Brother Christopher

Thanks for the positive feedback! Particularly about the reassurance about the choice of colour for my fire support guys. This week has been... strange. Mostly because of work. In order to combat the time-consuming mundaneness, I surprisingly spent a lot of time doing actual painting progress. This has taken the time from other things, like being online, though. I managed to finish the armour and do the base metallics for all three melta marines. I also did some soul-searching. I'm very glad you like him! I appreciate the comment about the combination of panel and edge highlighting. This ties neatly into my soul-searching. During short breaks between chores, I did some Googling in an attempt to research alternate painting techniques and find some inspiration to perhaps change the way I paint my minis. And I think I meandered a bit but turned the full circle. For some time now, I'm slightly enamoured with the idea of trying to do volumetric highlighting or focus on panel "highlighting" by properly blending paints so that the painted-on lights and shadows imitate reflections from a single light source. I'm not particularly sure whether I'm using the right terms but I'm considering trying to 1up my painting and do some 'pro-style' models that are more like display pieces than game pieces. Putting aside my skills threshold (i.e. I doubt whether I'd be able to pull off blending lights and shadows and whatnot), in the end I'm not sure if I really need that: it might just be me wanting to try something new. The conclusion I've come to is this: in the near future, I'll need to decide whether I want paint an army or whether I want to paint miniatures. Right now, I'm leaning towards the former - I think I'll want to stick to painting models that will look nicely in a display cabinet and - hopefully, one day - on the tabletop. And for this purpose, the style I'm developing for my Purple Marines works pretty well. I see it as a bastardised 'Eavy Metal wannabe style. Depending on the complexity of models, I manage to get single marines painted in between 2 and 5 hours. I think it's reasonable. The thick edge highlights help in defining the details and my attempts at making colour gradients make the large flat surfaces look more interesting. Does it make sense to make armour darker at the bottom and lighter towards the top? Not always and, therefore, not really. But it's simple enough and doesn't require much though, knowledge of (art?) theory, nor skill. Come to think of it, I've reached pretty obvious realisation about painting styles. The 'Eavy Metal/boxart style is very striking and aims to market the miniatures, make them look nicely from all angles and on the tabletop and feels achievable. The other styles I have in mind look way more time-consuming and appear a bit prohibitive. Additionally, it seems that the minis look good from certain angles - something that's great for posting photos of them online or displaying them in a cabinet, but seems a bit problematic on the tabletop. There's also the real-life/hobby time factor involved. While the dream of doing 'pro-level' paintjobs of single miniatures appears to be alluring, in the end I find painting squads of Space Marines (instead of individual Space Marines) more pragmatic and fun due to potential of painting more different things. On top of that, I do like my Space Marines but I think that even the coolest of SM models are quite boring. I'll try some of the pro-stuff in other projects. Or maybe attempt at a 5-6 model squad of fancy marines in the future. (There's also a chance that if I'm in the mood, I'll sidetrack my melta marines and do 1 'fancy' test model over the weekend, who knows.)

Another impressively insane thing here. Strangely enough, I didn't take a mental note of that dread. The paint job is great. I dig your colour scheme. The shield and sword are appropriately large. The additional potbelly armour based on bits from what appears to be a Leviathan kit is also creative. While it's not my cup of tea, I respect the idea and execution. He also reminds me of something or someone but I can't really put my finger on what it is. But I get the vibes of a grizzled, old knight. What's your next project?

The apothecary is a very brave conversion: using a lot of expensive kits. But it's shaping up to be something absolutely amazing. Looking at these kinds of projects is unhealthy for me, though. It makes me want to give proper kitbashing a try - something I vowed not to do. Also, the guy 'jumping' over the wall is a nice sculpt. It seems that the designers managed to improve Phobos armour, too.

I agree with Tallarn Commander, enough said. Do you have these bits from kits intended for different projects you do, or do you but them specifically for this projects?

Huh, I can't believe I've never complimented your Slaaneshi-pattern camo capes. That's an unbelievable oversight. It was a creative idea that was excelently executed. The choice of colours and 'density' of the symbols painted on the capes makes them quite striking: clearly aesthetically-driven (fitting for the followers of Slaanesh), but at the same time the earthy tones give a very grounded, utilitarian feel. The converted, chaosified Gatling gun I also pretty dope. I like the attention to details: the use of some oldschool flamer (together with the fuel tanks mounted on the side), the plasticard shield and extensions and the top-cover with the chaos symbol. I'm slightly concerned with the green stuff bit: it might just be the photo, but it looks a bit rough/uneven. If that's the case, it should be fairly easy to to fix with some filing or adding more GS.

I have had an extended break and missed a lot of what you're doing but CLEARLY you're still going at it. The walker based on the Stormtalon is definitely something I'd like to see finished. I'm curious where the tides of hobby take you. I think that you should go with something based on the second photo: The added bulk in the back really helps the model. In the other configurations, I feel, the 'waits' is too flimsy..

I understand the frustrations all too well. Having said that, I dig the paint scheme - the colour choices, as well as the decision which sections to paint with what colour. The thin stripes, with the runes, extending to the top and bottom of the rear hatch are a particularly noce though. I actually like the texture a lot. It's not a style that I'm most familiar with but it looks striking.

That's a very clean paintjob on the Blood Angel. The face is great (and seems easy to paint, too!) and the colour for the base works well, too. My only observation/criticism at this point concerns the edges on the leather pouches but I assume that's due to the model being in the WIP stage.

Hah. Stellar work. It feels exotic to see your skill and creativity applied to Xenos, but - unsurprisingly - the results are consistently good. The GS additions are great. Frankly, if it were not for the before photos, it would be impossible to tell that the scarabs are actually GS-moulded bits. I'd like to chime in on the naming process but I guess I don't have enough creative fibres in me. Given the context of the theme of your Marines, the face and hood of the Lord, I'd probably name him Skeletor :P

More of the same here, really, but just slightly different. I have a confession to make. Interestingly, for the first time in my whole life I got actually annoyed at something (else) while painting. Instead of taking a break from painting, I continued doing so in the most angry manner possible. This happened while I was doing the edge highlights - a process that requires precision and focus: things that were at that particular moment in short supply. The result was quite dreadful (similar to what I could achieve just after I started painting all those years ago) - the lines were thick and uneven, quite rubbish really. This is still visible on the ball-thingies on the backpack. Having found myself in this situation, I decided to continue and modify my painting process - I applied a generous amount of a wash (I mixed a black wash with some dark purple paint) to get the recesses and some initial shading and this mix somewhat helped dull the edge highlights. Then, already calm, I applied the second, finer line of highlights and proceeded with refining them, as well as doing some more shading on the armour plates. In order to make sure what I ended up with (that looked pretty great to the naked eye), I took control photos of the model... and the result is pretty great. I'd even wager saying this: the highlights appear to be some of the best ones I've painted. Who would've thought that (zeal and) fury will actually lead me to victory. A byproduct of a fit of anger just might have resulted in me finding a somewhat more pleasant way of getting more gradient onto the larger armour plates and achieving finer lines that don't require as much focus as they usually require. I think I'll experiment with this technique on the three melta marines but I'm optimistic and think that I just might adjust my workflow. Also, I find these Angry LinesTM somewhat easier to control than ones achieved by drybrushing (a shortcut that I use for my Firstborn Templars). EDIT: I should probably mention that it seems that this will be my paint scheme for my fir support dudes: gunmetal shoulder pads, helmets and backpack tops. I'm also surprised how promising it is: I was afraid to mix metallics with the rest of the scheme but it's quite okay, isn't it? After doing my recon marines and champion, I decided to keep the coloured arms to veterans and HQs only (so white). Right now, I sort of feel that the most recent idea would add too much variety to the force as a whole.

I, Brother Christopher, embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of November pledge to complete 3 melta-specialists by month's end.

Thanks. I'm not worrying about that, too. My life has taken me to a place where painting models is a very private thing - I do it for myself and by myself (well, and B&C here!). This probably is with a detriment to my hobby skills that could have improved better were I more involved in the broader community (or if I were to watch more tutorials or go to painting classes) but I can live with that: I have other activities that take up my hobby and social time. Same goes for equipment: I expect that I'd up my game considerably were I invest in an airbrush but it seems like such a chore to use with all the cleaning and maintenance, not to mention it being another thing sitting in my room. I mean, I want to grow but I let the growth happen organically, at my amateurish pace. And with these purple guys, I feel I'm reaching a sweet spot. That's one idea. Or I'll just 'model' them on 32mm bases and for gaming purpose magnetise them on top of 40mm bases - that might also help game-wise to account for the added height of Gravis marines. But the prospect of gaming is a distant one. I hope this changes with the new edition but in a way, I doubt it. The resin split very neatly so I didn't have much trouble gluing it back together. The seam might be slightly visible when painted but I don't intend to worry about that given the other hand-made changes that affect GW's perfect quality. I'm quite happy with how they turned out. The things I don't like is 1. the fact that there is no gap between the end of the armour plate on the arms and the melta guns; 2. the fact that the angle the marine in the middle holds the vertical grip (I'd prefer it parallel to the gun barrel when viewed from the top), and 3. the fact that I damaged the 'mounting point' for the vertical grip on the marine in the middle (I tried to replace it with a bit of white plasticard and hope to cover it up with paint). I hope that you'll agree that all of these are minor complaints. All in all, 4/5 conversion project. I'm happy with it but have hoped for it to be better. It seems that even the simplest gun swaps are too difficult when it comes to Primaris. I'm happy however with the knee pads and riveted shinguard on one of the guys.

That's great to hear :D This gives me a sense of sanity, haha. I believe these are melta rifles - the smaller gun variants from Gravis Eradicators (with the magazine instead of cables connected to the backpack). Actually, all my fears came true! The guns snapped in unexpected places but I managed to sort them out. I also think I've managed to fit them onto Infernus bodies but I'm only doing three of these. Too much of a hassle. I'm waiting for green stuff to cure (I don't want to damage the GS work I did on the knees) to make absolutely sure. And to think that I wanted to replace most of the weapons on my Primaris with 'Firstborn' equivalents... Man, the shift in design philosophy is killing the converter in me. Later I'll also have to decide whether to put them on small bases or on 40mm ones and call them count-as Eradicators. I think I'll keep them on 32 mm, though.

You're absolutely right. I'm mentioning the minor things because I feel it's important not to be complacent. As such, I like to notice flaws to either improve them immediately or to take note and hope to improve the painting process in the future. However, as a general rule with me, me being critical doesn't mena I'm unhappy. And I'm quite happy with how the model looks, even in the photos (which is quite unusual of me!). This time I'm definitely finding the painting process therapeutical. It was relaxing and hassle-free. I think a large part of it probably was that I knew what I wanted to do. It turns out that decision-making, even when it comes to tiny spacemen, unconsciously stresses me out. If I were to apply some amateur-grade psychological self-assessment, I think in real life, due to the nature of my work, I have to deal with A LOT of responsibility and decision-making on my own. And it probably fills my decision-making buffer up resulting in it being unconsciously difficult to make decisions in the hobby: that's why I'm so hesitant when it comes to colour schemes, and colour choices and squad compositions (and making use of limited bits) difficult. I want to get things right the first time but it doesn't work that way because ideas keep on evolving and getting replaced by new/better ones. And of course this is where this community is of immense help: you guys, being passionate and experienced hobbyists, provide invaluable feedback and help be get my purple guys sorted out. Actually, I'm planning to replace the whole guns. I know it would have been extremely easy with the way old models were made (it used to be a simple hand swap); I know it would be quite easy with plastic bits (I have a good sense of how plastic behaves) but I'm worried how removing bits of resin will turn out. My limited experience with resin is that it's extremely brittle and 'erratic' - I while I'm quite confident where the limit of plastic is and when and how it'll snap, resin tends to crack in unexpected ways - probably due to how it absorbed and distributes force. Further, I'm worried that it'll take a lot of work to adapt the multi-melta to a non-gravis bearer. Incidentally, originally I planned on using old, firstborn melta guns and fit them onto the Primaris Flamers. However, I decided not to mix Firstborn bits/aesthetics with the upgraded Primaris designs at all. This is an attempt to 'future-proof' the army. Based on my (admittedly) limited experience, the 'new' kits (i.e. Primaris), are randy dandy as long as long as you don't want to modify them. That's why I decided to limit my conversions and go with a relatively vanilla project. I couldn't justify the time and work investment to readjust the tiniest of parts to effectively 'damage' models. All the more respect to awesome converters such as @space wolf and @Knightsword. My ambitions for this army project were initially big. Now, the changes are limited to changing knee pads on some models.