I'm in need of artistic advice...

[rtsposer]

this is sort of linked to the other post i made just now but i thought, anyway...

I have this techmarine, i have it tricked-out with lightning claws off a terminator and i repositioned the servo arm so it doesn't look so gay.

anyway, now we all know the traditional home of industry and technology in the 40k univers for the empire is mars, home of the tech-priests and what not and a big forge world type place or something.

So, since techmarines seem heavily affiliated with tech priest, and tech preists are from mars, and mars is always called 'the red planet,' naturally i always thought tech-marine's red armour was a sort of homage to their martian-administrorial home.

Small problem, Mars ain't red unless your galileo looking up at the sky after a day full of exploring sunspots by looking at the sun through a telescope. Mars is the color of rusty-orange iron actually. Now, screw the fluff for a second, i don't care if mars of the 41st millenia has been painted red to correct this error, as far as i'm concerned Mars is rusty orange!

So, i want to incorporate this kind of rusty orange color into my techmarine but i don't want to flat out abandon tradition by not coloring it red.

My solution is to attempt to use an orange wash of some sort to sort-of tint the red armour to make it look a little like that rusty orange. small problem, don't have a clue how washes work, and the base red is so dark that a lighter color like orange wouldn't really show up i think.

Any suggestions for technique as well as color selection? I would REALLY love any good advice i can get because i have put alot of work into the custom modeling and so if i screw up the paint well, thats just no good.

[hishamEQ]

Try a thinned down ink wash of chestnut or flesh wash inks (GW ones) over your red. I think if you just wanted to add something to the cracks of the mini, a brown might to nicely. I hate to say this, but try out these shadings on a regular trooper until you get the look you like. If you hate what you are doing on the conversion, several coats of paints might end up burying the detail of the mini.

If you do not have a base yet, you might want to try an orange with a dark red wash (watered down red paint) or brown wash. Although this might be too bright for your tastes.

[BobaHat]

HERETIC!! HERETIC!!!

Naa... seriously... I don't think you're gonna convince the Tech Priests on Mars that the armour of the Techmarines should be any other colour than red. The reason for the red armour is unknown but it may as you said be because of the colour of Mars. Then again, it may be a big coinsidence (I mean why are Apothecaries white? Why are Librarians blue?)! Either way, Techmarines are red and that's just the way it is! It's written in the Insignium Astartes that the Tech Priests award their Techmarine trainees with a shiny red suit of armour when they finish their studies.

ALL Chapters, even non-codex chapters, have red Techmarines (except for the Space Wolves who train their own Iron Priests) and if you paint yours another colour you are directly contradicting the fluff. It would be like making a blue Blood Angels army.

It's up to you of course but I just son't see the point...

Sorry, dude... I'm a fluff-person... :wink:

-Rob

[rtsposer]

Thanks for the suggestion of basing it with orange first and then going over it with red. Might even try and see what some red dry brushing does since i want the orange more around the edges anyway. And good call on testing it out on other models first, i was considering doing that but you got me convinced.


And for the fluff: for the medic, well medical personel, baring surgical garb, do tend to where white clothes. And as far as the psyker is concerned well not telekinetic organizations have been formed (though one does tend to think of blue lightning as a possible psker attribute, anyway). Also aren't librarians exposed to the warp more and hence a bit more prone to chaotic influence if not careful? Perhaps the use of ultramarines blue is a relic of the Primary marine codex that was strictly adhered to because the risk of chaos influence in their part was greater. (or rather the blue was a representation that the psyker will deviate less from the stricture of rules then the rest of the chapter, a visual reminder as it were)

And as far as justifying the orange on the techmarine, the idea was that the suit had been worn and used and batter and blah blah blah, and as a weathering effect i was gonna use the impression of rust to represent this. Yes the ubsurdity of a techmarine not maintaining his suit properly has been pointed out to me, but i think if i do it right it will both look cool and still fit in with others in a general sense.

that mars is really rusty orange just made me want to make the orange effect i am going for more pronounced. thanks for the input though anyway.