W40K Space Marine - Paint Experiment

[JamesPerrin]

As we get older and nostalgic for the things we used to have have as kids we are often struck by how small they seem compared to our memory - Wagon Wheels (biscuit) being the main touchstone in the UK. However as I ease myself back into mini painting is seems the converse is true as Space Marines and for that matter all of Games Workshop's figures are a lot bigger than I remember! This is probably due to them moving to injected plastic moulding and needing to rescale to get the same level of detail that could be achieved in white metal. Anyhow I digress, I bought this standard marine just to see what the plastic figures were like and to practice new techniques. One thing I wanted to try was the unusually colour palette used by the painters at CraftWorldStudio on Instagram, but they technique needs a in depth understanding of colour theory so I took a short cut suggested by Ninjon in a recent YouTube video which as to use strong dark tones as the base shadowing. So I picked two colours that seemed to work together and sprayed the darker from below and the other from above. The second colour was probably too light and more like a zenithal highlight. I worked both colours into my base colour to darken and lighten it as required. I tried to keep the range of colours used small too as I think this helps tie the areas of the figure together.

Here is the finished figure which I'm really happy with apart from the AK black primer which failed on my and started to rub off in areas, and required touch ups. A couple pics on the shadow base coats at the end which looked pretty cool as was and could just have details picked out an called down if were painted a squad to game with - I don't game.

[X12A]

James, I have absolutely no interest in these figures whatsoever but I must admit that does look pretty good! Nice one.

[Bissyboat]

Same here. Never got bitten by that bug. But I´m fascinated by the artistry and the intricate details. The colour modulation on the armour is very good.

[jssel]

Excellent James. Having done a few 1/144 Gundams I’m interested

[DavidWomby]

Lovely work on that, James.

David

[RayS]

That looks great James, my elder son (he is 28) builds and paints these (and occasionally games as well) and he pours over Youtube videos trying to get these sorts of effects on his.

[Muttzley]

Excellent James. Having done a few 1/144 Gundams I’m interested

Well worth looking at some of the gaming miniatures being produced for games like 40K or Battletech, you can find some very interesting figures, vehicles and scenery items, some are just right when you just want to paint something without worrying about references!
It's not just that, but trawling around in the 3D printed items, you quite often find bits and pieces that you had no idea you were looking for until you see them.
I've recently picked up 3D printed models of the Charioteer and Conqueror tanks in 1/72 scale, both models I've been looking for a long time.

[iggie]

Very impressive work James, especially at that relatively small scale!