# Bix's Closet of Chaos (now Alpha Legion!)



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

So I finally decided to put together a project log here on Heresy Online. Over the past year I've loved browsing the amazing work by gamers all over the world. And seeing the wonderful C&C given by people to help people improve their modelling skills. So, here I go. I'm diving right in. 

I have had these Chaos Space Marines for a few years now, and tried the Black Legion paint scheme, but it felt a bit boring for my taste and it seemed very popular. I wanted to do something a tad more unique, so I went with this Dark Wolves theme. I've played around with different greys and washes until finally I mixed this dark grey (almost a black) for the base color. It's hard to get a lot of depth, but with some practice putting some grey highlights in there, I think it'll come out well. I really like the light blue trim color, and plan on edge highlighting those areas. 

I'd love all the C&C I can get. I think I have a pretty solid brush work, but where my skills lack are in blending and painting in many thin layers. However, this will be my first FULLY PAINTED army, and my objective is to get a tabletop quality paint job done in a fairly small amount of time. I'm not looking to speed paint, but I'm also not planning to spend a few hours every night painting. Just wanted to throw that out there so everyone has an idea of the types of C&C I would like to help my models look better.

And lastly, I'd love any help in getting my photos looking better. I don't have an amazing camera, but I feel like it will do the job as long as I can figure out the lighting and Shutter Speed/Aperture down. So any help there would be greatly appreciated!

I really look forward to seeing what people think and how I can improve! Thanks for looking!!!


***EDIT*** I had to change this title, seeing as how my aim has gone from Dark Wolves to Alpha Legion...and everything in between! :biggrin:


----------



## DeathKlokk (Jun 9, 2008)

I like them! A good simple scheme. If you're not adept at blending I suggest pre-mixing some shades of highlights in their own pots. Gradual transitions between shades don't need near as much blending and mixing a large batch will insure uniformity. 

I'd do some metallics on the backpacks. Maybe a tad more red areas (horn tips?) 

Your pics look pretty damn good to me. Maybe a bit of paper or poster board to make a white background.


----------



## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

They look very nice ... I like a very simplistic approach. Less is more. One thing that I would recommend is Badab Black Wash on the hair (tassel?) as it would add great depth to the minis that have them. Keep plugging away at it.


----------



## Melikor40k (Feb 7, 2011)

looking good so far, although time consuming, picking out the little details really makes them stand out i.e skulls, icons tubes etc etc the color scheme is fine the red icons seem alittle clashy with the grey/blue perhaps a wash in badab black over the reds and blues will give it more of a contrasted look? either way keep it up, starting is always the hardest part, when you look at a few 1000 points worth only undercoated and it takes a few hours to do one guy its a bit daunting but the pile eventually gets smaller


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

@Deathklokk - Thanks for the idea of pre-mixing highlights. I did pre-mix a big batch of the bascoat, but didn't think about highlights...was trying to avoid that thought! :biggrin: I do plan on doing a little more silver accents to them (skulls, rivets, etc) I do think that would add good details. AS for the horn tips, I'm not sure. I know that would involve blending and instead of screwing it up I'd rather leave them (for now at least)! I'll keep that idea in mind though.

@OIIIIIIO - I definitely think those tassels will need some depth. Thank you for pointing that out. Probably badab black wash, with highlight of the light blue, and then a final highlight of an even lighter blue (Which is what I plan on edge highlighting with already). 

Thanks for the Thumbs Up! It's a little different theme, so I was a little worried how people would feel about it. But I'm glad some people think it looks pretty decent. With more work, hopefully I can get them all looking really great! Thanks again!


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

@Melikor - Yeah, I tried washing the lighter blues, but getting a uniform look was all but impossible. (Maybe it was my technique or something, but it looked plain bad.) However, I haven't thought about washing the red. I may give that a try. 

And I'm glad other people feel overwhelmed with a large army all primed up and unpainted. I've played with a full black army with just few models painted here and there, but it's time to change that! Already all the Critiques and words of encouragement are making me want to stay up and keep painting. However, I better not burn myself out or make work tomorrow unbearable! :biggrin:

Thanks again for the advice!


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

The horns/bone features should be relatively easy to paint. Just paint on some bleached bone and wash with devlan mud, re-highlight the edges with the bleached bone again and Wal-la. It's a very simple technique that proves effective.

As far the picture taking, Deathklockk already mentioned the white background. Just take a piece of printer paper and stick it behind or underneath the mini, it will help your camera focus much more.

Regards,
DoE


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

So, I busted my knee during a soccer match...progress is going to be really slow over the net couple weeks, but I wanted to get some more criticism on how things are progressing on my theme. I took some advice and put it onto the model. 

I'm not finished, but wanted some input on the edge highlighting. If you look close, the front of the model doesn't have any edge highlights on the dark parts of the armor, but the backpack does. I'm not sure how it'll look once more models have this look. I'm thinking from standing at tabletop distance they will pop a little more, but from up close I'm just not sure. I don't feel I have the time, nor the painting experience to use a blending technique to get the highlights on the dark parts...and the trim for that matter. I've also edge highlighted some of the light blue trim, but it's barely visible. 

I'm just not too sure where I want to go from here. My goal is to get the army at least tabletop ready (3 colors) and looking fairly clean. From there, I want to invest more time into details (Highlights, possible blending in the larger armor plates, etc). And finally I plan to add weathering to everything. But as for now, I think I'm going to work on the 3 colors, and small details across the whole army. I would however love and C&C on this guy, and what things work, and what don't. Thanks a ton! "Must...stay...motivated. Too many black models!"


----------



## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

The trick to a lot of those more advanced techniques is practice, patience, and thinning your paints with water. 

I'd recommend beginning with dry brushing and washing as your next painting hurdles. I'm personally not a fan of either primer legions or your light blue, but to each their own. I think highlighting that blue might be a little dangerous because it is already so bright. Maybe a tiny touch of ice blue or white on the very edges of the bluebplates would help.

Definitely paint all the hoses, trim, and rivets. Those details _make_ a chaos marine. 

I'd also recommend more colors. Dry brushing bone or red on the horns is fast and easy and will add some much needed variation and disorder. Really tidy chaos marines dont quite look right. But it's a balancing act ensuring that the looseness is only where it should be, and not say on the shoulder pad trim. Trim needs to be straight.


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

So, a little update here. I "finished" my first entry in the Army Challenge. It's not to the standard I would like it to be at, but having the In-Laws in town took away a little hobby time. Regardless, I learned a lesson to not try and do too much...I'll just choose the unit, or transport next time...not both. Here's the unit. I'll go into fine details and such at a later time, but for now, I think they work.










I also want to show a little of my older work, that I do plan on finishing up/improving as my skills improve. First up are these obliterators. They are painted to a Black Legion scheme, (Which someday I'll strip and go with this Dark Wolves Scheme), very basic style, mostly drybrushing. I painted these guys before the washes came out, but think they look decent.










And here's a plague marine that I just converted out of a normal CSM by just drilling small holes and trying to get them to look like rot. Again... alot of drybrushing techniques instead of the more time consuming, and better looking blending/layering technique. (His gun is black because I had to rip his old one off, and just started magnetizing special weapons)










And here's a squad of bezerkers, and then a closeup of the one model in the unit that I have begun practicing blending/layering techniques on his armor. I can see the difference and how amazing this technique can look. With practice, I'm sure eventually I'll have some really good looking models.


















And finally....just a few images of the first 2 models I ever painted. I painted these guys up in '06-'07, and even though that's 5-6 years ago, my painting skills haven't improved as much as I'd have liked because I don't devote enough time to it...but that's all going to change. :biggrin: SO here's a look into the past...and try not to laugh. (I had no idea about the rules or anything about 40k...hence the Champion with a Plasma pistol/Power Weapon...I have never actually outfitted a champ like that on the battlefield! :laugh


















Thanks for looking and helping to keep a guy motivated!


----------



## Dragblud da scrunka (Mar 26, 2009)

Holy Cow that Deamon Prince is sick! Awesome and evil looking paint scheme! So great!


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

Time to resurrect this plog! I'm almost done reading "Legion"...and after just a few chapters, I realized I REALLY wanted to paint Alpha Legion. Well after going back and forth for so long trying to decide on a scheme for my Chaos Space Marines, I thought I wanted to do Skyrar's Dark Wolves. Well, I did a squad or so, and then just...BLEH. It got boring, and I didn't love it. Well, here's where I'm going with the army now. This is just a WIP of a normal Marine. The lighting is shit because it's not daylight out. But once I'm finished I'll take pictures during the day so the colors come out right. For now, here it is.



















Let me know what you think! Any C&C welcome! And if you have good photos of Alpha Legion, post em for some more ideas/encouragement! 

Thanks! :victory:


----------



## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

from what i can see it looks impressive mate, the gold looks good and the highlights, not too sure about the highlights on the helmet but ofc i can't really see them yet


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

Thanks Hellado. Do you mean the green highlights around the fron of the helmet? Around the eyes and such? Maybe I'll give them a little starker highlight tonight. Thanks for the advice!


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

First Marine is done. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Hopefully as I progress, I'll get faster and the edge highlights will go on smoother. Other than that I'm happy. Let me know what you think. :victory:


----------



## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

yeah i like this guy a lot, i just couldn't see the last pics very well so wasn't sure 

this guy confirms it though, very nice model mate

+rep


----------



## Tossidin (Dec 10, 2008)

I like it, looks much better than my attempt


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

Thanks for the replies/rep. It's hard to be a perfectionist in this hobby. Unless you paint perfectly, and even those guys find imperfections in their perfect work. :laugh: I'm constantly noticing lines that aren't smooth or go out of the area I wanted...but I just gotta keep chuggin along. I hope I can get some more marines done soon. But I've also got a Defiler that I'd like to paint, and I'm thinking about doing him next. Regardless, I appreciate the kind words and motivation. Rock on!


----------



## bixeightysix (Jun 28, 2010)

After about 3 hours of working on my second Alpha Legion marine, all that remains is...well...pieces. My perfectionist attitude, along with my short temper led this marine to get smashed to bits. Literally. It was like he was an Orbital Bombardment shell...landing, exploding, with schrapnel pieces going everywhere! :suicide:

Seriously, though...sometimes I truly hate this hobby. After positive feedback from fellow Heretics, and RL buddies at the local shop, my attempt at another marine wasn't progressing as well as I'd like, so I lost it. :headbutt:

I just wish, I could let the perfectionism flow away and be happy with the work I produce. It's not like it's bad. It's just not as good as things I see that I try and reproduce. My work is clean, I just have shotty blending skills. I thin down the paint, and attempt to feather it where I want it to go, but it always end up streaky and not a smooth, gradual transition form color to color. SO I looked up wet blending. I attempted that, using some slo-dri, and I think it worked "okay"...not sure how tough/time consuming that would be for a whole army, on many power-armored marines...but eh.

I love looking at PLogs...and I think for the most part they inspire me. But, I'll tell ya...on bad painting days, they just upset at my lack of skills.


----------

