For as long as I could remember I have always loved the idea of a blood angel army, however if there is a difficult colour to master when painting I would say it would be red. What colour does it highlight to, what colour does it shade to, how to get a really even, smooth finish but keep that deep red look.
It wasn't until I started using an airbrush that I even contemplated starting a blood angel army for this very reason. Even then my first attempts were far away from what i wanted. Anyway I thought I would have another go after reading the new space marine codex. The rules really pulled me in after completing my Space Wolf army so I had another go at getting "the perfect red".
I tried a lot of test models to get a really good recipe. I also wanted it to work with the current GW paint line as I only had the older colours and didn't want to start a colour scheme that I couldn't expand. This took a while and lots of paints bought that I didn't end up using, however I think I did learn a lot from the attempts.
The final recipe is below. I also got some good tips from the kind people at platoonbritanica on how to get the glowing eyes looking good. A good tutorial for this effect can be found here so another big thanks to Cyril for this tutorial.
I still haven't decided how to base these guys but rest assured it is on the to do list. Its not so much not having time but not deciding what would look best, I have tried plenty of effects so far.
Anyway here are the pics including a line up of my test models. If you would like to see more you can check out the thread I started for this project on here.
Thanks for reading and hope you like these guys. Hopefully a future post will have them on bases and finished :)
Late find for me... have been stalking various blood angels schemes for a few months now; this is pretty much spot on and can't wait to try it out with one of my 3 'victim' cheapie marines (they have each had several blood angels schemes tried on them). The challenge has been finding something dark and brooding that doesn't look like it belongs to the blood god or blood ravens... The Mighty brush has an excellent version using a thinned purple over zenithal yellow (very rich red effect) - but found it next to impossible to match a line highlight with reds afterwards. This looks much more flexible as you've carried scarlet from the airbrush to the highlights.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... if you're still active on the thread - had 2 questions:
1. In amongst the various brands/versions of red I've accumulated over time - Vallejo make a VMA scarlet red (which looks almost like GW wild rider), a VGC scarlett red (which looks a lot like GW Khorne red) and a VGA scarlet red (not far off VGC scarlett). I *think* you are using the VMA scarlet (which would be the lightest of the 3), but assume that it gets knocked back a lot when you put crimson wash over the top? The end result looks a lot like VGC scarlett - but probably partly from the wash.
2. The easier one... can you comment on what point you add decals/markings? I'd assume after the gloss but before oil washes so the weathering is on top - but then you'd need an extra layer of gloss to seal as well?
Ok - end very lengthy post... will see if I can get something close to this to work :-)
Thanks for the reply Ekfud. Im still active online and have some models that I need to update the blog with, just that ever precious time I need to find.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of question one, I thik the question is, does the red get toned down a lot after the wash?. Yes, definitely! In terms of when to add the decals, I will add them after the airbrush with gloss.
Hope that helps.
thanks
Will.
Awesome - cheers Will... I'll test out the VMA scarlet and see how much the orange gets knocked back with the wash. Always a funny stage to be at - it's fun to be testing out schemes before painting at scale, but frustrating when you can't find that exact mix/style that works. I used to think shading white (Biel Tan eldar) was a tough recipe - but finding that red (other than a flat mephiston scheme) has a whole extra set of layering challenges :-)
ReplyDeleteHey man,
ReplyDeleteJust wondered if you could give me the super secret recipe to your red in this blog post?
It's awesome and i've just started painting Blood Angels but haven't been able to find a scheme for red I like yet. I also recently invested in an airbrush to try and get a smoother finish when I do find a recipe I like. This one seems perfect!
Cheers!
Jack
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/281269-irwits-blood-angels-army/
DeleteHi jack, glad you like the work :)
ReplyDeleteI posted a tutorial for the Red. I think it's on a bolterandchainsword thread somehwere. Let me take a look and try to find it.
Awesome, thanks so much mate!
DeleteIf I can get my Primaris Marines looking half as good as your Tactical Marines i'll be happy!
Glad to help, I'd love to see how you get on. I've actually done some.new blood angels on the new primaris models but I used a different method. It's more towards a John blanche style paint scheme. I'll try to post up some pics soon :) quite different to the above.
DeleteOh awesome, just a quick question if you don't mind.
DeleteWhats the purpose of the gloss varnish before the black wash? And you mention oil wash, I assume Nuln Oil would be ok?
Oil washes are washes with oil paints. It's quite different to use a gw, acrylic based, wash. Imo it's also far superior. You get better result with less time which is always a winner. For space marines it's pretty amazing how great a looking miniature you can get with just an airbrush and an oil wash. Here's a quick link to explain more but I would say, do some googling as you'll probably find better examples, particularly in the military modellers painting tanks. It's where the technique originated I think. Feel free to drop me an email as it's probably easier for a convo than these messages. Blue moon will at g mail dot com.
Deletehttps://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/miniarmyhugetimesink.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/oil-washes-trials-tribulations/amp/
Delete