# Imp. Fist commission painting log



## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

Ahoy there hobbyists,
I'm kinda new at this (keeping a *log of my painting doodadz) but I figured I'd kill two birds with one tomahawk missile and 1) keep motivated and 2) give y'all some painting insights and 3) get some feedback.

So, without further ado:

Commission: Customer wants and Imperial Fists captain of the 5th company, who is a WYSIWYG version/stand-in for Vulkan of the Salamanders in terms of rules. Therefore: relic blade, flamer, imperial fist-ness, and badassery. 

Fluff Guidelines: Customer gave me a cool backstory. In a nutshell: he rose to fame during a few bloody campaigns against the Iron Warriors (and has taken a helm from a dead IW lord, an artifact from before the Horus Heresy) and leads a battle-scarred 5th company across the stars to kick ass and take names. He is also a classical perfectionist. 

I've undertaken the task of building this model up from scratch and will then paint him up. Here is the initial torso, without touch-ups and green-stuff filling. Please keep checking back for updates and let me know what you think.
Thanks!!
-matt

***(his left hand will be holding the recently taken Iron Warriors' helm, as he will be based on a diorama battlefield of sorts)***


























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## Astorath333 (Sep 27, 2010)

I can't wait to see the completed model, vereh noice. :victory:


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Nice idea, but I'm not too sure about the scibor parts. They just look too bulky for me, particularly the shoulder pad. I'll reserve judgement till I see the completed model though.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks for the quick comments already guys! the scibor parts looks more proportional in person; i'm still waiting on FW legs atm, so I can't give you the whole model just yet.


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## .Kevin. (Jan 10, 2011)

I'm loving the shoulder plate and sword so far!


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

Alright, update time:
so far, this is the basic colour of his armour, shaded only (I haven't highlighted it yet). keep in mind, too, that I will be heavily weathering this guy too, so I won't do *too* much highlighting, but it will still make a big difference. anyhow, let me know your thoughts guys!


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## Gothic (May 12, 2008)

I cant wait to see this fully built and painted keep up the good work +rep


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## imm0rtal reaper (Jul 15, 2008)

Looks good so far. already looks like it will be a model filled with character. 

I do have a few points to make though.

At the moment the flamer looks like it was just glued on instead of like an integral part of the arm. Might i reccommend converting one of the aegis bolters from the san guard kit? that would be a better base for the conversion I think.

I think you should add some imperial fists inconography. I mean eveyone will know what chapter this dude is from anyway, but a valiant hero such as this guy would certainly be wearing his chapter's badge.

If you hadn't planned to, I'd make the red a shade lithgter, it looks unfinished at the moment (probably because it's not finished )

You're off to a tremendous start and I'm really looking forward to where you're going with this. Whaat sort of base will he be mounted on?


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## asianavatar (Aug 20, 2007)

Yeah I agree with the flamer, something looks off about it. Also I would lengthen the hose on the flamer, right now it doesn't look like he could lift his arm very high as the hose would break.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks guys! 
yeah, I'll see what I can do with the flamer; probably will do some more greenstuff when I get any ideas. 
also, the red was just the first coat, over which I'll be painting some freehand symbols, so not to worry about chapter symbol or red, lol. 

thanks guys!


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

I love the pose you have come up with, but i must echo what other people have said, the right arm with the terminator arm and scribor terminator shoulder pad is hugely out of proportion. i like the scribor torso front, but that stupid turbine on the back looks wrong not to mention would not work in reality(yeah im aware 40k aint real but stuff still has to be feasible).
But its the flamer arm that is seriously letting down the model, i could probably forgive the right arm as its well converted and looks sweet even if its huge, i would have used a terminator arm for the left side two, then at least the hugeness of the right side wouldn't be as obvious, but i would be using a hand flamer unit like this 
http://www.bitsandkits.co.uk/death-...-p-5867.html?sesid=0sp8mi6i6u5a3poeq239kborf3
or something like this 
http://www.bitsandkits.co.uk/sangui...-p-5925.html?sesid=0sp8mi6i6u5a3poeq239kborf3
plus heat rises and flamer fuel will spread out so that dude will constantly be burning his own hand.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

bitsandkits said:


> heat rises and flamer fuel will spread out so that dude will constantly be burning his own hand.


And he will love it, dag blast it!!!
lol, yeah, I def. see where you're coming from here. the conversion part of this model was very tricky because my commissioner wanted the guy to be able to hold a relic blade in two hands, have a *heavy* flamer on one hand, while leaving that hand free, and have a *large* amount of fuel on his person at any given time.... it was tough 

part of the reason why I chose a single terminator arm for his right (sword) arm, was to balance out the weight of the flame unit on his left arm. I may add a separate cable going somewhere to make the flamer unit look 'better', but right now, I'm unsure how/where. also, the turbine back was favored because it would fit in with the cooling system of an armour-integrated flamer unit, I guess. but man, I wish I had spied one of those sang. guard melta-pistol bits... would have been nice. 

more painting to come, probably by the end of the day
thanks for all the comments guys!!


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

and more work done (finished highlighting the yellow areas in preparation for severe weathering; more in-depth explanations when i'm not rushing to my next class )


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## asianavatar (Aug 20, 2007)

I think wrist mounting the flamer on the top of the hand might work better.

Take Huron as an example. He could still hold a relic blade in both hands with that setup. Of course on your model the flamer wouldn't be as big, but the idea would be the same. What kind of flamer are you using, is it a normal flamer, I would try and get hold of a hand flamer from a blood angel kit.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

new flamer, will fill gaps before painting it, of course. I think it fits the bill perfectly


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

that flamer looks awesome, much improved in my opinion, well done!

huron is possibly teh best model currently available from FW, its got so much fine detail im not even sure i could paint it and do him justice and i consider myself a competent painter


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

hire me to paint it? 
lol, seriously, I'd be more than happy (and to give you a discount for that matter, considering your status and sponsorship of great online competitions).

also, thanks for the advice with the flamer; it wouldn't look as cool w/o ur input dude.


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## Talos (Aug 4, 2008)

Looking good other than the Scribor parts. The sword arm is just to big it ruins the model for me, makes it look unbalanced.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Ragnar said:


> hire me to paint it?
> lol, seriously, I'd be more than happy (and to give you a discount for that matter, considering your status and sponsorship of great online competitions).
> 
> also, thanks for the advice with the flamer; it wouldn't look as cool w/o ur input dude.


You know what i might just do that, like i say i can paint but you are better than me, send me a PM with your email and we will talk about costs and such


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## NerdyOgre254 (Jul 16, 2008)

Once again, Scibor parts fuck up a model. but the painting here is absolutely amazing.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks for the compliments guys. sorry you don't like the scibor parts... all I can say is that they don't look *as* disproportional in person. after some more work today, I'll have more pics for you guys.


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## asianavatar (Aug 20, 2007)

Wow that flamer looks so much better. Still think it would work better as a top wrist mounted instead.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

So, this new batch of pictures includes the finished face. Fun fact for you kids:
facebook can tell you if your painting skills are improving. I, myself, have learned that my faces have become better. How? Well, when uploading these pics, for the first time, facebook mistook this guy's face as a real person's face to be tagged.... I think I should tag it just for the lol's.

Anyhow, here they are:


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## R3DM0H4WK (Sep 10, 2010)

Hey there. Wicked log so far. I'm so glad you worked on the yellow some more; in the first painted picture it looked a little like split pea soup, but now its got that Imperial Fist yellow warmth to it. Also I'm stealing the weapon idea with the flamer for my Dark Iron traitor iron hands force...


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## gundamboy195 (Aug 17, 2010)

....Surprised no one noticed it besides me, but, on the right shoulder pad, the symbol is upside down. The fifth company comander has a ^ on his shoulder instead of a V. Other than that, overall a good model so far. Hope that I didn't come off as rude sounding, but that ^ has been bugging me in every pic.

Edit: Just noticed that there is a ^ on the belt too.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

lol, I noticed that from the start too. But hey, it's the best thing out there to fit in with the 5th company theme and the 'goofiness' of 40k XD. thanks for the continued comments and compliments.

now, here's the armour weathering (jeez... I really need those forge world legs to come in... I'm starting to run out of model here  )


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

You can tell he's 5th Company because of the Black trim, you could just say the inverted 'V' is nothing more than decoration.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

you, sir, know your fluff!


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

OK I will start off with your painting on this model is awesome. That being said....

(These are only suggestions)
Do something with the hand that looks like a kungfu grip, I think using the hand for a bolter unmodified looks really odd on the model.

The tubing connecting to canister to the tank is way to short, I would have the piping connect to his shoulder pad and then another piece coming out from his lower back and connecting the canister, or just move the canister to the arm.

The pipping used on the canister and the Scribor arm do not match and throws off the model some. 

I personally dislike the mixmatch of the arms. The smaller arm has a Huge ass flamer on it. Kinda does not make sense.

Echo what other have said about the shoulder pad, its way to huge, it would look large on a termie.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

the hand is going to be holding a helmet when the parts come in
I can't really change anything at this point (in terms of keeping with the schedule) but duly noted for next time. thanks


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

This is an excellent paint job up until the weathering.[rant] Why do people insist on putting it on every model? Marines revere their wargear as religious artifacts, and even mid campaign do their damndest to keep it in good order, particularly a chapter as zealous as the IFs. I think way too many people put a huge effort into their painting, and then ruin it by giving it weathering and battle damage, even if the effect looks realistic. Making the tracks of a tank look dusty or muddy is one thing, but making a SM captain appear on the verge of turning to Nurgle is another thing entirely.[/rant]


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

um... to answer your question: cuz it was asked for in the commission?...

lol, I personally don't do it much, but it is a big deal in terms of competitive painting. you must show a mastery of a multitude of techniques in order to be noticed at the higher levels of painting.

also, this guy is *mildly* weathered, lol. nowhere near nurgle level, like this other guy I did as a test (on his leg is where I tested the weathering):


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Yeah thats what sucks about commissions, limited in doing what you want and stuff, good to hear about the helmet, that was one of the bit things throwingthe model off for me.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Wow this is turning out damn nice so far!


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

the only comissions i do are either 1 model comissions our a squad with plenty of time. i hate being pressured into like a 4 day project for a 10 man squad its folish to think you can paint 10 models at a pro level in 4 days. considering i can only work like 4 hours a day. with a job and simply getting sick of painting after a while. but yeah i never suggest to anyone to take on a army challenge. you will more then likely get screwed out of money, and you will wont to kill something.
but anyways i love the model so far.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

@ wraith: thanks bud!

@Sledge: yeah, painting in a regimented fashion is tough... I had a Thunderwolf Cavalry commission that, to me, was a nightmare  (took me like 2 months for 4 guys, but it was during final exams, so I suppose that's part of it)


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

yeah dude i love how the yellow is turning out. one of the better yellows ive seen


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

small update before I try (for the 4th time) on the sword.
I've almost finished the flamer unit; it just needs highlights on the off-white portion of it, and various detail work. Also, the turbine/fan on his back has been painted and weathered.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

TEH SWORD1!!1!!1!!11 (the first half of it, anyways)

lol.

enjoy (sorry for the ridiculous amount of exposure to some parts of this pic... like the yellow.... with my crappy camera, it's either it will get the yellow and nothing else, or it will never pick up the yellow right and the other stuff is fine)


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## Asamodai (Oct 19, 2008)

That sword looks awesome. More pics please.


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## Angelus Censura (Oct 11, 2010)

Damn, that sword looks incredible. I'd like to do something like that with the weapons my Sanguinary Guard carry.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

Cool man, and thanks. If you'd like a tutorial, hit me up (it's gunna be rather advanced... with a crap-ton of steps, but it will be straightforward)

Oh, and more pics soon... (I have schoolwork and whatnot up the butt atm, lol)


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

I also have some terminators to paint up with this commission; they're in the very early stages. The first two:





















I'll work on getting more pics of the captain, but I want to get more done on him (i.e. when the legs come in... whenever they decide to...) before I take another round. currently, termies are my main focus (since I have more work to do on them at the moment)


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## .Kevin. (Jan 10, 2011)

That sword is beyond amazing holy crap you better be getting paid well jesus.


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## DrinCalhar (Jul 10, 2010)

That sword is pro.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks guys; this puppy was trial and error, but the fourth time's the charm 
and your comments have motivated me to wake back up and paint some more (at 1:30 am I might add, lol)


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

more terminator work. the highlighting work is done on this guy (as for yellow, of course, lol). weathering to come...


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

+ weathering


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## Edges (Aug 26, 2010)

Wow Ragnar these look amazing so far. I especially like the sword, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. If you ever get around to it, maybe you could post the tutorial for us mortals?
As far as the upside-down V goes, it looks to me like the pads were designed that way, and it's actually the Greek letter Lambda, which the Spartans wore on their shields to represent Lacedaemon, the name for Sparta in Greek (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not a classicist). I think it looks pretty fitting as warrior iconography, and it would be awesome to do some circular storm shields with the symbol...


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks buddy, I'll certainly make up a tutorial for you! (see, this is why I waited to paint the other side of that sword all along!!! lol)

cool background man; ironically enough (speaking of the classics), I'm translating Ovid from Latin into English right now... ugh 

oh, and those shields you thought might be cool... yes; yes they are cool

http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/m...s-miniatures-conversions/spartan-shields.html
(I haven't purchased these guys, but I assume they will work with spehs machines and termeenators)


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

Helmet! Notice glowy-glowy


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## stuff (Jan 16, 2010)

your skills are insane. yellow is a difficult colour to paint, respect to you man!


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks dude 
it the great compliments and whatnot from you guys that helps motivate me to extreme levels (like painting at ungodly hours of the day and night  )


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## .Kevin. (Jan 10, 2011)

I want your tutorial on glows dammit and the sword my god!


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

Alrighty, eye-glow added to my list 

***edit*** glowy effect tutorial submitted, now the wait for approval....


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

So, a Librarian was also commissioned with this (apologies for the jump-around in terms of the components of this project, but with some FW parts taking forever to arrive and certain pieces weighted more heavily in terms of deadlines, I'm bouncing around a bit)

lemme know what you guys think (I plan on using the interesting shade/highlight colours in a model of my own... it looks really cool imo










*edit* still got lots of work to do, lol. face is the only thing really 'done' at this point on this guy, the armour is almost done, and the rest is in the very very early stages.


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## .Kevin. (Jan 10, 2011)

Dark skinned ultra marine?


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

imperial fist actually (the blue denoting his status as librarian) and hell yeah, not every marine outside of Nocturne is Arian, lol


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

The model does look better now that it is painted. The sword is BADASS and looking forward to a tutorial on it. Nice mix of NMM tech with different color pallet.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

having some faith in me for next time? 

thanks man, yeah I'll get the tut up when I move back to him (still waiting on FW for his legs and for the helmet I'm going to put in his other hand; it has almost been 28 days since I ordered the parts...almost...)


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## HorusReborn (Nov 19, 2008)

lookin good, that black guy's skin is awesome. A shaje that there is a GIANT seam on that thunder hammer on the termie though...


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

will be sure to fix that seam before I get started on the hammer, don't worry 

quick librarian update for you guys:


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Everything is looking fantastic mate! Love the sword and I am looking forward to the tutorial on that.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

finally got some more pics for you guys.

the librarian's done and the legs *finally* came in from FW. I'll need to do some green stuff work to make the torso and legs match up, bur for now, I'm just getting the basecolour up to par.


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## Master of Sanctity (Nov 11, 2010)

Outstanding work Ragnar! Keep the pics coming and I also look forward to that tutorial of the sword!:biggrin:


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

finished products, photographed right proper, of the librarian and captain. hooray!


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Excellent work buddy! I really like the skin tone on the libby!


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## se7en (Mar 10, 2011)

awsome paintjob!

i actually signed up just to ask you how you painted the yellow.

i know there are more tutorials i can find on the net but i love your yellow.

anyway good job man!


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks guys!
let's see... since I've had a bit of a tutorial bug lately, I could try my hand at a whole model (or primary colour of a whole model, anyhow) with one of the terminators from the same commission I'm working on. I'll be continuing them after spring break, so it should be a good time to snap some pics (considering I'll be much more free). Basically, though, you'll want these three colours (all of them are P3): Umbral Umber (for shading/washing/weathering), Idrian Flesh (the darkest colour used before the actual shade colour listed prior), and Cygnus Yellow (which, after working up from Idrian Flesh, will be your base colour). Then, work up the Cygnus with skull white and, POW!
lol
let me know if that makes sense. I'll do a tut. for y'all some time soon too for one of the terminators.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Wow those turned out super awesome Ragnar. The skin on the libby was very well done.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

alright! it's been a *long* ass time, yeah I know, and these are coming kind of all at once, but here's the latest pieces of the Imperial Fist commission (done at my 'champion' quality, or one level above tabletop) 

so, here's 2 LRCs and 10 TH/SS termies (none of all of them together as I'd sent them out at different times as I finished each chunk)

LRC 1: 





































first 5 TH/SS termies:




























Second LRC (with the model I was sent to use as a guide for colour matching):














































second squad of 5 TH/SS termies:


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## spanner94ezekiel (Jan 6, 2011)

:shok: Man, you up there with Moo in my all time favourite painters..
That stuff is simply amazing, especially the sword on the captain, and the weathering on the Crusaders. I would rep you, but as I always say a) it is never enough and b) due to stupid hippy/commie rules I need to "spread the love" before I can rep you again :laugh:

Keep it coming mate.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

THANKS! that's a very nice comment (and you guys' compliments mean more to me than any +rep  )


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Matt the first LRC seems OTT with the battle damage. Nice yellows though. Nice to see this log active again.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

I am with Larry on the first LR but the second one and the terminators look boss! Nice to see you posting up again!


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

thanks man, good to have your input. I agree (hence the scaling back in the second one) but he did want them pretty beaten up


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## mcmuffin (Mar 1, 2009)

That stuff looks excellent, and it is pretty tough to get yellow looking that good, i know. My only tiny little suggestion would be to maybe add some highlights or metallics to the damage on the crusader, because, just imo, i think it looks a little flat and just looks like mud. Other than that, they look absolutely amazing, so + rep.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

professional graphite pencils work amazing for highlighing battle damage.


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## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

Great work.


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## Ragnar (Jul 1, 2008)

mcmuffin said:


> My only tiny little suggestion would be to maybe add some highlights or metallics to the damage on the crusader, because, just imo, i think it looks a little flat and just looks like mud


Oh, totally agree. It's just that at that level of quality, I wouldn't be able to do that, unfortunately. If it was one level up, I'd highlight the damage and pay closer attention to the metallics. I hope I get a commission of a step up so you can see the vehicular damage that can be dished out


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