Introduction:
A little while ago now I was asked if I'd like to take this miniature
(Brother-Captain Stern) on as a commission with a stipulation that
the armour be painted using the chrome technique (SE-NMM)... I was
hesitant at first because I knew that working out all of the reflections
would probably do my head in but I finally decided that it might
be a fun challenge...
I then thought it might be a good idea to track the progress of
the painting in a journal, it's often quite interesting to see how
another person goes about painting a miniature from start to finished
as there are so many different ways to go about it...
So here it goes... |
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Entry 01. I've
never painted a 40K miniature before but I knew the quality of sculpting
and casting was generally pretty reasonable... This guy was fine,
only one mold line and some spikey bits here and there needed cleaning...
I decided to leave both arms off for the painting as they obscured
detail on the main body... I secured the miniature to a pin-vice
using the pre-existing 'pin' on the bottom of the right foot. I
generally base a miniature 1st, 'bluetac' it to a piece of dowel
and then prime and paint it from there but I noticed that Cyril
used this technique in an article he wrote so I thought that I'd
give it a shot... I finally primed the miniature with Vallejo's
'foundation white' (919) using an airbrush... |
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Entry 02: First up I painted
the area immediately around the head black just so that blacklining
is a little easier later on...
I almost always base skin with Vallejo's 'cork brown', this time
was no exception... Next I inked the hairline, the eyes and the
implants, the inside of the mouth was then painted black and the
teeth white... The skin was then highlighted, I start by adding
Vallejo's 'basic skintone' to the cork brown at 1:1, white is then
gradually added to this and the highlights are built up... The eyes
were next then the hair and finally the implants on the forehead
were painted using the SE-NMM tech (not obvious due to size)...
I also painted purple bruising around the implants (only barely
obvious) |
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Entry 03: Was a little busy
over the weekend so I didn't get too much done... I'm painting this
guy differently than I usually would, generally I'd paint by colours
meaning that I'd paint all of a certain colour before moving on...
This time I'm picking a part of the miniature and finishing it before
moving on to the next part, it's nice because I'm getting an idea
of how the miniature will turn out quicker than usual... In this
entry I've painted the areas around the head, including the various
cables, the inside of the armour and the 'I' icon in the middle
of the chest... I'm always having trouble coming up with a NMM gold
colour which I'm happy with, this one seems pretty good... The basecoat
is 1:1 Vallejo 'gold brown' to Citadel 'scorched brown', gradually
adding more gold brown as the highlights are built up until the
colour is straight gold brown and then adding white to the gold
brown to build up the extreme highlights... I'll probably paint
a little of the chrome before the next update is written just to
see how it'll look on the miniature... |
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Entry 04: Was only able to
dedicate a small amount of time to the miniature again today so
there isn't that much new to see...
I thought it'd be a good idea to try painting a little of the chrome
today to see how it's going to work on this miniature so the chest
area has been painted... I like how it turned out with the exception
of the gold lettering, tomorrow I'll paint it as if it was part
of the chrome finish... For those interested the colours used for
the chrome effect are Vallejo's 'azure blue' (mixed with white as
highlights are built up) for the part above the horizon line and
Reaper 'walnut' (once again mixed with white as highlights are built
up) for the part below the horizon line... Other than the chrome
the camera type thing to the side of his head was painted plus some
more cables... |
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Entry 05: I apologise for
taking so long to update this section, I've been house hunting
and it's taking an unfortunately large amount of time...
In this update the miniature's shoulder armour has been painted,
the chest armour has been finished and the 'jet-pack' looking
thing on the back has been partially painted (the vents need finishing)...
The lettering on the chest has also been repainted blue to match
the chrome...
All of these parts have been painted using the chrome technique
so there isn't too much to add as far as colours are concerned...
The shoulder pad was a little annoying because the lettering was
miscast so the lack of clear detail made painting difficult...
I'm very happy with the back though, I think it's about as realistic
as any of my chrome has turned out...
In the next entry I'll have the right arm (minus the sword and
hand) finished and most of the rest of the armour so I think you'll
get a really good idea of how it will ultimately look... |
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Entry 06: Painted the right
arm, the armoured plates on the hips and the book... Once again
it was all pretty straight forward so there's not a lot to add...
By the next entry the bulk of this main body section will be complete... |
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Entry 07: The main body
section has now been finished...
I changed changed the gold NMM colours slightly again for the
trinkets on the lower half of the body, this time I based them
with GW 'vermin brown' I then added Vallejo 'gold brown' to this
and finally white to build up the highlights... The colours seem
to provide a richer and less yellow hue which I think works nicely...
I wanted a very deep red for the cloak and loincloth so I ended
up basing with Reaper's 'aged red brick', the depressions were
then glazed with thin coats of GW black ink and finally highlight
were built up by gradually adding Reaper 'blood red' to the 'aged
red brick'... |
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Entry 08: The arm is again
painted the same as the rest of the armour, for the gun however
I wanted the barrels to look more silver than chrome so they were
painted using a similar technique however no blue was used... The
red part was painted to look like a high gloss red once again using
a technique similar to se-nmm, the rest of the gun was painted black....
This pic isn't great, hopefully it'll look much better once attached... |
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Entry 09: A lot of the Stern
miniatures I've seen have had blades painted in different colours
representing energy blades (or the like) and I was considering this
however I decided that the miniature may end up looking too busy
so I opted for a more normal look... The colours used on the blade
were Reaper PP 'ash grey' with the gradual addition of Vallejo white
to build up the highlights... |
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Entry 10: I don't generally
do too much with my bases (usually at the customers request), I
thought this miniature needed a little more though... I've only
ever bought a few 40K miniatures so I didn't have any 'bitz' lying
around to add to the base so instead I sculpted what hopefully looks
like a section of destroyed wall... I made this by roughly shaping
some miliput into a rectangle, I then cut some brass rod and stuck
it into the miliput, the miliput was then allowed to partially harden...
I then hacked at the putty with a scalpel to create two sections
leaving the brass rod exposed in the centre... The putty was then
allowed to harden overnight, I then dremelled the edges with a cutting
wheel to get the cracked and chipped appearance... This looked a
little too uniform though so I once again hacked at it with my scalpel
until it looked natural enough... Nothing too special with the painting
other than painting the pipes with the oxidised copper look... I
really love the moss I added at the end, a few people have asked
what it is but I unfortunately have no idea, I bought it ages ago,
transferred the contents to a plastic container and then threw the
original packaging out, I've never seen the product in the shop
again (lucky the original bag was very big)... |
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Entry 10: |
