Space Hulk test mini

I needed a break from my knight, so I started messing with my Space Hulk terminators finally.

The red recipe for my Blood Angels:

That’s Naggaroth Night, the old Mechrite Red (I may drop this), Drakenhof Nightshade, Khorne Red, Wazdakka Red, Wild Rider Red, Lugganath Orange and then glazed with Bloodletter. It’s a lot, I know. I’ve been wanted to do Zenith/Nadir airbrush work on them, and I wanted a very strong contrast to evoke the feeling of the much older PC game. I don’t mind taking my sweet time on these and doing them right. You may remember my earlier post on the topic. If not, it’s worth a quick glance.

Step 1: Zenithal highlighting and nadiral shading.

Zenith highlighting. — That’s just Naggaroth from below (and kind of all over for a base) with Mechrite Red sprayed from above his right shoulder and then spread around a bit more for some ambient color.

Nadiral shading. — From below it’s pretty dang purple still.

From the top. — From above, pretty dang red. Just as it should be.

From the side. — From the side you can see more of the contrast.

Step 2: Khorne red zenithal highlight.

This looks very much like a PC game to me, and it’s an interesting effect. First time I’ve tried it.

Brightened up the red. — Now with Khorne Red added. Much more vibrant color, but honestly it covered pretty much all of the Mechrite. That’s why I was thinking I’d just skip Mechrite next time.

And again from the side.

Above

Upper rear

And below.

Step 3: Brushwork shading and highlighting.

Here’s where it starts to get interesting.

Now here it is with some Drakenhof applied. I’ll freely admit I went pretty heavy with it, but I really wanted to up the contrast and drama. I may reel it in on the next one.

First highlight added. That would make this Wazdakka Red.

And a little Wild Rider Red to boot. I’m skipping the areas that won’t remain red, so don’t mind the bits that look less finished.

And then for fun I took a more tabletop lighting shot, mostly for reference.

EDIT: Progress on Feb 11

I think the red was fully done and glazed when I snapped this. The glaze actually redded up the purple bits quite a bit more than I expected. Not in a bad way, really.

Colors blocked out, dramatic lighting.

From the back, still dramatic lighting.

And less dramatic lighting so you can see the blending a little better. I kind of love this red.

Now compare that rear panel with the shot from yesterday and you can see it’s a lot less purple.

Edit: Brother Noctis finished(ish) on Feb 12

Brother Noctis from Space Hulk — Look into my eyes… And note the subtle OSL with neon pigments.

Brother Noctis from Space Hulk — From the front.

Brother Noctis from Space Hulk — The power fist (and some VERY subtle OSL on that targeter)

Brother Noctis from Space Hulk — From the rear

Brother Noctis from Space Hulk — Right side

Brother Noctis from Space Hulk — I dunno why, but another angle.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments are always welcome.