Step by step

Step by step - Ultramarine Heavy Bolter

Allright, I've got the bad habit of posting my wip with huge steps between them. So i'll try to calm down and take pictures of the steps as I go.... So here we go.

This is and ultramarine heavy bolter guy for a friend of mine. It's something simple, not too much details with nice line. It's nice once in while, not to say always, to simply do something simple where you do not get bogged down in the outrageous amount of details some minis can have.

All the color I'll make reference to are from the P3 range made for Privateer Press.

So the basecoat is Cygnar blue base with a touch of Cryx bane highlight. The grey lightly dessaturate the blue giving it a tone I am more familiar with. The first shadows are done with Sanguine Base, a rich and deep red which I just love!

Now that the first shadows are placed we begin to have a feeling of the shape and volume of the figurine. So now we'll increase the shadows by using a darker color. I'll mix battlefield brown with exile blue which will give me a really dark blue/brown perfect for most shadows. Furthermore I can avoid black which would totally dessaturate my color as my mix keeps a richness. Also note the transition from a warm (red) to a cold (brown/blue) color for shadows which help to acentuate the effect.

For now we are done with shadows. I'll later define them more using pure black in only the deeper recesses.

So we go on to the first light. So I'll add Menoth white base to my base color and place the first light.

Light are finished. The blue of the armour is finished per say. There might be small touch ups on lights later on. Some black shades and lining in small area will be used later as well in order to properly define every zone!

Checkers... The future owner of this miniature mentionned something about checkers on V2 Space Marine so I went a little nut with it and ensure a safe future for this space marine as a New-York cab!

So first we need to cover the area where will do our checkers with a pale color. I chose astronomican grey from the GW Foundation paint which is great since it covers really well. So not too much layers and easy fix for future mistake!

After that I'll draw really thin lines as guides:

Now I simply fill the squares with black following the grid I painted. Remember that it is only for reference so do not hesitate to play with it or correct it.

Now I simply fade them with the color of their specific zone to give them a progression as for now they kind of pop up from nowhere. Furthermore I do not want a full zone of checkers... He's still a Space Marine... not a harlequin! Although harlequins are really cool! But that's another project...

Oh... I also denoted certain area in black... there was some left on my palet so up we go!

So in order to get back into it as the Mix Open arrives quickly I decided to work on the base of my ultramarine and do the signs on its shoulder pad... Not too happy about the signs, I'll see what I can do to correct them. Perhaps delimiting the contours a little bit more... As for the base there is a certain lack of finesse but for a first try with maskol I'm pretty happy. Sorry no step by step for tonight. The signs are basically like checkers, take your time and one step at a time. As for maskol well that would be another topic and there is allready a lot that have been written out there. So here we go!

The base:

And with the Space Marine on it... lighting isn't perfect but I just wanted to give an idea of the pieces together... sorry...

Next step.... metallics!

I've retouched the base in order to give it more finesse overall. Some splash of tamya smoke as well for oily stains.

I've also retouched the lights on the helmet of the marine. Furthermore I've redefined the ultramarine symbol on his shoulder pad. Following a qasi unanimous response I've totally changed the devastator symbol and I'm glad I've done it seeing the actual result! First coat for the metallics, boltgun metal has been applied!

The final steps of this figurine.

So I apply shadows to my metallics my using pure black. Note that i will never mix it with the boltgun metal. Always pure!!! The goal is to create contrasting zones in order to separate clearly every elements.

I'll then put lights using mithril silver. Once again i will always use it pure:

Finally I'll use an intermediary color to give more richness to the metallic. In this case the red of the shoulder pad which has also been used for the shadow of the blue. The IV symbol was switch for IX since i was told that there could not be a 4th squad of the devastator in the 3rd company.... ah well... And now I'm told that it should have been black and on the other shoulder... Aaaaaahhhh!!!!!

So here is the finished model. I might touch up a few things if I have time before leaving for Paris.