I wasn't really happy with the finished result at first, since I'm always noticing areas where I could touch things up or improve on mistakes. Barring a little tidying up of the teeth so things are a hair more centered, though, I think my first stab at freehand in a long while came out reasonably well.
The base color for the skull was P3 'Jack Bone and I added in some Vallejo Model Air Burnt Umber for shading around the edges, since I already had some on my palette from work on a historical 54mm Mexican War figure I'm taking a stab at. I went back and did extra shading and glazing with GW's Badab Black Wash, which I think makes an excellent color for tidying up once you wick away most of the liquid. Not really visible here is the left side of the Mk. VI Space Marine helmet, where I had to get a little creative with the bone color of the helmet since it intersected a number of vertical vents modeled on the helm.
I'm curious what people think of the overall look, between the now-painted skull and the decayed bat wings on the helmet that I took from a Grave Guard figure out of GW's Fantasy line - does he look sufficiently "Night Lords"-ish, barring missing shoulderpads and backpack, and the eventual obligatory painted lightning?
[Edit] I tidied up the freehand a bit, especially in the lower part of the skull design, because I just wasn't happy with the overall centering of it on the helmet. From feedback of it looking three-dimensional on the figure (I'm sure most of that was the angled front view, but still...) I figgered I'd run with that a little bit more, so I increased the contrast by adding extra highlights where they would naturally fall on a sculpted skull and deepening the false shading a bit moreso.
Here is a picture from a different angle to show off the design more as it sits on the helmet, and with hopefully a little bit less glare from my photo box lighting reflecting off the currently glossy finish of the paint:
The feedback (and views) are definitely appreciated - it's nice to know people are getting something out of my little corner of the internet here. [/Edit]
I think the freehand is solid. As for the bat wings, I've never been a fan of "headdresses" for Space Marines. They always end up looking like reindeer or moose.
ReplyDeleteWell I didn't recognize it as a beaky marine head at first.... I really thought it was a skull sculpt. Nice!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the commentary, folks!
ReplyDelete@ Jonathan - Yeah, I'm still a little unsure about the appearance of the "traditional" helmet wings I put on this guy for the sake of giving him sufficient presence as an inducted former Night Lords CSM. In hindsight, I guess I figgered decaying bat wings would look cooler; likewise a more upright position on the helmet as opposed to the Games Workshop horizonal-style ones just seems to have made them look more like antlers in my eyes. Oh well...
@ Mike - I've had a few people remark that the painting looked like sculpting on the helmet, so I decided to play that up even more. Here's hoping the revised painting in the newer picture is an improvement along that line - thanks for the compliment and the feedback!