Tuesday, August 5, 2014

TUTORIAL: Astral Claw Symbol Freehand


Today I take a look at how to paint the Astral Claw symbol freehand. Although this is specific to one chapter the basic principles can be applied to most basic freehand.

Back when I started my Astral Claws I didn't have the option of sculpted shoulder pads and putting a transfer on a rounded surface is more trouble then its worth. This left me with only one option, I had to paint the symbol on all of their shoulders.


To start with I made sure I had a picture of their symbol on hand while painting to be consistent but after awhile I was able to do it from memory.


First you want to make sure you have all of the surrounding areas are fully painted including shading and highlights. I usually do all of my freehand last.


Next I blocked out the basic armature of the claw's arm using three black lines. The one in the middle should be slightly shorter then the outside two. This is a good idea in general for any freehand. Always block out your basic shape before starting on filling anything in. At this point if I need to adjust I don't have as much to paint over, this is also when you make sure your design is centered.


I then filled in the arm of the claw with black paint. I know it's hard to see since the picture is kind of dark but I also added the "fur" texture on the outside.


Now that the arm is done I moved onto the star. You want to work from the back to the front on your symbol. Since the arm lays behind the star I painted it first. The star is basically a "T" with an "X" going through the cross point. You want to make sure the "X" lines are shorter then the "T" lines. Once I had the bare lines down I made them into triangles which forms the star itself.


When I painted the bulk of my force Ceramite White didn't exist yet so I had to do a layer of Dheneb Stone first (the step before) followed by a layer of white to brighten it. Now I just use Ceramite White and cut out a stage.


Now we have the fingers which are just oblongs with a point on the side facing towards the center. You can see the placement of the fingers above, but like I said before I recommend that you have a copy of the symbol on hand to reference. 


We are almost done, all that's left is to separate the nails from the fingers with a simple white line. If you can make it rounded then go ahead and do that as well. While I am at it I also paint a white line to separate the back of the thumb from the arm since they are both black.


As a final touch I went around the edges of the black where it touched the blue with a thin line of Kommando Khaki to help separate the two since they are both fairly dark. This isn't necessary if you feel like the black is popping enough from the blue, but I thought it helped.


That's it! Now you have a shiny new Astral Claw symbol to decorate your marines with and enforce the Tyrant's will. 

For the Tyrant!

Until next time,

Tyler M.








No comments:

Post a Comment