Into the Arcane: red TS & grey WB

[okonomiyakimarine]

On The Bolter & Chainsword I found ideas, inspiration and the encourgament to take my first steps as a painter with the Thousand Sons. After joining the forums recently I started with the BaC box and painted my first marines ever. In this thread I will post my progress, but also hope for your feedback to help me develop my pre-heresy Thousand Sons along the astartes path into the arcane.

 

Already while painting these ten marines I figured I need and can be more efficent, have to prevent too many layers and need to be more carefull with washes... but there is no progress without mistakes and learning. In the future I plan to do all the BaC marines with some MkII/III included in the squads and will add some choom and egyptian-styled Thousand Sons specific parts on the way, but will refrain from adding too much bling early on, which I hope to do on some elites/psykers (third party bits, probably forgeworld if they produce specific units) once I have some more experience.

 

Since my first squad more or less turned into Thousand Sons 'by accident' (Inscrutable are the ways of the Lord of Change) it is not stylized in any legion specific way yet. There are some things I still need to fix before I add more details like the vexilla design, try to paint legion badges and base the models. This will have to wait till I have painted a test marine in another color scheme. Also I am not yet completely sure about the red. It is saturrated without being bright or shiny, but does it say Thousand Sons to you? What is probably also uncommon about the he scheme is metal/black backpacks? What do you think about the somehow uncommon color scheme?

 

What I am happy with is the posing of the models and how they all appear quite different. What I am not too happy with is the lenses. Terribly difficult to paint imho although I have seen several tutorials. also how can I give more glow to the MkII/III 'eyes'?

 

Also your general feedback is very much appreciated obviously!

 

http://i.imgur.com/BNw2z4u.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/b1F1sRK.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/V5aQhyS.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/AU4nd5W.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/xZMXVz3.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/iUOl5xJ.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/pnQHWE6.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/MKjyaYX.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/6ZWbnwe.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/6BjfHJc.jpg?1

 

these guys are now undergoing some major repainting....

[Soric]

Your marines look pretty good and despite your reservations they do look like thousand sons to me even if they don't have their legion markings or specific wargear.

 

In regards to the black backpacks, I would say that one of the best things about the Heresy is that there is always room to add little tweaks to the convential schemes of the legions to add personalisation to your forces and it definetly doesnt detract too much from the overall scheme.

 

The posing for your models looks great and you've done a great job so far with your marines. The only criticism I would give would be to clean up the glow of the mkiii helmed marine but you've already stated the annoyance that is painting eye lenses.

[okonomiyakimarine]

Soric: Thanks for the encouraging words! In hindsight i am actually quite happy with the color scheme. now i just have to match the remaining marines to this large 'test'-group... and also wait for more TS-related materials from forgeworld or shop third party bits...

 

 

Overall plan from here: Helmets/visors/lenses will be fixed. Also I need to learn to work with greenstuff to give the future squad sergeant TS-detailing. Also I will add some more marines to the squad (2x10, 15 or 20, unsure).

 

In the meantime I did the bases as a simple dried-up mud/stream design. First time for me to use these Citadel technical paints and they are easy in application and quite effective. Bases were partly underpainted with hardware store crackle paint covered in a brownish mix (50% desert yellow, 50% black+red). Using hardware store crackle paint was more or less a test (result was terrible in comparison to Citadel Agrellan Earth), but worked wonders as a substrate and provided a smooth surface and some pre-fragmenting of the surface. Added Stirland Mud for non-cracked areas and when dry slapped on Agrellan Earth. Then tied up the technical colors with the same brownish mix from before (darker on the middle of Stirland Mud areas), then added variance with several pre-fabricated washes (vallejo umber and blue wash) and watered down brownish mix followed by drybrushing (50% stonewall grey + 50% desert yellow+offwhite).

 

http://i.imgur.com/V1RQX4P.jpg

[Pearson73]

The bases look great!

[okonomiyakimarine]

Pearson & Kurgan the Lurker: Thanks!

 

Figured that for the other half of my BaC box I stick with my first idea: Word Bearers! But now in grey. Also because I already have the transfer sheet. Instead of trying out something different  from the known color schemes (like with the TS) I decided to go with the well known grey MK II Forgeworld design and find a color recipe for it.

http://i.imgur.com/MYqxvQH.jpg

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/WtEZ8AM.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/UpsMPIe.jpg

 

What I did so far: Black primer in a quite thin coat, 50/50 mix Chainmail Silver and Blue Wash all over, drybrush in Stonewall Grey, wash with thined down Black focussing on the recesses, wash with Blue in lower areas, Umber in upper areas and surfaces that would be in the light - also used both on sections, where I saw fit. This was pretty experimental, but when the idea was developed I thought about something that could be done quickly, intuitively and would allow some variance on different models.

If interested, here's prove of my strange baselayer here:

http://i.imgur.com/3UD0GQ8.jpg?1

 

 

To do: Eye lenses, drybrush to highlight on selected surfaces and line highlights

[Andvarr A]

Nice alternative word bearers

[okonomiyakimarine]

quick mini update and fun fact: Did you know that there are 119 visible rivets and 1 more hidden below the belt buckel and most cases?

While stippling them I figured I could count them, too.

 

http://i.imgur.com/RPUDvGL.jpg

[DuskRaider]

Oh man, I like your grey Word Bearers! You certainly much more thought put into it than I did, lol. I can't wait to see more.

[okonomiyakimarine]

Thanks Andvarr A and DuskRaider. Glad you like the direction!

 

The grey was not so easy too recreate on MK III and IV. The larger pads in the front of MK III and the large surfaces of MK IV just did not lend themselves too well to the simple scheme with several washes. It was more work at least to utilize the effect in a nice way.  Additionally with a slightly denser black primer they both turned out a bit darker than expected. Also 'grey' is terribly difficult to photograph.

 

So probably I should get MK II despoiler units, eh? I could use some free hands, too. Then I just throw in one or two more of MK III and IV for Vexilla, Sergeant and heavy weapon, but the bolter units should mostly be MK II. Really prefer that design for this color scheme. Fits best, doesn't it?

 

Without further ado here are the first three marines of a veteran WB squad sans transfers.

 

FRONT

http://i.imgur.com/aLWDalk.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/8dCPURx.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/alIsksn.jpg

 

BACK

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/eo9Yws1.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/bH11QuV.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/JGa8P8U.jpg

 

 

CLOSE UP

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/Ugsaxsg.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/8DGdhrJ.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/KtzO3N9.jpg

 

 

Last row is photographed top down, which was the only way for me to make the blue and brown hues show up in the image...

 

Thanks for watching. Looking forward to C&C!

[Soric]

Those pre-betrayal WB are looking great. Will you be giving them the open book legion symbols or demon heads?

[Brother Pheidias]

Gorgeous work. Thousand Sons are great, but those Word Bearers! So sombre! Love it!

[Vairocanum]

Wow those Word Bearers are awesome, that grey is fantastic! Can't wait to see more.

[okonomiyakimarine]

@ Soric: Bought the Forgeworld transfer sheet and plan to use the open book symbol. Still undecided which chapter marks to use.

 

@ BrotherPeidias: We'll see what happens to the TS. But I will definitely stick to the WB color scheme. Really happy with the dark tone here, too.

 

@ Vairocanum: Next up is the squad sergeant, vexilla bearer and heavy with rocket launcher! All MK IV. 

 

And: thanks everyone!

[okonomiyakimarine]

Small Update

Squad Sergeant for the small squad in the almost finished state of the rest of the squad.

 

http://i.imgur.com/P6hc84x.jpg

 

And more detailed shot plus WIP heavy and vexilla carrier.

 

http://i.imgur.com/F5BF0RH.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/nsQjytq.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/Wz8pA7J.jpg

note: these pictures were taken inside, while images posted before were taken under bright but grey skies outside.

 

Thanks for looking and happy about C&C!

[okonomiyakimarine]

new guy

http://i.imgur.com/oWmvIRw.jpg

 

current overall state

http://i.imgur.com/YVBz6vC.jpg

 

a bit of the variance here and there in the details needs clean ups, but slowly we creep towards my first ever squad...

[Luna707]

I'm really liking your technique with these guys! They almost look like statues

[Knight of the Raven]

I hope you don't intend to rock these Word Bearers to a tournament with the three colors minimum requirement.

I like the vexilla.

[okonomiyakimarine]

@ Luna707: the technique is kinda odd I guess, but it works for me. One can say it is the lack of color that makes them appear sculptural, and I did not do much else to make them look so, but I take this as a compliment, so thank you!

@ Knight of the Raven: hahaha, yes. But I assure you that there are more than three colors used, though not apparent in some light conditions... and as I do not play tournaments I do not have to care really and just paint what I want. I cannot take full credit for the vexilla. The color scheme is more or less copied from Captain Semper 's red Word Bearers vexilla bearer that I saw here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/323324-so-the-bac-transfers/?p=4423651 Yet I think the way I painted the cloth looks way better for some old dirty WBs

So, on to the news: When I compare my WBs and my TSs as presented here, but also on the table, I feel like the TS just do not look that sharp. Probably issues with priming, probably too many layers or I used too much paint... bottom line is I think that some details were lost in the process. Also I am not totally happy with them as they are and more color/layers would not really help, hu?

Obviously I learned a lot from my first marines ever painted (TS) and I was more cautious with the second squad (WB). And I just ordered some TS heads from Forge World and some more parts for conversion by a third party, which would just look more suitable and the regular guys would fit well to the pre-/early-heresy WBs. right?

Now, big question coming up: Strip the red guys, repaint them grey and use new parts for a replacement for the TS squad? I am not really nostalgic, because they were my first miniatures painted or anything, lol.

Comments please!

[okonomiyakimarine]

guy who will throw a grenade with his left, guy who will point at something terrifying and a guy who will stab someone with a combat knife walk into a bar...

http://i.imgur.com/u7N8gIw.jpg

i tried to streamline my painting process with black shade wash by vallejo instead watering down black color. works, but also means less brownish and blueish hues. but i guess it won't be a distraction and will blend in with the rest. Also in search for a skull (middle guy, left foot).

 

Next: Well, arms! And also lots of blades, bolt pistols, grenades and ammo pockets in developments to fit out the squad.

[okonomiyakimarine]

veteran tac squad 1 is now more or less finished.

 

http://i.imgur.com/DWfCDqH.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/mvjSIZY.jpg

[okonomiyakimarine]

So, after finishing painting my first ever squad (decals missing) I wanted to discuss some details in close up shots and comment on the experiencing painting grey/black.

 

What I learned:

1. Painting grey is about variance. A nice dark grey can not only be achieved by grey color or by darkening white/light grey, but also by layering various colors step by step for a more 'vivid grey'. Also it makes sense to vary coat thickness and change up hues on the different elements of the model.

 

http://i.imgur.com/917JwJb.jpg

 

 

2. To make a grey work it helps to have a contrast color. Now, a strong color like orange or yellow makes a lot of contrast to the grey, so i did not do the lenses at all. but i used the additional gear like ccw, bolt pistol and ammo packs to add contrast. since the dark grey is slightly more blue than brown i decided for a dirty, but still light and warm color for these. Note that the backpack also has golden-brown highlight to keep it all together!

 

http://i.imgur.com/JYtKJgG.jpg

 

 

3. Pose. Variance in the miniatures stance help to differentiate. Probably that is why the missile launcher model is one of my favs in the BaC box. So cool and stoic. But you can only have so many heavy and special weapons... so I decided to chop up some arms and add a ccw, a grenade and a pointing hand instead.

 

http://i.imgur.com/YDBCtNN.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/FjFwa8l.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/HpsH1Dd.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/yOce5ty.jpg

 

 

4. But also small details and movements help. Whatever this marine just hurt rumbling behind his rigth shoulder - he turns to the right and we see something swing around at his back...

http://i.imgur.com/IMG4uCG.jpg

 

 

5. Narrative. Do these marines drug their squad or do they poison the civilians? Also it allowed me to add a little bit of color at least ;)

 

http://i.imgur.com/ftbKxc4.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/L0Bub78.jpg

 

[Brother Pheidias]

This might be somewhat against your intentions, but I really think the eyes could do with coloured lenses, it'll make your legionnaires even more sinister I think.

[okonomiyakimarine]

This might be somewhat against your intentions, but I really think the eyes could do with coloured lenses, it'll make your legionnaires even more sinister I think.

 

hm, considering it. thanks. don't you think that colored lenses for the MKIV and black openings for MKII/III work against a cohesive look for the squad?

[Brother Pheidias]

 

This might be somewhat against your intentions, but I really think the eyes could do with coloured lenses, it'll make your legionnaires even more sinister I think.

 

hm, considering it. thanks. don't you think that colored lenses for the MKIV and black openings for MKII/III work against a cohesive look for the squad?

 

Nah, as long as you keep the colour cohesive, it should be fine.

[okonomiyakimarine]

http://i.imgur.com/qIY3X8B.jpg

 

a squad of Thousand Sons was lost during a bathing operation. their skin just melted. their mortal remains will be transferred to word Bearers' Gloriana-class battleship Sunstorm (sorrry, terrible pun), where a ritual will be performed - most probable outcome: new grey color!

 

but fear not, some new helmets patterns emerged and there is material for some customization. the Thousand Son will be back soon!

 

http://i.imgur.com/4hXCh8L.jpg

 

so what is going on really? my Thousand Sons were just painted with way too much color, many details are lost. after painting my second squad as Word Bearers I realized the should get stripped and repainted. One model will be kept as a color reference. The others will be stripped....