Space Marine WIP Part 2.

[giganticdark]

Some of you may remember a while back I posted a WIP of this guy.



The full WIP can be found here.

Spring is in the air and after a long winter sculpting it seemed fitting to finally honour the Emperor and get some paint on his loyal subject. :D

Due to the complexity of the model I decided to keep it in various sub-assemblies to aid painting. The parts were primed with a general automotive grey primer. I gave each piece several coats and once totally dry, the parts were wet sanded with 600 and 800 grit wet and dry paper. This ensured a good clean and smooth surface. When the parts were cleaned and dry I once again primed the parts, this time with the awesome japanese Gunze Sangyo Mr Surfacer 1200. This either comes as a spraycan or in a jar. I prefer the jar as I can thin it and apply with an airbrush for a really nice silky finish.



Some real painting next. :)

[cybersquig]

I was so psyched to see your name pop up on the forum front page for the wip section, and sure enough it was you ready to paint the potentially coolest space marine of the last 12 months!

What was the 1200 stuff you used? I\'ve not come across that before - why do you use it? what effect does it have on paint adhesion?

[Avelorn]

I have been looking forward to this.... :D

[Gapow]

I\'m so glad you have re-posted, I had to replace my hard-drive and lost my link to your previous WIP. This guy is truely awesome, I (as well as everyone else who\'s seen it) can\'t wait to see it painted :)

[alextheartist]

Originally posted by cybersquig
I was so psyched to see your name pop up on the forum front page for the wip section, and sure enough it was you ready to paint the potentially coolest space marine of the last 12 months!

What was the 1200 stuff you used? I\'ve not come across that before - why do you use it? what effect does it have on paint adhesion?

Gunze is a paint often used in the historical modeling world, thats about all i know but a little google fu should find out..

Alex

[junior elf]

I can not wait to see this guy painted !!!!!!!!!


:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D :D

[Cleezy]

cant wait for you to get painting this beast.

Gona be great.

Also a q, what is mr surfacer 1200?

[Jericho]

Ooh, this is gonna be good! Can\'t wait for updates!!

[freakinacage]

i echo their sentiments! :D

[Einion]

Lookin\' forward to seeing this develop!

That conversion is awesomeness. On a stick.

Einion

[BrotherTellos]

i was nearly blinded by the awesomeness of the conversion.... seeing it going through the stages of painting will be immence

hope my eyes hold out hehe:D:D:D

cant wait!

[stubert]

My prayers have been answered.
Well I would\'nt waist His time with things like that, but you can understand how exitited Iam.
Good luck with it and keep the pics coming.....stu.....

[hestan101]

your going to have painted pretty well to match up that sculpting:P

[giganticdark]

Just a couple of lines on Mr Surfacer.

Mr Surfacer is a range of Japanese finishing treatments. They come as spray cans or jars and come in grades similar to finishing papers 500, 1000, 1200 etc. They are designed to be applied to the surface of a model kit to provide a good surface for painting. The lower grades even fill surface imperfections, almost like a liquid sanding process! I use 1200 as a primer because when thinned and applied with an airbrush gives an incredible silken finish. The only problem is that it\'s pretty difficult to get hold of as it\'s not normally shipped outside Japan.

Hope that helps. :)

On human figures I always begin with painting the face. It is generally the focus of a figure and can hold character and dare I say it, impart emotion.



Head is primed with Mr Surfacer.



I like to prepare the colours I’ll be using before I begin. Having all of the tones ready to hand helps with the blending process.



I prefer to use Vallejo Model Colour for the flesh tones. They have a good opaque quality and can be easily thinned.

Colours are laid out in shade and highlight tones:

B- Base colour VMC 876 Brown Sand
H1- Highlight 1 VMC 876 Brown Sand 75% VMC 815 Basic Skintone 25%
H2- Highlight 2 VMC 876 Brown Sand 50% VMC 815 Basic Skintone 50%
H3- Highlight 3 VMC 876 Brown Sand 25% VMC 815 Basic Skintone 75%
H4- Highlight 4 VMC 815 Basic Skintone

S1- Shadow 1 VMC 876 Brown Sand 75% VMC 814 Burnt Cadmium Red 25%
S2- Shadow 2 VMC 876 Brown Sand 50% VMC 814 Burnt Cadmium Red 50%
S3- Shadow 3 VMC 876 Brown Sand 25% VMC 814 Burnt Cadmium Red 75%

H5- Extreme highlight VMC 815 Basic Skintone 50% VMC 918 Ivory 50%
H6- VMC 918 Ivory

Each of the colours includes a small amount of Tamiya X-21 Flat Base. This guarantees a totally matt finish, however too much Flat Base can cause the colours to become chalky.



Face is airbrushed several times with the base colour.



First highlight is brushed onto prominent areas of the face. The paint is thinned to what can only be described as a ‘thick wash’ and applied in several progressive semi transparent layers, building up the intensity of the tone.



Further highlights. Particular attention is being paid to high points, nose, chin, top of head etc.



Final highlights for now. High points of the face have received several combinations of the highlight colours, slowly building up the tones. Highlights will be refined later once the shading process begins and starts to provide a contrast reference.

Shading next.

[stubert]

Just a quick Q. Are you dry-brushing the highlights on?.....stu.....

[Necroghast]

Originally posted by Einion
Lookin\' forward to seeing this develop!

That conversion is awesomeness. On a stick.

Einion

Ehem, I believe you mean sticks now? Seriously though, nice job so far! Really been looking forward to this.

[alextheartist]

Originally posted by stubert
Just a quick Q. Are you dry-brushing the highlights on?.....stu.....

I think not.. look carefully at where they are placed in the second set of pics. I think it going be pretty amazing haveing seen his other works...

[starchaser1]

if the paint job is half as good as your sculpt this is going to be excellent :flip:

[mickc22]

looking nice so far

I\'ve been using W&N Acrylic Matt Medium, think it was under £2 for a 60ml bottle (I\'ve just seen a 250ml Galeria bottle for £4.95, that would last us a while)
I just dip my mixing brush in it (before mixing the paint :D) when I\'m preparing my paint, it\'s brilliant!

[giganticdark]

stubert- No drybrushing here. I\'m just brushing on very thin washes of colour slowly building up the intensity of the tone. I\'m using a very fine brush to do this so I can control the application. It can take many of these thin semi transparent layers of colour to create a smooth transition of colour.

Time for some shading.



Shading tone is applied to the ares of the face receiving less light.



Again I am focussing on the recesses of the face. Creases around the eyes, nose and mouth and where skin meet the non organic areas.

At this point I have given the non flesh areas a coat of VMC 850 Black. This will help me to measure the contrast of the facial tones, consider reinforcing any highlights and shadow tones, and adjust blended areas.



Little more shading and some adjustments to the highlights. Eyes have been blocked in with a VMC 815, VMC 918 mix.

I never use pure white for eyes or teeth as it gives a harsh unrealistic look. I also rarely use black when painting a face for the same reason.



Completed face.

Eyes have been painted in, lining the lower lid with Burnt Cadmium Red and the upper lid with a Burnt Cadmium Red/ Black mix. Pupils have been painted with a mix of Ivory and Black, highlighting with increasing amounts of Ivory. Pupil is outlined and dotted with Burnt Cadmium Red/ Black mix. I wanted a very pale pupil to hint at the marines augmented eyes. I generally like to have the eyes looking away ‘off camera’ as centralised pupils can make the model look strange and staring. Eyes will receive a gloss coat once the entire head is finished.

Lips have been treated with thin layers of Burnt Cadmium Red with a slightly darker mix applied to the upper lip. Scars and deepest recesses have also been washed with Burnt Cadmium Red.



Chin area, top of head and underneath the eyes have all been given a very subtle wash of Brown Sand/ Medium Grey mix.

Power Armour next. :)