The mark VII (“or “Aquila”) space marine power armour helmet is one of my favorites, and really one of the most distinct designs in the Warhammer 40k universe. Obviously heavily inspired by the aesthetics of Darth Vaders helmet, it is still one of those instantly recognizable visages of the adeptus astartes. The snarling mouth grill sends a message, and that message is very much in alignment with the talking points of the Imperium of man. This short tutorial is intended to help you get started drawing your own space marines.
Tools
I used a 0.2 ink fineliner from UniPin for the main part of this tutorial. In the last step I used a 0.05 fineliner for the finishing steps. Don’t get too focused on a specific brand of fineliners, in my experience all the big names (Staedtler, Copic, Pigma Micron etc.) are pretty much equal.
Although left out of the tutorial, it’s a very good idea to first draw the outlines with pencil, and then trace them with ink fineliners. When the ink has dried, carefully erase any visual pencil traces.
I’ve drawn all steps on 5*5 millimeter dot grid paper, and intentionally left the dots in the images of the tutorial. This is for them to help you get the proportions right.
With that said, let’s go! I’ll keep it short and crispy from now on.
Step 1
Just draw an M. Super easy.
Step 2
Draw eye lenses. The rim of the helm will help you get them suitably angry.
Step 3
Draw an offended looking vox grill. Make him look properly outraged.
Step 4
Add pipes that connects to both sides of the vox grill. Also add an extra line below the chin.
Step 5
Draw the dome of the helmet. This is the hardest step to get right (at least in my opinion). You might need a couple of tries before you get the shape right.
Step 6
Super easy. Add a ridge to the top of the helmet.
Step 7
Add a couple of basic shapes to the side of the helmet to create the … space marine ear muffs, I guess?
Step 8
Almost done. Draw vertical lines inside the vox grill (start with the one in the middle) and draw a simple skull on the forehead (if you want, it’s completely optional).
Step 9
Time for the 0.05 fineliner. Add some shading/structure to the helmet by drawing thin lines. Some might find this step to be hard as it requires some pen control, but it’s really just about practicing it. Do it over and over again and you will improve quickly.
A great way to train shading is to scan the drawing in the previous step and print a bunch of copies to practice on.
And that’s it! You’ve drawn a mark VII Aquila pattern power armour helmet. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Remember to play around with the design and add different decorations to it. Perhaps even add some gruesome chaos features if you’re more into the space marines’ creepy uncles from beyond the Eye of Terror.
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More tutorials?
I’ve published quite a lot of free tutorials, so if you’re in a mood to draw more feel free to check out my tutorials page.