Long-term hobbyist Callum, aka Aegis_Miniatures on Instagram, painted this Warhammer 40k Space Marine using an inverted color-palette. Applying a color-inversion filter on an image-editing app transforms the yellow and teal Space Marine into a blue and bronze member of the Ultramarines chapter.
Callum got into the hobby painting Dungeons and Dragons miniatures, but “got back into Warhammer 40k during the first covid lockdown”. He came up with the concept for the inverted color Marine on a whim, while wondering “how to paint GW’s mini of the month while my wife painted hers”. He says “I never paint standard army schemes and always come up with my own” treatment for each Warhammer 40k faction.
To determine which paints for miniatures to use, he “first inverted the Warhammer picture of the Infernus Marine and used it as a reference”. When picking paints, he says he “put a bit onto my pallet, took a picture of it and inverted it”. He has more photographs of paints than he does of the model itself – you can find more of his work on his Instagram.
Callum says the most difficult part of the process “was figuring out how to paint a metallic chrome effect. I just had a green to begin with but it turned out too red so I had to tone it back down with some deep blue”.
Callum enjoyed the challenge, and says “I reckon I might paint up a Kill Team squad but each model is from a different loyalist chapter. It was a fun attempt but I’d love to improve it in the future.”
Space Marines are a relatively simple miniature to paint because of their large flat surfaces – that’s why Games Workshop puts them in every Warhammer 40k starter set. The community often uses that as a jumping off point for experiments in painting miniatures, whether that’s Marines themed around Formula One cars, or Marines inspired by LGBTQ Pride Flags.