Kind of an odd chapter name for this week’s Space Marine, a member of the Knights of Gryphonne. I decided on these guys as I wanted to give orange a try, and I also had some old Bretonnian transfers, one of which looked to be a good match for this chapter’s shoulder pad decoration.
On to the photos:
So, first off, I’m really starting to like these new Space Marine models. They’re nicely detailed sculpts, and I find them more enjoyable to paint than the old ones. The dynamic poses you can get with them, like this guy’s, are also really great.
I learned quite a lot from painting this guy, but most of those lessons were ones I should have learned back on the yellow Imperial Fist I painted a while back. With this model, I decided to prime with grey. I tend to use black, white, or grey as a primer, depending. Black was clearly not a runner for this colour. I thought white would show through too strongly, so went with grey. It was a challenge to get good coverage over it, even though my base colour has 6 or 7 layers. Even still it has a dark, dirty finish to it that I couldn’t get rid of despite the extra coats.
I tried to boost things a bit with the highlights, but getting a visible lift with the mid tone was challenging. You might not even be able to see it in the photos. I took things a bit farther with the highlight, choosing a golden yellow. It looks good in some spots, but is definitely overkill in others. Part of the problem here is that the colour values are going from quite an unsaturated ‘dead’ base, to a very saturated highlight. That creates a bit of a jarring finished product – kind of like the visual equivalent of the musical flat fifth interval. That Imperial Fists marine I mentioned earlier turned up the same problem.
I did a bit of research online, and by happenstance, a Youtube mini painting channel I watch from time to time had a recent video dealing with orange. Sadly I hadn’t spotted when I started this guy. It seems using an off white like ivory or a light beige is the way forward. I’ll give both this colour scheme, and the Imperial Fist’s, another try at some point in the future.
Artistically (cough) I wanted to go for a limited palette here, so kept to orange and black. Again, looking back, I should have used more blue-greys to highlight the black, rather than flat greys, to pull in that complimentary colour contrast. Next time…
In saying all that, I don’t think he looks all that bad. He looks pretty good next to his new school pals, the Crimson Fist and Space Wolf. I’ll have to take a group shot when the box is finished! The yellow highlight is definitely a little strong in places though, particularly at the back. Also, I’m pretty sure this guy’s backpack should be black, but, hey ho! The decal went on pretty well, so I’m pleased with that. I think I’ve finally got the hang of these, which is great. Overall, this model was a good learning experience, and was a lot of fun to paint, which is the most important thing!