And this is proof! After discovering The Mighty Brush whilst searching for ideas – Luther’s work came up in my results.
His Space Marines stopped me in my tracks.
My day’s work was done.
The Mighty Brush is mighty indeed, and his W40K Space Marines are no exception, they are a thing of beauty! And who would have ever thought that you would hear the words ‘Space Marines’ and ‘beauty’ in the same sentence – but in my humble opinion, they are just that.
If anyone tells you that miniature figure painting isn’t an art, I beg to differ. This is art, and in this post, I would like to share Luther’s work.
You will quickly come to realise just how much attention to detail, love and patience Luther puts into his work. And by visiting his website he may just share some of his techniques and craft.
– miniature figure painting is an art! Paint on! Now onto Luther.
Luther and The Mighty Brush
I got into the miniature painting hobby the way many people do – through a friend. We were about 13 years old and I was visiting him at home when he showed me his small collection of Blood Angels and Space Wolves. This was back in the 90s when most models were still made of metal! I fell in love with the design of these tiny science fiction soldiers and was instantly hooked. We went together to a Games Workshop store and I bought myself the famous RTB01 boxed set of plastic space marines, some paints, brushes, and a copy of White Dwarf. It still gives me a warm, nostalgic feeling thinking back to these first experiences in the hobby that would become so important to me.
Going straight for the big box of marines was probably biting off more than I could chew. As an impatient 13 year old I had no concept of the time and effort it takes to build and paint a large number of models – especially to a standard I’d be happy with! As a result, while I still loved everything to do with the 40k Universe and kept up with White Dwarf, I didn’t add to my collection of models for a long time and eventually drifted away from the hobby in my later teens.
Fast forward a few years and I was, unfortunately, involved in an accident that left me with loss of feeling and movement in my left (dominant) hand. It took a year of intensive physiotherapy to even be able to move my thumb! In the later stages of my recovery, I had the idea to return to painting miniatures as a form of rehabilitation. I picked up some metal scout snipers and a Dreadnought and – armed with my new sense of patience and purpose – set about painting them up as Blood Angels. I made a better job of it this time, focussing on a small number of models and gradually honing my skills.
Painting Blood Angels
I eventually ended up with a large collection of Blood Angels and set up themightybrush.com as a way to record my progress and share my work. I was asked quite often for tips, recipes and advice on painting this or that colour or aspect of a model, so I decided to produce some tutorials for the website.
Painting Space Marine Raptors
When the 8th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was released I fell in love all over again with the new Primaris Space Marine models and decided it was time for a new challenge. I began a new army and chose the Raptors Chapter because I felt the green would make a nice change from red, and the more realistic military scheme seemed to fit well with the new models. My Raptors proved even more popular than my Blood Angels – even earning me a feature on the Warhammer Community website! I received more requests for how I painted the models and so I wrote another tutorial and posted it on The Mighty Brush.
Painting First Founding Space Marine Chapters
It was at this point I got the idea to paint one model from each of the First Founding Space Marine Chapters and make a step by step tutorial for each scheme. I knew this was going to be a big task and I wanted to do it justice, so I put a lot of time and effort into making sure the guides were produced to the highest possible standard. Well designed and laid out with lots of detail and great quality high res pictures. Each guide teaches how to lay down the base colour of the space marine armour with an airbrush, including the smooth, graduated shadows and highlights you see on the models at The Mighty Brush. All the detailing, edge highlights, weathering, etc with a traditional brush is also covered for a complete start to finish guide on each colour scheme. All paints and materials used are listed in the guide for ease of reference.
So The Mighty Brush became an online store where fellow hobbyists could buy and download the painting guides in PDF format to read at their leisure and learn how each model was painted. I’m happy to say the guides have been very popular! While they take a long time to produce and I have still not completed the full list of First Founding Chapters, I hope to release many more in the future, including guides on vehicles and non-Space Marine models.
The current range of PDF painting guides and waterslide transfers can be viewed at themightybrush.com !
Miniature figure painting is an art
Thank you for reading! If you feel inspired to go and paint a miniature, great. Or, if you feel that model painting could also benefit someone else’s well-being, then also share this post with friends and loved ones to get them into painting miniatures.
Luther’s skill, art, and craft, or whatever your stance is, is a thing to be marveled at. And I am proud to share his work with the tabletop gaming community.
By visiting The Mighty Brush website you will gain greater insight as to ‘how to paint like the Mighty Brush‘ and create some pretty eye-catching Space Marines to dominate the battlefield.
You can view a listing here on getting your hands on the GW starter painting kit.
Other Posts Based Around Miniature art
External Websites
p.s you could argue that miniature painting is just a craft … but I would like to stick with an art form. If it isn’t in galleries yet – it should be! – miniature figure painting is an art and I will bellow it forth from my dragon perch
The ‘Spaces Marine’ design and the concept is the intellectual property of Games Workshop.