Shibori's Black Reach Marines

[Shibori]

*peeks,* Hi Hi! I'm Shibori, and I've finally, finally gotten my first Space Marine unit painted, yay! It took a while to get my miniatures, the paints I wanted, to get everything figured out and to finally say "screw it, I'm just going to paint the damned chapter emblem on!" after failing numerous times at getting a Greenstuff mold working the way I wanted it to.

 

So, nervously I submit these pictures for critiquing and suggestions~! As well as my own comments.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/20100825_TacticalSquad_001-02_Front.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/20100825_TacticalSquad_001-02_Back.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/20100825_TacticalSquad_001-01_Front.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/20100825_TacticalSquad_001-01_Back.jpg

 

The armour is meant to have something of a starfield pattern/look to it. Hence the randomized blue-white, green and yellow dots, in case anyone was wondering what the hell they're supposed to be. ^^;;;

 

I'm thinking of doing a different technique for my next Space Marine miniature (going to be the Black Reach captain). Specifically using a wash for shading, rather than wet blending and manually doing the shadows. I'm also thinking of doing just straight-up dark purple (the shade colour) as the main colour and just do edge highlights with the lighter purple since the darker purple seems to make the star pattern pop out more, but I'm not sure on that one yet.

 

I'm also going to try doing straight-gold, rather than having a brass undercoat/shading, since this time around it came out more bronze than darker gold. Oh well.

 

(and yes, I realize the missile launcher guy looks rather... festive. I think I need to pick different colours for my Frag and Krak stuff. Any suggestions on that? ^_^)

 

Anyway! I'm happy to be here, and finished with my first SM unit (I've only just recently gotten into 40k).

 

Oh, one last thing, anyone have any suggestions for painting a nebula pattern/look?

[Brother Tiberus]

The marines look quite cool ^_^

My critiques are that they don't have any really dark/shaded areas, and it's most apparent on the sergeants face. Remember to leave the recesses a dark colour to help them stand out a bit.

I like your colours, they are quite rich, so keep up with that ;)

As for the star field pattern, maybe look at some astronomy photos, to get a general idea of how the stars are clustered. At the moment your marines look a bit spotty, but I like where you're going with it.

Keep it up and post more pics! :(

[Shibori]

Hi! ^_^ Thanks for the reply and the critiques! ;)

 

Question though, concerning the shading. Do these show off the shaded areas better? A friend suggested it might've been from the smaller size of the previous images since, well, they ARE shaded... Although I'll admit that the sergeant's shading didn't come out so well. It's better when viewing the model itself, but even then it's more toned down/subtle than I expected. I'm just going to have to shade any future flesh several times more than normal to get it dark enough, I think. :(

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/Tactical001_Sergeant_Front.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/Tactical001_Sergeant_Back.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/Tactical001_Troop_Front.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/DJMiazaki/Minis/Warhammer%2040k/Space%20Marines/Finished/Tactical001_Troop_Back.jpg

 

Like I said in the first post though, I think I'm going to try and just wash-shading the next miniature (the Black Reach sergeant), rather than what I did this time.

 

The clumping/clustering for the star pattern I'm going to try next time as well. :) I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do it though, I've got three options so far:

1) Get better at the splatter method so I can focus it more.

2) Use something to shield other areas.

3) Do like I did this time, except go back in and paint over some of the stars/spots.

 

Not entirely sure which I'm going to go for yet. I'm open to other suggestions as well. :P Hopefully, those pictures show the shading better for you.

 

Oh, I'm also thinking of going with another shade brighter on the edge highlights, just for a bit more contrast between the darker purples. Again, not 100% on it yet, just mulling the idea around.

[Brother Tiberus]

Hey no problem, we all learn if we share hey :(

No offense, but the shading is VERY subtle then, especially on the sergeants face. Or maybe i'm just colour blind ^_^ But I think the wash shading will be a good idea, it should help colours pop more.

As for the star fields, may small strips of masking tape will help cover up the areas you don't want the spatter effect. And yes, great idea with a brighter shade for the edge highlights :P

[MattCrawford]

Not sure about the starfield effect. Looks more like they've spent a long time in the display cabinet more than anything else. Ditto on the shading comments.