use a bit of grey paint for highlight/shadow.

Actually just started some changes to the paint scheme. Stopped with the bone trim on the shoulder pads and painting them metallic - based on a few awesome bits of artwork I've seen recently. Will post pictures at some point.


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And here is the first pic of my new (new new) Dark Angels. Apologies for quality - done on my phone as my actual camera has been borrowed by a family member.



Tactical Sergeant (may make him veteran, not decided yet). Went for metallic trim rather than bone. Granted some peeps will still say this is wrong but it's actually based on some 40K artwork I spotted where the DA's had metallic trims - artwork looked amazing and makes them look more gothic, so thought what the hell and applied it to my army. Also gone for grey basing rather than my usual black, just seems to fit in better IMO. Plus as I noted int he codex - company badge should be on the left-knee rather than right so have done that correctly this time around.

Currently working on my Deathwing Terminators and a converted Ravenwing Sergeant. Will post pics once they are finished.