Welcome to this tutorial. Here, I will teach you how to draw a Chaos Space Marine from the fictional universe of Warhammer 40k. This easy to follow, step by step tutorial will guide you through the whole process of creating an impressive and believable rendition of the ferocious and vicious character in the Warhammer 40k. We will start by drawing a dummy, that will serve as a base over which we will draw our final sketch.
So, How to draw a Chaos Space Marine from Warhammer 40k?
If you want to draw a Chaos Space Marine, you should follow these simple 7 steps:
• Step 1: Drawing the torso and the hips
• Step 2: Drawing the legs
• Step 3: Drawing the arms
• Step 4: Drawing the head
• Step 5: Drawing the power pack
• Step 6: Drawing the final line art
• Step 7: Final shading and details
Step 1: Drawing The Torso
We will begin our drawing of a Chaos Space Marine by sketching the torso and hips of our character. To start, we will first draw a simple circle slightly flattened on the bottom. The flat line on the bottom is where the hips will be joined to the torso. As depicted in the illustration above, we will then draw a small arc on the bottom of the torso. This arc will divide the torso into two parts horizontally, the upper area which represents the rib cage and the lower area which separates the hips from the torso to form the abdominal muscles.
Next, we will draw an ellipse on the torso to show where the arm and the head will be connected to the body. One ellipse will be drawn on the extreme left of the viewer’s perspective while the other will be in the middle of the torso.
Then to complete the sketch of the torso we will draw a small vertical line from the middle of the torso to the arc on the bottom. This line defines the right and left side of the drawing. When our torso is complete, we will then draw the hips. For the hips, I like to draw the crotch area to look like the character is wearing a male underwear. Once the midsection has been drawn, we can then proceed to other parts.
Step 2: Drawing the Legs
Our character will be drawn in a pose that looks like the Chaos Space Marine is about to charge into a fight. The left leg is extended forward and slightly bent at the knee while the right leg remains behind with a more obvious knee bend. While we will draw a fully frontal left leg, only the sideways view of the right leg will be drawn.
• The Thighs
The thighs will be drawn as massive tubes which thin down as they get closer to the knee. The tubes are not totally connected to the hips so we will leave a little space where the parts are supposed to meet.
• The calves and shins
The calves and shins of the Chaos Space Marine are enclosed in a box-like structure so both calves and shins will be drawn as straight lines from the knees to the end of the feet.
• The Knees
The kneecaps will be drawn as irregular polygons. Our Chaos Space Marine is in full armour so they knees are covered behind the pads.
• The Feet
The feet will be drawn using geometric shapes. Due to the pose of the character, the left foot will be drawn fully frontal while only a 3/4 angle view of the right will be drawn.
Step 3: Drawing the Arms and the Weapons
Next, we will draw the arms of our Chaos Space Marine. Remember our character is posed as if it is about to charge into a fight so the arms are not in what can be called a relaxed position. The left arm is completely pulled back leaving the forearm barely visible. The right arm is held out but it is bent at the elbow such that we see just very little of the forearm. Both hands are fully clasped around the weapons which are held on each hand. The fingers although half hidden are still in the viewer’s perspective.
• The left arm
The left shoulder is barely visible due to the pose so we will just join some curve lines to the left side of the torso to represent the shoulder pads. The left forearm will be represented by a rectangular shape. The hand is clasped around the weapon so it is half hidden behind it. However the fingers which are in view will be drawn as small rectangles.
• The right arm
The right arm will be drawn fully frontal. The biceps and triceps are hidden behind huge shoulder pads with just a small tube sticking out from beneath it. The forearms will be drawn as two rectangular shapes placed side by side. At the end of the forearm is the right hand which like the left hand is clasped around a weapon. From the viewer’s perspective, some part of the palms and fingers are slightly visible and will be drawn as squares and rectangles respectively.
• The weapons
Once we have drawn the arms, the next element we are going to draw will be the Chaos Space Marine weapons – a power sword and a bolter. The power sword is a power weapon shaped into a sword. The weapon has a control on the hilt which activates the power when it is pushed. The bolter which is sometimes called the bolt gun is a forceful hand-held ballistic weapon used in the military force of the Warhammer 40K universe.
The bolt gun goes on the right hand while the power sword will be drawn on the left. Regarding the drawing of the objects, we will just sketch the weapons paying attention to the hands clasped around the hilt of the sword and the grip of the bolt gun. The power sword will be drawn at a slant angle while the bolt gun will be drawn sideways.
Step 4: Drawing the Head
Remember the ellipse we drew on top of the torso? That is where the head of our character will be fitted on. The head will be drawn as a simple oval shape with two small sized horns, one protruding from each side of the shape. It will be drawn at a 3/4 angle to make it look like our character is looking to the right.
Step 5: Drawing the Power Pack
The Chaos Space Marine wears a backpack which comes with a large power pack. Regarding the drawing of the power pack, we will just draw an outline of the pack behind the head of our character using simple geometric shapes like circles, rectangles, and cylinders.
If you have issues understanding how to draw a human being inside an
Step 6: Drawing the Final Line art
Drawing the final line art is where our dummy comes to life. We are going to dress our character like the ruthless and ferocious Chaos Space Marine.
• Shoulders and arms
Here, we will start by defining the shoulder pads and arms of our character. We will add a spike on the shoulder pads using curve lines. The biceps and triceps are hidden beneath the huge shoulder guards which serve as protective
• The torso
The Chaos Space Marine has a big chest with large pectoral muscles. The torso will be covered up with a plastron, a protective plate for the chest. We will also draw the outline of a skull in the middle of the chest plate. Extending from the abdominal area are several long tentacles which completely cover the crotch. A bell and skull-shaped items will also be drawn hanging down from the waist of the character.
• The legs
Here, we will start with our character’s power leg piece. On the lower part of the leg are greaves, a type of protective
• Head features
To draw the face of our character, we will first put into consideration at least four unique facial features that make stand out a Nurgle Chaos Space Marine in the Warhammer 40k universe. The features we will be considering include;
I. The Chaos Space Marine is fully bald, so it has no hair on the head and his facial features look terribly deformed.
II. Our character has two large horns protruding from each side of the head.
III. Chaos Space Marines have an aggressive and mean looking appearance, a straight giveaway of the ruthlessness.
IV. Our character has two tentacle-like tongs growing out or the face, right where the mouth is supposed to be.
Step 7: Final shading and Details
Shading and detailing will be the last step in our drawing of a Chaos Space Marine. Here, I will be adding details to some parts like the face, torso, arms, and legs. One of my favorite tools for detailing is shading. With shading, you can create the illusion of depth and volume to bring a sense of three-dimensionality to the drawing. There are many shading techniques you could use, I particularly like shading using the hatching and cross-hatching techniques.
Hatching is quite simple, all you have to do is draw a series of parallels lines along the area you need to introduce depth too. I used the hatching style to shade the thighs, the lower legs and the tentacles hanging out of the abdomen.
I use the cross matching style if I want to darken an already shaded area. This technique is quite similar to the hatching style only that in this case, when I’m done with the hatching lines, I go over them with a similar set of parallel lines in a different direction. The cross-hatching style is what I used on the armor, the weapon and the chest plate.
Conclusion
We have now come to the end of our lesson on how to draw a Chaos Space Marine. You can try to draw the character on your own, draw as many times as you like, trying out new poses and attitudes with every drawing. Follow these 7 steps closely if you want to get results as good as my drawing.
If you need references for your character’s outfits and poses you can look it up online. I hope you find this tutorial very useful in your drawing. If you have any questions, please drop them in the comment section, this will encourage me to keep working on new tutorials and articles.
Finally feel free to check our other tutorials on how to draw Warhammer 40K characters like “How to draw a Space Marine” or “How to draw a Warhammer 40k Ork”
Writer: Eseandre
Drawings: Toni Justamante Jacobs. Toni is the creator and owner of Improve Your drawings. You can check the “About this Blog “section to learn more about him and his work.
