Librarium Online Forums banner

Painting/Coloring advice

988 views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  slorak 
#1 ·
Hello all. Bit of a 2-sided question here.

I’ve been collecting and painting space marines for several months now, and only in the last few weeks have I been bothered to convert any of them. The whole chapter is DIY, and so has a bit of a night fight/assault/infiltrate theme going on, with all models based on snow, each in codex grey armor with lich purple and hawk turquoise markings/etc. Now I have a custom commander unit with a custom power weapon – a scythe.
Naturally there is a lot of fluff behind my chapter and my new unit and this is what's causing my problem. I have been racking my brains and throwing paint everywhere trying to work out the best coloring to use on the blade of the scythe but to no avail. I want the blade to be dark, yet (as my fluff describes it) “awash with arcane energies” and I’m having a little trouble getting a dark blade with a darkish ‘energy’ to look right (I don’t really want a bright energy field over the blade, as i feel it would be a bullet-magnet in night fighting). Any ideas on the coloring or advice would be highly appreciated here!

On the other side of this problem, is how to paint it. Until recently I have only ever painted ‘nids, and their lack of any ‘energy’ fields and such never left me needing to paint ‘energy’. A blend is relatively straight forward, as is layering different shades, etc, however my attempts on other marine's power weapons never seems to give a true feel of raw energy. Instead it comes off as a bit of a glow. If you have any tricks you would like to share here, that would really help.


Of course I will be posting images once the model is painted up!

Thanks in advance!

CR
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Get some colour shifting paint.

- It's a clear coat paint with little tiny prism shaped crystals in it. If you paint it over black it bends the light and the "Black" then becomes a different colour depending on the angle you view it. You can buy it at most stores that sell car paint.

- The stuff tends to come in spray cans so you simply spray it on some cardboard until you have a small puddle of it an then apply it to the weapon with a brush.

- You can get it in different colours as well. The best I can think of is a bottle I have shifts from a dark purple through to a dark blue depending on the angle your viewing it at. It really gives a nice look to the weapons and not many people seem to do it.
 
#4 ·
Why not paint the blade as normal (Boltgun Metal) and then use all the inks you have said and the new washes? Blue Ink, Black Ink, Red Ink, Red Wash, Blue Wash, Purple Wash and Ink...

In the end you will have a very nice result...
 
#6 ·
Shadowmant, that sounds great. I didn’t realize you could get that type of paint in an aerosol, I thought it was only available as professional lacquers/paints that vehicle sprayer's use in large quantities. I'll definitely keep an eye out for that over the weekend! :act-up:

Tsele, I'll have to sort out a couple of inks for that (I only have black and brown, seems to be all I ever use!). Your idea sounds a little time-consuming, but it would give a unique look to each model, so I'll give your idea a try later this weekend on a test model. If it comes out OK, then I’ll use it to re-do the models I’ve got made up with power weapons already, saving the color-shift paint for the HQ.

Thanks for the advice all. Much appreciated! Now i just need payday-friday to come all that much faster... hehe

CR
 
#10 ·
I think I accomplished something similar to what you are looking to do on my Chaos Terminator Lord...

Here is a link with some pictures of the steps...

http://www.librarium-online.com/for...-chaos-project-tale-painters.html#post1030328

Basically I started with the weapon blade a medium grey color, then I brushed on some fine lines in an "electrical" pattern with white. Using a purple ink glaze I glazed the surface. It took a few coats of glaze to get the look I wanted. I then went back over the blade with more "white electrical" lines and glazed them red. Once dullcoated the shine was removed and you are left with a dark blade with "electrical" energy coursing through it. Looks pretty cool.

I used a very similar technique on this Grey Knight figure...



Cheers,

-Mike
 
#11 · (Edited)
Mike, just WOW! That’s exactly the type of look I was thinking of. Not too bright, detailed and effective. You've completely turned my decision from colour shifting paint, and probably saved me a small fortune and a week of searching for it too!

The problem I found with my electrical lines was they seemed too bright and sharp for the arcane-like power I wanted the blade to have, but your layering and glazing seems to strip the sharpness from them while making it look very dynamic.

Thank you very much for sharing! I finished priming the blade last night, and will get on with basing and painting the electrical lines tonight, ready for the glazing tomorrow.

Thanks again!

CR
 
#12 ·
Just remember if you start by painting the blade in grey scale first - the white electrical lines won't be quite so pronounced.

Basically start the blade a darkish/medium grey and lighten it where it needs to be brighter...

When making the lines I will water down white paint and wick off most of the paint. Make sure your brush has a very sharp point and gently trace your lines. I usually start on one edge and just randomly cover the blade. I usually blend this into the edge of the blade to show a focus on the edge for the energy.

If after you glaze it - the lines cover up too much you can always go back and repeat...

Please note that the grey knight figure - I didn't really glaze it but rather started with a hawk turquoise base and lightened it with white mixed in. The lines were carefully painted on afterwards. The effect is very similar in appearance to the chaose axe but the method of achieving it is different.

Good luck and please post pictures.

Cheers,

-Mike
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top