Hey everyone, long time reader first time poster.

well, not a long time but some time my friends and I have just started getting into 40k and after viewing the many projects here, I thought i might put mine up for comment/advice.

a friend of mine who was already into 40k suggested that i go Imperial Fists. being innocent about the ways of yellow i thought "why not". so, i've started my army. here are a few of the pieces i've done so far; the photos may seem a bit haphazard as they were taken more to show friends than the internet.

after looking at the many awesome IF armies out there i decided to go with a Golden Yellow army as it kind of sat in between the sandy Iyander ones and the super bright ones (though they both look awesome). i also modified the look a little, changing the red chest aquila to bone. for me, the red and yellow were a little too much and i figured, with the Fists being so into scrimshaw a company with a bone motiff isnt too hard to believe?

i would absolutely love any comments or tips folks have - im really new to this whole painting thing. i know the bases arent done; trying to get the figures right first, then i will move to bases.

anyways, for what they are worth:

My first three sternguard:



another sternguard:



Terminator Sergeant WIP (Front)



Terminator Sergeant WIP (Left Side)



Terminator Sergeant WIP (Right Side)

Apart from needing basing they look perfect to me - be very proud!

awesome job on the yellow! and I like the contrast with the green and red parts!

Thanks so much guys! i really wasn't expecting replies so fast!

yeah, i want to get into basing. you see so many good ones. i just thought i would start with the figures themselves as, well, you cant have too much yello right?

I wouldnt worry to much about the bases. even if you would keep it simple your space marines would still look awesome!

Yellow is one of the harder colours to get right on a finished and consistent level so to have such a clean and crisp end product is something to be very proud of... well done.

I'm looking forward to seeing this army grow as you complete more, as for the bases don't over state them too much let the miniatures speak for themselves, maybe a metal textured floor
like checkplating or gangway mesh.

Gangway
http://www.knightboatdocks.com/uploads/images/gangway-2.jpg

Checkplate
http://us.cdn2.123rf.com/168nwm/rustyphil/rustyphil0708/rustyphil070800178/1439784-large-image-of-old-weathered-and-grungy-diamond-plate-with-algae-starting-to-grow.jpg

Thanks guys, its awesome you have taken the time to look/comment.

Santo, i really like the idea of metal plating as a base. only thing is, i've glued them to the plastic bases so i would have to paint the grate on and i honestly dont think ive got the skill.

i was thinking maybe gluing some sand on or something? future ones i might organise a more interesting base first, before painting. lesson learnt lol

If you pop into a local hobby shop you can buy the grating for only a few dollars in sheets snip your guys off the bases (doesn't matter if the base gets holes in the top) trim the feet up and re-stick
them to the grating, then probably wash or paint rusting etc on the grates.

The grating comes in brass tin or plastic(white) normally.

Cheers mate, will check it out for sure.

Fantastic work. I myself am not a fan of painting yellow 'cause I just can't get it right but you have pulled it off my friend. Top notch, 8 thumbs up and a cupcake.

These are lovely figures, loving the yellow on them. For a beginner in the hobby I'd say that you shouldn't worry too much about 'improving', you're already showcasing some great skills here. Looking forward to seeing more of your work...

If you want to base with sand - 5 simple steps
Glue the sand on the base with PVA - GW's is surprisingly one of the best and cheapest commercial modeeling sand suppliers.
Basecoat the dried sand with Scorched Brown - let dry
Overbrush heavily with Snakebite leather
Drybrush Bleached Bone
Glue on a couple of clumps of GW's darker green grass

This is the method ive been using on my Catachan: http://paintingservitorcommision.blogspot.com/

I too am an imperial fist collector and think your yellow is great, very bright and clean. I'm guessing it is a think coat build up from brown?

You are all too kind!

Optio, I will give that a go . You think sand and some grass will look ok?

Ceorron, I use the following recipe:

- prime in black
- base in iyander darken
- 1:1iyander and golden yellow
- Wash in gryohonne sepia
- shade recesses with devlan mud wash
- coats of thin golden yellow till I hit the tone.
- highlights in 1:1 golden yellow and skullwhite.

It's a bit of a mash together recipe from various dakka folks and some advice from my local GW guy.

Thanks again everyone for the encouragement and taking the time to respond. Hopeful will have more pics up soon

@- San76 - Just saw the flag next to your name, if your in Perth I can give you the name of a couple of stores that sell the grates

Those look amazing. I noticed it didn't take long to slap some forgeworld kit onto the terminator.

I build fists as well and I go the hyper sunshine yellow color for mine. But I like what you've done.
The Bone looks good on the Aquila. I also like that you went with shoulder trim that isn't red. Too many of us, (myself included) have gone for the 3rd company and the red shoulders

@Santobell Hehe you caught me, I'm from Perth. Only store I know is stanbridges...def. up for tips.

@dalsiandon thanks so much mate. Hehe yeah, I actually ordered the forgeworld shoulders before I got the terminator. I'm a sucker for cool looking armor, found them while trawwling the internet for my new addiction and just had to get them. I'm glad you like them, and the bone. Been feeling guilt about not making them totally codex....

Have started painting a captain but I'm stuck at work :(

Very very good start chap. I am now following this with great interest.

BK

Very nice so far. Subscribed.

Very nicely painted, especially since yellow is so tricky.

San76 wrote:@Santobell Hehe you caught me, I'm from Perth. Only store I know is stanbridges...def. up for tips.

Right well Perth city hobby would be your best bet matey, it's on murray street in the city not quite in the mall about two streets up next to a Wilson outdoor carpark and near sony central.
I don't think I have ever come out of that place without finding what I needed, they are also a top spot for pining wire and plastic card sheets and pipes.

Other than that Tactics in the dungeon under london court in the hay street mall is a good spot for alternative gaming systems tools basing kits terrain etc they have a good set of grating kits for bases there as well as just about everything else.

Other than that if you head to the Perth GW store and are in need of tips and it's not Sunday, ask for Stewie or Jake they normally come up with somthing and often know where to get it, tell them the 40k Skaven Airship guy sent you.

Cheers mate, I will. I'm up on a trip for work atm but here are a couple more pics if anyone interested. I hope you like them.

Completed stern guard squad.



Sternguard and sergeant from AoBR



Terminator and rank and file from AoBR. These wrre.my first figures and I chose red eyes. Will have to redo, I think i prefer the green.

Looking good mate and yeah go with green eyes.

I'll be passing those shops tomorrow, I pop in and have a look at what they have (need smome as well for the pimp my wiz 40k comp)
I'll let you know price etc.

Many thanks mate, can't wait to get back in town.

its weird because one of my mates on here had painted a random marine in yellow and white/bonewhite and it just looked excellent. white and yellow is a great mix, and you've proved that with these models. can't wait to see more!

Very nice marines the yellow looks a lovely deep colour, the bone really ties in as well.

I'll be watching this blog

Hey nice to see some more stuff of you. Still looking very nice!

@ San - You mine working matey? or just working away?

Mine working :(

I have secreted a figure and some paints up here for the evenings but its been a shambles of s trip and I havent had a chance.

Yeah I have a bunch of mates doing mine work of different types here and there, mostly up north based out of Broome or Darwin and Portheadland.

sheets of recut plastic card in the shape of grates (plain) $8 (from Perth Hobby)

Base cut sized grate style basing kits from 20 and up but it's all ready to glue and use (from tactics)

pinning wire was 55 cents

and plstic card sheets on their own were 4 dollars up to 8 dollars.

Thanks heaps santobell, soon as I get back will have to hit up.w shop.

Could anyone recommend a good, brush application matte varnish? I tried the Microsystems one but it was pretty shiny.

hey everyone, well i'm finally back from the mines (literally) and had a chance to start painting something.

i thought i would start with my captain for something different. he isn't anywhere near finished, but i thought to myself "hey, it is a WIP blog after all!".

as you can see i haven't done his trims yet, but this will hopefully give you an idea of the colour scheme to comment on. my first go at painting a cape, i found it quite difficult to do. too long in yellow i guess, struggling to change colours

so, to keep him in line with the rest of my forces aquilla, crux etc will all be done as bone. the banner will be cream with the trim in black for contrast. the laurel on the banner will be green with highlights to increase contrast. power sword (another nerve wracking thing to paint) will either be done in red or green - looking for thoughts there. green would go with the eyes and the power weapon on my terminators; red would go with the cape...and seals etc. any thoguhts or tips please speak up folks.

Very good painting! Love the Sternguard.

That captain looks really good. How did you do the yellow so evenly?

I love the look, the only thing I would change is the color of the ropes and the banner. They blend in with all the bone color way too much that they loss their pop. For my IF cap'n i used reapers blond hair/golden blond with a wash of linen white for the rope.

\But with that tiny exception on my part I really think it is turning out real crisp and nice.

Love the yellow work and you seem to be handling the work of yellow very well. I think yellow is a pain and the sternguard look amazing.

San76 wrote:Thanks heaps santobell, soon as I get back will have to hit up.w shop.

Could anyone recommend a good, brush application matte varnish? I tried the Microsystems one but it was pretty shiny.

We'll have to organise a game once you get these fella's finished mate.

Oh and a Brush on Matte, Flatcoat by Testors is pretty good and designed for the types of paints GW and Armpainter do, you can also get it in a spray.

The good thing with Clear coat is you can spray something matte then paint a gloss (standard GW varnish) on the spots you want shiny and vice versa,
you can also remove a shine buy painting matte over the top and if you use a spray and get a frosting effect you can paint gloss over it to remove this nasty
issue.

You can get testors paint gear from the same place as the plastic card and grating.

Green for the power weapon would look good and also contrast with the yellow quite nicely I think. As to the techniques for painting it, do you have any ideas yet. If I may could I recommend you check out the tutorial by Catattafish, its only one method but I think it comes off quite nicely for those without access to an airbrush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1km0XLk10A

It would seem that every time Santobell posts there's an emphasis on grating card in some recepie or t'other.

No disrespect but I really don't think you need anything like that. A simple sand and texture base would be all you need for these or something like Optio's link would show off your army quite well.

The painting is very well done indeed and things are coming along nicely, you're already producing some fine work.

as always, thanks so much for the kind words!!

40k ninja, im glad you like the yellow. i use the following recipe:

-prime in black
-undercoat in iyander darksun (making sure its nice and even)
- 1:1 blend of iyander darksun / golden yellow
- wash in gryphonne sepia but dot let it pool too much.
- pin stripe all lines, recesses etc in Devlan Mud
- coats of golden yellow till i hit the tone i like. usually 2-3.
- highlight in 1:1 golden yellow/skull white.

its a bit of a mission but thats the glory and the pain of the IF im afraid.

dalsiandon, i know what you mean. i am worried that the reopes will not pop but im at a loss for which colours to paint them. natural instinct is red, but then the rope on the back will just blend in. green...sort of doesnt make sense, white will blend in...any ideas be greatfully recieved.

santo, mate i would love a match once they done. i fear for my forces though, im very new to all this.

lenny, i checked out the link you sent; thank you. i might try that one...ive got a vision in mind...making it happen though....





Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hi folks,

well a day off is a day to paint.

did some more work on my captain, i hope you like it. obviously, still very much a WIP but i figure regular updates are better than BOOM - finished product.

anyways, as you can see i have started work on the power sword. still some more work to do on the emitters and the hilt.

did a little work on the bone pieces and the banner. much, much more to do there.

also, i took on board comments from folks re: the ropes on his chest and so have opted for a different colour than the white i was originally going for. had a chat with Peter at my local GW and he had a bunch of suggestions. i actually then chickened out of the brighter colours and bought a bunch of greys...but got home and figured, why not green?

anyways, as always, all comments/tips gratefully received.

The ropes look much better, dalsiandon was right limiting the amount of bone on the miniature has helped heaps.

For your cloak some details along the hem would also look great I think. Simple tram lines or even something more complex would help to emphasis his rank but also break up the large panel of colour the cloak presents

I like the green on the ropes, its not a color you expect but it really does make them pop, and it doesn't look bad at all. I think it actually gives it a nice off set to the red and yellow, and it gives life to the bone. Why? well the red and yellow look so bright on this model and the bone looks so dull or plane that the green really fits right in the middle as a balance of not to bright not to dark not to boring not to flashy.

Thanks guys,

i hadn't thought of it that was dalsiandon but i think you are right.

Lenny, i would try that if i had the skills - i know i dont.

yet

anyways, an update - have tried the whole banner thing. completed the power sword...

He looks real good.

Looks very good for a beginner, especially for yellow. One question - are you doing anything else with the shoulder pad iconography and the eagle heads? They look a bit bland/unfinished imho. Otherwise excellent work.

Very nice start San76. Make sure you drill out those barrels though - it's easy and makes a model that much more complete.

Sorry its taken me a while, works been a cow.

Thanks for your kind words everyone

Eggroll, i definately will try the barrel thing once i get time. what i have been working on is basing the models. Santo, if your out there, i was going to go for the metal plating like you suggested but i havent had a chance to get into town and buy some; instead, i've decided to go with a barren, sand and rock theme - its easier for my first go and i had the gear for it. tried to set up a simple, dark base for contrast with the yellow. as always, thoughts greatfully recieved.

ps (sorry i didnt have a chance to set the shots up on white or lighting on the sternguard; you know how life can be...)

Realy Nice Fists

hey everyone,

Have had a chance to do some work on my chaplain, thought i would throw him up for comments. this way my first time painting black armour; was a great model to paint.

one thing, sorry about the yellow/pink tinge to the photo. i only had my desk lamp to light it with and it so does not have the right bulb.

@ - Elmodiddly - All good matey though you did slightly misread my intention there. I mentioned them again so San would know which shop I was talking about
as he is new to it all and I've been buying everything from bases, buildings, paint, decals, air brush gear and even rocket engines from that particular store for the better part of 15 years.

Even so your quite right a standard base would look just fine, heck you could paint the ground narloc green and it wouldn't hurt how they look considering the excellent paint job San has done on them.


@ - San76

That chappy is looking excellent the engine glow is spot on mate!

As far a matchgoes, not to worry about win or loss I'm dead terrible at the game anyway as I paint and convert much
more than I get to play these days.

Another great looking model. Love the engine effect.

Awesome Fists, keep up the great work.

Well Im with the popular opions, your skills dont suck.

The simple bases work well with the overall color and the off black color (also called grey) is nice.

So what direction if any do you have with this army, point size, vehicle preference, or just enough to impress the chicks?

Wow, amazing stuff man! I love to see imperial fists, these are some rock hard sons of dorn you got there! I really want to see more and I look forward to it! Great work!

I love the engine effect on the jump pack. I painted my chaplain with a red/yellow flame effect, but I was never all that happy with it.

Love the blue high heat/plasma feel of yours so I might give it a try.

I assume that is something like Ultramarine/Ice Blue/White that is blended together in stages?

Great looking models!

Very nice indeed. IMHO that is the perfect yellow for Imperial Fists. Again very nice.

People that can paint yellow this well makes me clench my teeth in jealousy. Nice job. Subbed

Mate, cracking work. I've had that chaplain on my desk for a while and been putting off painting him. Gonna use your pics as a guide!

Guys thanks so much for all your kind words! sorry i haven't replied sooner but work has been kicking my arse lately.

i know - excuses, excuses, right?

@ Santo - mate...thanks again for the store tip. you cant possibly be worse at the game than me...recently i used the cover removing sternguard shells against blood angels who...wait for it... weren't even in cover. yup, thats how bad i am (for the record while my sternguard died that squad of assault marines were later defeated to a man by my scouts! my opponent was not well pleased).

@ 1-i - I wish i could say i had it all mapped out but really, we all know the chicks dig dudes in yellow

thanks so much everyone for your kind words on the thruster exhausts. i was SO goign to go red but at last minute went with blue; i think it was a good call. i based my method on the mighty Eggroll's (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/180/313003.page near bottom of page) but since i don't have an airbrush i did it all with drybrushing. the recipe i used was:

- undercoat in Mordian
- regal blue across the lot
- enchanted blue, staying away from outer edges and concentrating in the two main exhaust recesses
- ice blue, pulling in further from outer edges and concentrating in the two main exhaust recesses
- a light wash of a very, very, very dilute enchanted blue/regal blue (1:1) to kind of pull together the layers of paint (this is kinda optional - im not convinced it did much)
- 1:1 skull white and ice blue in centre of thruster and along edges
- 3:1 (or so) skull white /ice blue right in centre and on a couple of edges.

@ Axlbush, your too kind mate. it is one of my favourite models, such a dynamic pose and so many little bits and pieces to paint.

well, enough talk... time for pics. ive decided i liked my chappy so much that he is going to get an assault squad as his personal bodyguard. they are still going to be Fists but i thought i might try to make them visually a bit different; partly to mark them as his bodyguard, partly to break up the sea of yellow. so, i decided to go for something between the chaplain and the full canary . this was also my first attempt at free hand with the assault symbol on the shoulder. honestly, the idea of potentially having to repaint yellow almost put a stop to it!

anyways, hope you like him. his squadies should be coming soon (i hope). i tried to get the light as diffuse as possible but there is still some flare. sorry.

as always, tips and comments gratefully received

@ - San76 - Ok that is pretty bad, I guess my game suckiness comes from my uncanny mutant ability to roll ones in combat and only roll sixs for leaderhsip tests.

Nice new additions there as well btw keep em coming.... gawd I need to paint some guys.

Very nice

First thing WOW! thats some amazing yellow you have going on there. Keep up this look (good luck) it will look amazing once the army is finished< and do plan on adding any tanks?

Very cool. The black assault marine with your nice yellow coloring look great together. A full unit of those assault marines will look awesome. Can't wait to see it!

Well, this is pretty awesome painting!

Awesome paint job!

Excellent! You've really nailed the yellow, it's the most authentic and realistic I think I've seen for Imperial Fists. Love that chaplain the black has been really well done too, and I like the sort of glow from the jump pack. Top notch stuff.

Love your Imperial Fist. Yellow can be a paint to work with but you got that down. Love your color scheme on the assault squad. Keep up the great work.

Thanks so much guys!

@Young_Logan - im definitely bringing in some vehicles...just building up to it. in fact, last night i stopped by my local store and picked up a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer. the box is sitting here, taunting me....i have no idea which build to go for though...

in the meantime i finished another terminator today so i thought i would put some pics up.

Terminator is looking great. The green power claws work well with the yellow armor and the hazard strips on the right hand blends in well. Keep up the good work!

Cheers Eggroll.

just got my airbrush (an Iwata CS) and am hoping that guy is the last base coated by hand. any tips you might have on airbrushing gratefully received

San76 wrote:Cheers Eggroll.

just got my airbrush (an Iwata CS) and am hoping that guy is the last base coated by hand. any tips you might have on airbrushing gratefully received

Just get lots of practice. Test out a bit on sprues or bad models to make sure you're comfortable with the pressure and paint mix. Takes awhile to get that right and also get used to pointing and shooting. Good luck and post pics.

OK, so i got a chance to use my airbrush for the first time and i love it.

at the moment i'm using it very basically, base coating the yellow for the Fists. it does this amazingly imo. two more termies to go and my squad is finished. then...Lysander!

These look stellar man, I'm starting up a fist army relatively soon so it's great to see one in progress also. Best of luck!

That yellow is really nice! Keep up the good work

Hell yes, Imperial fists! well done!

Welcome to the AB club! Keep up the spraying and you'll be a pro in no time.

Yes another AB user congrats man!! BTW looking good on the termie

San76 wrote: last night i stopped by my local store and picked up a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer. the box is sitting here, taunting me....i have no idea which build to go for though...

Why choose? Get ahold of some magnets!

San76 wrote:in the meantime i finished another terminator today so i thought i would put some pics up.

Great work on the yellow! It can be quite tricky I'm loving the hazard stripes, btw. I don't think I've seen them on IFs before, but they work really well.

Keep up the great work!

Rawson

Awesome work if it was my choice for your land raider if you dont want to mag i'd go redeemer as they suit the siege expert fluff as well as the kick ass in games and you can put in your termies or if you want are larger capacity for termies plus lysander go crusader. Loving work keep it up and cant wait to see ur finished assault squad and whatever you do with ur land raider.

Definitely a good looking yellow. Also the red on the sternguards gives a very good contrast to it.

The pic images look great. I can't wait to see what your Lysander ends up looking like.

Wow I digs.

Hey everyone.

been ages since ive been able to post an update but should be more frequent now. havent got to my landraider (still working up the skills for that beast) but have been working on a dread (pics soon) as well as various troopers.

tonight i finished the sergeant for my Chaplains bodyguard. I sprayed him with dullcote (no clear varnish) and that stuff is pretty amazing; even with the harsh direct lighting i have here there isnt too much reflection. i shudder to think what the chemicals are that make that work.

anyways, as always i would love to hear your thoughts.

san.

I like it, looks almost like it belongs in the Deathwatch. Love the engine lighting effect, very simple not too elaborate but it gets the job done in a nice crisp and clean way.

These look great! Beautiful as always.

Taxi Cab Marines

Thanks very much guys!

@molotovsoda - Haha I guess they do look a bit like nyc cabs. Just wanted a few troops a bit different to the all encompassing yellow of IF .

I know, I was going to do up a kill team of IF marines but my girlfriend ruined it for me when she sat down and goes..."so...futuristic taxi drivers?" and I can never unsee it...

How did you paint your yellows? They look very clean and crisp.

@molotovsoda - i prefer to think of them as the Emperor's Canary's myself. not that thats any better....

@ZachFTWx - thanks mate. i use the following recipe: Iyander Darksun, Vallejo Yellow (the one as close to Golden Yellow as possible), careful wash in Gryphonne Sepia (no pooling), golden yellow. highlights in 50:50 Golden Yellow: skull white

Very very cool!

I've just started my own IF force so i'll be checking back regularly for inspiration! (and of course to steal ideas! )

Keep it coming mate!

This stuff is great. I hope you post some more. I'd especially love to see that dread you mentioned. These are the best imperial fists I've seen. Just stellar!

More nice work - looking forward to the dread.

This is really good stuff makes me wish I spent more time painting and modelling instead of speed painting in time for games :(

Thanks so much for your kind words guys.

well, a couple of you asked to see the dreadnought - so here he is. Venerable Sergeant Ajax. he was great fun to paint but a dog to photo. my first "vehicle" and my first attempt at weathering. i had a go with some weathering powders from forgeworld. hope you like him.

san

I really like your yellow sir!
Also the greenish lighting claws on the termies look awesome, the dread as well... basically this IF army is full of win, well done
Subbed

I have to say I'm not a fan of that dread' model (the head just looks too small!) but you've made a really nice job of painting it. The weathering is good. You could also try mixing 50/50 black/brown and dabbing it on lightly with a sponge to get that chipped paint effect. Good work - looking forward to more.

Great job!

nice paintjob overall..

monkeyh wrote:I have to say I'm not a fan of that dread' model (the head just looks too small!)

I was actually thinking the opposite. I rather like the helmeted dreads over the standard sarcophagus style, and the red/white scheme I like quite a lot.

Keep up the great work, San!

Cheers,
Rawson

Thanks for taking the time to comment guys, its always appreciated.

Rawson, im with you - i love the helmet on the dread.

well, while my Imperial Fists army is slowly coming together i decided to branch out a little and try my hands at Grey Knights. I picked up a box of paladins to try something other than a wall of yellow and i got to say, they are awesome models. scary deadly pieces too. ive been begging my regular opponents to let me reinforce my Imperial Fists with a squad of Paladins on secondment. so far, they've all said no. cowards!

in any case - i would love your feedback on the first two of the squad. i tried a couple of new techniques on these guys. the power weapons are done differently as are the parchments and scrolls.

Holy Power weapon!
Nicely done, they look just as they should, amazing.

Really like the shading on the force weapons.

to quote Saky, "Holy Power Weapon!" those look amazing. I also love the yellow on your Imperial Fists, makes me wish I spent more time painting lol.

Keep up the good work, I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on this thread!

th3maninblak wrote:Really like the shading on the force weapons.

Agreed.

Every time I check in here there's always one thing that gives me pause and makes me smile.

And it's San76's user icon.

The color is perfect. It's just a Marine backpack, but it speaks volumes and I absolutely love it. The subtle bits of black against the yellow, the shading or said yellow... I mean seriously your yellow is impeccable. It manages to maintain a vivid brightness without being neon, and has excellent shading without delving into brownland.

If I ever meet you sir, I'll shake your hand and buy you a beer.


Oh yeah, all the other stuff is excellent as well.

@SelvaggioSaky awesome phrase - mind if i steal it?

@th3maninblak, Chaplain Cy, monkeyh and Chemical Cutthroat - thanks heaps!

@Chemical that back pack was one fo the first things i ever painted last year. im stoked you like it.

All Yours mate!

Great Dreadnought man! Your stuff just keeps getting better and better. High five!

hey all,

had a bit of chance to work on my Grey Knights. this is the first banner i've tried and i shamelessly based it on the GW one. sorry its a "desktop" shot.

as always, greatly appreciate any comments or tips

'eavy Metal called.

They want their models back.

Stunning as ever sir.

hahah your're too kind Chem!

well Chemical Cutthroat is right in every way!

on my YT channel, i once painted a IF and it was kind of camel, because i didnt really like all the yellow IFs ive seen so far.
but then i noticed yours! and i love them! the yellow is vivid and smooth, and the shading is subtle but hard to miss.

your GKs are also really nice, and Chems 'eavy metal joke was not misplaced!

you can call me Mr Subscribedtoyourepicp&mblog

Very nice job on the banner man!
I told You that You have other talents, like painting unbelievably well everything You touch!

Cheers guys, i really appreciate it.

I have been working away for the last couple of weeks so not much progress im afraid. did get a chance though to briefly use a light tent before i went and took a shot of my latest Marine. personally, im now a HUGE fan of the light tent - this guy hasn't had dullcoate or anything like that and the amount of reflection is way more controllable and its a lot easier to get the colours right.

i plan on getting one asap.

Glad to see you doing more Fists. Can;t wait to see the rest of the squad.

Honest to God, you kick the gak out of any Imperial Fist paint scheme I have seen.

Your yellows are flawless, the shading and highlights are spot on. The whole build is impeccable. I love it.

And there's nothing fancy about it! No crazy conversions, no off the wall models... just good, solid, pristine paintjobs that bring out the best of what you have.

Wicked-awesome sir. I'm sure the rest of the squad will be impeccable.


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By the way... *gak* was not what I originally said.

Hey folks, sorry for the delay I've been working away a lot.

swordwind and chemical, thanks heaps guys. i really appreciate the encouragement - particularly as i look at the other blogs and folks get stuff done SO much faster.

in any case, got another one of the squad for you today - this time the sergeant. decided to do a bit of light conversion and make him look a bit different pose/gear wise. love to hear what you think.

hopefully this weekend i will get my first vehicle (a rhino) done and some photos up.

looking good!!
i have a quick question about your grey knights btw...
did you paint their nemesis force weapons with an airbrush or by hand? (i mean brush not fingerpainting )
in case you did use an airbrush, how did you mask the curved blade?

ive been trying but im struggling with it

As usual your yellow is amazing, like the figure and the pose, keep going.
Waiting for the rhino now...

thanks very much guys.

Djinsk - i did paint them with an airbrush. frankly the curved blades on the halberds were a pain. what you have to do is tape off half the blade at a time. with a sword its easy 'cause they are straight; with the halberds what i had to do was tape the whole blade and then using a very sharp knife cut away one of the sections. its a pain because i struggled cutting through the tape without carving into the plastic.

to be honest, you could get the same effect blending with a brush (and tape) the airbrush just makes it much, much easier.

ok so tape then cut out the section...
got it!

thanks for the info that was where i was messing up

Very nice painting. Love the way the yellow has come out!

hey Dijnsk, yeah you got it. sorry for my long winded answer...i really needed to read the question next time .

Thanks very much Tipios!

Very nice! You paint yellow beautifully.

Hey folks,

long time no posts.

here is my new captain for your consideration. its the forgeworld mkIV model. he was great fun to paint, though painting the face was daunting. i had only painted skin tones once before and it looked horrendous.

Loving the black cloak and loincloth! Great contrast there

@ Rawson - Thanks very much mate. to be honest, i havent painted many capes so im glad you liked it

Hey everyone,

after painting my Fists captian i had an itch to paint something other than yellow. so, picked up a command box of Imperial Guard and thought i would give them a go. i found it very different to painting marines.

anyways, here is the first trooper ... as always, all comments welcome

Amazing stuff.. The Captain's face is spot on!

love the warmth of the IG troopers.

Thanks very much Solar!

I agree with Solar. I like the IG trooper. I'm sure you enjoyed the nice change of pace from your yellow armored guys.

i did man; much love for the Fists but it is a LOT of yellow.

still...my Land Raider is calling....

Wow, this is the first IF force I've really liked. I like the skull and aquillas being white versus the traditional red, which always looked strange to me. Subbed for sure.

thanks very much whalemusic360.

when i started out i intended to go fully codex with them (they are my first army) but well, red and yellow was just reminded me too much of McDonalds restaurant...so i went with the bone instead.

im glad you like them.

tomorrow i will try and post a pic of my first vehicle (Rhino). if i can get a halfway decent shot that is.

Wow, I just came here thanks to Gitsplitta's advice, and I'm amazed at how neat & crisp your models are !

Yellow is a really hard colour to work for me, and your Imperial Fists are top notch !

I'll be following this for sure

Hey there!

Love your blog as its full of all things I love (loyalists )

Anyway, love your Imperial Fists, I'm trying to paint some myself but I'm having trouble getting the yellow right :( I may have to steal your techniques!

Keep up the good work, looking forward to more xxx

@ Yggdrasil cheers mate and thanks to Gitsplitta for sending you over! yeah, yellow can be a harsh mistress.

@bubble thanks very much! if you want the recipe just send us a message, the main trick is having an airbrush/spray device of some kind.

didnt get to do much painting over the weekend but i thought i would post my rhino. i finished him a little while ago. im afraid one of my lights blew so its a bit dark but fortunately its bright yellow, so you can still see it tried out some weathering powders- it was a learning experience....

as always, comments gratefully received.

Very nice, the yellow is damn near perfect, liking the red on the shoulder pad too, dark enough to ensure it doesn't look like a maccas advert!

consider me subscribed!

Thanks heaps prototype! I do fear the McDonald's connection.....one of the main reasons I went with bone aquillas.

Great Rhino... Damn, you're good !!

many thanks Yggdrasil, i really need to up the number of vehicles i have, so you should see more in the future. away for work atm and i just heard from home that my Forge world cataphractii have arrived.....cant wait to get home...

well, after two weeks in the field i got home to find my new figures from Forgeworld have arrived.

found time to start one of them today. absolutely LOVE these models! now...to decide on a colour scheme...

Got a bit of time yesterday afternoon to start my new terminator. choosing a colour scheme for this one was a bit tricky as the regular Fists heraldry is set up for a totally different armour appearance. tried to incorporate some Black for the 3rd company.

anyways, here are some WIP shots (sorry for the poor quality - my camera phone isnt the best)

So, some more progress to report on my Forgeworld terminator. i'm pretty happy with how he is coming together so far, got to try and get to highlighting tonight.

again - phone photos only im afraid...

Looks nice, San. The yellow seems a bit paler than your other models, though. Is that deliberate or do you just need to add some more layers? Or is it just the picture...?

Thanks heaps yellowbeard.

It's the camera on my phone I'm afraid. Normally I take my shots on a proper camera, with white balance and all the rest, but I haven't had a chance at the moment.

These are just quick snaps from the old HTC camera . I put them up cause I'm a bit excited by the new terminator models

Those terminators look lovley! I can't wait to see the finished product.


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Oh, and I thought I should add; that your yellow, your fantastic, beautiful yellow, has inspired me to give my Lamenters another go. The reason I put them on the backburner was the difficulty I was having getting a nice yellow. So thanks for inspiring me!

Great start on the termie. I'm not into the HH figures yet, Still have may other project in the wings.

I do love some of the weapons and love the power fist/ claw. they are well designed. looking forward as you move ahead on this project.

Thanks very much guys.

@prototype_x - mate, you are too kind. Looking frward to seeing some more lamenters; more yellow is always good!

@solar lion - I only have the captain and the termies. Don't know if the cataphractii will make it on the table, I'm loving painting them though.

San this stuff is stunningly painted, really, its a quality you hardly ever see for a whole army. Your yellow is perfect, even if it does make me very jealous!

Termies are lovely models! and your doing them justice with your paint, cant wait to see more progress on them (but don't forget your poor lowly guardsmen!)

Hey folks,

well I've finished the first of my cataphractii. got to say, totally love the model and am looking forward to the next one. tried a different approach with the lightening claws this time - used an airbrush instead of dry brushing.

i think i loaded too big a photo, so its a little blurry unless you click and then zoom a notch. my apologies for that but the full size option was terrifyingly large and i've yet to pack for my trip tomorrow

as always, very much welcome any feedback

Very clean, Thou I'm not a fan of the cataphractii termies , this one looks great. Good use of black and gold to break up and balance the yellow. You will need to finish the squad.
Did you make the base?
What are you using to black out your background of your pics.

Very nice San. How did you like the results with the air brush compared to dry brushing?

Thanks guys.

@solar lion - def. will be trying to finish squad but I paint so slowly....will be home again after xmas and straight into it. I did make the base, hope you like it. Its just some cork flooring I cut some bricks into. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. As for the background, I used a light tent with a blak background.

@ice angel - I quite like the airbrush for the claws. Lot of set up and cleaning time but only way I can get that smooth a gradient (I lack the blending skills).

well, first post of 2013. dont know how it was for anyone else out there but 2012 felt like it was only six months long for me. time flies i guess....

got a whole day to indulge in some painting yesterday so have been working on completing my cataphractii squad. its y new years resolution - must complete at least ONE squad before i let myself get distracted

anyways, here is a WIP shot. decided to go with energized power fists...i figure lightening claws and power sword s are often shown "activated" ..why not fists? also, i think it ties the squad together a bit.

any thoughts gratefully received and happy new years to everyone!

san.

Great work here man. Now idk how labor intensive the yellow in your scheme is but I honestly preferred the scheme of your chaplains honor guard to the normal IF scheme and it might be something to consider continuing on termies/vets. Idk thats just my 2cents

Thanks mate!

Yeah, I was pretty happy with the honour guard (another squad I need to finish). The termites would look pretty mean in black with yellow highlights....but I think I'm committed to this now. I totally get what you mean though..

Been looking at my completed cata and he seems a little plain....maybe I need to work in some heraldry or something...

Holy Emperor, what great models!
And with yellow? YELLOW??! The most horrendous colour to paint in the 40k-verse!?
Kudos man, kudos!

many thanks mate.

hehe yeah, even with an airbrush yellow is a four stage process for me...im glad you liked it .

it IS horrendous..but Dorn chose yellow, so what can i do? P)

Those terminators are just beautiful. I love coming to your blog, it makes me want to paint yellow!

cheers prototype_x.....we need to see more of your lamenters mate!

subbed really like the effext on the inside of the jump packs cool idead

thanks kencotter

Such a brilliant yellow, I love well done fists armies due to the colours and yours is up there with the best, well done. Would you mind sharing your painting tecnique?

Young Logan

Thanks young Logan, very kind. No probs at all with the recipe, it's:

- prime in black
- base in iyander dark sun
- golden yellow all over
- even, thin coat of gryphonne sepia, being careful not to pool. This stage is just to deepen the hue of the yellow a bit.
- golden yellow again.
- shade in recesses with Devlan mud/ agrax earthshade
- highlights 50:50 golden yellow/ skull white.

The trick is to let each stage dry between coats and not move on till you have an even coat.

Sorry the paint names are the old versions, I am still working some old pots

That yellow is looking awesome xxxx

Thanks Bubble!

well, a quick update on the cataphractii - my sergeant is done. i decided to paint him with a post heresy helmet, on the off chance my regular opponents ever allow me to play these guys on the table. the rest are 60% done....but im off for a work trip for a couple of weeks so there will be a pause in my already slow progress.

any thoughts most gratefully received.

san

I love green power weapons! Lush. Great blog man.

thanks mate!

Mm very nice!
I really like you painting style.

Too kind IPS

So i found myself wanting to paint something other than yellow over the weekend, but i didn't feel like assembling any grey knights or imperial guard - great excuse to grab the new starter kit and have a go at some of the new models.

frankly, i am really impressed with the figures. sure you cant pose them, but the detail is amazing and they are nice and fast.

anyways. got two dark angels painted up. im not a big fan of the Dark Angels green color, so i went for different type of green. guess it came out a bit more Salamanders green than Dark Angels - for some reason i struggled to get a good pic. in RL the models are a little less candy green and a little more olive. tried a new technique on these guys - some shading with airbrush instead of just block colours. unfortunatley, i think i may have been too subtle with it you can see it a little on the lower legs and the top of the back packs...next time i will be more heavy handed.

as always, thoughts gratefully received.

Very clean! Great job on the eyes!

Thanks solar!

the green is awsome man how did you get that shade of green it looks almost pastel

Thanks Kencotter.

as for the green, thank the gods for airbrushes is all i can say. the recipe though was : Waagh Flesh > heavy wash with Athonian Camoshade > repanel with Waagh Flesh > top down spray with 50:50 Waagh flesh/ Loren forest > top down spray Loren Forest > highlights with Straken green.

i was pretty happy with how the new paint range sprayed.

Did you cut the paint and by how much?

I cut it 50:50, same as when i use a brush and it seemed to work pretty good.

 San76 wrote:
I cut it 50:50, same as when i use a brush and it seemed to work pretty good.

For a minute there I thought I'd stumbled into a 4chan conversation about heroin.

Haha! Plastic crack....

That is one beautiful marine! xxx

Cheers bubble...love what you are doing with your ultras. have you started your IF yet?

Heheh thank you! Funny you should mention that, I've been working on one today... It's just so ugly compared to yours haha! I still have a lot to learn with painting yellow... your IFs make me jealous and grumpy lol xxx

Seems that you can turn you hands to any loyalist force and it looks good

Young Logan

Pics bubble, pics! The world needs more IF!

Young Logan, you are very kind. Going to try a chaos model from dark vengeance next, step out of that comfort zone. The armour is so baroque on these evil doers, a lot to learn...

 San76 wrote:
Pics bubble, pics! The world needs more IF!

Young Logan, you are very kind. Going to try a chaos model from dark vengeance next, step out of that comfort zone. The armour is so baroque on these evil doers, a lot to learn...

Painting chaos? Pardon me if I missed this before, but have you declared how you'll be painting said chaos figures? I am very excited to see you paint up some chaos guys, hopefully in some ridiculously bright paint scheme.

Or something terrifyingly dark and gridmark. Either way, the servants of the dark lords are pleased.

Keep up the good work!

well, i will be honest - i had no idea how to paint chaos. the models are amazing but they are so different from Imperial Fists....

so, i tried to combine IceAngel's request for bright colours with Prototype_X's request for grimdark on my Chosen.

Tried a few new things with this model including armour shading using airbrush, bit of subtle OSL from the claws on the fists, a new type of base.

hope you like him .

Looks sweet, although I think his face/eyes could do with something to draw the eye to them a bit more, at the moment the focus feels like it's lower down on the chest/belt buckle.

yeah, i know what you mean. i ended up doing the eyes a couple of times...brighter eyes, that sort of thing...but nothing seemed to work so i settled on something simple.

I agree - really nice but needs more of a focus. Maybe take the eyes up to pure white with glow around?

Or bring the brightness of the belt skull down a bit as I think the helmet is fine as is!

I'd go even lighter on the helmet. The belt is a central peice and large. Not much you can do with it and another color might look odd ( maybe make it metal thsu blending it in as armor)
Now were just nitpicking an great figure... ~sigh~
Nice powerclaws!

*shakes head sadly* how, oh how, did this blog fall to chaos

Superb painting as usual though. I like the claws!! xxx

Dude, thats exactly how you paint chaos, welcome to the dark side.

Thanks very much for your responses folks!

Solar, nerdfest09, inmygravenimage - thanks for your advice guys.

Bubble...glad you like the claws...soon more Fists....well in a couple of weeks when i get back form work.

Novelists....thanks so much

Looks like you can do chaos as well I love the colour scheme as well

Young Logan

That looks so good, you pretty much nailed what I was thinking of when I said "dark and gridmark"

I absolutley adore that model too. I've almost finished my version of it.

Keep up the great work!

I'm sorry San, I genuinely thought I'd already commented on this fellow, *slaps own hand* Its amazingly done, really, you have managed to distill his natural evilness in paint form, I like it alot, I hope this is just the first of your heretical paintings. Having said that I miss your guard, they were the benchmark of painting I was trying to reach with mine...trying.

Thanks very much young Logan.

Looking forward to your version prototype! I loved he model, will confess I found it a challenge (which is good).

j-paint, you've just decided my next model for me! IG it is. Be a couple of weeks though, I'm out of town.

Hey folks,

i know i said the next model would be IG...but my forgeworld Fists arrived and i couldn't resist. Love the Mk III armour but i struggled to use my usual decals - the edging on the shoulders is just too chunky. Hopefully he looks like an IF even without the chapter symbol.

he just didn't look right all shiny and clean though, so I tried a couple of different things on this guy - mostly using weathering powder and chipping up the paint. was pretty nerve wracking mucking up a clean yellow paint job...but you gotta learn sometime, right?

hope you like him. as always - thoughts much appreciated



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hmm...jst had a look on my ipad and the photo looks orange...yellow on pc...orange on ipad.

will look into it...

Too dark to comment on the color. Love the weathering.. what technique do you use?

As battered as he is I would have thrown some bullet holes in the front of the shield!

I love that marine. Beautiful piece of work! (looks yellow on my computer too!)

So grubby, and yet so yellow! Beautiful job, like a completely lethal cheeto.

I really like him, the yellow is beautifully executed.

Just my 2cents, if you want him to look obviously IF perhaps you could put a dash of red? Looking good, t'was just a thought
Proto

AWESOME!! I love the model and the color, great job man!

Thanks very much everyone. Glad its looking yellow...I had to upload 4 versions in the end to get it to work. Never had that issue before...

@solar-lion : I used a sponge for the chipping along with brushing some weathering powder on the shield and lower legs etc. for general grime. Would you bore out the bullet holes or paint them?

@inmygravenimage: rofl

@prototypex: I know what you mean with the red but I never really was into the red on IF, so I switched to a bone Aquila on my guys with a red weapon panel. This guy didn't have an Aquila sadly, and I lack the freehand skills.

Loving as usual Your Yellow job Mate!

I would bore a little the bullets hole and weather around them.

Thanks Selvaggio...will give that a go

Agreed.. Make the hole then use a sharp hobby knife to weather the edges slightly. you can see some good stuff on Git's Ironclad dread.. the lightning claws marks are my favorite.

I just can't fault that marine. Stunning. xxx

Thanks very much Bubble.

well, i finally finished my cataphractii squad this week. to be honest, i think this may be only my second completed squad ever. awesome models....i doubt i will ever get to play them on the table but i think they look way more badass than the standard termies.

i took some shots to show you all today - at first i went for the model by model shot..but then i thought why not throw a few together. the lighting isn't as neutral as i would have liked...got to get better bulbs, but it adds a bit to the drama maybe

so, here you go...a single shot of the Autocannon terminator and another with a few of the boys. i still haven't worked out the best rez to upload at, sorry bout that.

san.

Fantastic looking squad. I love the break up of the yellow with the greens/greys/blacks, but it looks amazing.

Thank you Enslaviour!

Talking about not being able to get transfers onto the MKIII shoulders, did you consider putting it on the shield? Also how did you go about making it grubby?

Young Logan

Hi Logan,

yeah i thought about putting it on the shield but decided the white circle option wouldnt look right, and the fist without the circle would blend in with the strip...so i left it out.

as for the weathering, i did the chipping with a sponge and then used forgeworld weathering powder for dust on lower parts of armor and shield.

It's really impressive that you can make that yellow so vibrant yet still grimdark. Awesome.

Haha cheers Inmygravenimage

Great group shot.
I still love the yellow (that's obvious), and impressed with the rest... weathering ans such a like.

Thanks muchly Sel. next project is to finish the stormtalon i think...been painting it since they came out...

As per your yellow astounds San, and the group shot looks incredible, really really nice! And a stormtalon too you say? I cannot wait, are you painting the cockpit? (or more the 'glass' cockpit covering) i've seen people do some nice effects, like glossy black / super reflective etc.


Oh and you did promise some IG at some point! I have not forgotten! Even so, keep it up!

Fantastic! Not only do the FW terminators look awesome, the paint job is also phenomenal. Keep it up!

Really nice group you have going on.

Everything looks brilliant. Yellow is a pretty hard color to paint but you have done it fantastically. Kudos, sir!

Amazing work San's.. I think the pics turned out well.

J-Paint, IceAngel, Whalemusic, DarthBob and Solar Lion - Thanks so much folks, you are all very kind.

J-Paint...you totally called me on it - i did promise some Guard. well, in the true spirit of a WIP blog here is proof i'm working on it mate - my Captain (crappy phone photo). still a lot of work to do on him and please excuse the paint tray (i never clean the damned thing) but he is getting there



As for the stormtalon, i decided to go with the clear cockpit. took me back to the days of building model WW2 fighter planes, though i admit, im terrified of getting finger prints on the glass when i finally glue it down. i swear most deaths on the battlefields of my childhood were caused by opaque windscreens on planes :(

Tactical delayed comment to get you as much time at the top of the project logs as possible, (you really deserve more comment-ers for the standard here!)

The captain is looking superb! your painting is so incredibly smooth, and its only a WIP, cant wait to see him done.

The clear cockpit is lovely too, shows off that lovely pilot, is that the head that comes in the kit? I really like it! As for the airfix comment, its very true! I must have spent so long on so planes getting them just right then covering the windscreen in those horrible gluey fingerprints, i think that should be the way you are rated as an airfix modeller, how much of the pilot remains visible when your done attaching the cockpit!

heheh well fingers crossed mate. cheers for the tactics too!

that is the head form the stormtalon kit. its pretty cool actually. will try and get some good pics of him before i glue it all down.

That captain is special man!
Brilliant work.

Cheers Sel! hoping to get him finished in next couple of days.

This one is for J-Paint - as promised, more Imperial Guard.

Hope you like him. Totally different from painting IF and i would love any thoughts folks might have on how he turned out. he had a miscast where his left eye was a fused mass..so i tried to turn it into a steel orb type situation as there was no way i could carve it out. on the table the brim of the hat kind obscures it anyways

San.

Smooth

It doesn't even looks a 40k mini, but a proper official in a proper uniform in a proper army

Oh wow San! That is even better than I ever imagined! Honestly that is so smoothly done it almost looks real! the eye is barely noticeable at all, i only saw because you pointed it out, and even then I think your clever paint work makes it look intention. I am officially going to spire to you quality of painting with my next guardsman, thank you for raising the bar in such spectacular fashion!

Incidentally are you using GW paints for these?


To try and stop sounding like such a fangirl i've tried taking a minute to try and critique for you, but there is honestly nothing with the paintwork I can fault! The only (incredibly minor!) thing i can see is the tiny air pockets on the number transfer, having said that it just looks like chips in the paint, and is totally unavoidable, always disliked putting those flat transfers of curved surfaces.

What masterpiece do you have in store for us next?

cheers Sel! this model reminds me very much of WW1 British officers...with a las pistol of course


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hehehehe careful J-paint...i will start believing your hype soon.

Seriously though, thanks heaps for taking the time to comment (and for liking him) im really happy with how he came out...and devo about those bubbles....let that be a lesson to everyone - there is always time to varnish before transfers!

was real shame about the eye...but on the other hand, one less eyeball to (try to) paint glad it didn't spoil the model.

yeah i pretty much only use GW paints. i know there are other options but the local GW store manager has been really friendly and helpful, so i try to support his store. if you want the recipe mate, i can give it to you no problems. ive recently started including a vallejo white simply because the last couple of GW pots i got were semi coagulated. im sure GW would have swapped them...but getting into the store is a hassle etc. etc.

i think what really worked well was the use of forgeworld weathering powders. my partner gave me one of their small make up brushes and it let me brush on the powders in a really controlled way. i think i will be using them from now on...they worked well on my Marine with Assault shield and on this guy.

next model i guess should be my stormtalon. ive got to get that thing finished..but the rest of my Imperial Guard squad are calling to me now...as well as my Landraider for my Fists.

what about you mate, what you got for us next?

The old varnish before transfer lesson, one I continue to learn then promptly forget till next time.

As for the Recipe, if you have one for the fatigues in particular I would be forever in your debt, I can't seem to paint that sort of colour without the highlights looking too stark or too brown.

And oh that is interesting about the weathering powders, I have started using them on tanks, but I didn't even consider them for infantry, i figured the surface would be too small to work effectively, I may well have to see about 'borrowing' a make up brush as well...What sort of size did you end up using? I'm guessing that is what the lovely bottom of the greatcoat effect is? Did you use it anywhere else on this guy?

as for me I'm currently in the middle of my last year of uni exams, so no updates for me until the 9th, but i assure you, that will be a good day for the general health of my blog, I have quite a few things to update on, including two chimera bodies stuck together with a russ turret, but that's not important! What is important is progress on your stormtalon!

Hey J-Paint - good luck in your exams mate. i remember doing those myself...shudder...

the recipe i use for the khaki is:

1. Base coat in steel legion drab
2. wash in Reikland flesh shade
3. build up highlights in tallarn sand
4. highlight in karak stone
5. highlight in 1:1 karak / bleached bone
6. optional final highlight pure bleached bone

The trick with it all is from 3 onwards, make sure you are using very thin paints. 1:1 or even 2:3 paint to water in several thin coats as you build up your highlights away from the base colour. it takes time...but its meditative

as for the brush, its pretty small, maybe 6 mm across, 4 mm deep? i believe its for eye shadow...which makes sense since that's painting with powders too hope thats helpful.

That is perfect, thank you, I will give that a go when i get a chance. I have acquired a eye brush of my own now, i'm looking forwards to trying it out!

So, i decided to try my hand at painting some terrain pieces. well, not exactly terrain...the Aegis Defence line. i doubt i will use it...but they should look nice on the table. well, at least nicer than the piece of Styrofoam we normally use to mark a wall

After discussing which way to go with a mate, i decided to go against my first instinct and I will paint them up as an Imperial Fist defence emplacements, not Imperial Guard. As my mate put it " if ever there were a bunch of marines that would use mobile defences, its the Fists."

anyways, so far i have painted up the canon and one wall test segment.the gun model is a great piece, GW have done a good job on keeping it streamlined but detailed i think.

tried to keep up the weathering as its good practice and i cant imagine these things would see a lot of cleaning between deployments. as always thoughts gratefully received. (sorry the images are large and need zooming, i can never work out the best photo size)

The Canon.



Canon and fist line segment

Oh my San! If your expanding to terrain you at least have to lower the quality! That is going to take forever to do to that standard! The yellow transition is lovely, the larger space really emphasises the smoothness.

As much as I love guard I agree with your friend, its a very IF thing to do and makes it a bit more unique. A fine addition.

Well done.. nice blending!..

Just looked through this for the first time ad I must say, your imperial fists are beautiful!
Also, big fan of how clean the the chaos marine looked. I'm looking forward to following more of your work =)

Wow

The dirty bottom of the cannon is just perfect with the yellow over It.... How do You do that mate ?

Loving this blog every picture a little more!

Thanks so much for your kind words folks, i really appreciate it!

@ J-Paint: man, im such a slow painter with whatever i do, it makes no real difference.

@Solar_lion - thank you!

@LordRogalDorn - too kind mate. gotta get back into those Dark Vengeance models...

@SelvaggioSaky - thanks man. i did the dust/dirt weathering using Forgeworld Weathering Powders. i am a bit in love with them at the moment. just brush them on lightly with a make-up brush and instant dirt/soot etc. messy...but awesome.

You spray varnish over them and the pigment stays?

Thats the one.

i find dullcote holds it on there pretty good. you will lose a little because the spray kinda blows the dust off, but you can always apply some more then respray.

Do you use just a light spray of the matt?
Only I've found it completely removes the dusty look of the pigments removing the point really, but then again I wasn't using dullcoat.

Beautiful Fists btw and I like how there is just one guardsman in this thread to cover the thread name

Thanks very much OneManNoodles.

You are quite right, you have to go for a fairly light spray. I've found that best when using DullCote anyways; if i go to heavy with it something in the medium seems to blur slightly highlights and such.

Absolutely fantastic models and paint jobs here. It's nice to see the IF getting some love, it's interesting to see the boys in yellow amongst all the usual Ultramarines and whatnot.

Exalted and subscribed.

Keep up the truly outstanding work!

Thank you Darkvoidof40k...you are too kind!

Man, your stuff is amazing. I love IF! I'd love to do a pre-heresy vrsion but I can't paint yellow

Subscribed

Thank you Nashbashem! It's not so bad really, as long as you have an airbrush or something similar. If not, well...page 1 of this blog is up there for eternity

Cheers for subscribing. Got to get your bronze recipe off you...

Greeting folks!

well, its winter down here in Oz and i woke up last week sick as. so i thought to myself...nurgle!

After painting the cadians i have been wanting to try my hand at some green marines and it seemed like a great excuse, so i dug out my dark vengeance and picked a victim.

firstly, once again i have to say how awesome the Dark Vengeance models are. admittedly, you cant pose them...but on the other hand, i doubt i could come up with a more dynamic pose.

In painting this guy i tried a couple of new things. i tried to enhance my airbrush skills a bit more by trying both pre-shading and directional highlights with the airbrush on his armour. i first did this on the other chaos guy, and it came out well but subtle. decided to be a bit braver this time.

secondly, tried to be more subtle with my edge highlighting to blend in better with the directional highlights - didn't want a nice airbrush fade to end in a solid bar of highlight. hopefully this has worked. finally, i got hold of some water effect stuff (vallejo) and had a play on the base. i thought about weathering him but decided against it as i didn't weather the other chaos guy in the squad.

as always, i would love to hear your thoughts.

san

ps sorry the photo in blog is so small....i cant find a way to post bigger than 600 pixels without going the full file...and i didnt want to make folks who maybe weren't interested download the whole thing. if anyone knows away...please tell me. for those that do want to see it....please click and zoom (with my thanks)

the obligatory montage:



View of the base

Beautiful work, but I now have the southpark/team america montage song stuck in my head like a nurgley earworm.

He is rather epic. Papa Nurgle would be proud

Loving the Aegis and quad gun, the colours really make it, it will definatly fit into the fists army. Any chance we could have some photos with a little more light please? I'd love to see some more of the detail on your models

Young Logan

Very nice. .I'm finding that in order to get more of a pop with my AB you need to be less timid in the color range. Case in point if you look at Git's MW blog (early work) his usual shade of highlighting is a lighter version of the original. His later work pushes the color more out to the extreme.. Hence his use of more yellow in his green.

Everytime I try I'm so cautious, but regret I didn't push it further.. Oh that comfort zone.

Any way look great nice touch with the Eyes!

Damn!
Everything You touch with colors become awesome!
Great figure and base

Thanks so much for commenting guys.

@inmygravenimage - rofl..i hadn't even thought of that...now that i think of it though, a montage of a model being painted, step by step, set to '80s montage music would be awesome...

@young logan - thanks for letting me know they are too dark. on my screen they look ok, but maybe that's just cause i already know what the mini looks like. will try and get more light in there.

@solar_lion - totally know what you mean about comfort zones. the next step for me is to try and apply the highlighting techniques i learnt here to a transparent colour, like yellow....

@Nashbashem and SelvaggioSaky - as always, you are too kind .

so..for the next project i think it will be to try and get some shading on an Imperial Fist. the main issue is going to be that i dont normally build up the mid tone of the IF as one paint, whereas with the nurgle marine i did. if its not completely horrible i will try and post pics of my experiment.

cheers again guys.

san.

Everybody need a montage!..... even Rocky....had a montage.....


:-) but your montage is nice too San! love the look of your Nurgley stuff it's suitably gritty and diseased but somehow looks clean and just decrepit and worn! I hope that's the image you were/are after mate?

hahah thanks nerdfest09, i hadnt thought of it that way, but im glad you did

Hey San!

Have to say that personally I think that's one of your best! It really did make me stop dead and stare at it! WELL DONE.

I love it! (Even though it's Nurgle ) xxx

HAha! Many thanks bubble. Im glad you liked him - he was great fun to paint and the base was my first use of water effects too, which was good fun. To be honest, I tend to agree with you re: him being one of my better efforts.

To correct this I'm trying at the moment to use some of the zenithal technique I learned on the nurgle marine on some test IF figures. I have found yellow to be much, much harder to use the technique on than green. I guess there aren't really "darker yellows" per se, so I have to use browns etc.

This is a WIP shot of my first volunteer. The photos are just phone ones, so please forgive the poor focus. I've been pleasantly surprised by how he came out. There are some lighting shadows on him, but the zenithal technique did seem to give him on depth. I think it's most obvious on the shoulders, the lower legs, the nacelles (?) on the backpack and the helm.

Hey San, I was honestly just thinking about using this exact method on IF today! I am sorely tempted to start a HH era IF force and was trying to work out my style for painting them? I love how yours are painted all the way through this blog and that one is great! the darker yellow appeals to me as my first introduction to them was from the novel 'Space Marine' where they were described as having a mustard colour armour!

I have used a light rust.. It's on the brown side but with a touch of red..I think it's works better than a brown alone .. which I find easily looks like weathering than lighting.

That's unreasonably pretty...

thanks so much for taking the time to read guys.

@solar_lion thanks for the tip. i had noticed that when you are shading with brown...it naturally can look a bit like dirt. will try something with a red in it next time.

@nerfest09 - mate ive read the same book. the Emperor willing, they will write some good IF fiction soon. you totally should do up a test marine...fair warning....yellow is a fickle, high maintenance mistress. absolutely loved the mantis warrior you did up for gitsplitta btw!

@inmygravenimage - haha many thanks mate. i will try and bring the grim back on the next one.

well, rather than basing my test figure (which i will do) ive been working on my praetor. i just couldnt resist the sculpt from FW - even though i doubt he will ever see the table. the model arrived just after i took the photo i loaded last night, so basing got forgotten.

WIP pics soon...but for now...work beckons....

Like It, good job all around, but your yellow is just too good to be changed with this.

Don't want to criticize your amazing skills mate.
The IF You do are the best I see on the net and, if I can have a word on It, keep this kind of painting for something else

Thanks so much Sel, though you are being over generous.

to be honest, i probably wont paint too many more Fists with this technique (just the praeotr which ive started, and if i get enthusiastic, the rest of a combat squad for my test marine) at this stage. i like it, and maybe if i had known how to do it from the start it would be different....but they are going to look really different from the rest of my army.

guess its an excuse to start a new army

 San76 wrote:


guess its an excuse to start a new army

Go for It

Edit: Happy 10th page

Woot!!

I like the test model. Give him a very dirty look. Very pleasing to the eye

@nashbashem - thanks very much !

Sorry it's been so long between updates; been painting but had some issues with my photo gear. Anyways,I got hold of the FW Praetor model . Was an interesting one to paint, the detail was incredible but some of the finer bits (say on the gun) where's so fine they didn't stay straight. That minor complaint aside, the FW stuff is amazing.

Anyways, I hope you like it . Any comments/votes greatlfully received. Hopefully more updates soon.

Lovely painting on that fist. He look's fantastic.

I just found your thread here, and man, excellent, excellent painting. Your IF's looks great. I hope mine come out looking half as good as yours. I need to get a better airbrush and brush up on my skills (lol) to get closer to this standard.

You've also convinced me to look at some of the FW models a little more closely.

Wow, stunning work on that model... Awesome !

Though I can understand the "un-straigthness" issues you're having... They're really annoying, considering the price of the models !

@leadlegion - thanks mate!

@valhalla130 - far too kind. Look forward to seeing your IF - airbrush makes fists much, much more fun to paint bro. If you can get one, its worth it. I wish i had one from the start.Some of the FW models are great. I don't know if they are any good on the table, but they have lot of character i think.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@yggdrasil - hehe well least it isn't just me I think they are just pushing the limits of why the material can do; any finer and it will collapse under its own weight. Still, I love the detail all the same cheers for your kind words mate..

I have a cheap airbrush I bought just to do basecoats for the yellow, and it is a lifesaver. I really want to invest in a Badger Patriot in the future, but money is an issue right now.

That Praetor is amazing. A very detailed character to lead your force Fantastic job

Incredible models man. Love the damage and the contrast with the blacks. Do you paint your power weapons green shades or do you greyscale the shadeing and wash green over them? They look like they glow!

Awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing.
(Always loved yellow!)

@Nashbashem thanks very much mate!

@corpus6667 - cheers man, so glad you like them. the way i do power weapons is to paint the blade dark dark green, then layer up with lighter greens. recently (on last two models) ive done the final layer using a bright yellow to lighten the green instead of white and it seems to give a much more vibrant result.

well, time for some proper WIP shots. i got a pack of MkIV assault marines from FW a whiles back, and decided to give them ago. the last assault marines i painted with a mostly black armour, and i decided to try these the same but using the airbrush. i like the idea of a squad of IF with darker armour. i have also picked up the new Executioner Captain model, which ive painted with a similar scheme (he is painted but parked, awaiting his base to arrive).

anyways, thoughts on the paint scheme gratefully recieved. i know the scheme is pretty dark...but i kinda wanted the eyes and the coloured portions to "pop" in comparison. and you never know...might be able to bring some "grim" to the Fists

base coating done:


Shoulders and studs base coated


Engine exhausts


ps forgive the mess in the background - my desk is a hovel

Thanks!!

Wow that's a really pearlescent grey you've got going on there, gloss varnished? really cool.

Did you AB the Shoulder by itself or hand painted it. It so clean. I can't seem to get that fineof control out of my brush!

@inmygravenimage - hehe yeah, that gloss varnish isnt subtle. i have found recently though my airbrushed paints are easily rubbed off during painting so i thought i would heed the advice of many, many tutorials and give him a layer of gloss to protect the paint. excellent advice from those tutorials btw. he will get dulled down later, if for no other reason than the gloss is terribly hard to photo!

@solar_lion if i had thought for a moment before super gluing i would have painted the shoulder separately; sadly, i didnt. the shoulder is AB'd but using a heap of masking tape and blutac to block the area out (another reason for gloss - protects during masking).

Thats a new trick .. Thanks for sharing that. I'm often not able to control the AB on that small of a piece. Thou my brush is capable.

Are you spraying the varnish as well through the AB?

i know what you mean mate, i live in jealousy of those that can control an AB like a paintbrush! no, masking is the way to go and ive found blu-tac to be the best stuff. its cheap, you can mold it into those hard to tape bits and its re-usable. im not sure what the product would be called in the USA, but its the stuff we use down here to stick posters to walls, that kind of thing (http://www.blutack.com/).

you got to varnish first though or it will lift your paint straight off. this model was the first one ive had an AB ready varnish for (i used minitaire [by badger] gloss varnish i couldn't find a link directly to the firm, but here it is at a hobby store http://www.thecombatcompany.com/hobby/paint-and-paint-sets/badger-minitaire/d6-199-minitaire-gloss-coat/ ) and it was amazing. so fast and easy to apply (straight from bottle to AB, no cutting with anything) and a nice even coat. AB cleaned easy with water and windex.

Wow, that marine looks like colors you'd see on custom scifi action figures! Works really well here, and the yellow sets it off nicely.

cheers whalemusic360! now if i could just get this damned report done for work i could be back at it....

Imagine what one could get done if it wasn't for all that work stuff!

hehe i totally do imagine it...all the time....

Greetings all! So, a blurry (sorry) WIP shot of the MkIV assault marines tonight. Slow progress to report I'm afraid, but the squad is moving towards completion .

At this stage the basic colours and shading are on, decals placed and the eyes painted. No highlights yet and only the most basic wash on the "metal" parts.

So far I think I'm happy with the scheme. I think the yellow shoulder is enough to mark them as Fists (other models have shoulder without studs and have Fists logo) while the dark greys/blacks elsewhere mark them out as a differ kind of unit. A I mentioned before I intend this squad to be the retinue of my Executioner Captain model, so I decided not to go the usual assault markings and went for a skull instead. I think it kind of fits somehow and hopefully will even further mark them out from the crowd of IF.

As always, your thoughts are most appreciated. One thing I would like people's opinions on are the chainswords - do they need....something? Are they too plain? Have toyed with chequers, yellow stripes and a jagged triangle motifs but can't decide whether they would be better than the plain dark grey. I was worried that because everythinng else is pretty dull they might draw the eye away from the other focal points (exhausts, eyes and left shoulder) too much. At this stage the sword looks very plain, but it will get highlighted which will make it more interesting. Normally I have red chainswords, and I did paint one red, but it somehow just didn't fit the sombre tones of the scheme. Anyways...till next time...

I like mine painted.. Usually a couple of stripes. Nothing large. Just enough to break up the space. You could go with the same shoulder yellow if you want to tie it in to your already put us to shame paint job. Off white would work as long as it's kept to a small size.

I don't worry to much about looking too loud. They are marines, after all if they cared about being seen or how they looked they be all wearing some form of camo.

2 cents.

Looks great mate I agree with Solar Lion and you should put a couple of stripes on it but not too big.

Also I've been trying to replicate your yellow recipe from page one and mine are just hideous looking. The problem lies with the Yriel Yellow (Golden Yellow). It's so thin that it gets all lumpy and thick looking when I try to solidify the colour. Any advice?
I'm dying to get yellow perfected so I can start up my Legion Imperial Fists.

*Note it's being painted by hand, don't have an airbrush

cheers guys,

i also spoke with a friend of mine and he too said stripes so i guess, stripes it is

@nashbashem - brother, i feel your pain. i started off without an airbrush and there are a couple of main things i can suggest:

1) your undercoat is your best friend. whether you first use brown, or you use iyander or something like that, the more even it is the better your yellows will look. this is 100% true for both brushes and airbrushes. take your time and make sure its even by doing many, many thin coats. the first few will not be perfect in coverage ...but resist the urge to use thicker paint - that leads to unevenness and more problems later that are really hard to fix. and can obscure details if you go too hard.

2) let each coat FULLY dry before putting the next one on. this took me the longest time to realise and once i did i ended up not needing as many coats (which made for a happy IF painter!). seriously, if you let coat dry full you will get a MUCH smoother final result from far less coats. you also wont get that horrible moment when you realise your brush just scraped up some semi-dry paint from the previous layer into a lump. it is not a good moment....since each layer is thin it shouldnt take too long, i leave mine under my desk lamp for a few minutes and that usually does the trick.

3) a bit of glaze medium in your washes will make them slightly thinner but oh so much easier to control. when your shading recesses on yellow armour...control is everything imo.

anyways mate, hope thats helpful. look forward to seeing your IF.

Thanks for the Tips.

Lol, they were for Nashbashem, but you're welcome

Never let a good tip go to waste!

My whites ( and lighter colors ) end up much better in thinner coats. I seem to get away with thinker coat on darker more saturated colors - Black/ greys/ dark primary colors like red, green and blue. Also dep[ends on the size. Larger areas such as vehicle I should always use thin coats

Thanks for the tips I've noted them all down and I'll start giving them a practice when I've cleared some my back log