Guilliman As Done As He Is Going To Be

I'm calling him done at this point. I added some more color to his face, and toned down the extremely exaggerated sculpt a bit by artificially shallowing the crevices on it. I'd like to try to get some better photos, but I am really struggling to get them to come out these days.

I really appreciate all the helpful feedback. I tried to use a lot of it. The power glove should be a lighter color to add another spot focus, but in the end I just needed this guy to be finished and take his place in my cabinet.

Do I like my rendition of him? I'm not sure. He doesn't fit my style really well. I suspect that if you lined up all my stuff and put him in the mix that you might not pick him out as having even been painted by me. I can't tell if that is color choice, skill, or just the basic model itself. Something is off. I'll revisit him at some point and try to figure out what it is.

Guilliman's Face

I love painting faces, but Guilliman's face is moulded in a really weird way. I'm just not sure I like the design. At any rate, I painted up a test of the face to see if I needed it to make the model work, of if the helmeted version would work better. I'm still no the fence. If I go with the face, I'll smooth out the blending a bit on the jowl lines, and rework the chin area. Does the face work at all?

Guilliman WIP Still

*Edited took new photos using Greg's suggestion to manually focus.

I did a little test fit of Guilliman's head and sword and tried to take some nicer photos. I was unable to get my camera to focus, so these were the best I could get. At the least, you can see the general outline of the model and where he is going. For those of my friends following along the painting process, I figured some photos were better than none. There are still lots of unfinished parts on him, including gems, purity seals, groin bead thing, and gold highlighting. After all of that I can finally start adding environmental effects. The big take away for me is that there is too little focus on his chest/head area. Maybe I'll use transparent smoke colored paint to add depth to the shadows. I'm still on the fence about that, as I don't have any of it on hand.

Emperor's Sword

I didn't like the flames on the sword that game with Guilliman, so I sanded them off. I tried to keep the "IMPORTANT SWORD" vibe by painting it gold. I hope that pays homage to the sword's previous owner, the Emperor of Mankind.

Base Test For Guilliman

*EDITED Added photo of base with weathering powders

The new base has enamel curing on it right now in prep for oils, followed by dust and dirt weathering powders. To get a feel for what it will eventually look like, just imagine the grey areas a dirty steel legion drab color. The important bit for me was to see if the slightly yellow bird head, and the pale green SoH marine would complement Roboute Guilliman or not. When the grey is tan colored, I think the base will sink into the background and give a nice subdued footing to the model.

You might also notice the sword has been trimmed of fire. I do not like sculpted fire, or lighting effects on models, so after a few practice paint jobs, I decided to make this into a more proper looking sword. I plan to use shaded metallics for it, so it won't be glowing.

Filigree Gone Wild: Primarch WIP #2

With oils cleaned up, I blasted the model with ultra-matte varnish and began working on highlighting the gold. There is a vast amount of work to do on it, but even in this mid-way state, I think the model is coming together. I'm going to add some greens to the shadow areas of the gold which should provide some further depth, but for now I am satisfied with the progress.

The plastic base that comes with the model is too busy.  I could base him like my old Ultras, but I think I'm going to base him similar to my SoH. That means tossing the plastic base, and putting him on a dirty rock/cement outcrop. The only thing stopping me at the moment is the cool eagle head rubble piece that comes on the plastic base. I think that might look nice integrated into the replacement. Does anyone like the plastic base this guy comes with?

The Primarch WIP 1

Does GW hate us? They've been showing us nothing but love, with a receptive social presence, great models, great customer service, and even fun hints about the the future of the game. But then they go full filigree. You never go full filigree. This model is an exercise in outlining. I thought Fulgrim was a pain in the ass, but man Guilliman takes the cake!

So where am I in this model? God knows. I've been cleaning up the oil pin wash for over an hour now, and there is still a lot to remove. The model is also semi-gloss coated right now, which makes everything look terrible.

At least the base coat is nearly done. Then I get to start highlighting endless amounts of gold filigree. Come on GW. A model should be no more than 5% filigree at most. Otherwise it looks like doily.

Space Hulk Blood Splatter Technique

This is just a little video I show showing how I have been doing the blood and gore on the Space Hulk table.