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I'd like to know what everyone thinks of these banners I painted for my homebrew space marine chapter, the Arctic Claws (Hence why they all have arctic foxes on them)

First two are okay... If you want a kind of cute comical appearance. The last one is not up to the same level as first 2. The second is of course the best executed. I personally think the Arctic fox imagery is too cute for the grimdark, kind of like putting my little ponies on banners. I would have went with something more aggressive, a polar bear probably as the wolf imagery is already taken.

Last one is definitely too cute and cartoony, but it's good. I wouldn't be able to do that, so I can't be rude on your work. Still, as the other poster pointed out, artic foxes are... cute. Not too fitting for space marine banners, at least, not as you made them. Maybe a stylized, side-view would fit the "grim darkness" setting a bit more. Technically speaking, I do like them, even let out a soft "Daaaw" seeing them.

In short: good work, but not fitting the setting am afraid!

It might be the 'smile' in picture 3 that brought those comments. Add a few 'ruffles' to the face and front, and it should be OK.

First off - well done for free-handing anything, let alone an animal. The first fox is definitely the better of the two, and artistically looks pretty good. I'm not as big a fan of the second to be honest with you.

I'd also agree that unless a slightly comic/cutesy look is what you were after, I don't think these really work for the subject matter. I'd second the thought about choosing an alternate animal - or trying to maybe make the fox look a bit more vicious than cute. I'm sure it would be possible, as you already have the skills to effectively free-hand an animal like this.

Good luck!

The fox is identical between the first and second picture as far as I can tell. Is it the same model at different points in time?

Also, while I agree that it doesn't look very grimdark, remember that you don't have to conform to what everyone else does. If you want cute designs on your marines, I say do it! If the intention isn't to make the foxes cute, then yeah, they could look more vicious. They're predators, and have loads of sharp teeth. Simply showing the fox with its mouth open and lips drawn back would make it look far scarier. If you want it to look more mainstream 40k you should also stylise the animal more to look more like existing 40k heraldry. The last fox is more stylised, but it's also not as well painted. There's quality in the first two pictures.

Have you considered trying a simpler symbol? (perhaps something similar to the House Stark Iconography from Game of thrones, but with a fox)

I would say out of the three pictures I like the 1st best (I understand that it is the same banner as in the 2nd picture, at a later stage, but the additional colours detract from the model rather than enhancing it IMO)


Keep going though man.

So I just typed 'Arctic fox attacking' and 'Arctic Fox Aggressive' into Google images, there is some more appropriate source material there.
Your technique is fine although on a banner looks a bit too 'Three wolf moon' for my tastes and the genre.
Something more stylised works better on banners imo.
Keep at it.

My only critique is that the fur sections could use something to make it look more like fur and less like something just blank white.

Otherwise, good freehand!

M.

Fine puppers.

I won't lie...this is all I could think of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiK1smzPZPQ

That second image I can't fault, not my style, but incredibly well done, kudos on painting free hand. And whilst it's not my style I'm a huge fan of the background on that second image, way it all blends, very well done

I like them, even if they are pretty cutesy.

Cute.

Thoguh my only gripe is that the banner boarders arent being used.

Cute. There not grim dark but I'd not complain to see nice freehand.

Maybe so a sigil than a image?
Like a game of thrones symbol on one to see how it looks?

Pic 1 definitely appears to be a WIP of Pic 2.

Hi. Your banners are very ambitious and are executed well. On both the banners, you can easily tell what the focus of the banner is, there is strong separation of elements and the colours are bold and punchy. The blends are well executed as well.

I think that they are great.

If anything, I feel the marine's dark colour scheme seems overpowered by the brightness of the banner, causing him to fade a bit into the background.