|
Over two years ago I was given the AOBR Marines from a friend who had recieved two in error, I was bequeathed a Tactical squad, a squad of Terminators, a Captain and a dreadnought. I had never painted any minis before that day, save for a horridly aborted witch elves command squad I tried my hand at during Warhammer : Age of reckoning. I decided to paint them in the colours of the Dark Angels, having read Descent of Angels and Fallen Angels around that time. I had always been fascinated by the lore and iconography of the First Legion, the Honoured, the Sons of the Lion of Caliban.
I set to work....baby steps at first, with limited equipment and some old brushes that my then Girlfriend had provided to me from when she painted with her ex. I felt that I would never get far, that my models would always look like blobs of green white and metallics. My faith was tested quite a bit in the first six months. I perservered, painting the tacticals and the terminators, never being happy with them. I moved onto the dreadnought, feeling happier, then onto the Captain. I completed the models to what I wouldn't even call tabletop standard and decided to move on and up. (I would eventually strip two of the terminators and repaint them. I kept three as a reminder, a testament to where I had come from.
I progressed with company veterans, a company master and assault marines (they have now been turned into a company champion, three Sargeants and one power fist/plasma pistol which I might use as a fourth sarge eventuall) and bought my first finecast warrior. a Chaplain with Jump Pack, his paintjob gave me zeal, gave me hope and pushed me onwards. I then decided to turn my hand back towards the vaunted Deathwing, bone white shock troops, the elite of the first company, dead men walking their last quest, those whom death would not take but whom would triumph over even death itself. But I needed a method that would not disappoint me. My then Fianceé was working on some Space Wolves and her technique involved drybrushing layers and then washing Asurmen blue. I decided to try a similar technique with the parts that I could and bought the bits that I needed. I assembled a sargeant from the DA veterans upgrade sprue and bitz from online and went with the technique that has served me well for over a year now.
Today I have finished my thirtieth terminator. I have now completed 3 squads, a command squad, knights, two belials and a librarian. I have a land raider on the go which I will paint at my leisure but for now, my Dark Angels journey is at Haitus with around 3000 points to pick and choose from, I will in time complete the first company and move onto the Ravenwing but this leg mf my journey is over. I've assembled my army and will be moving on to pastures anew, Chaos Daemons in the new year.
But today as I look back at two years of progress I realise that my painting has gone from strength to strength, techniques that I never thought I could do such as layering and first forays into wet blending, drybrushing, painting power weapons, freehand, banners, cloth vs ceramite vs a cutting edge, these are ALL things I had no clue about two years ago and which this community has helped me push my boundaries and my belief in myself to paint and as I look at my army, from the highest Knight, to the lowliest Battle Brother resplendant before me...I'm proud. I don't have much of that, but I'm proud as hell that I did it. And I'm proud enough to continue onwards on my journeys and I hope you'll all be as helpful and honest with me as you've all been in the past.
Thank you www.dakkadakka.com
|
