Welcome all to the 73rd round of the Dakka Painting challenge. This month's round marks the start of the challenge's 7th annual rotation, kicking off another 12-month race to the top of the League, and a whole lotta painting along the way! For the unfamiliar, this is a friendly painting competition open to members of all skill levels and experience, whether your entry is your first or you thousand-and-first time painting miniatures. Each month, finished entries are collected into a thread where the community can vote on their favourite pieces, and those votes go towards an annual overall League that runs for 12 rounds, ending in February next year.
And once again, we have a prize up for grabs at the very end of the year. Paint consistently and rack up those scores, and a set of exclusive Dakka competition dice,could be yours!
Spoiler:
This month, the theme, as traditional for the first round of each year, is Space Marines, those ubiquitous space-borne fighty chaps with all that armour and whatnot. But, as always, the only limit on your entry is your imagination in interpreting that theme. In the past, we've had Orks in looted power armour, Space Marines adorning the bases of alien monstrosities, and even a bemused collection of modern-day marines who found themselves suddenly in space... So go wild, and as long as it's at least somewhat related, you're good!
How To Enter
- You may enter up to 5 MODELS as a SINGLE ENTRY, and are permitted one entry per member per month. If you enter multiple models, they should ideally be related in some way, such as part of the same squad, unit or scene if you are doing a diorama
- You MUST post a 'proof' picture of your entry in the thread of the state it was in before you started working on it; this must be either unassembled, unpainted, primed or coated a single colour. Entries that do not submit a valid Proof Picture will not be eligible for voting.
- After this, you may post WIP pictures in this thread and your own if you wish, and on completing the entry, you may post up to 6 final pictures IN THIS THREAD that will then be used for voting. Please note that pictures in a montage or collage picture will be considered individual images for this purpose, so while these types of presentation are certainly acceptable, please keep the image limit in mind when compiling them. For example, a collage of 5 images and one separate image would count as your 6 picture allowance.
So What Do I Win?
- Points... and points mean... bragging rights for the next month! Following the vote, points will be awarded to every entrant. This year, the Points you receive will be equal to the Percentage of Votes your entry receives in the final Voting thread; if you get 10%, you get 10 points, if you get 6% you get 6 points, so on and so forth.
These points will be used to form a league table, which will be updated month on month as the results come in.
How Long Do I Have?
This challenge begins 1st of March and will end at midnight UK time on the 31st of March. After this, I shall compile the finished entries into a new thread, and voting will run for 5 days.
List of Entrants
Tyranid Horde:Lt. Amulius FINISHED
Spoiler:
Proof
final
(Big photos spoilered, Para/Nev, if you'd please use these for the voting that'd be sweet!)
[spoiler]
Nevelon: Incursors FINISHED
Spoiler:
Proof
final
viterbi: Invader ATV FINISHED
Spoiler:
Proof
final
queen_annes_revenge: World Eaters Terminator FINISHED
Spoiler:
Proof
final
Rybrook: Baal Predator FINISHED
Spoiler:
Proof
Final
Horla: Sanguinary Priest FINISHED
Spoiler:
Proof
final
Captain Brown: Shining Spears Attacking A Space Marine FINISHED
Feltmonkey: Rat Soldiers (See Explanation...) FINISHED
Spoiler:
Proof
final
"Sooooooo, a "Marine" is just another word for a soldier really, isn't it? And "Space" doesn't have to mean outer space. Could it perhaps refer to a small space? So my "Space Marines" are a couple of soldiers who operate in very small spaces - Rat Soldiers from Mice and Mystics."
Hoping a zenithally primed Lt. Amulius is acceptable as a proof pic. Currently in sub assembles and deciding on what bare head to use. Going to try my hand at some NMM on this one.
Okay...my challenge to myself this year is to actually start at the beginning of the month instead of leaving everything until the last minute.
So...here are my proof photos - I will either be doing the Nurgle Lord or a converted captain for my new SM chapter (that I don't have a name for yet!). I will post a better proof of the latter soon.
Here's my proof and first progress. BA assault and regular intercessors. I might enter a mix or maybe one squad, will see how it goes but i need to crack on with my troops.
Made some headway this evening on my entry. I spent just over an hour to get the armour to this point with a first pass. Will need to go back in and work on the blending a bit more before moving on to anything else. I'm using this as a testbed for future characters of my chapter as I'd like them a little more snazzy than the regular dudes. I also want to work on my airbrush control with this.
Proof pic time. I'll be entering the Colonial Marines from the core set of Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps.
I figure these fit the theme as they are the OG Space Marines. I'll probably need to consult some reference photos to get the colors of everything right; it's hard to see in the movie because of the dark environment and near constant action.
Chosen from childhood to join an elite military force? Check
Subject to intensive psycho-conditioning to ensure total loyalty?
Equipped with Power Armor? Check
Jump Packs? Check.
Extensive cybernetic enhancements? Check.
According to the fiction, each one an invincible, unstoppable one-man army? Check.
In-game, not that much better than any other model? Check.
Fellow Dakkanauts, I give you...Enforcers from Mantic Games:
Two special weapons troopers, Lt. Commander Roca, a medic, and Sgt. Howett, all of whom have been waiting patiently for attention for far to long. I hope to come up with an interesting paint scheme to use for a new Deadzone warband.
ZergSmasher wrote: Proof pic time. I'll be entering the Colonial Marines from the core set of Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps.
I figure these fit the theme as they are the OG Space Marines. I'll probably need to consult some reference photos to get the colors of everything right; it's hard to see in the movie because of the dark environment and near constant action.
I got the set yesterday and have been looking at this site from a guy who has collected and gone through the props in detail. Going to see how detailed I can get (but not for this month).
http://www.harryharris.com/costumes.htm
Pariah Press wrote: What do y'all think? Heavily armoured. Equipped with weapons firing explosive projectiles. Live in the 41 millennium. Close enough?
What are the guys on the middle and on the right? I don't recognize them.
Pariah Press wrote: What do y'all think? Heavily armoured. Equipped with weapons firing explosive projectiles. Live in the 41 millennium. Close enough?
What are the guys on the middle and on the right? I don't recognize them.
My entry for this months challenge is a certain bad boy known around the Milky Way for his award winning wit and short fuse. My proof pic of Kharne the Betrayer.
Hey folks, thought I'd drop a quick post showing some progress. Giving NMM a try as I didn't take the opportunity in January so feedback is appreciated on this one. I've tried for a dark metal but not sure if I've achieved that non-metallic feel.
The NMM looks good on those tips. Try and push the white a little more. You'll be surprised how much contrast you can get. I would say darken the dark bits on the Aquila more too. Its all about that high contrast. I like to try and get really fine white edge highlights on areas like that if you can to really sell the hard metallic edges too.
Painted the CSM Master of Possession for the Marines round last year, let's go for his two buddies this year, then:
Also I tried to upgrade my desktop PC and now half of my software including everything Adobe is broken (apparently I bought the wrong RAM? I'm getting too old for this) so I had to install some odd Sony app to even get the pic from my camera, everything is horrible
queen_annes_revenge wrote: The NMM looks good on those tips. Try and push the white a little more. You'll be surprised how much contrast you can get. I would say darken the dark bits on the Aquila more too. Its all about that high contrast. I like to try and get really fine white edge highlights on areas like that if you can to really sell the hard metallic edges too.
Heyyy! Nice to see you jumping in with us! I just wanted to show support and also QAR is way more experienced than me so I'd go with their advice over mine haha!
Made a little more progress on the NMM side of things and started blocking in other parts of the mini. I need a little bit more edge highlighting on the wings of the Aquila but would you say it's reasonable? The mini is coming along more speedily than I thought.
OP should be up to date, shout if I missed you (or misnamed your entry, I must admit half the Primaris stuff looks the same to someone who hasn't played 40k in 5 years! )
A little WIP on the Enforcers. Rather than the military green I've used in the past, I decided to make them shiny and (non-metallic) metal. My first Proof of Concept:
This guy turned out a lot more blue than I'd planned. I'll probably use this for the forward observer/sniper. My second try was this scheme:
The guy on the left is plastic, the guy on the right is metal (he doesn't appear to be available any longer). A while back, during a discussion on the relative merits of these models, someone said that they were weirdly proportioned. Specifically, their helmets looked to small to fit a human head. I argued that they were cyborgs rather than dudes in armor, and another person chimed in "like Robocop." That idea has stuck with me ever since, so that's the direction I'm taking with this strike team. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where to put the highlights and how deep to make the shadows, but overall I think I'm on the right track.
I decided to dip my toes into Grimdark for the first time. I still went with a baller power sword because I can't help myself and something's gotta make those things AP3!
Here's a gritty reality space marine:
*Edit, I decided to throw in a few more. Here's the proof for the other four.
WIP - blocked in colours, started working on the bones/teeth/claws/horns. Also found them a little buddy on ebay! Now I need to find a backpack and left arm for the champ, unfortunately the monopose Shadowspear CSM don't have spare parts :p
Thanks for getting the table up. Always fun to see the numbers.
Finished with this month:
Nothing fancy, another entry of phobos in winter camo. But 5 more guys shuffle from the pile of shame to the YTD shelf. At least until that gets packed up and moved to my new house.
Keep on painting guys, lots of fun stuff coming together this month!
Since you are all posting lovely photos I figured I'd chime in. Gonna be moving next weekend so hopefully I'll be able to finish this month on time... still a WIP.
I'm going to paint these three as practise pieces for some less expendable miniatures I want to work on. I've started the first two as a Grey Knight and a brother of the Death Watch. I don't know what the third one will be yet. Death Guard maybe?
Lots of outstanding work so far. Here are some more WIP shots of the Enforcers:
These guys refuse to stick to their bases, so I'll have to drill out their feet. I added some muzzle burn, but I'm not sure it works. Also, I need to go over their sidearms and pouches, as all the grey sort of blur together.
For the medic, I made the shadows deeper which I think sells the shiny, but makes him look less metalic than the special weapon dudes. He has a lot of restic mold lines that I couldn't get off without slicing off some major details, so I'll have to ask you to pretend you don't see them. At least this guy isn't falling off his base.
Good work guys. Also, how have I never seen anyone do a “Greyskulls” chapter?! That’s a great name, should be easy to get a chapter symbol and it’s a fun joke, not a dumb one (in fact if you don’t get it, it’s just a cool chapter name).
Jadenim wrote: Good work guys. Also, how have I never seen anyone do a “Greyskulls” chapter?! That’s a great name, should be easy to get a chapter symbol and it’s a fun joke, not a dumb one (in fact if you don’t get it, it’s just a cool chapter name).
The new She-ra on Netflix is amazing btw. Greyskulls chapter should basically be like 10 models with stupid stats that never lose. Though I do like the pun still xD
A late entry for me, going to be painting some converted Space Marine Scouts, inspired by OSJC's Space Sharks here on Dakka.
Apologies for the terrible picture.
My Adeptus Arbites are finished. Nothing fancy, but they look about how I hoped they would. I based the paint scheme off Mike McVey's scheme in the old 'Eavy Metal Warhammer 40,000 Painting Guide.
Moving in two days so I don't think I'll have time to do much more than I've got here. If I do have time I'll probably update these but it's a slim chance between the double shifts and move. Hopefully you'll like em. I sure do. Wish I could show all the details I've put into these.
Great stuff already from all of you here. In what is becoming a tradition over the last months, I'm switching my entry again Bought the Mario Kart for my marines and really want to get it painted and onto the battlefield.
Proof Pic:
Status:
Gonna grimdark it a bit with the flaming skull torches in the top of the picture. The reiver had and the other one with burns on his face and missing one eye will held giving it at least a little Mad Max feeling.
Stegadon Scale Green is pretty transparent, gonna need some coats for good coverage.
Im currently this month painting up a McFarlane Space Marine... posted couple WIP shots in my blog earlier in month....
Cant think why, but had been reading up on the poor Celestial Lions, and decided I would convert and paint it up as one of them.
Beyond Lions what's known, well saw the name of the packleader/chaptermaster after Armageddon was called Ekene, search for that and its an Africa/Nigerian originating name, makes sense that's where Lions come from ;-)
So just to add bit more flavour, my guy (no name yet) has some tribal type warpaint on his face (and helmet!, options!, pro tip - Mash'ems heads fit perfectly ;-)),
I also "sculpted" some traditional African patterns onto the converted power claw.
(that's why I like these tribalistic chapters, can make it lore friendly that the sculpting done by tribespeople on homeworld and that's why so basic ;-) ).
and painted some african symbols onto his jousting sheild, alongside his rank symbol on his shoulder of the one arm done so far ;-)
My guys got cloak, the one from the Lore given to Ekene by Grimaldus on Armageddon, painted in his sword Brethren colours.
and working on a spear/glaive option instead of the bolt pistol...
A little explanation for my entry: I'm actually a G.I.Joe customizer, hence my avatar. I sometimes paint Warhammer models, but this time I want to combine the two worlds: a space marine in G.I.Joe format. It will not be a perfect copy of a space marine, but I'll do my best to make it look similar. Here's what I started with:
Weapons and a backpack will be added in the end.
I'm not sure yet what specific chapter colours I'll be using. Leaning towards Ultramarines, but suggestions are welcome!
Tim 121RVC wrote: A little explanation for my entry: I'm actually a G.I.Joe customizer, hence my avatar. I sometimes paint Warhammer models, but this time I want to combine the two worlds: a space marine in G.I.Joe format. It will not be a perfect copy of a space marine, but I'll do my best to make it look similar. Here's what I started with:
Weapons and a backpack will be added in the end.
I'm not sure yet what specific chapter colours I'll be using. Leaning towards Ultramarines, but suggestions are welcome!
you can see the basic shapes in the pieces you chosen, most obvious the helmet.... should be interesting, look forward to it :-)
Space marines might be my least enjoyable thing to paint but I found a few spares in the pile... I will get at least 1 marine complete for the entry but I will try and get a few if I manage to make the time!
Alright, protest entry completed. Three metal and plastic Eldar Shining Spears with one of them holding the remains of a dead Marine who had his legs sheered off by the Laser Lance shots before they charged and finished him off on the charge.
Shining Spears overrun Space Marine position. Marine parts made from biker arms, vehicle sprue marine, old shoulder pads and a Rogue Trader backpack. Shining Spears are the old metal body and lance versions, with scratch-built banners added.
Those are awesome, Captain! Good use of the theme.
I have one Inceptor done, all except for the scroll work on his purity seal, the insignia on his pauldron and a few minor touch-ups. I'll post better pictures of either just him, or all three if I can get them done in time.
OK so once couple bits of arrived from foreign climes able to get my McFarlane Marine finished... pretty happy how he turned out, and nice to stretch out on something bigger.
Choice of Helmeted or Bare Heads, custom Power Claw and Glaive, African themed heraldry, lion teeth on belt decorations and the Lore Friendly Black Templar cloak.
DV8 that Chaplain is Beautiful... the gold especially looks really 'deep' best word I can find to describe it... the little touches work really well on what is already a super nice model.
queen_annes_revenge wrote: Nice. Have you considered dusting the tyres with powder? They look a little fresh.
So I've actually dusted the entire underside of the model and parts of the bottom with a light coat of the same weathering powder combo I did on the base, and the wheels have a pretty liberal dusting over the entire thing, which I guess makes it look pretty uniform! I'll sit on it for a day or two and then revisit the model to see if a another heavier application on the wheels will look good!
queen_annes_revenge wrote: Nice. Have you considered dusting the tyres with powder? They look a little fresh.
So I've actually dusted the entire underside of the model and parts of the bottom with a light coat of the same weathering powder combo I did on the base, and the wheels have a pretty liberal dusting over the entire thing, which I guess makes it look pretty uniform! I'll sit on it for a day or two and then revisit the model to see if a another heavier application on the wheels will look good!
queen_annes_revenge wrote: Nice. Have you considered dusting the tyres with powder? They look a little fresh.
So I've actually dusted the entire underside of the model and parts of the bottom with a light coat of the same weathering powder combo I did on the base, and the wheels have a pretty liberal dusting over the entire thing, which I guess makes it look pretty uniform! I'll sit on it for a day or two and then revisit the model to see if a another heavier application on the wheels will look good!
It might just be the photos if that's the case.
I mean you raise fair points. I've done multiple dullcote passes so it might have knocked back some of the strength. I'll definitely take a quick break to refresh the mind and then take a look in a few days with fresh eyes!
Some lovely entries coming in towards the end of the month.
On my end, I have finished my entry. The face and eyes are things I still need to work on and some weathering on the pteruges would help but gonna call it now. C&C appreciated, it all helps.
(Big photos spoilered, Para/Nev, if you'd please use these for the voting that'd be sweet!)
That's a Hella nice white armour and the sword is also sweet. C&C from me would be the shines on the pauldron trims are a little stark. I think they would benefit from a smoother transition from dark to light. NMM looks great. I would call that demon entry material for sure.
Lovely piece @Tyranid! A couple of thoughts from me.
First, the big ones:
You've got these white line highlights on the shoulder pauldrons. Adding those suggests some sort of reflected light off the metallic trim, which means that the metallic trim (acting as a source of light) should be reflecting your primary light source. So your highlights in both instances should mirror each other. That is, your trim should be receiving a strong highlight in order to reflect that line into the pauldron (or a weaker, or lack thereof, in the trim, should reflect in a weaker or no line in the pauldron).
The face, as you mentioned, you want to work on. I think for me, I would neaten up the eyes; the seem a little big for his head. His eye sockets seem very sunken in, and could do with being a little brighter. Similarly, the shadow under his cheekbones is incredibly dark, and makes him look very gaunt and almost like he has no flesh/muscle on his bones.
Also, the top of his forehead should be as bright as, if not brighter, than the spot just above his brow. Think of a circle with a bump; if your light source is overhead, then the top of the circle (forehead) and the top of the bump (brow) are receiving the brightest highlights.
And then some minor issues that's more just me picking at the little things:
Clean up some of the joins between the elbow pads and gauntlets. The right arm in particular (you can see a white dot in the side shot).
I think the hip plates (particularly from the back view) need a bit more weathering/staining to match the thigh plates. The hips are stark white compared to the thigh's dirtier khaki-brown.
The purity seal on the pistol holster has a black line that pushes beyond the edge of the parchment, where the other lines are neatly framed. Consider correcting that, unless you're suggesting an overzealous scribe started way on the edge of the paper for that one sentence!
Viterbi wrote: And with the driver in no one will ever know he has a nice leather seat
You'll know and that's the important thing. The amount of time I spend on details that will become obscured by other parts, weathering or basing materials is ridiculous. But it's important to me!
Damn, those are some sweet looking entries. It makes me wish I would have entered this month with all the fun you guys are having. Oh well, based on the poll for next month, I'll have an excuse to finally do a Magella Attack Tank from Mobile Suit Gundam for next month's contest.
@QAR Per your suggestion, I've tweaked the tires a bit and added a bit more weathering to bring back some of that grit that was lost from the repeated coats of Purity Seal!
EDIT: (OG post with finished photo has also been amended, so either-or will work for final shots.)
Viterbi wrote: And with the driver in no one will ever know he has a nice leather seat
You'll know and that's the important thing. The amount of time I spend on details that will become obscured by other parts, weathering or basing materials is ridiculous. But it's important to me!
I shy away from Rhino insides, but it feels good knowing the seat is there. And I'm happy you are dedicated to the details.
I'm done with my entry, just need to do the glamour shots this evening.
Well, my goal to avoid leaving things until the last minute failed miserably!
I have to come up with some kind of strategy to force myself to paint early in the month...
Anyhow, here are the first marines for a new army that I am starting this year (I'm starting another this coming month as well!).
I'm thinking of simply calling them Rising Sun but maybe I will think of something better soon.
The captain is painted with a bit more care whilst the others are super-fast so that I can churn them out over the next couple of months.
The idea is that the more senior the marine, the more red is on their armour.
Hope you like him!
All the best to everyone and see you next month...errr....tomorrow!
Those guys are awesome Chris, Samurai Marines are something you don't see nearly enough of and the red and white is striking!
Nice neat work on that Terminator, Arakasi! Feels like only yesterday my mind was blown by the awesome Dark Vengeance plastics, but no doubt someone will be along soon to remind me that it was the better part of a decade ago...
As for my own entry, he was mostly done a week or so ago but since then, I've really struggled to finish him to a point where I'm actually happy with the end result. This is the first smaller, more detailed model I've attempted to paint to my best standard for a while, and it's been a struggle as my eyes still aren't what they were (fingers crossed I should be getting some new contact lenses shortly, which might help). Overall, I'm really very pleased with the colours, they've come out exactly how I wanted and it looks good at arms' length, it's just up close that it gets messy.
Sons of Horus Captain, sporting a small Luna Wolves badge as a nod to the Legion's former identity. In my head this is somewhere around the Istvaan massacre, hence the corpse on the base featuring Emperor's Children colours.
Any thoughts welcome! Please bear with me on getting the admin done for this round, I don't think I can quite match
Nevelon's efficiency!
Ooh, I really like how that turquoise and red go together, Para. I didn't get nearly as much done as I hoped, only managing to finish the squad sergeant.
Pictures:
I'm kinda ashamed of the freehanded chapter symbol, but I don't have enough time to even out the quarters.
Still unable to get my wife's camera to set the focus on the stuff I want focused (although have some nice sharp images of the surrounding terrain ) so the phone's camera it is instead. Here are my final pics:
I'm going to call He Man done before I run out of time to submit - not entirely happy with my first ever go at battle damage on black armour, and the photos have shown me there's something odd going on with the face, but overall I think he looks the part...
Another last minute entry. I have been way too distracted with video gaming recently and had to knock the bases out today.
Feedback is welcome as always but these are nothing special just some quick troops. I did paint the eyes on the seargent but they are kind of looking down so you cant really tell in the pics, plus blurry face, sorry about that.
I got the 5 intercessors painted too just havent done their bases yet.
Sooooooo, a "Marine" is just another word for a soldier really, isn't it? And "Space" doesn't have to mean outer space. Could it perhaps refer to a small space? So my "Space Marines" are a couple of soldiers who operate in very small spaces - Rat Soldiers from Mice and Mystics.
I know, I know. It's pretty spurious. I recently got hired on a probabtionary basis as a painter for Siege Studios, so all my painting time has been taken up this month painting a large Marine army - hours and hours every day. I don't have the time or the willpower to paint another space marine of that type right now, but I do have an urge to try out a Grisaille method on these guys so I can play the board game with my family, and this is the only way I'm going to get an entry in this month to keep my streak going.
Is my justification too tenuous? I throw myself on the mercy of the jury.
Sooooooo, a "Marine" is just another word for a soldier really, isn't it? And "Space" doesn't have to mean outer space. Could it perhaps refer to a small space? So my "Space Marines" are a couple of soldiers who operate in very small spaces - Rat Soldiers from Mice and Mystics.
Is my justification too tenuous? I throw myself on the jury.
Get it done and let the voting decide, can't have you missing a round
My Finished Pics of the Knights Sanguine Space Marines, I feel this was better than previous month for me.
'Fraid I'm gonna have to bow out this month. Again. I'm just not finding the inspiration I need, and I'm not likely to find it in the next 12 hours so...
I spent so much time struggling with this one that I didn't manage to finish the other two marines. I'm not really happy with it, the gem effect on the eye lenses didn't work and the edge highlights are sloppy. I'll get you next time, black armour painting technique.....
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