Plague Marines: ala Jean Francois

[drgabe]

Over at the Legio Morbidus forums, several of us have been talking about an old tutorial from Jean Francois. Now, he has left the hobby and apparently has taken a lot of the great models with him. ^_^ Well that just won't do. The thread (Link Here) asked for someone to do a tutorial in his style- so here we go. Before we start, a couple of things though- first off, my skills aren't up to the level of Mr. Francois, so don't expect award winning models here. Secondly, I took a few variations from his tutorial to fit into the army I already had. This includes changing some of the paints used from the original tutorial. Also, I didn't use any of the Wonder Washes or Future Floor Polish (even though I have it right here), instead I used the GW Washes. Lastly, I didn't use my light box for the pictures, and I tried to correct the settings to best reflect the true colors of the models.

 

Ok lets go.

 

Step One:

Prime Black with a few thin layers of your favorite black primer. Once dry, go back over the model with some watered down Chaos Black (with a touch of Future Floor Polish to help break the surface tension). You could also use Badab Black Wash.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4580596458_5c449f638f.jpg

 

 

Step Two:

With an old, large dry brush stain the model. This is done by drybrushing the model Skull White creating a natural white - grey - black transition through out the model . Fast, simple, easy.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4579964327_bab6955cc2.jpg

 

Step Three:

Now we get to adding some color to the model. I started with a drybrush with Camo Green followed by a drybrush of Rotting Flesh on top. Note that the original tutorial (and Jean's Plague Guard) used a lighter color combination (Graveyard Earth followed by Bleached Bone). Now the colors don't matter so much as you will see later. However, pick a color and its highlight to use in combination. Don't worry about how odd it looks now.

 

Camo Green Drybrush:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3306/4580596340_49a04c5150.jpg

 

Followed by the Rotting Flesh Drybrush:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4580596238_2557d5cf80.jpg

Trust me here... bad picture, poor lighting. Sorry.

 

Step Four:

So far, we have spent about five minutes painting the model. However, its time to slow down a bit and do some simple detailing. Find all of the bone sections of the model and add color in the following manner: Shade -> Midtone -> Highlight. I mixed a bit of each color together to make the transition a little less contrasty. Don't worry too much since you'll be added washes in a bit. For the bone I used: Snakebite Leather (shade), Bleached Bone (mid tone), Skull White (highlight).

 

All of the armor trim, bolters, and such got a coat of Boltgun Metal.

 

The armor creases got a mix of Chaos Black and VMC Cold Grey.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4580596190_f2bb4d0650.jpg

 

Step Five:

Ok, enough of that tricky detail work. Time for the big wash- grab a junky basing brush and some watered down Badab Black and wash the entire model. Give it a good dose of the stuff, but be careful not to let it pool anywhere on the model. Jean used black wonderwash. Let it dry over night.

 

sorry no picture. ;)

 

Step Six:

Now take you darkened marine and start to add some color. Gryphonne Sepia Wash was applied to any areas adjacent to the armor plates, decorations, and any place that needed a deep shade that the black somehow didn't get. Next, Baal Red Wash went into all of the 'organic parts' of the model. Basically anything that looked like Nurgle got ahold of, got a wash of the red. Lastly, Thraka Green Was was applied into the the silver parts and other various bits of the armor that needed more depth.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4579963997_8e4da5318c.jpg

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3327/4580595914_ee69ac01c3.jpg

 

Last Step!:

Here is my last departure from the JC tutorial- however my marines need to match the existing army somehow. Thus any piping or hoses and the Nurgle 'trinity' were given a quick coat of Mechrite Red followed by a highlight of Blood Red. Some other random 'Nurgle' spots got some red as well.

Since I didn't like the color of the green on the model, I went back with a thinned coat of Rotting Flesh to pick out the highlights. Then I went back over this with more Thrakka Green. This was repeated until I was happy.

 

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4017/4579963535_3d0dd8b276.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4580595782_fa0383b014.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4580595628_ed5b78c1a6.jpg

 

 

There you go. Some quick and pretty nice looking Death Guard. This was my first (test) model. A couple of things I'd do next time is to take a bit more care getting an even coat during the drybrushing stage. Some of the armor areas look a bit rushed.

 

Remember to have fun during the wash phases of painting, that is where the model will take its characteristics.

 

Once I start on this army in full, I should have all of the Plague Marines done in no time at all!

[Sangneur]

I like the textures you have on these. Whilst I think they look delicious at this distance, I'm really excited to see what they look like from 2 feet away, I think this effect would look great!

 

In short: more pictures please!

[drgabe]

Well easy, just move two feet away from the monitor! ;)

I'll work on some pictures for you. It will be at least a couple of days- but I'll get to work on them.

[RobPhoboS]

Hey thanks for taking the time to put the tutorial up.

Did you finish the army, or any more higher resolution photo's ?

 

Many thanks !