Brother Silas - Heavenblade Standard Bearer

Brother Silas is the standard bearer of the First Sword of the Blade Saints Chapter: the Heavenblade. The men of this Sword (as companies are known in the Chapter) are grouped into 5 man teams called “Scythes”, and each one strides onto the battlefield clad in revered suits of Terminator Armor. The brothers of the Heavenblade represent the veterans, the heroes, and the legend of the Company. But of these heroes, Silas and his fellow Brothers of the Heavenblade Command Scythe represent their highest aspirations; beside their Lord Malthius they are Sovereigns of Combat, the Archons of Battle.



The Heavenblade banner depicts an unnamed Angel in a moment of exhaustion from the eternal battle for humanity’s salvation. The sword presented by the Angel is said to be the spiritual weapon taken up by the brothers of the Heavenblade as they fight when all others would rest. The words “Acies Caelum” comes from the Old Earth Latin; Caelum to mean ‘sky’ or ‘heaven’ and Acies holding many meanings such as ‘keenness’, ‘edge’, ‘sharpness’, ‘battle-line’ or ‘battlefield’. Every word appropriate to the intent.

Hope that bit of fluff was not too over-the-top.. but now I just want to ensure that proper.. well, props... I guess, is given to the source of the inspiration for the Banner. The general aesthetic I took from Ron's Banner Tutorial over at From the Warp. A great resource, make sure you check it out. I really liked that Ron's Banners were stylized and graphically strong designs rather than attempts to do real life portraits. You'll see his Helbrecht banner influencing the overall feel of my own. For the Angel, I took my starting point from an awesome collection at this site http://art.thehomeofjon.net/ specifically this one from his collection of Battle Angel pieces. Fantastic work, really! Make sure to check it out.

Anyways, this wasn't the how-to-do banners post. Not sure if there's any merit on going deep into it; I took the templates from Ron's Tutorial, freehanded the initial design and then scanned it, colored, cleaned it on Paint. and printed onto DIY Decal paper as per BOLS' Custom Decal Tutorial. As you can see I am a master at taking other's hard work and making it pay off for me :) but at least I try to give credit where it's due. :D

As always, thanks for stopping by, and hope you enjoyed the visit.