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The Siege of Zalathras Commemoration Banner


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Well, as the time for hearing back from Codex Pictures, GW or anyone else on this competition is well and truly passed, I can only surmise that I did not win anything in this competition. So it is time to show you all, my entry for the Ultramarines the Movie's Design a Chapter Standard Competition.

 

First off, let me say a few words about the background of this piece:

I originally wanted to do more than one banner, so I picked 10 events from the Ultramarine timeline that I thought were either epic, obscure or intriguing enough to deserve a banner for ad memoriam. Then I started my research phase into symbols, started writing down some ideas and doing a bit of sketch-work.

I originally wanted to do all 10 ideas, but then just as I was going to start work on the first banner I received a phone call saying that my father was dying and naturally I dropped everything to go home and see him one last time. - A few days later he had passed away after having fought bravely against cancer for quite some time.

 

Naturally I was well and truly out of it for a while and I no longer had the time or will to make 10 banners for this competition. Still I did want to make one and to make it as good as I could with the time I had left before the deadline. I decided to make a banner in honour of my dad and so I started work on The Siege of Zalathras Commemoration Banner; because the battle Calgar faces in that heroic battle somehow reminded me of the battle my father had had to endure by himself in those last days. The Orks of Zalathras became a symbol of cancer and Calgar one for my father who fought bravely until the end.

 

But this banner is full of symbols, all telling the story of Calgar's battle at Zalathras, and in the 40k universe I imagine artisans would have been set to create this banner in memory of the great and heroic achievement that the victory at Zalathras was.

The banner is supposed to be made out of fine cloth, dyed, sewn and brocaded, then adorned with masterfully rendered symbols crafted from gold, silver, glass, embossed and gilded wood, plas-steel and precious gems.

 

The many symbols of the banner tells the story of Zalathras. Let me take you through them all:

 

Looking at the banner pole, you will find a victory laurel as well as Marine forces on the left, facing off against Ork forces on the right. This immediately tells us who is battling who and the large Marine on the main pole, with the victory laurel overhead tells us who was the victor.

As you can see the victory laurel can also be seen in many other versions throughout the banner.

 

The golden eagles on the banner itself are supposed to be pins securing the banner to the banner pole and they are a clear symbol of the Imperium.

 

The blue and white colours of the banner set the canvas for what is clearly a First Company banner, while the three different colours at the bottom give us:

Blue: WHO were involved. The Ultramarines in blue and white, and the Orks in red.

Red: WHAT happened during this battle, with red as a symbol of blood and war.

Black: WHERE did this event take place, with the black colour setting the backdrop of space for the golden star maps that tell where in the Imperium the Zalathras system can be found.

 

The Aquila spreading it's wings at the top of the banner is clearly a symbol of the Imperium. It holds the planet of Zalathras well within in it's grasp and is surrounded by victory; or a golden victory laurel as it were. - A victory springing out from the Ultramarines, as can be seen in the relationship the golden laurel creates between the inverted Omega of the Ultramarines and the mighty Aquila of the Imperium.

The Aquila's placement at the top of the banner is also no coincidence, as this symbolizes how the Imperium rules all that lies below it.

 

The planet the Aquila holds gives us an idea of the geographic layout of the planet of Zalathras, as well as it's atmosphere and habitability.

Also, while it is not visible at this resolution, a tiny red gem has been pinned to the planet, indicating the location of the city of Zalathras and the area in which this legendary battle was fought.

 

The next stage this story is set upon is the shield. A symbol of protection, for that is what the Ultramarines did at Zalathras.

The presence of the Ultramarines in this story can clearly be seen in their symbol as it floats majestically above the stylized ivory white and gold towers of the city of Zalathras.

The inner part of the shield is adorned with a stylized rendition of the city and it's surrounding geography. We can see that it is surrounded by mountains, lush hills and thick forests. Then, looking at the sky we see a moon symbol on a darker blue and a sun symbol on a lighter blue. These indicate night and day and tell us that the battle here was fought for a night and a day. Furthermore the sun symbol is a triple symbol, as it serves as a sun; a symbol of victory; and also as the symbol of the Ultramarines' First Company. While it is not visible at this resolution, both this and the victory laurel above it also hold a small Ultramarines symbol so there is no doubt about who this victory belongs to. - Finally, with the victory symbol being placed as a sun, - the symbol of daytime, we can further surmise that the ultimate victory during this battle came during the day.

 

Further down we see a cluster of symbols in front of the stylized rendition of the city of Zalathras.

Here we find the symbol of Marneus Augustus Calgar, but rather than in it's usual clenched fist style, his hand is held out in a stop sign, again showing how he halted the Orks at Zalathras. Below his symbol we find two Bolters. These again serve as more than one symbol, for they are both meant to represent aspects of the Gauntlets of Ultramar and the main power of the Ultramarines. Then at the bottom of this cluster of symbols we find a Crux Terminatus with an Ork skull as opposed to the more commonly used human skull. This symbol is clearly an Elite symbol and the way the cross of the Crux encapsulates the Ork skull symbolizes how the Orks were defeated by the Elite Ultramarines. This is further underlined by the fact that the Crux is decorated with the words "The Ultramarines defeated the malign Orks", in High Gothic. - Finally, the placement of this cluster of symbols is meant to show where the final battle was won: Before the gates of the grand walls that surround Zalathras. - And speaking of walls, the border pattern in gold and silver, that surrounds the whole motif of the banner, are meant to symbolize the walls and defences of Zalathras, with Ultramarine symbols adorning each corner "tower" in the pattern.

 

The name tag shows us what Campaign this Commemoration Banner has been made to honour and the purity seals are there simply as a validation of the purity of the act this banner portrays.

 

Finally, we are back to the bottom tri-point tails of the banner. We have already addressed their colours, but we can also see that they contain a couple of symbols.

First off, we have the symbol of the Ultramarines' First Company; secondly we have the star map showing the route of travel from the Hallowed empire of Ultramar, to the once war-torn surface of Zalathras. The centre of each golden star is imbued with either a blue or red gem. Blue representing Imperial held star systems and red representing a contested star system.

 

The triangles clearly also hold writing in High Gothic. This writing tells the story again, but in writing. Who were involved, when did it happen, what took place and where.

Finally the text tells us to remember Calgar's victory.

 

Ok, so that should give you more than enough insight into the symbols and story of this banner. Hopefully you can see that a lot of thought and work was put into it. - And as for the work, it was all done in Photoshop.

 

So here it is, finally. - The Siege of Zalathras Commemoration Banner:

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/The-Siege-of-Zalathras-Commemoration-Banner-template.jpg

 

 

The detail level of this banner is enormous and at the resolution I can represent it in here, there is no way for me to show it off in a single presentation, so I figured that if there is any interest for it, I will be posting up one new detail a day and answer questions if there are any.

 

For starters I thought I would present one of the corners of the border pattern. One of the "towers" of the wall the border pattern is supposed to symbolise, and how it is adorned with an Ultramarine symbol:

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/border-pattern-detail.jpg

 

Hope you find the banner worthy of the Ultramarines!

 

Edit:

Changed the image to include the template as per the rules of the competition.

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Holy damn! *sigh*

You people are going to make me figure out how to cast a dozen Company Banners from greenstuff to make interchangeable banners, aren't you? There's no way I could afford that many Command Squads....

 

And then I have to PAINT all of these awesome banners.... I need a team of competent minions....

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Absolutely fantastic. What program did you work it on?

 

Now the question is, can you actually build it with a UM Standard Bearer?

 

I would like to see it.

 

With such detail I have thought of printing decal sheets and embellishing them.

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Could I make this banner as a miniature banner for 40k gameplay?

No, I hardly think anyone can, but if someone wants to try I would be happy to see the results and I think some people may end up with some awesome detail. To do it right however, some parts of the banner would have to be made with green stuff modeling and some of it with a paint brush. - I'm sure you would do a very decent job TEC, but if you plan to do one or more banners from this competition, then you may want to hold off for the rest of the banners first.

 

How was it made?

It was all made in Photoshop.

The only time I used anything other than Photoshop was when I was going to adorn the banner pole with reliefs.

To do this I had to have some sort of reference, so I borrowed a friend's Ultramarines, took a few pictures of them and of my new Orks, and then used the photos as reference for the relief work. - The final reliefs however were made in Photoshop.

 

And speaking of that detail, here it is (or part of it anyway):

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/banner-pole-detail.jpg

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Emperor's teeth!

You just keep on amazing everyone on the b & c, don't you?

I remember seeing this banner in it's earlier stages, but this is just insane! This is something ol' Marnie could strap on his back and march off to war with. You are an artist man, and if it's one banner that deserves to be in the movie, it's certainly this one.

Keep upå the good worrk!

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:) Hey awesome! I'm on the center of the flag pole! :P

 

Now I have to start investigating how I would go about building a cool temple courtyard thing for my Marines....

Like I said, that would be one cool diorama! ;)

 

 

That is one piece of art right there, but I can't imagine someone actually making it on a mini but I bet Freakforge can do it!
Thank you Terminarorinhell! - Maybe we should put the challenge to Freakforge then? ;)

 

 

Emperor's teeth!

You just keep on amazing everyone on the b & c, don't you?

I remember seeing this banner in it's earlier stages, but this is just insane! This is something ol' Marnie could strap on his back and march off to war with. You are an artist man, and if it's one banner that deserves to be in the movie, it's certainly this one.

Keep upå the good worrk!

Thank you Reno! - I do try.

I am not certain that any of the banners will be in the actual movie, but it would be darn cool if they were.

 

Ok, so a new day means a new detail.

This time it's a close-up of the Aquila and planet.

Note the small red gem i mentioned earlier, that shows the location of the city of Zalathras.

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/planet-and-aquila.jpg

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Excellent banner, really brilliant, we could do with some of this in the DA forum, our company banners couldn't get more boring :) Interesting to see your sources for the details too, great stuff.
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Chaptermaster Graymantle- Thats a cool way to comemorate your dad. I know how you feel about that slump and not wanting to do anything because my mom passed away from cancer this year.
Thank you Loken, and you have my condolences!

 

 

Oh, wow. I tend to skip over giant blocks of text so I hadn't read the first part til now.

 

Very sorry to hear about your dad, Graymantle, and your mom, Loken. :D

No problem The Emperor's Champion, most people skip large amounts of text and quite often I write far too much once I get started.

 

 

Excellent banner, really brilliant, we could do with some of this in the DA forum, our company banners couldn't get more boring ;) Interesting to see your sources for the details too, great stuff.
Thank you Tomevans! - And you never know. - Some of the banners submitted for this competition may well be for the Dark Angels.

 

Ok, so today I figured I would let you have a look at one of the last details I made for this banner. - A purity seal.

Not in 1 to 1 size this time, but more like 60% of the original size.

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/purity-seal-right.jpg

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Sure!

The translation would be:

 

Blessed Emperor.

Blessed be his holy name.

 

+ + + +

 

Blessed be Marneus A. Calgar.

A true Angel of Death, a true Astartes.

 

+ + + +

 

Blessed be his name.

Blessed be his most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.

 

+ + + +

 

Blessed be the Ultramarines,

(Created in the) Most Holy Sacrament of Divine Humanity.

 

+ + + +

 

Blessed be the Saintly,

Humanity and the Emperor's Peace.

 

[Philosophically this may also be interpreted as that the Ultramarines are blessed and saintly because they deliver the Emperor's Peace (Death) on behalf of Humanity]

 

+ + + +

 

Blessed be the Most Holy Saint and Patriarch Roboute Guilliman.

 

+ + + +

 

Blessed be the Divine Emperor and his Angels (of Death).

 

truly, so it be!

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Well, I figured I'd put up a couple of idea sketches I found in amongst all the mess on my desk.

 

The first one, as you can see, is an early sketch for the shield motif.

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/sketch01.jpg

 

 

The second one was an idea sketch for the moon symbol, that never quite made it through the selection process.

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/sketch02.jpg

 

 

Hope you still find this fairly interesting and that we will be seeing more banners from Codex Pictures soon!

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Go the post it notes!

 

Anyway

 

Thats a very nice banner CMG.

 

I am sorry for your loss.

 

I can see alot of though went into the symbolism.

 

I have a criticism though. It doesn't feel very grim dark. It doesn't reflect the doom and gloom of 40k. Its bright and triumphant, but not gothic. The other thing is the hand. I am well aware that hands are difficult to draw. But that one looks too stiff. I have been reading andrew loomis, and he says to draw limbs and in this case hands with spring. This means to avoid perfectly straight lines. this gives the appearance of life in a drawing. Since the hand is the focal point of the entire banner it is quite important.

 

Finally can you please tell me how you did the gold banner pole like that. Specifically the colour. Its fantastic!

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Go the post it notes!
Indeed!

I use far to many post it notes, both in digital and material format.

But they are great for putting down ideas quickly!

 

Thats a very nice banner CMG.
Thank you!

There are elements of it I'm not 100% happy with, but given the circumstances I am quite satisfied with the end result.

 

I am sorry for your loss.
Thank you once more.

He was a great man!

 

I can see alot of though went into the symbolism.

I have a criticism though. It doesn't feel very grim dark. It doesn't reflect the doom and gloom of 40k. Its bright and triumphant, but not gothic.

Indeed!

Well it isn't grimy, bloody, dirty or damaged in any way. Put that on it, desaturate it a bit and put it on a dark, smoke filled battlefield lit only by distant fires that makes the sky look beautiful on fire and it would seem a lot more grimdark and gothic. Given the environment it is placed in and the context it is created for though, yeah, not very dark or grimy; then again it is supposed to be a banner of triumph that one might find in the Hall of Honours on MacRagge, in the Fortress of Hera; one of the Imperium's least dark gothic environments.

I don't feel everything in 40k needs to be dark and gritty gothic. One needs the occasional contrast. Dark Angels, Mortefactors and Flesh Tearers, sure Dark Gothic fits right in there, but for the Ultramarines' inner sanctum... - Not so much I think. - Then again, maybe it should have been darker for this competition. It's all a matter of perspective and taste I guess.

 

Anyway, this is the sort of environment it would belong in:

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/hera.jpghttp://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/The-Siege-of-Zalathras-Commemoration-Banner-tiny.jpg

The image is official from the Defenders of Ultramar series by Boom Studios. If you don't have it yet, go get it! - It's great!

 

 

The other thing is the hand. I am well aware that hands are difficult to draw. But that one looks too stiff. I have been reading andrew loomis, and he says to draw limbs and in this case hands with spring. This means to avoid perfectly straight lines. this gives the appearance of life in a drawing. Since the hand is the focal point of the entire banner it is quite important.
Indeed!

I studied arts and crafts for three years and design for another three, and yes, avoiding straight lines is one of the recommendations for organic shapes.

Hands and faces are among the hardest things to do and I've never been particularly good at them or organic shapes at all in my opinion, so this was one of the parts of the banner I put off for last.

That means it is also one of the areas I wasn't entirely done with for the standard I wanted, but it was ok for presentation and I am fairly happy with the gauntlet. Mind you though, it is a gauntlet, not an actual hand, which is part of the reason why it may seem a bit stiff.

It is thin for a gauntlet, I know, but I based it off one of the older symbols for Calgar, and so it turned out more hand-like than gauntlet-like.

 

My inspiration for the gauntlet:

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/gauntlet-source.jpg

 

All in all you are right though, I need to work on my skills concerning organic shapes.

 

Oh, and speaking of the "hand and other symbols in the cluster of symbols you brought up Yogi. - Here is a closer look (at 35% of original size):

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/gauntlet-n-bolters.jpg

 

 

Finally can you please tell me how you did the gold banner pole like that. Specifically the colour. Its fantastic!
Thank you! :)

Well, I haven't got a specific recipe.

The best way to learn how to create anything is to look at sources of it. - For this I took images of lots of stuff and had a look at how the material behaves, it's texture, the way light bounces of it and leaves shadows etc.

 

When working with metal though, there are a few pointers I can give you:

 

01. The texture

Different kinds of metal have different kinds of texture. Begin with observation. You can go look at actual metal objects, look at images from the Internet or take photos yourself.

There can be several layers of texture. For example, the basis texture of the metal, which would be decided by the metal's basis structure. On top of this you might find texture of how the metal was tooled to get the shape it has, then you might find a damage layer, with scrapes and scratches going against the basis and tooling textures. On top of this again you might find rust, dirt and grime. The more layers you put into something, the more realism you usually get - as long as you don't over do it.

 

To get texture onto your shape, you can use different methods of drawing. You can use regular brushes or the burn tool on already existing brushes. Work in gray-scale as you can add colour later.

You can work by drawing on a layer with bevel and emboss, shadows and/or other layer effects active. You can draw texture and scan it in, or you can take pictures and blend them onto your shape using blending modes.

There are lots of ways to get texture on there, and a simple google search will get you many tutorials that can help you out.

 

02. The colour

I usually add colour after I'm done with the shape and texture.

For bronze you want a dark orange bordering on brown.

For gold you want orange to yellow and a bit brighter than bronze. - I also find that having a few silver (desaturated) specs here and there help sell gold for gold.

For "grey" metals, you want a slight blue tint.

For silver, go with grey to white with sharp dark areas.

You should preferably keep all colours in the mid range of saturation (work up colour then try using the hue saturation slider to down-tone the saturation of your colour), to keep it realistic.

Also, you may try putting other colours blended on top of your basis colour to give it more interest and realism.

 

03. The way light and shadows behave

Understanding how light behaves on basic objects is key. For example on cylinders and spheres, but there are great tutorials on the net that explain this much better than I can here.

Also, think about your light source and how light and shadow would fall on the object's texture. - A scratch in the metal for example would be defined by how light and shadow plays over it.

Try to keep you light source consistent.

Shadows are often quite hard (high contrast) on metal, but they are usually not entirely black. - Shadow-tone is usually defined by the colour of the object where the shadow "lives".

 

04. Reflection

Most metals have a high level of reflection. Light sources (or hot-spots) is one type of reflection on metal, but metal sometimes also has a duller type of light reflection, where it reflects the ambient light of the environment around it. - Meaning that in very shiny objects you can see the environment actually reflected. - For example, if you look closely at the pattern detail I posted up first, you can see a small Marine shape looking at the banner, reflected in the tiny metal plates.

 

05. Beveling and sharpness

Shapes on metal itself is usually not sharp. Dents, sculptures, reliefs etc are usually rounded off. Sharp edges on the other hand would occur in damage, laser etched details, cracks, blades and precision fitting shapes.

 

06. Play around

When people start out making illustrations they often want to make things just so. As you work on stuff for a while though, you may find that you start looking for a general look, rather than planning everything down to specific details. This is a good thing and you should learn to embrace "happy mistakes".

Play around with the blending modes, the layer effects, the hue and saturation slider, the lightness and contrast slider, the filters and more.

Playing around will get you better results, and it will also teach you the tools better than any book ever will.

 

Finally, work large. Always try to work larger than your final result should be; and remember that for print quality you need to work at 300 dpi, though you can start your sketch work at a lower resolution, then blow it up and add details again and again until you have the results you want.

 

Hope that helps a bit and best of luck! ^_^

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I think the hand itself looks good, but the gauntlety Power Fist chunkiness just isn't there.

 

As for Grimdarkness, I don't think the banner needs it. The ℧ltramarines are basically the least Grimdark thing in all of 40k...

 

When you think ℧ltramarines, think white marble colosseums rather than giant dark grey stone gothic cathedrals.

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Ok, well today I thought I would post up a detailed version of what is a minor detail in the overall image, but still, probably the most important symbol on the banner: The Ultramarine Symbol.

Rather than keep it plain white, I decided to create this symbol in a pattern of threads that radiate outwards, somewhat like the beams of a sun.

Also visible is the small Ultramarine symbol on the top victory laurel.

All in all there are twelve Ultramarine symbols on this banner.

 

http://www.codexguardianangels.com/ultramarines-banner/main-ultramarine-symbol.jpg

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