Step by Step: Space Wolf Illustration

One of the real challenges of being an active artist is not falling into habit or taking the easy way out of a situation. It's so easy to just fall back on what you've done a hundred times before and simply repeat it. It's familiar territory, you have the confidence of knowing it's going to work and the risk factor is basically nil. It's a dangerous trap, one that leads to a loss of momentum of growth, which I hope is why everyone out there is pursuing their art. With that in mind, I knew I had to challenge myself with this marine.

The first thing to go was the helmet. Especially when dealing with a faction like the Space Wolves who are known for fighting without them, helmets are very much one of the easy ways out. A humanoid face is ten times more expressive and equally as difficult to get right. I've never been great at drawing faces, so I use a ton of references. This particular one is half based off an existing GW sculpt and half from the facial expressions seen on Kratos, especially in God of War 3's high definition glory. 

Once I had the figure done, I started working on the background. I often drop in filler in the form of large chunks of color and texture to help flesh out the weight of the piece, but I wanted to take on the challenge of not only completing the image, but of giving the marine a proper context that added to the story of the image. My dad is constantly pushing me with the question of what the story is that I'm trying to tell with my work, and it's a question worth answering. 

In this case, I wanted the marine ready to launch himself at whatever unfortunate soul had wandered into his vision. Claws up, ready to destroy, the placid snowy scene behind him serves as a stark contrast to the intensity of his armor and stature.

I did my normal round of shading, but gave more time to highlighting, as I really needed the grey armor to stand out against the background. In the past, I had used simple lines to highlight, but this time around I added in full weight to match the shadows. The resulting contrast really helped the definition. 

I then took the process a step further by adding a secondary layer of highlight and shadow with as much detail as the first. Again, in the past I had done this, but far less detailed and not with original line work. Though more time consuming, the customized results were far more organic and much stronger composition-wise.

I finished the piece with some soft transparencies, such as the wind, the marine's frozen breath, and the glow of the claws. That last little bit of texture really sealed the deal, and bought everything into focus for me. My lesson from the project:

Take Your Time

I've said it a million times before and I'm going to say it many more as I continue this blog. The only way to improve is to put those hours in. If you've made it this far I can only assume you're related to me (hi mom!) or you have a genuine desire to be the best you can. If you've never heard of Outliers, you can read the synopsis of the book on wikipedia. 

The super short version: Practice makes perfect, roughly 10,000 hours worth. 

You read that right. Anyone can run with the big boys, as long as they pay the price of admission. I'll freely admit that I'm just breaking out of the bottom 25%, but I'm throwing everything I have at upping my game, so that one day guys like John Blanche and Raymond Swanland might know who I am. It's a long shot, and I'm going to be very tired at the end of every day, but in honesty, I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Here's to dreams. 

Stay tuned for more drawings next week. 

Work-In-Progress: Space Wolf

I've spent the better part of this week getting the line work together for a new space wolf illustration. There's a ton of detail work in this guy, far more than the last marine I did. 

It's actually kind of ironic that the chapter that is portrayed as the most primitive has the most ornamentation, All the ropes, talismans, runes, pelts; they add up fast. In the end though, I feel like this will result in a superior product. If you're going to do something, do it right. 

From now on though, nothing but Ultramarines.  

Step-By-Step: Drawing a Space Marine

I've always been a huge Warhammer 40k fanatic and I think it's important to get back to your roots every now and again. I decided to do a homebrew chapter for Kenton Kilgore's Fighting Tigers of Veda rather than a codex one, though this drawing could fairly easily convert over thanks to the magic of vector. 

Over the course of 11 days I took a piece from concept to completed image, which I've shared below. I included some notes for those who are also interested in drawing marines. I do all my work in Adobe Illustrator CS6. 

Day 1: I sketched out the general pose I was looking for. I knew that I wanted to do a devastator, so I blocked out an area for the gun on his shoulder. More on that later. 

Day 2: I put down some placeholders for the "soft" armor and drew out the gun at the angle I wanted it. I highly recommend grabbing your camera and photographing an actual model for reference. Though I didn't trace the photo, it was a fantastic asset in this task. At this point I noticed the top of the gun didn't really support the "over the shoulder" pose I had originally envisioned, so I had him heft it upright. 

Day 3: Leg and arm plates were added as well as the beginnings of the torso armor. For those wondering where the fuse came from, a friend of mine saw the image on day 2 and claimed it couldn't be a plasma cannon because there was no fuse. I corrected for this on Day 3, we had a good laugh about it, and moved on. 

Day 4: More detail on the legs and torso, and added power cables for the cannon.

Day 5: My old nemesis: hands. In this case I was very fortunate to find a close-up shot of some space marine hands that someone was working on. Again, these images served as invaluable references for the rest of the piece.

Day 6: I added the helmet and armor details, as well as finishing the backpack and throwing on the main logo.

Day 7: Probably the biggest number of changes. I bought the gun down and repositioned the hands. The problem I had with the gun up was that it didn't look right. Even a space marine shouldn't be able to heft a plasma cannon one-handed. Having the gun low and held in both hands gives it a lot of visual weight that it was lacking before. I also resized the shoulder pads and legs, which were undersized relative to the rest of the body to begin with. Finally, I added in line-variations to give it more interest. 

Day 8: Added the signature stripes for the Tigers marine chapter, and swapped the chest icon for a more generic skull-eagle. The tribal wing design goes well with the tiger stripes, unifying the armor. I also added some Bengali script for the word "fire".

Day 9: Color and shadow, reintroducing the logo in the background.

Day 10: Glow effects for the plasma cannon and eyes.

Day 11: I wrapped things up with a round of highlights, darkening the armor to make it less of a charcoal color. I added in black-line shading for the metallic areas for extra contrast, and set the marine against a colored background for contrast.

All in all a fun little project with a great outcome. Next week we'll be doing another step-by-step, but this time for blood bowl!

Crimson Fist Icon

One of my readers was saying that he was considering working on a Crimson Fist logo for an upcoming project. This immediately made me think of an illustration I had done a while back but never posted on this blog. So enjoy the day and enjoy your icon reference.

The Archives: Baal Predator

I painted this Blood Angel Baal in 2010 for a competition on BoLS. I didn't win but I had a blast working on it.

Salamander

This model is being painted for the 2012 Clean-Slate Challenge, an attempt to paint all the forgotten models accrued over the years by an enthusiastic hobbyist. 

This sternguard veteran is the last of a broken family. Of the initial box of 5, one became an Ultramarine, a Space Wolf, 2 Black Templars, and now finally a Salamander. I admit when I got this box I wasn't even thinking of how I could use these guys, only that they were shiny and new. Now, 3 years later, we finally put this box to bed. 

Space marines present me with an interesting challenge, mainly due to the fact that I've painted entirely too many of them. It's a real effort just to find something I haven't done yet. I've painted four complete space marine armies, as well as dozens of the emperor's finest for other people's chapters, roughly 500 in total. But for as many variants as I have painted, there are still many canonical chapters that I have not. So I cracked open my 5th edition codex and flipped to the first chapter to grab my attention: the Salamanders.

Micro-Lesson: Green
Ever since foundation paints came out, I've used them in virtually every project; they're just too good to pass up. The range of colors that GW offers is prolific, but there are a few notable exceptions. While the 3 greens that foundation offers can cover a large range of natural subdued tones, getting that rich vibrant green can be a tricky proposition.

Here we have our marine with a watered-down coat of Knarloc Green over a white primer base. Interestingly, you can see where the water pooled it separated the pigments, showing just how much blue is sitting in this color. 

Watering down is the key here. You want a fairly even tone throughout the model, but you don't want to go overboard. You'll avoid the thicker foundation paint building up, and keep the tone brighter. Snot Green streaks like crazy over pure white, and loses it's saturation over the Knarloc. Once you've gotten the consistency you want, you're free to work in some shading. 

Looking to the above pic with the blue remnants, you'll find that we've actually been given a clue as to how to shade this model properly. In a previous post I had talked about using colors besides black and the base color to create more interesting shadows. The same rule applies here. I worked blue into all the shaded areas and even bought it into the highlighting for the black armor (more about that here). Since the Salamanders only have two major colors (green and gold), I was able to introduce blue without making things look busy. 

A good rule of thumb for miniature painting is to try and keep the major colors at or below 3. Shades and tints don't count, and neither does black or white. Some models will have extra gadgets that require a new color, but for the purposes of this rule we're only talking about a surface area that accounts for more than 20% of the total model.

I also took the opportunity to go to town with some custom freehand work. A word to the wise: if you're going to work on the underside of anything, do yourself a favor and get the work done before you glue it together. You'll save time and stress, trust me on this one.

Well, that's enough of this far-future nonsense. Next week we're kicking it old school with shiny knights and high-flying banners!

The Archives: Black Templar Venerable Dreadnought

I painted this guy in 2008 before I even considered playing a Black Templar army. A friend of mine got a Templar Venerable Dreadnought mis-shipped from forgeworld and had no use for it. I quickly snatched it up, and (several toothbrushes worth of scrubbing later) I was in business.

Sanguinius

I recently had a chance to paint up a Sci-Fi Archangel (aka Sanguinius) from Scibor Monstrous Miniatures. 

It's been awhile since I worked with a resin miniature. Each material has it's own quirks and oddities you can work with or against depending on your attitude. For me, resin is a close second to metal in terms of difficulty to work with. The universal problem with resin is air bubbles, which crop up with virtually every figure I've ever seen. 

Today's air bubbles reared their ugly heads half way down the sword blade and in the knuckle of the hand gripping the sword itself. The knuckle was an easy fix to fill with greenstuff, but the sword blade was beyond repair. My solution was to cut a notch in the blade to create an interesting design, and mirror it on the other side to make it look intentional. Remember: It's only a mistake if you let it become one. 

This is the first time I've worked with a resin piece that didn't come from forgeworld, and I was relieved to find that the notorious film that requires a regimen of scrubbing was not present at all on this mini. I was able to prime the surface without any preparation at all.

What did require some work ahead of time was fitting and drilling the holes for pinning the model. The wings for this sculpt were heavy and bulky. With nothing to hold the wings to the back save for a flat contact point, I knew it would be vital to pin the wings into place. The sword blade by contrast had a minuscule contact point that was also sure to break if the model got any pressure. Finally I drilled a hole in the base of the model to anchor is firmly to the uneven surface of the base. 

I glued the pins in place before priming, which would give me the added advantage of having a point I could hold the pieces by without having to worry about ruining the paint job. 

The model itself was well detailed, had a dynamic pose, and mirrored the artwork of the Horus Heresy. I did some research to find my subject was clad entirely in golden armor. I'm not a huge fan of single-color armor; you tend to lose details and depth. I focused on pushing the shadows back to the let the landscape of the places come through with the natural shine of the gold paint. 

The base that came with the model was outlandish by any standards. It seemed like the sculptor didn't really know what look he wanted to go for, so he just smashed a little bit of everything together into one base. The individual elements that make up the base are highly reminiscent of other Scibor bases styles. I tried to keep the palette neutral with a few minor detail highlights to let the viewer concentrate on the model. 

The only real complaint I have about the base is that it forces Sanguinius off center. This isn't a problem in itself, but the massive weight of the wings anchored to his back make the model extremely prone to tipping. I compensated by pushing him further toward the center, but holding the whole piece, you can still feel the lack of true balance.

Overall this is a fantastic figure with lots of great detail, as Scibor is business of making awesome Space Marines. If you're playing a loyalist chapter and want a special model to lead your forces, they have quite the selection of powerarmored badasses to choose from. 

Scibor Monstrous Miniatures

Space Hulk Terminators

I just finished a commission job painting the terminators from the space hulk boxed set. Check it out.

Ultramarine Sternguard

I painted this guy up as a Christmas gift for a buddy of mine.