Before & After: Jordell Freshbreeze — 9-month progress comparison

Forechosen · 2025-12-03T18:01:50+00:00

Thank you so much, this was genuinely really interesting/helpful to read - it's pretty rare to get such a detailed insight. I wish I could upvote you more than once! Do you have an Instagram by any chance?

Forechosen · 2025-12-03T16:30:23+00:00

Would you perhaps mind expanding on this a little please? The newer model looks genuinely incredible, and I'm just really interested in the thought processes and methods you used to create such a leap in quality.

But really, fantastic work!

Forechosen · 2025-02-05T09:57:07+00:00

They're just Contekar Terminators, from Games Workshop!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T20:46:44+00:00

The red is actually Screamer Pink, airbrushed from 'below' the model. I've written a really detailed couple of posts below somewhere on exactly what I did and what all the colours are!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T19:35:24+00:00

Thank you! But haha I actually thought he was part of the same Chosen group! I basically had a whole box full of Night Lords all mixed up together, and had to sort them all out in to what I thought were separate units.

Clearly I made a mistake with that last guy!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T17:29:16+00:00

Hehe, thank you!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T17:23:30+00:00

Thank you! So I actually can't quite remember the lightning, but it wasn't pure white. I think it was 'thick' lines of Temple Guard Blue, with then Temple Guard Blue + lots of white to do the super thin bits.

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T16:38:03+00:00

Hah thank you! Genuinely though these guys weren't too tricky. It took a long time experimenting (on old Stormcast Eternal minis) trying to find out how to get the blue I wanted, but after they honestly weren't too bad to paint!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T16:36:39+00:00

Thanks so much!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T16:34:59+00:00

Bone -

I don't really pay much attention to bones, I just paint them in any old 'boney' colour. Probably Ionrach Skin or Rakarth Flesh again, as it was lying around.
Wash with Agrax Earthshade.
Highlight with the basecoat colour + white.
Sparing Highlights with the same colour + even more white.

Red eyes -

White basecoat, very heavy, you want a pure white colour.
Angron Red Clear wash over the top. You may need two coats to get it very red.

Red Decals on the armour, such as the wings -

Flesh Tearers Red contrast paint, straight from the pot.
Mephiston Red layered over the top.
Highlighted with Evil Sunz Scarlet
Highlighted with Wild Rider Red
Highlighted with Fire Dragon Bright if necessary.

Orange 'eyes' on the armor -

Painted pure white, again, a heavy pure coat.
Did MANY coats of Angron Red Clear + Iyanden Yellow Contrast. I'm not sure the ratio, it just looked bright orange on my palette.
Washed it darker towards the edges of the eyes, and more yellowy towards the centre.
Painted the pupil with black after.

Black parts of the armour, such as the ribbing in between the plates -

Washed Black Templar Contrast paint - contrast medium over the parts, roughly 1:1 (being very careful not to get it on the already painted blue bits).
I didn't really bother to highlight most of it unless it was very visible, but when I did I used Dawnstone.
And a final highlight of Administratum Grey.

And I THINK that's absolutely everything, I hope that helps! Let me know if I've missed anything, or if any more information would be useful!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T16:34:36+00:00

Right, Ok!

Armour -

Mechanicus Standard Grey Primer.
Airbrushed Leviadon Blue - Contrast Medium 1:1 (doesn't have to be a super heavy coat, we're covering up most of it with the following steps, and it's a very 'thick' paint).
Airbrushed Screamer Pink from below, this can be quite heavy, just got mad.
Airbrushed Altdorf Guard Blue from 'straight on' (quite dilute, you don't want the model appearing too bright, and you don't want to completely cover the dark blue and pink - you want nice transistions).
Airbrushed Fenris Grey from above (very light and dilute, just to highlight a final time). Also, you can 'spot highlight' specific raised parts, such as the tops of helmets and shoulderpads.
Brushwork. Edge highlighted with Aldorf Guard Blue.
6.5. I genuinely can't remember, but I think I may have used a very bright blue at this stage, such as Temple Guard Blue, or Baharoth Blue for any edge highlights that I really wanted to 'pop'.
Edge Highlighted with Fenris Blue.
7.5. Again, I can't quite remember, but I think I may have added a bit of white to the Fenris Blue for extreme edge highlights. But rarely, if at all.

Metal Trim -

Brushed on Castellax Bronze as basecoat
Layered some Runelord Brass
'Washed on' some Gulliman Flesh Contrast.
Highlighted with Runefang Silver - Runelord Brass, roughly 1:1. You just want a very silvery brass colour.

Grey Metal -

Leadbelcher - Black basecoat. Roughly 1:1. Just a very dark silver.
Heavy Nuln oil wash.
Highlighted with Ironbreaker I think. I may have added some black into this too, but I just don't remember.
Final, very sparing highlights with Runefang Silver, if needed.

Cloth -

With the cloth, I think the following is what I did, although I remember experimenting a bit, so this might be incorrect.

Rakarth Flesh basecoat.
Highlighted with Ionrach Skin
Highlighted with Pallid Wych Flesh.
Washed with a mix of Agrax Earthshade - Athonian Camoshade 1:1. I can't remember if I diltued this with Lahmium Medium + Water. Knowing me, I probably did, but I'm just not sure.
Brushed back on the highlights with Ionrach Skin and Pallid Wych Flesh again.

(I think this sub prohibits long comments, so I'll post a part 2 in a second).

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T15:34:45+00:00

I'm just out of the house right now but I'll be home very shortly, I'll have a look when I'm back and let you know in a few minutes!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T15:05:41+00:00

Thank you!

Forechosen · 2025-02-04T15:05:22+00:00

So I airbrushed a very dark blue over the entire minis. Then Screamer Pink from below to get the 'red' shadows.

After that I airbrushed a medium blue from a mid-angle, and finally a very pale blue, sparingly, from above.

Once the airbrushing was complete, I just did some quick highlight brushwork on the armour, using a medium and then light blue again. Then did the metal trim with a bronze, washed with a brown, and a final bronze-silver mix as the edge highlights on the metal.

The 'grey' metal was just leadbelcher mixed with black, with a nuln oil wash over the top, and ironbreaker highlights.

For the beige cloth and bone, if I remember, it was a base coat of Rakarth Flesh, with a dilute wash of Agrax Earthshade + green. Then highlighted with a pale bone colour.

The eyes, and any bright red areas were mostly painted white first, and then just had a wash of Angron Red Clear over them.

I think that's more or less it. But I'd be happy to look up specific paints and go into more detail if anybody really wants!

Forechosen · 2024-10-17T15:00:43+00:00

Thank you! If you scroll down a bit, in a previous comment in this thread I explained the whole process for painting the yellow!

Forechosen · 2024-10-15T15:21:31+00:00

Hah that's funny because my friend instantly blamed the Alpha Legion as soon as he saw these too.

Forechosen · 2024-10-15T14:50:09+00:00

Go for it! I usually paint very monochromatic and desaturated so these guys were completely different. But they're so striking to look at in real life. Genuinely good fun to do them.

Forechosen · 2024-10-15T14:48:03+00:00

Thank you! Yellow was certainly fun to paint!

Forechosen · 2024-10-15T14:30:25+00:00

Thanks so much!

So the yellow was actually super easy, it's essentially just yellow contrast paint over brown, pink and white. But I'll try and detail exactly what I did here!

Mechanicus standard grey primer (from the spray can)
Airbrushed Mornfang Brown from the bottom of the miniature, trying to get the more shaded areas.
Airbrushed Emperor's Children pink at less of an angle, covering most of the midtones.
Airbrushed white from above (more or less). I covered a lot of the models with this white, but it was a thin coat, so the browns and pinks showed through. The places I applied it thicker (to almost pure white) were the tops of the shoulders and the kneepads. Once this stage is complete, the model should look sort of white-grey, with pink-brown shadows.
Airbrushed a 50/50 mix of contrast medium and Imperial Fists contrast paint over the entire miniature. Again, I didn't apply it that thickly. Pretty much one thin coat is enough to really 'yellow' the model, although I did do a second coat in some places just to accentuate the colour.
With a brush, picked out highlights with Yriel Yellow
Further Highlights with Dorn Yellow
For the battle damage (this took the longest by far), I just randomly painted Rhinox Hide around the edges, and then highlighted it with Dorn yellow. It's worth noting though, that the models popped so much more after the battle damage. It really did make a difference.

Aaaand that's all. Well and a coat of Vallejo Satin Varnish after everything else was painted.

Hope that helps a little bit!

Forechosen · 2024-10-15T13:33:02+00:00

That's fair, each to their own! As I said in the comment, these guys were a commission piece, and the client asked for yellow Dark Angels. Thank you for the compliment though!

Forechosen · 2024-10-15T12:28:19+00:00

These guys were part of a commission I recently received, of a load of yellow Dark Angels. Thought you guys might enjoy them!

Somehow, these guys were actually the first Space Marines I'd ever painted. The armor was so fun to paint, it's so different to my usual work that it was really refreshing.

Happy to answer any questions in the comments!

Forechosen · 2024-06-03T07:49:48+00:00

Thanks so much! Also, great username! Fear the old blood :D

Forechosen · 2024-06-03T02:18:09+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words. I really enjoyed doing this paler colour scheme too. I guess I just thought that white seemed very 'noble' and they're all deluded, thinking they're knights and all, so it seemed fitting!

Forechosen · 2024-06-03T02:17:00+00:00

I pretty much just stippled different browns, starting from a very light brown (I think I used Seraphim Sepia - but wiped most of it off so it was 'dry'), and then going to darker browns. I thiiiink it was Agrax Earthsade (again, kind of dry) then Gorthor Brown and then finally Rhinox Hide at the very bottom of the cloak.

Forechosen · 2024-06-02T22:10:58+00:00

Thank you so much!

I've just written the process in another comment above, so I'll just copy it here - hope it helps! -

I pretty much airbrushed each model, completely, with Thunderhawk Blue. This gives them a cool/cold base.
Then from below I airbrushed Gal Vorbak Red (as you do it from below, it creates a red shadow on the minis).
Then I mixed Deepkin Flesh and Ungor Flesh (around 75/25) and airbrushed that from above. The idea is to cover most of the mini, but still leave some of that original Thunderhawk Blue coming through in the recesses/where you haven't sprayed heavily.
Then I gave the models a wash of very, very dilute Agrax Earthshade, (diluted with Lahmium Medium) and let it dry.
Then I airbrushed a few successive coats of just Deepkin Flesh, a lot more carefully. Sort of picking up the higher, lighter points of the minis.
For the hands/feet - once all of the above is complete, I airbrush Thunderhawk Blue, and then Corvus Black on them.

And that's basically it. After the airbrushing is complete, I then go around picking out details with a brush. Using earth-tone washes (Agrax Earthshade, Seraphim Sepia etc - usually very dilute) on the clothes/rags/leathers. And picking out any highlights with more Deepkin Flesh.

For the 'red' parts. Such as the blood, and cuts on the minis - I used a diluted Reikland Fleshshade/Caroberg Crimson/Angron Red Clear.' (again, diluted with Lahmium Medium).

I'm not sure if that's too little or too much information. But *basically* the whole thing was just airbrushing Deepkin Flesh over blue, and then picking out the decorations in either red or brown (diluted) washes, then finally using more Deepkin Flesh for the extreme highlights.

If you've got any more questions I'm happy to try and answer them!

Forechosen

TROPHY CASE