Toxic's LPC 2013 - UM 3rd Company Standard Bearer

[Toxichobbit]

This is my first year taking part in the LPC. I've decided that i'm going to start with a really small vow, then if time permits expand. To begin with, i'm just going to work on the standard bearer for my Ultramarines 3rd Company. Three months should be plenty of time to get him finished and get some more stuff done, but i'd really like to go to town on the banner, trying to faithfully copy the 3rd Companies banner post-Tyrannic War. I figure i'm better off having a complete vow of one model rather than an incomplete vow of a full squad, so the rest of the Command Squad are on hold until the Standard Bearer is finished. If progress goes well on this fellow, then i'll try and get the Company Champion and Sergeant finished as well, as i've had plans for them for a while.

Here's the first WIP shots of the Standard Bearer. He's pretty much fully assembled, just needing a bit more cleaning up (he's all dusty from sitting on a shelf half finished) before priming.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa38/Benjosling/Ultramarines/3rdCoyBannerWIP1_zps0500028e.jpg

 

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa38/Benjosling/Ultramarines/3rdCoybannerWIP2_zps65c1d39b.jpg

[Toxichobbit]

First update. I've started work on an outline of the banner to act as a guide for when I apply the colours. At the moment it's pretty rough, but that's fine because it's all going to be painted over anyway. This stage is just to get an idea of the scale, shape and placement of all of the various parts that make up the image. It's coming out pretty well, although it's taken me a few tries to get it to this stage. Getting everything positioned correctly on the banner is a pain. I still need to add the laurel wreath and scroll. I also want to do more work on the left side of the agemo and the left crossguard on the sword - the agemo is too thick at the top and the crossguard is too thin and short. The right side of both the agemo and crossguard are fine though.

Looking at these pictures I think i'll do some more work on neatening up the skull/sunburst on the sword pommel as well, they're still a bit too rough even for guidelines. Once all that's done, i'll start applying colours. It might still take a while to get there though, I prefer to get an area finished then leave it for a day or two to see how i feel about making changes. It's much easier to keep the process slow and make changes as I go along, than rush and have to re-do large parts, or even worse end up with a banner i'm not happy with.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa38/Benjosling/Ultramarines/3rdCoyBannerWIP3_zps58963a79.jpg

[Tyrannicide]

Nice conversion work, the leg repose looks great. The model is very low-key and subtle, but very Ultramarine-like. Looking forward to some more paint!

[Captain Semper]

Ahh, Toxic, you do have an ambitious project in your hands - but I've seen your work before so I'm sure you'll pull it off. Good luck mare :tu:

[Toxichobbit]

Another update. I've almost finished doing the rough outlines - I can hopefully get onto adding the colours soon, so things should get more interesting. I took quite a long break between my last update and this one as i'd got fed up with not being able to get the agemo symmetrical. It isn't really symmetrical now, but it'll do. If I keep fiddling with it i'll end up with nasty paint build up on the banner and i'll never move beyond this point, so i'm calling it there and moving on with the project. Anyway, here's a pic of the latest update - i've added the honour scroll and laurel wreath in their rough form, so I know pretty much where they're going. As with other components of the banner they will be tidied up more when i'm adding colour.

I've also still done nothing with the skull pommel & star burst - to be honest I figure i'll get to sorting them out when i'm adding colour, i've had enough of painting with just white and black for now.

C&C always appreciated .

Edit: some of you may notice i've done a bit of re-arranging on the Marine himself. I've moved the grenades at his waist and added a sword in a scabard in it's place. I managed to get hold of this from the Severin Loth kit from Forgeworld. They're really nice sculpts and seeing as Command Squad members are armed with pistols and melee weapons, it makes sense for him to have one.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa38/Benjosling/Ultramarines/3rdCoyBannerWIP4_zps28360ad5.jpg

[Toxichobbit]

Another update! Two in as many days (if you don't include the time that the forum was offline), that has to be a record for me.

 

I've made a start on adding colour to the banner. I think i'm happy with the bottom of the sword - although I could do a bit more tweaking I need to be careful otherwise i'm going to end up with a very textured banner from all the re-painting. The blood is coming along nicely too. The honour scroll and background have just had base colours roughly blocked in, mainly so that I can easily see where the various parts of the sword should be stopping.

 

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa38/Benjosling/Ultramarines/3rdCoyBannerWIP5_zpsb7956044.jpg

[Captain Semper]

Wow Toxic this is a fantastic banner! Can't wait to see it finished! :tu:

 

The sword and the blood are very well done indeed!

[Ramell]

Looks really great so far. I look forward to seeing more. 

 

I particularly like that he's Third Company, but I may be a little biased...

[Toxichobbit]

Got some more work done tonight. I've shaded and highlighted the scroll and added on the text. The writing is far from perfect - I have a new found appreciation for anyone who manages to write well in such a small scale with a paint brush. Next time I do something like this, I think i'll give technical pens a try. It's gotta be easier. I've also done some work on the middle section of the sword and given the background some highlighting and shading. The blending on the background is pretty rough at the moment. I'll eventually do some glazing to bring the tones together, but not until i've got the background on the entire banner painted.

 

It's coming along pretty well and I think I might actually manage to get it finished over the next two months for the challenge.

 

Next up is probably the Genestealer head, which I thought would be the toughest bit, especially around the mouth. But now i'm not so sure, that lettering was a royal P.I.T.A.

 

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa38/Benjosling/Ultramarines/3rdCompanyStandardBearerWIP6_zps8ddfbdc2.jpg

Also, does anyone know if it's possible to edit thread titles with the new boards? I can't for the life of me see an option for it.

[Toxichobbit]

I normally wouldn't have posted an update again so soon, nor with part of the banner so unfinished, but a few people have mentioned that they've been watching this thread and taking note of the techniques i'm using to do this banner. So, i've decided to do more regular updates while I work on the Genestealer head to give a bit more insight.

Below is about an hours work since my last post (BL2 means not much work done ). It doesn't look like an hours work, in fact it looks worse than it did previously. This is part of the process that i'm going through though. It often looks like taking a step or two back before you can go forward. There's actually more changes here than is apparent at first glance. The most obvious change is that the Genestealer has had some colour added, in this case it's P3 Carnal Pink. Colouring this area was trickier than i'd anticipated, as I had to re-line all of the details in black, so I ended up doing the pink in small areas, then adding the black details then moving to another area. I also did some refining of the placement of details. I also did lots of small coats of pink, rather than thick ones. I tend to paint in multiple small coats all the time, but this is double important on flat surfaces such as this banner and triply important with light colours on flat surfaces. It isn't perfect (if you look carefully you can see some texture), but given the amount of times i'f have to repaint the area when doing the initial outlines, it's not too bad I guess. Hopefully it'll be less noticeable when the Genestealer is highlighted and shaded and I often find that varnish helps smooth off areas with a little bit of texture.

I moved the eye and nostril forward and changed the shape of them slightly to make the more organic. I also rounded out the snout a bit. I then added small indentations which will hold the teeth when I paint them and got rid of the original rough teeth lines. I moved the blow holes (or whatever they are) further apart and made them a bit smaller, to allow me to add some shading to represent the ridges around the holes. Finally I extended the neck around the severed area and made it a bit more uneven. Currently the Genestealer looks more like a shark crossed with the Mekon - the mouth looks too short at the moment and the eye and nostril look as if they are too far forward. This will hopefully change once i've added more details. There's quite a bit of stuff to go between the mouth and blow holes. I'll be adding a more pronounced jaw line and some gills. I'll also be adding and eye ridge behind the eye, just underneath the first couple of armour plates on the head, which is why i adjusted the eye positioning.

Anyway, I hope that gives a bit more insight into the process that i'm going through for this banner.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa38/Benjosling/Ultramarines/3rdCompanyStandardBearerWIP7_zps295937d3.jpg

[Razblood]

If you want to edit your thread title click "Use full editor" after choosing to edit your first post in the thread ;)

 

Very nice work on the banner btw :)

[Toxichobbit]

Just over two weeks left until the LPC is over and i'm not finished. However, unlike when I got to this stage with ETL last year, i'm actually on schedule. I've made a start on the actual Marine. The blue on his armour is pretty much finished with just a few mistakes to correct at the end. This is by far the longest part of any Marine for me. Once the armour is done it's down to details, which I can just work on a bit at a time when the mood takes me. The banner itself has the second hardest part finished - the Tyranid head. I'm really happy with how this turned out, given that this is my first time doing freehand. It now looks like a Tyranid, rather than the pink shark-beastie it looked like before. I've also painted the top half of the sword blade, but that didn't go so well because like a muppet, I forgot to write down the colours i'd used. I had to guess by eye (I have about 20 different greys from various ranges so that's harder than it sounds). I don't think I got it right, but it's close enough that it probably won't be noticed once the rest of the banner is complete. Hopefully. If it really stands out, I can go back and re-paint the sword blade so that it all matches. Anyway, seeing as it's been a month since my last update I better post some pictures.

Some close ups so you can see the small mistakes i've made.

Hopefully i'll get chance to do a few more updates before the model is finished.

[Tyrannicide]

Excellent work! If you hadn't pointed it out, I would've never noticed a difference in the two halves of the sword. I think the freehand looks spectacular. 

[War Angel]

i STRONGLY approve of this!

 

i dont think i can do it like you do, but damn, you make me want to try!!!!

[Toxichobbit]

Thanks for the kind words and thanks Razblood for the information on the full editor.

 

War Angel - all I can say is give it a try. Take your time and do it in small chunks. To be honest, it's easier than I expected it would be. The worst parts so far have been the writing on the scroll (i'm almost certainly going to use technical pens in the future for stuff like that) and painting the initial design (white on black line drawring). Some parts got re-painted 10 times to get it right.

 

I'm starting work on the model early today (it's quarter past nine in the morning where I live and I have an entire day free), so there should be an update later today. I'm not sure if i'll work on the banner or the Marine. Maybe a bit of both.

[Captain Semper]

OK, this banner is very well done... Love the dark blue background and the excellent contrast with the Genestealer head! This is really inspiring stuff - can't wait for the finished model! :tu:

[lothlorienmoon]

For text, something that was suggested to me by a tattoo artist, start your text from the middle and work your way out. Most people over estimate/under estimate the amount of space the text will use, and end up cramping part of it, or makng some letters huge to compensate. Even with a technical pen, I found that to be really useful.

[Wraithwing]

SO much win. 

 

I love this, well done. 

 

Looking forward to seeing him finished. 

 

Cheers, 

 

WW

[Envoy]

Simply . Wish i could paint that well freehand.

[War Angel]

Where can one find a technical pen

[Toxichobbit]

Where can one find a technical pen

No idea. Art shop maybe? My plan is Google.

Edit: I'm informed an art shop should stock them.

Another update. I'm excited about how this Standard Bearer is coming together, I can't wait to see him finished among his brethren.

So about a month ago I said that i'd do a step by step of the Tyranid head. I then completely forgot to take any photos while painting it - blame it on getting engrossed in the actual painting. I did the laurel wreath today and while it's not as complex as the Tyranid head I did get a photo to demonstrate the technique.

The left side of the wreath is finished while the right side is part done, with different areas painted at various stages. I found because of the way the laurel leaves are shaped, it was easier to start at the bottom. If you imagine it as an actual 3D image, the bottom leaf would be the only one that would have no other leaf going over the top of it. I found that painting that one first and then working my way up seemed the most intuitive way (for me, at least). Although that's only useful if your painting something similar to this wreath, it demonstrates well how a bit of planning and breaking an image up into smaller parts makes it easier to paint.

At the very top of the right side of the wreath you can see the leaves are unpainted as they were in previous images, with just the white guide lines showing where the leaves will be.

The two leaves below are painted in the base green colour, over the white guide lines. You can see there's no spacing between the leaves here, it's all blocked in.

The next two leaves have the lines added to seperate them. The lines look black (especially in these photos), but they are actually a darker version of the base green. Although the colour looks almost black, it's just green enough that it looks a little less severe than pure black. On the Tyranid head I used pure black because I wanted it to look like an image painted onto the banner. The wreath, on the other hand, looks a bit more natural and provides a bit of differing texture* to the banner.

You'll find when doing definition like this, you will want to switch between the two different shades to get the shapes right. Don't be afraid to go back to a previous colour to get exactly the right shape you want. For these leaves, I expanded upon the original white lines with the base green, then defined them with the dark green lines before going back and swapping between the base green and dark green as i neatened up each leaf to the shape I wanted.

On the next two leaves you can see the first highlight. It's not a very strong highlight, just a mid green to give the leaves some depth and make them look more like leaves. This was applied to the top two thirds(ish) of each leaf.

Finally, the bottom leaf has the final highlight. It's just a simple line along the top, slightly wider than a normal edge highlight. This gives the wreath some colour and defines the top of each leaf, contrasting nicely with the dark green lines.

You course, do more than just two highlights, or extra shading. Maybe effects like small dots of white to give the leaves some shine, in a similar way to the way you use white dots to show light reflecting off of a gem. For this banner I decided to keep it simple. The laurel wreath is only on fifth of the main image, alongside the sword, Tyranid head, Ultima and sunburst, plus the details that will be on the bottom tabs of the banner. I wanted the sword/Tyranid head and the Ultima to be the parts that catch the eye the most, so they have more colours and details on them. In this regard the laurel wreath is almost part of the background.

*I'm sure there is a better technical term than texture, but I can't think of it. Hopefully you get what I mean.

Here's another progress shot. The laurel wreath is now finished, as is the Marine's chest, helm and left shoulder pad. Well, the metallics aren't actually finished - the final metallic highlight will go on after the final stage of sealing the model. For now though, they're done. You'll notice i've sealed the finished areas with gloss varnish. This is simply due to the way I paint. I tend to get my grubby paws all over the model (I swear some of my Marines have taken out court injunctions against me) and this rubs off the paint on the most raised areas. I find that at the end I have to go back and re-highlight the all of the areas where the paint has rubbed off. While this isn't too much of a hastle, there's the possibility that I won't be able to get the exact shade and i'll have highlights that look out of place, so i've taken to varnishing as I go along with gloss to protect things. In the case of the shoulder pads, it also primes the area for decals being added later on. I don't really like the effect of gloss varnish, but it's not a problem because I do my final sealing with a dull coat, hence why I do my final highlights of metallics after sealing.

[Toxichobbit]

Edited to fix the broken links - pictures should show now :).

[Toxichobbit]

More updates!

I've finished the main image on the banner. I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out, with only a couple of places that didn't go as planned. First was the writing on the scroll, as i've already mentioned. The second was the sunburst around the skull pommel. When I originally planned it out and later painted in the skull and sunburst, I didn't leave enough room for the company colour border. To be honest, I thought the border was higher until I came to actually paint the red on it, but by then it was too late. The folds in the cloth just exasperated my miscalculation, so the top of the sunburst is unfortunately cut off. I had originally painted the entire top of the sunburst, but had to paint over it with black and then red so that it didn't go over the border. It was very annoying, but it's my own fault. If I do any more banners with sculpted borders in the future, i'll make sure to paint in the border before I work on positioning the elements of the banner image so that I know exactly where everything goes.

On the plus side, the ultima on the banner came out looking much better than i'd hoped, as did the crossguard on the sword (this sword was my first time doing non-metallic metal and although the steel came out ok, i'm really happy with the gold).

I've also added the Ultramarines chapter symbol to the marine's left pad and given it a coat of gloss varnish to protect it while I work on the rest of the marine. Finally I've made a start on both the sword scabard and the pistol holster (not shown), doing the leather areas.

WIP of the Ultima.

Update of the banner with the main image finished and the ultima symbol & sword scabard on the Marine himself.

[batu]

I bow my head Sir.

 

This free hand work is just awesome ! I love it.

[Aqui]

I've been wanting to do a free hand banner for my Rainbow Warriors, so the tip about using a Technical pen is gold!  The banner is great! ^_^