Sternguard (small update feb 15th)

[GumbaFish]

So on a bit of a whim I decided to whip up something for the Golden Bolters. I had really wanted to paint a TDA chaplain but unfortunately I live in a gaming black hole and none of the local stores had one in stock. I pieced together a conversion I had from random bits and got to painting. I decided to paint a sternguard from some nameless chapter where I could just pick some colors that I wanted to play around with.

 

Overall I really wish I had more time, but work intervened so I probably only spent 3 painting sessions on him. I think if I hadn't procrastinated so much I could have really pushed myself. In any case I just wanted to submit something to join in the fun as I think it should be a great event.

 

Here he is, not as good as I wanted him to be but considering I started about a week before the deadline with only a few nights to paint I can't complain. Any comments, suggestions, etc welcome. I think I may go back and work on him more now that the deadline is over to see how I can improve.

 

Here are a few shots along the way I took as I was checking my own progress.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/sternguardconversion.png

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/earlypaint.png

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/laterpaint.png

 

Final Pictures

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/sternguard.png

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/front_sternguard.png

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/Left_sternguard.png

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/back_sternguard.png

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/Right_sternguard.png

[Terminatorinhell]

It looks pretty good now, but the blue is missing something. Also where were the legs from?

[GumbaFish]

The legs are from the old metal devastators.

[Dragonkin Arenis]

The legs are from the old metal devastators.

 

Yep, i've got one somewhere in my bitz, found that the torso was a little small, so some fancy cutting there, Gumba :)

 

Inspired me to make myself either a Techmarine or a Sternguard with them, well done ;)

 

Arenis

[Tomevans]

I like the conversion work, you make it look seamless which is always a good sign. However, I agree with Terminatorinhell that the blue just needs a few more stages of shanding and highlighting for the model to look fantastic.

[GumbaFish]

Thanks guys, I definately agree the main armor needs some more work on it. I started off way too dark and spent so many layers working up to the color I wanted I just ran out of time. I am glad you all like the conversion, I have 2 or 3 more pairs of those legs I plan on using for sternguard in my army. I must say though I think I will try a different torso, as shaving all of the tubing and replacing them with guitar wire was an exercise in patience. Trying to drill holes and curve the wire and get all 3 to line up took quite a while.

[XKhalilX]

gumbafish, what is your recipe for white? I love the mini and the helmet is awesome

[GumbaFish]

Thanks, I was really worried about the white but was glad with the way it turned out.

 

I don't have an exact recipe as I was sort of working on the fly but here is roughly what I did. It wasn't quick at all however, but I am sure if you were painting an army you could streamline it.

 

-basecoat P3 menoth white base

-then I slowly added in small ammounts of reaper masters series creamy ivory

-then after a few layers of doing that I started adding in small ammounts of P3 menoth white highlight

-final highlights had a bit of vallejo game color ivory added into it.

-to reinforce the deepest shadows I put a little thinned devlan mud in them.

[Jokersminis]

I, for one, Love the blue.

 

But it's obvious that you were rushed. The armor and the helmet are awesome, but the metals and the soft armor are not up to par with them.

[GumbaFish]

Yeah I really had a hard time with the soft armor, these old legs have much narrower ridges than the current ones and I wasn't really sure how to tackle them and I think it shows. I think I will try painting them a much lighter color then using more washes to bring them back down closer to black, which will hopefully build some shadows in the folds instead of me trying to paint the highlights on and failing. It is interesting every sees the armor as blue, perhaps I took some bad pictures. I didn't have great daylight so I had to lighten them up a bit to get rid of the shadows, in actuality the armor is turquoise though. I guess turquoise is a blueish greenish color though and maybe I just worked it closer to blue when I was highlighting.

 

I am going to give myself a day or two to let my mind get away from this mini, then I think I am going to go back and try and improve it for my own sake. I have gotten some other comments about my poor metallics lately, I think if I can find an old marine lying around that I don't want to use I am going to paint an all metallic marine to address this! Keep the suggestions coming.

[Night Runner]

I like the turquoise colour scheme. First time I've seen it done on SM. keep up the good work. ;)

[Brother Mordeus]

Wicked model, the blue needs a bit more depth though.

[CorinoFan]

while this may just be me, I feel that the eyes just get lost in the model and the detail is lost. Other than that it is a great looking model

[GumbaFish]

Ok so I tried to do some work on the armor to make it a bit more interesting but I am not sure if I achieved it or not. Any feedback or suggestions would be great. I still need to address touching up/ redoing some of the metals and the soft armor but for the moment I want to get the armor sorted.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/touchup2.png

[lunchb0x]

it needs a bit more depth to the upper armour...the lower legs look proper but there is not enough of a colour variation ont he upper half of the model.

[ephrael]

while this may just be me, I feel that the eyes just get lost in the model and the detail is lost. Other than that it is a great looking model

 

 

I agree with the comment about the eyes and with Lunchbox's take on the armor overall. The breastplate is what really stands out to me as needing more shading.