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I have posted this project log on a few other forums but I have really grown to like the Dakka Dakka community and decided to get a username and post!

I am currently working on a Space Marine army that is predominantly bikers which will be converted to be riding horses instead of bikes (the horses are converted mounts from the WHFB Chaos Knights) I will start this Plog with quick summary of my progress so far...


First 5 Tactical Marines Painted: (Since this picture I have done A LOT of touch-up work, mainly toning down the "chips" and detail work)


Test Base Done:


First Two Marines Completely Done:


Some Freehand: (I've actually done some work on the freehand since this picture was taken)




Hope you enjoy, originally the black armor was blended like this:


But I wanted a more war-torn battle hardened look so I decided to paint weathered armor using metallic "chips" where I would normally highlight.


More updates on the mounted "bikers" will be coming!

~Scyth3

Great work. I particularly like the glow effect around the eyes. Too many people paint without considering that the things may give off light

that's a neat way to paint marines. are they just satin black, or did you some highlighting before the chipping?

Schweet black marines!
Any chapter details? Name, Badge etc

nice! like the blue glow effects and the battle damage.. keep up the good work!

Love the glowing eyes! Can't wait to see the bikers^^

I have to say that I prefer the normal shading. Plain black with the "chipping" effect just looks...unfinished. That, and it pales in comparison to the rest of the highlighting and detailing on your models.

Other than that, nice work. The glowing eyes are pretty awesome, and the emblems and guns are really well done.

Chrysaor686 wrote:I have to say that I prefer the normal shading. Plain black with the "chipping" effect just looks...unfinished. That, and it pales in comparison to the rest of the highlighting and detailing on your models.

Other than that, nice work. The glowing eyes are pretty awesome, and the emblems and guns are really well done.

Honestly, I agree in some ways, I think that the blended highlighted looks more professional, demonstrates a higher skill level, and is "better painting" in general BUT, I also think it makes my marines look like they are in a parade not a battle-field. I have seen black battle-damaged in other ways but have never really got the hang of it, heres a pic of the squad when they were blended

(keep in mind these were WIP pictures but they demonstrate the basic idea of the blended armor)





and here's some of my tau (painted to a slightly lower standard)




I could really use some help on this, Should I A) Stick with the battle-damaged "chipped" armor, B) Return to blended highlights or C) pursue a new form of battle-damaging?

Sorry about not being able to post any "new pics" I have gotten some painting done but I take my pictures using natural outdoor light and due to school I get home after the sun has set everynight so I have to wait till the weekends to get pics thus, expect a picture update every week-end from here on out and maybe some fluff/idea updates throughout the weeks!

~Scyth3

Hi Scyth3

You obviously have the skills to paint great highlights and my personal preference would be to see you push on with the chipped, weathered armor. My suggestions for "improvement" would be twofold. A) put a Devlan Mud wash or two over the chipped areas and B) a light drybrush around the bottom of the legs of your Marines once you have your basing scheme worked out. I'd recommend a lighter brown (Calthan Brown followed by Khemri Brown maybe). Both of these measures would add the depth you're probably feeling is missing without the layered highlighting.

I hope this helps and have fun with these guys, they're looking good.

Cheers
Dave

That is a really impresive lighting effect.

keep it up.

wow thanks for the compliments I guess I'm a little hard on myself because I often am not happy with how these guys look. :S

I recently bought 5 aobr nobz and the aobr warboss on ebay for an amazing price and I got to start work on a first one,


clearly he's highly WIP but I'm happy with my progress so far, its funny, I paint my space marines all battle-damaged but I paint my orks cleanly

I also got an assault marine painted, he could probably use some touch-ups and a base of course but I'm still working on how I am going to base him anyway here are some pics





not super happy with the pics but they'll do for now. Hopefully I'll get more done tonight, I'm going to move onto my first "biker" wish me luck

~Scyth3

Your models look REALLY good. But, seeing how you do your warboss, I wanted to know how you prime your figures. Do you paint straight on the plastic?

A little too much "chipping" on the assault marine. Looks more like silver edging that went wrong.

Chrispy wrote:Your models look REALLY good. But, seeing how you do your warboss, I wanted to know how you prime your figures. Do you paint straight on the plastic?

Nope I don't basecoat, Not sure why really, I guess it is mainly due to my distrust of spray primers, I don't feel like I have enough control with spray on primer and so, if I basecoat its done by hand but mostly, I just paint on the color and then highlight.

I did get some work done last night, enough to take some pics actually

here goes, first off a my first mount is PIP



(notice its resting on what remains of my bank account thanks to this hobby)

next, a very PIP shot of a men at arms model I'm doing for a bretonnian army I picked up recently



then, a shot of the firewarrior I am entering in a TO contest (Anti11es is my username over there)



and lastly a conversion I worked up last night that counts as a combi-flamer, I figured my main opponent is tau so why wouldn't a crafty space marine strap a flamer to his bolter after a battle, remember its war sometimes you just have to make do with what you have (okay honestly it might not be fluffy but it looks cool so w/e ^-^)




thats it for now hopefully I'll finish up that horse soon, I still have no idea what color I want to paint the acutal horse, I'm thinking maybe white or grey? Both of those colors are rather difficult to paint though.

~Scyth3

Idea: Try damaging the armor itself (chipping with a razor or something similar), so that way you can have a nice compromise between being able to shade your minis and giving them battle damage.

I think that has the potential to look great.

How do you do the eyes?

captain.gordino wrote:How do you do the eyes?

I can post a tutorial if I have time but I simply shade out from the eye with ice blue. Its really not a solid cut and dry technique I just sortof work the paint around until it looks acceptable as source-lighting

Meanwhile, I have totally re-evaluated my army. This was due to a myriad of concerns regarding the mounted bikers. The most prominent of these concerns was the painting time required to finish each mount to an acceptable standard.

I have decided to move forward with a Scythes of the Emperor Army. I love their fluff and my color scheme needed only a subtle change to be a Scythes army.
I came up with a target list as well as a 500pt list that is my first goal/mile-stone for painting.

Heres the Lists
1500:
Kantor 175

Sternguard Veteran Squad (9) 280
-6x Combi-melta
-2x Combi-flamer
-1x Power Weapon

Sternguard Veteran Squad (5) 140
-1x Multi-melta
-2x Combi-melta

Sternguard Veteran Squad (5) 140
-1x Multi-melta
-2x Combi-melta

Scout Squad (5) 100
-4x Bolters
-1x Heavy bolter
-5x Camo cloaks

Scout Squad (5) 100
-4x Bolters
-1x Heavy bolter
-5x Camo cloaks

Tactical Squad 205
-1x Lascannon
-1x Flamer
-1x Power weapon

Tactical Squad 205
-1x Lascannon
-1x Flamer
-1x Power weapon

Assault Squad (8) - 184
- Thunder hammer


500:
Master of the Forge 130
-Thunder Hammer

Scout Squad (5) 100
-4x Bolters
-1x Heavy bolter
-5x Camo cloaks

Tactical Squad (10) 195
-1x Meltagun
-1x Lascannon
Razorback 75
-1x Twin-linked lascannon

The 500pt list is the one that I will work towards first and it will decide the order in which I paint units. I finished painting several tactical marines in the Scythe's colors (ya the same 5 you've seen over and over again but I'm starting new ones I promise )


heres the squad, just two arms and some bases to still do


this guy will be the sergeant, just have to do a power weapon for him.


just a quick close up of the new chest-pads (not some of my best work but w/e I'm done doing touch-ups and repaints I need to move on)

Just a quick side-note I apologize to anyone that was really hoping for the mounted SM army. I will still be doing chaos knights but they will now be part of an actual chaos warband! So they aren't gone, they're just going to be actual chaos knights now.

Next up is the Razorback. Then 5 more tactical marines and finally, the scouts and MoTF.

~Antilles

I'm back! After a long (5 month) break, I've decided to resume work on my Scythes, I have done a little work on the commander, he is still highly WIP and is going to feature shading rather than the chipping of armor. I have also gotten work done on three more marines but I was not happy with the pictures of them so I'll be retaking those tomorrow and posting.

the biggest update of all though is that I am probably going to sell this army as soon as it is completed. I want to focus on my tau and don't have a need for two armies. So if there is any interest please pm me. (I would be selling a 1000pt. army)

Because I am deciding to sell this army now, if you are sure you would like to buy it, you can send me requests for unit composition and even color scheme
s. Black as the main color will probably stay but if you would like to request an alternative secondary color to the yellow I would be willing to comply.

I would consider completely changing the color scheme but it would depend on how much your offering and what the scheme you desire.

Additionally, if you would like a list of all the models I have from which you can choose your list, please pm me as well. A price would be negotiated depending on the models you choose and the paint scheme desired.

On a final note, if your interested in just this squad, or having another unit painted please pm me as
well, I will sell units individually if I do not receive offers for a full 1000pt army.

now that business is out of the way, the picture:




Its good to be back,
Scyth3

Wow, it's good to see you back! Keep us updated, I like your marines a lot!

Love the fuzzy blue ebrows!

hey love the army so far paint job is so cool the blue glow affect is the bomb. like the idea of mounted on horses i have a captain mounted on a horse check out my blog for a pic.