Salamander Marine: step-by-step

[jahminis]

hey CMON...

i\'ve never done a WIP thread, or even taken step-by-step pics before...
guess it\'s about time to jump in...

this marine was built just for fun, and when i was asked to paint a sample tabletop quality marine, i jumped at the chance tp paint my gunslinger...

i didn\'t get a chance to take any shots of the raw mini, or the black primed version, so we\'ll just start with the finished product...

this is a quality that i can guarantee to reproduce on each mini in an army...

now on to the steps...
this mini was painted with ancient GW colours from the original space marine box set, and P3 paints...

first the pics, then the recipe...

this first stage is:
salamander green armour
rhulic gold
pig iron
thamar black

here i just layed down a solid basecoat, and decided if i liked where all the colours are placed...

after the basecoat was dry, i washed the battleplate with P3 armor wash, and a little medium...
making sure all the joints were nice and dark, i then cleaned up the armor with salamander green again...

the gold and steel are washed with my special mix:
P3 armor wash
P3 flesh wash
vallejo smoke
mixing medium

the metals are cleaned up again...
i usually add a little dark brown to my gold so it covers easier, then go over it with pure gold...
pig iron covers perfect as is...

at this stage i hit the purity seals with some P3 sanguine base, some P3 battlefield brown and then a layer of P3 jack bone...

i also started laying out the highlights on the black with P3 greatcoat grey...
i used the old GW striking scorpion green to show what the first fineline highlight would look like on the battle plate...

at this stage, i went all around the mini with the striking scorpion green, laying down all the finline highlights on the battle plate...
i worked out my highlights on the black with the greatcoat grey...
i finished off the purity seals with a layer of menoth white highlight, and khador red base...
the script is battlefield brown with a little armor wash added...

the steel bits are given a layer of boltgun metal...

the plasma pistol coils get a layer of sanguine base, a layer of khador base, followed by P3 heartfire...

the base gets the same treatment as the plasma coils, and then a wash of P3 red ink...
the metal is the old dwarf bronze from the early 90\'s GW metallic set
it\'s then given a wash of my metal mix...

the skeletal hand is hit with battlefield brown, then jack bone...

here we are almost at the home stretch...
at this point, i had to choose the direction of the light, for my extreme hightlights...
this is the style i was asked to paint, and also to demonstrate my ability with freehand...

the light is coming from overhead, at around 2 o\'clock...

i used P3 necrotite green for the extreme highlights...
P3 trollblood highlight on the black...
rhulic gold and P3 radiant platinum mix for the gold, and mithril silver for the steel...

all the cables and wires are painted with khador base...
the eyes are given the same colour, and hit with a dot of P3 cygnus yellow...

the base is given a mix of dwarf bronze and radiant platinum, and the lava gets a mix of cygnus yellow and P3 morrow white (this mix is used on the plasma coils too)...

the freehand sallie symbol is drawn in with greatcoat grey, and finished with menoth hightlight...
the flame is painted in with sanguine base, then filled in with cygnus yellow and khabor red base...

that\'s it...
here\'s the result:

hope you guys enjoyed my first step-by-step...

thanks for lookin\'...

cheers
jah

 

[freakinacage]

cool, thanks for sharing

 

[Niall]

Good step by step!

One thing though, I know in the canon it is written that Salamanders have black skin. I think that wasn\'t meant to be taken literally, black as in dark brown would have suited the model better and made it look more alive.

 

[palinmoonstride]

While i also think a brown would suite them better, GW paints their Salamanders with jet black skin also.

 

[jahminis]

hey guys...

thanks for takin\' the time to respond...
as to the skin, i paint my sallies with brown skin...

since this was a test piece for an army commission, i used the colours and style i was asked to paint...

the latest sallie description calls for jet black skin and red eyes...
that\'s what the dude wanted, and that\'s what he got...

it\'s much harder to pull off a good looking jet black...
i\'d prefer dark brown...

cheers
jah

 

[Mourner]

great step by step, i\'ve never liked sallies, the green is often too bright and i don\'t like the brown skin (again, too light)

yours, i like a lot however, nice dark color on the armor, great skin color and i really like the eyes, those are almost a haunting red.
I absolutely love the little bone hand on the top rung....lol lol

the only thing that lets me down (there is always something, if not i\'ll go look for something) is the freehanded flame on the shoulderplate. But then again, i know how hard it is to draw/paint a good flame

 

[jahminis]

i totally agree with you on the flame icon...
i had to come up with something that could be reproduced over 30-40 marines...
this is a simple design, but still needs to be tightened up a bit...
unfortunately, i ran out of time...
i\'ll do better on the next one...

thanks for the feedback everybody...

cheers
jah

 

[juckto]

I really like the green, but you use a few terms unfamilar to me when describing the recipe.

\"P3 armor wash + medium\". Is P3 a brand of paints? And by medium do you mean you thinned it down with something?

As to the flame, I think they\'d look better with a different colour choice.
Blood Red, Fiery orange, and (60:30:10 Bad Moon Yellow: Fiery Orange: Skull White).
Turns out like this

 

[Jericho]

The only question I have is what Salamander Green is exactly? I don\'t recall any paint brands having that in their lineup.

 

[jahminis]

@juckto: P3 is privateer press\' brand of paints...
mixing medium is one of their products...
it\'s basically acrylic gel, without pigment...
it helps to thin the wash without losing the intensity of your colour...

as to the flame icon, i like the realistic flame effect that you went with, but this is not an attempt at real flame, it\'s a graphic...
it\'s a simple version of the salamanders fire drake icon from the codex, done in a manner that can be easily reproduced across a whole army quickly...
it needs to be sharpened up a bit...

@jericho: salamander green is from the old citadel colour space marine paint set, released in 1991 i believe...
original gw paints last a long time...

cheers
jah

 

[Jericho]

Oh, wow that\'s pretty ancient paint Looks pretty similar to current Orkhide Shade, or possibly P3 Gnarls Green? Can you confirm how it looks in person?

 

[jahminis]

i don\'t have orkhide shade...
i bought mechrite red, and wasn\'t at all impressed, so i didn\'t buy any other colours...
i\'ll have to try the dark shades when i get back to the states...
from the swatch, orkhide looks pretty close to salamander green...
gnarls green is definitely a shade lighter than the sallie green...

when the minis arrive, i\'ll be using gw colours...
it will be dark angels green, then snot green for all the edges, and scorpion green for the final highlights...

cheers
jah

 

[Jericho]

Yeah Orkhide is darker than Gnarls, and with a hint of blue in it. Thanks for the info, that\'s a nice old color I wish they still made it.