This guy is my personal favorite of the captains in the old "Masters of the Chapter" box they still got up for sale on Gee Dub.
One of my very best friends decided to get into warhammer and also decided to do Ultramarines as he's a huge fan of the 40k story and books. That's what drew him into the world and when I mentioned "People will give you shit for playing the boy scouts of the 40k world," he was so incredibly happy, you guys.
His birthday is coming up and so, too, is the time of year when I mass paint a ton of minis for Christmas time. So, I got him said Masters of the Chapter box and started with this guy because the model is named "Master of the Fleet" who is captain of the 4th company in the fluff. Uriel Ventris is said captain in the books, and starred in a couple books I know a lot of 40k fans are familiar with so I went ahead and was like, "OKay this can be that guy." Their rageboners for this model not representing Uriel Ventris (apparently he's got a sword) makes me happy.
ON TO THE PAINTING:
Colors used:
BLACK SPRAY BASECOAT
BLUES
Macragge Blue -> Drakenhoff Nightshade -> Altdorf Blue trim highlight -> Calgar Blue
It's the GW standard for ultramarines here. Did the blues and wash as the first order of business, before adding any other colors to the model so I could be sloppy with the wash. Pretty standard fare so far.
SKIN
Bugman's Glow -> Reikland Fleshshade -> Celestra Grey (just the eyes) with a line of Abaddon Black for the pupil only on the right eye -> Cadian Fleshtone -> Kieslev Flesh -> 1:4 Rhinox Hide/Lahmian Medium for hair/mouth shadow -> Leadbelcher on the studs/Vox headset
I think it's funny how complicated faces are for being such a tiny overall piece of the model. But it's the focal point, where your eyes are immediately drawn on any given model so it should always be given it's due. I always tell my friends who are trying to get better at painting you'll know you've "arrived" once you can make convincing flesh tones.
First thing I did was attach the head to the end of an old paintbrush using the thinnest dallop of super glue, where I did the entire painting for it before then snapping it off and putting it on the model. As it's finecast and weighs practically nothing, this was extremely easy to do. I'm sure there's less abrasive ways to do a similar thing without then needing to worry about removing excess glue, but it worked at the time so hey why not. I think in the future I'm going to go steal a thumb tack from work, glue THAT on something solid, then simply poke heads on the bottom so I'd only have a little pin prick hole that'd be covered up once it's glued back on and simply eliminate the risk of damaging the piece.
Standard build up of colors for a more tanned tone. I always do eyes after the wash, so that way the spillage of the white gets covered up with the layering on the skin. This particular model's eyes are extremely sunken into his head, so honestly doing eyes wasn't even necessary. It looked really good already, like he was squinting. But, I feel like it's always worth doing if you have the patience to clean up the mistakes.
After highlighting his chrome dome, I thinned down some dark brown using medium so it'd still apply like regular ol' paint but be a lot transparent. Usually I'd also recommend mixing in a touch of your base skintone to help bring it in line with but I wanted the buzzed head look to be a little more pronounced. It took two coats to get it looking right as the thin-ness of it gave him a bald spot in the back, even though the rest looked just about right.
GOLD / GUNMETAL
Balthazar Gold -> targeted Agrax Earthshade wash -> Gehenna's Gold
Leadbelcher -> Nuln Oil wash
Gold is so easy, you guys. I know Games Workshop always adds an additional highlight of an edged silver, and I find I don't really like that look when I try it. Makes it jump out a little too much. Honestly, all you need is one of the basecoat metallic paints (Warplock Bronze or even Leadbelcher work fine) and then cover it up with Gehenna's Gold afterwards. Leave a darker brownish in a ring around any armor studs and wing creases and you're fine.
As for the gunmetal/silver, it's literally just Leadbelcher with a Nuln Oil wash. I stopped bothering to try and highlight silver because the effect takes away from how good it looks darker. Seriously, metallics are so easy. Less is more, let the shimmer in the paints do what they wanna already do.
GREENS
Waaagh Flesh -> Nuln Oil wash -> Warboss Green -> Skarsnik Green
It pleases me to no end I used ork skintone colors for the green on this model, because Ultramarines
really hate orks, you guys. However, I felt like it was the right green tone for doing a clothy green that symbolizes the 4th Company so it worked out. I used a black wash instead of the green one because so far I used two super dark washes in Drakenhoff Nightshade and Agrax Earthshade so it kept it together a little more, plus I find cloth especially always looks good washed black. It makes the shadows dark without looking dirty, though I probably could have used a Brown wash instead.
Freehand note: The laurels on his right shoulder and backpack were done entirely with Skarsnik Green. It's such a bright green that it immediately pops on the Macragge blue, and they were done small enough there was no need to try any sort of actual artistic skill with multiple colors.
KHAKI
Zandri Dust -> Agrax Earthshade -> Ushabti Bone -> Screaming Skull
Are you as tired of seeing these colors work for every miniature in your entire range as I am? No? Good. Seriously if you don't own them, get them. Works for skulls (implied in their names), works for Khaki, works for scrolls, works for just a LOT of things.
WHITES
Celestra Grey -> Nuln Oil -> Ulthan Grey -> White Scar
Standard whites. Let Ulthan Grey be your primary "white" and only apply White Scar as an edge highlight to those.
FREEHAND NOTE: The script at the back of the cape, as well as the freehand Ultramarines symbols on his shoulder and backpack, are done entirely with White Scar. It'll probably take two coats to make it look good, so BE CAREFUL. It's the parts I screwed up with the most, and if you can't tell that then I'm glad I was able to fix them well enough to hide it from y'all.
BROWN LEATHER
Rhinox Hide -> Edge with Doombull Brown
It's that easy, guys. Looks so good, like a deep leather, and there's not even any washing involved. It's great when you want that dark leather look and don't want to run the risk of spilling washes onto other parts of the model.
HAMMER HEAD
Skavenblight Dinge -> Nuln Oil wash -> edge highlight and marble streaks of Administratum Grey -> Ulthan Grey -> thin coat of 'Ardcoat
Looking back on it, I think I could have really sold the marble effect better if I'd stippled on the Skavenblight Dinge rather than used it like a basecoat, so it would have been thinner and a lot of the dark black undercoat would have been showing. Would have made it more stone-like. Still, it looks very good. You can't see the shimmer that it has in person on these photographs because gloss finishes are like that. The gloss really sold it as marble or granite, as both of those stones tend to have that kind of finishes on them.
With the veins, keep them going all the same kind of direction, as well. I messed up a bit on the right face of the hammer because it starts going the opposite way as my brushtrokes were still going the same way with my actual hand. Oh well, live and learn. Not like anyone would even notice it if I didn't call myself out on it.... right?
PURITY SEALS AND NAMEPLATES
Cloth: Rakarth Flesh -> Agrax Earthshade wash -> Pallid Wych Flesh -> Eshin Grey (script)
Wax Seal: Screamer Pink -> Wazdakka Red -> Pink Horror
Some people do the seals the same as they'd do any red and that's fine. I like them to look a little more waxy, though, and red wax has a little more of a purplish hue. This build up reaches that nicely.
For the script on the seals and the name plates, I kept my Eshin Grey super thin. I like using the super dark grey for it as opposed to black because while it's not as visible, it feels more like actual writing that you'd see on this kind of stuff. Maybe that's just me. It's also easier to fix if you make a mistake.
RED GEMSTONES
Abaddon Black (IMPORTANT!) -> Mephiston Red -> Evil Suns Scarlet -> Wild Rider Red -> Screaming Skull (so, so, so tiny you might not even notice it) -> White Scar for the lens flare -> 'Ardcoat
Yes there are that many paints on one of the tiniest parts of the whole miniature, and yes they are all very important to achieve this look. If you don't go over the area first with black, it NEVER looks right. Just build up cresents in the corner light is fading into, keep your next layers showing the previous one, then put a little dot or two in the black corner for the flare. The gloss finish is also really important, though again you can't really see it in my photos here.
FREEHAND NOTE: The inside of the cape lining was done entirely with Evil Suns Scarlet.
DUSTY MARS BASE
I actually got the color scheme right because of one of the recent issues of White Dwarf. I do so love the paint splatter articles.
First thing you do is take 2 different grits of sand, or in my case it's little tiny bits of shale and then a fine grit sand. Spread some Elmer's PVA glue around on your whole base, and it's fine if you keep the glue thinner and thicker in different spots. First I stuck a big rock on the front, then I sprinkled the shale, then I just set the entire thing in my box of fine sand and shook it around then shook off the excess.
Then, I test fit the model removing rock chunks and necessary to get him as flat on the base as I could. Then, took him back off and waited for it to dry.
This is very important: WAIT FOR IT TO DRY, ENTIRELY, BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING FURTHER.
It's PVA glue so you know what, don't just go 30 minutes. Do an entire hour. Chill. I know you wanna get your guy finished, but we're going to paint the base entirely with drybrushing so if you rush before the glue sets, you'll just knock off all that rock and sand.
Next to prime it black, then ENTIRELY WITH DRYBRUSHING:
Mournfang Brown -> Khorne Red -> Ryza Rust
Obviously each layer you want thinner than the last. Red sand like that is because there's a lot of iron in the hills. There's a lot of places around where I live currently that are like that, so hey go figure that Geo 101 class I took in college is good for something. Going with just a blood red then doing a rusty orange on top is perfect. PERFECT. It's a very easy look to achieve and as you can see here looks great.
I hope you've all enjoyed this tutorial. I enjoyed painting this guy so much. My friend totally lit up when he saw it, squealing like a little girl when he saw the "VENTR(IS)" on the shoulder plate. That's why I do it, gang. I don't even play anymore, really, as my Dark Angels are only good for looking terrific as they get murdered.
