DARK ANGELS CHAPLAIN

Painted by Stuart Spengler

Even though the new Space Marine Chaplains are super-cool to start with, it seems that no figure I work on remains unconverted. I knew that I would paint the Chaplain as a Dark Angel, so I had to replace the crozius head with Asmodai's version. I then ground out the original arm's shoulder pad so it would fit over the power fist's shoulder, and while I ground out the shoulder pad, I also filed down the studs and plaque to make the shoulder pad just a giant, unadorned skull. I made a new backpack out of a Chaos Space Marine backpack, as it had the same sort of spikes as on the Chaplain's armour. I also used some skulls from the Chaos Vehicle Accessory sprue to replace the thermal vents. I figured that Chaplains would be more into do-dads than banners, so I chose an appropriately grim icon from the Assault Terminator sprue and topped off the backpack with it.

Click on the circular areas above to see even larger pictures of the highlighted areas.

HOW'D HE DO THAT?

Black Armour. After the sloppier steps (drybrushing the base and stippling the crozius) were done, I cleaned up the model with Chaos Black. As the black was the most prevalent colour, I started on the details for that layer. I actually started the highlights with pure Shadow Grey, then worked my way down with 3:1 Shadow Grey to Chaos Black, then an even mix of Shadow Grey and Chaos Black, finally ending up with pure Chaos Black. I worked in reverse so I could "sharpen" the previous layer with the next. I also paid close attention to where the light hit the edges of the armour plates to paint the highlights. It helped to have a strong source of light to see where these areas were. I also did the ribbing between the armour plates at this time. To provide a bit of contrast between the ribbing and the armour, I went more towards Shadow Grey on the ribbing, while the armour went closer to black.

Chapter Symbol. At this time, I painted the Dark Angels Chapter symbol on the shoulder skull. I knew I wanted to do the skull shoulder pad in bone, and I thought the Chapter symbol in red would look good. It would also tie in with the Deathwing army I just did, and as the Chaplain has a Terminator Crux hanging off of his belt, he must have done some time in the 1st Company. I started out the red with Dark Flesh, then Scab Red, Red Gore, and finally Blood Red.

Bone and Parchment. I basecoated the bone areas with Bestial Brown and then went through Graveyard Earth, Desert Yellow, Kommando Khaki, an even mix of Kommando Khaki and Skull White, and finished with pure Skull White. I used these colours to sharpen up the Chapter symbol on the shoulder pad in a similar fashion to the armour highlights. The head and shoulder pad got special attention when I painted the Kommando Khaki, Kommando Khaki/Skull White mix, and Skull White. I thinned down the paint more than usual and did two layers of each colour to help manage the translucence of the paint.

Crozius Haft. To paint the marble haft of the crozius, I started with Dark Angels Green, then 1:1 Dark Angel Green and Snot Green, then just Snot Green. I did the marble texture of the haft by stippling the paint. It's kind of like drybrushing — work out most of the paint of the brush on a rag, then stab at the area rather than using normal brushing motions. It might take a bit of practice, but once you get a few layers of colour on there, you'll see it's pretty easy to do and looks dead ‘ard!

Metals. For the metals, I painted those areas last, as I wanted the silver to remain relatively bright and clean. I did all the silver with Chainmail and then Mithril Silver. The gold was a bit more involved, with multiple layers. I first used Tin Bitz, then Brazen Brass, then Shining Gold, then Burnished Gold, then an even mix of Burnished Gold and Mithril Silver, and finally straight Mithril Silver. I considered doing a Snot Green/Scaly Green wash along the way to give the metal a patina as though it were an ancient artefact. I decided against it, as I reasoned that the armour and crozius would probably have been well-maintained over the years.

Details. I basecoated the green areas (company badge on kneepad, gem in the Terminator Crux, and the field of the right shoulder pad) with Dark Angels Green, a 3:1 mix of Dark Angels Green to Snot Green, a 1:3 mix of Dark Angels Green to Snot Green, and then a pure Snot Green finish. For the red on the purity seals and cords around the scroll hanging off of the Chaplain's belt, I painted them in the same manner as the red of the Chapter symbol. For the yellow areas (cables from the back of the helmet), I basecoated with Bestial Brown followed by Golden Yellow and then Sunburst Yellow. I painted the cover of the book with Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown, and then Graveyard Earth. For the skulls on his belt, I painted them with Codex Grey, Fortress Grey, and then Skull White to finish.

Finishing Touches and Base. I added a few black lines on the paper to finish the purity seals and a bit of white writing on the armour to make it look more like a relic.

I finished up with the skulls on the base. As I didn't want them to be bleached-white bone and instead look rather dirty, I gave them a wash of Chestnut Ink (they still had grey on them from painting the base). This made them look rather dirty and cruddy on its own, but I cleaned them up a bit with yet more Desert Yellow and Kommando Khaki.

WHO IS STUART SPENGLER?

Stuart Spengler is a member of the illustrious Graphics Production Team at Games Workshop US. When he is not building White Dwarf or producing a monstrous catalogue, Stu provides content for US White Dwarf and the website. More of Stuart's work can be found in the Converting Command squads article.

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Converting Space Marine Command Squads | Converting The Emperor's Champion

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