Rob451's New Deathwatch Plog - Captain Artemis WIP

[Rob451]

I have a history with the Deathwatch. For those that never saw it here is my previous Deathwatch Plog for a force that was later featured on the GW Blog.

So obviously I have to step up my game this time and really push myself.

I'll post some WIP pics of the conversions I'm working on but right now I have around 40 Marines in various armour types on the go and still waiting on some orders from bits sites so I can finish them off.

I'll start with my test model - A Terminator Captain who will eventually be from the Imperial Fists once I get around to his shoulder pad.

Completely stock model although his Iron Halo isn't attached yet but you can see the pin it will attach on to.

Paint style is mostly clean for these guys with just a few scratches on the armour. I'm trying out a stippling technique for the edge highlights to try and suggest that the edges aren't perfectly straight but have been dinged up a bit.

Oddly the pictures ruined the contrast of his cloak, it's far darker in the recesses than my phone decided to capture so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Rob451

[Brother Callidan]

Looking good man. Are the highlights just following GWs colour scheme?

[Rob451]

Looking good man. Are the highlights just following GWs colour scheme?

I'm using The Fang then Russ Grey then White. I can't remember if that's GWs formula or not.

[Brother Callidan]

I like it. No GWs is Eshin grey then Fenrisian Grey

[Rob451]

I like it. No GWs is Eshin grey then Fenrisian Grey

I decided to go bluer with the highlights as I've hit the armour panels with a slightly blue zenithal highlight with my airbrush and wanted to get across the reflection of a blue sky. I think it's working out well so far. I used grey highlights in my previous Deathwatch force so wanted to try something different.

[Thunder_god]

Looks excellent. I'll be watching here to see what I can incorporate into my own Plog!

[Vel'Cona]

Beautiful work so far! I love the "fade" look on the sword.

[Rob451]

Beautiful work so far!  I love the "fade" look on the sword.  ^_^

I used to do my power weapons in a white/blue nmm style gradient but I've since gone off the effect and this was the compromise I've come up with.

[=I=]

Looks good, looking forward to see more of them. I really like the blue tint on the armour

[Prot]

I love that model and the start you have on it. I'm not sure if you play, but if so, how are you playing that captain wargear wise?

 

Judging from you previous blog I'm sure it will be awesome. Looking forward to it. :)

[Rob451]

I love that model and the start you have on it. I'm not sure if you play, but if so, how are you playing that captain wargear wise?

Judging from you previous blog I'm sure it will be awesome. Looking forward to it. :)

Basically naked. He has been voted "most likely to be part of a Strategium Command Squad to get FNP"

 

I have Artemis and a Krom Dragongaze conversion in the wings for other Captain options.

[Vel'Cona]

Basically naked. He has been voted "most likely to be part of a Strategium Command Squad to get FNP"

I prefer "most likely to meet tax requirement for a Watch Company" on my Watch Captain.

[Rob451]

My Terminator Watch Captain is nearing completion.

I've decided he's one of the last surviving Black Consuls who joined the Watch before the a Chapter was destroyed due to his experience in Drop Pod insertions. He has since risen to Watch Captain and hopes that he will find other survivors through his work in the Watch.

[Brother Callidan]

Looking good dude. Are you going to highlight the shoulder pad different from the main black or have you just not got to that part yet?

[Rob451]

Looking good dude. Are you going to highlight the shoulder pad different from the main black or have you just not got to that part yet?

Not gotten to it yet. That pad got quite dirty during painting as I wasn't bothered about it as it was going to get repainted in chapter colours. Then I decided to go with Black Consuls and had to paint it black again.

[Rob451]

Watch Captain complete (base pending).

In the background you can just make out Artemis and a pair of Terminators for my Vow. I've started edge highlighting on them and the silver arms are all complete for the entire Vow.

Only problem I have is that while assembling the rest of my forces the models for the Vow all got pulled apart and reassembled as 4x Shotguns and a Frag Cannon (except the Stalker guy who is the same). This means technically my Vow as written cannot be completed but I'm confident I will exceed the original Vow as it is.

[Brother Callidan]

He looks awesome dude. How do you do your gold?

[Rob451]

He looks awesome dude. How do you do your gold?

 

Base with Retributor armour.

Thin some Golden Griffon (yes it's a dry paint but you can still thin it) with Lahmian medium until you get it to a layer consistency (best to do this in a spare pot so you can stir it with a cocktail stick or similar to break up the pigment clumps).

Highlight with the thinned Golden Griffon.

Edge highlight with VMA Chrome.

Sepia wash.

 

While it sounds relatively simple there is alot of going back and touching up areas with Retributor Armour to bring back the deeper gold colour where appropriate and to cover up the many mistakes I'll have made along the way.

 

I'm not sure how much this will affect the gold but I also use a Black oil paint wash at the end to increase definition along panel lines (you can see it best around his neck). In theory it shouldn't affect the actual gold tone though.

[Vash]

Love it, specially the sword. Love the transition on it. 

[Rob451]

Been working on Artemis. Was going to use the scheme from the concept art but while that looks fine with NMM and controlled lighting it's way too much gold on one area so went with something closer to the eavy metal scheme.

[Vel'Cona]

No brakes on this train eh? Just keeps getting better!

[Prot]

That cloak looks amazing. How'd you do it?

[Rob451]

It's mostly airbrushed with some additional highlights glazed on. It's still quite shiny though hence the weird highlights. It'll look different when the final varnish coat goes on.

 

I do everything over black and just built up thin layers of VMA Scarlet. If it needs to pop a bit more I use a couple of thin highlights of VMA Orange.

[Crusader85]

Fantastic work.  For the power sword, did you just glaze blues over the metal area or did you layer it up with mixed paint?

[Prot]

It's mostly airbrushed with some additional highlights glazed on. It's still quite shiny though hence the weird highlights. It'll look different when the final varnish coat goes on.

 

I do everything over black and just built up thin layers of VMA Scarlet. If it needs to pop a bit more I use a couple of thin highlights of VMA Orange.

 

Interesting, that's pretty much what I do, but I have just started using the Glazes.