Step by Step - Nurgle Death Guard

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Did you ever wake up with bullfrogs on your eyes? This also never happened to me but i did paint up a Nurgle Chaos Space Marine and wanted to tell you something about what i have done...

This article will take a closer look on the latest painting "Nurgle Death Guard - the Wayfarer".
Please be aware of my fail in taking photos of every step and maybe my brain won't spit out everything i have done as this did happen during pure painting joy. I hope this article helps the one or the other to get a better insight in my way of working... sorry for all the things i might not remember - let's go.

Building this guy up
In the following picture you can see how he looked like without paint. First he was standing on a casual 28 mm 40K base but i made this one bigger during the process.

I did use several tiny things to make him look more rotten, like chains, cables made from guitar strings, other cables from electronic stuff, cog wheels from old watches, small chains from an unknown hobby manufacturer... nagh, stuff, small balls from a water filter machine later on, punched sheet, Forgeworld body and shoulder pads and stuff... yepp, lots of stuff on this guy, don't think i can name it all. I've also damaged the armour with a scalpell and a hand drill, for example the arms and shotgun are from a casual Marine Scout, the legs are from a normal Space Marine, while the backpack is a modified devastator backpack, additional some tyranid bits are involved between his legs to show he got balls or at least some kind of left and the insectoid thing on his backpack comes also from those Alien creatures - click to enlarge:

Painting
The paintwork was started on chaos black primer from the can. No white was applied, like shown in this article. I mostly apply the white like i always do. After being asked about several things lately how i start with painting, how i use the airbrush in beginning, what i think about it, which work order i use, etc. i have decided to tell you: I ain't got one way to go. There are so many ways you can have your first attempt on a model that i guess there are still some undiscovered hiding in the bushes. I can't give you one specific way to go or some rules that have to be followed. It is joy and there are different things all the time happening when you do something with joy. I now do try my best to explain how i did start with this model and how it grew.

As i am really new to work with the Airbrush myself i only can give you my own experience which isn't that huge. Sure i've done this and that with the use of the Airbrush but this is still in the middle of get some experience myself. After the model was primed with black primer i've used the Airbrush to do the bright priming with a mix from Codex Grey and Rotting Flesh. Now why have i used these colours instead of white primer? I have no idea. Guess the priming with the airbrush makes the layer way thinner than the white primer can spray. I won't tell you stories in here but i try: I've used this mix because i was thinking to myself: I will do a bright greyish/greenish armour and it is easier for me to work my way through Light/shadow and weathering with glazes from bright to dark. I've applied this layer about 2 times to make it look opaque overall, after this i did airbrush the first shadows by mixing in some black into my basecoat and airbrush this colour to the lower parts which i planned to be in the shadow areas... this is for sure a main sketch without a goal in the back, the rest will grow from the colour decision i will make soon... important in that step to me was that the model was bright and already got a bit of a foulish colour which will look cool coloured with some glazes...

Next i've applied these glazes from which i hoped to make the result i wish for. I've done some glazes at the armour with thin camo green mixed with codex grey. Codex Grey was mixed by to keep the colour non-saturated, not too make it too strong in its appereance. Rust was done with glazes from Vermin Brown, while i've used some Warlock Purple mixed into my camo/grey mix to make some difference in the main armour areas. I've used Model Air Colour - Tank Brown to intense the Vermin Brown rust and hit some single armoury damage at the model - all done with the brush. I guess i can remember that i have used thin glazes of Tank Brown to also intense the shadow areas on the armour. Tank Brown and a drop Chaos Black was the mix that was applied to the chains and main later on metal areas. The base was done rusty with Vermin Brown, Tank Brown, Black and rust coloured Pigments in a weird mix the base for a main sketch again. The cables have been painted in a mix from snakebite leather and Tank Brown. His left shoulder pad decay was gently brought into another colour with a glaze from Vile Green and Bleached Bone... painting fine white edge highlights, glazing them again

Next bad photos have been shot, but also something happened. I made the base bigger in its seize by using some more punched sheet and basing method with real earth and superglue. Those little balls have been taken from a Brita waterfilter kitchen ammounition. They have to be seperated from some kind of active charcoal parts after opening the waterfilter. This takes some time, but the time will be spent good - thanks to Raffa at this point, haha. Simply take a piece of paper and put some content of the filterbox on it, slowly jiggle the paper with a small low angle where on the bottom a box is placed. Now the balls will roll downward into the box while the other stuff stays left - seperating. Then you have tons of small balls in different mini-seizes. I did apply them to the model with an old brush and matt varnish. I also intensed the armour colours by using more thin glazes over the same spot, green again, reds here and there, rust here and there, decay here and there, Tamyia Clear Orange X-27 over the small balls. While i did start painting the metals i've used a dark metal tone of Model Colour Oily Steel and black, bringing it to Oily steel on some spots. Glazing here and there with tank brown to get it all together, strengthen lights here and there with Bleached Bone or Rotting Flesh plus white. Intensing the greens again, bringing in some tourquise on the metals... a really mess going on at the moment, still:

 

 

The further steps have been cleaning up the mess as far you can say that. I did get back to my basic colours of the armour and organized the mess a bit by painting it to places where light will fall and dirt looks to weird at the moment... you can see those places very good in the photo above. I did also finish up detailed parts, put some work in the armoury by glazing shadows and working out lights. Some rust work here and there. Ugly slime strings where used here and there, Blood was used in several small places where the armour breaks up and odor and decay press out, bigger strings of nasty liquid was done by putting a small icicles in place with superglue and a toothpick and painting it afterwards with Tamyia Clear Yellow X-24, followed by Clear Orange on the final drop area. Some hihglights in the metals where done with Silver by Model Colour 70997. Rust here and there, cleaning up more and finally name the model "finished"...

Final Words
As you can see it happens out of my stomach with no plan attached. Nurgle boys are great for this kind of brainless painting and i reall had my fun on that guy. The final hours should be spent with the detail work of tiny light spots or edges and strengthen the colour tones by glazing them several times...

I hope this article could inspire on or the other of our fellow readers...
Keep on happy painting!
Regards
Roman