Sorry folks, really stupid question coming up. What exactly is a good way to paint Space Marine Armor. The ones in the codex: armageddon (salamanders) simply look like snot green over a black undercoat with a stripe of scorpion green highlighting the edges of the armor (at least as far as my inexperienced eye can tell). With all the talk of blending and NMM (didn\'t even know what NMM was until a week ago) and stuff on this site theres either a better way then I described or the ones in the codex are painted using a technique thats a tad more complex. Sorry about the pretty moronic tone of the question but I\'m a poor college kid and I really don\'t have the money for extensive \"trial and error\" sessions. Any help is appreciated. Thanks alot!
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Space Marines
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The Megadoomer 3000
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I have found that a relatively easiy way to paint space marine armor is to black line it with whatever color youre going to use and then paint lines of a similar colored paint on all of the raised points in the armor. It\'s a crappy description of line highlighting I know but if you where using Snot green as an example, first I would prime the mini black. You may use white for a lighter color but I have found that black works best for me. I would blacklne the snot green on the entire marine and then take a color like scorpion greenand go over the outsides of the pads on his legs, wherever you feel there should be highlights. *Important note* Make sure the lines are as even as possibly all over the model! I can\'t stress this enough as I have a few less than good models because of uneven line highlighting. Then I would use a lighter color like bilious green on top of the most raised areas of the mini. I hope I helped and I will try to get pics taken(I have no camera) to illustrate what I mean.
Mmm, Ok...
So, I\'d recommend you to start either with white or grey primer, unless you are going for strictly rank and file minis. There are a lot of excellent painters out there that swear by black primer, but if you are planning on doing salamanders, grey should be the most useful shade.
Basecoat the model with Dark Angels green, then mix about 50/50 of DA green and Striking scorpion green for the medium shade, and apply it to the whole armor, leaving only the recesed lines and panels of the armor the original shade of DA green. At all times, the paint must be watered to the consistency of milk, or you\'ll get a rough working surface, and it\'ll show later on when you proceed to layering.
Then apply highlights of roughly 33/66 DA green and SS green to the parts of the armor that would receive the most light (this will add depht to the armor). You can keep working your way up to pure SS green for the highlights, using as many layers as you want.
Now, the really tricky part: Line highlighting. What you want on SM armor are thin, sharp highlights, usually a mix of your brightest shade on the armor, and white.
You don\'t actually need to draw the highlights with a very thin brush, you can use a medium brush for the job.
What you do is load some paint on your brush, and then touch very gently the edge of the armor with the side of the brush, following the contour. You need to use a small amount of paint, and it must be a little thicker than the consistency you used for the layering, but still watery enough to flow. This might require some practice but it gives great results.
One common error when line highlighting is to apply lines all around an armor piece. This is wrong, and ends up looking as those guys in that TRON flick. DEpending on your model, you\'ll only need to highlight, again, only those parts where light will hit directly, as the upper edge of a marine kneepad.
These are some painted examples:
Space Marine Veteran
And
Marneus Calgar
So, I\'d recommend you to start either with white or grey primer, unless you are going for strictly rank and file minis. There are a lot of excellent painters out there that swear by black primer, but if you are planning on doing salamanders, grey should be the most useful shade.
Basecoat the model with Dark Angels green, then mix about 50/50 of DA green and Striking scorpion green for the medium shade, and apply it to the whole armor, leaving only the recesed lines and panels of the armor the original shade of DA green. At all times, the paint must be watered to the consistency of milk, or you\'ll get a rough working surface, and it\'ll show later on when you proceed to layering.
Then apply highlights of roughly 33/66 DA green and SS green to the parts of the armor that would receive the most light (this will add depht to the armor). You can keep working your way up to pure SS green for the highlights, using as many layers as you want.
Now, the really tricky part: Line highlighting. What you want on SM armor are thin, sharp highlights, usually a mix of your brightest shade on the armor, and white.
You don\'t actually need to draw the highlights with a very thin brush, you can use a medium brush for the job.
What you do is load some paint on your brush, and then touch very gently the edge of the armor with the side of the brush, following the contour. You need to use a small amount of paint, and it must be a little thicker than the consistency you used for the layering, but still watery enough to flow. This might require some practice but it gives great results.
One common error when line highlighting is to apply lines all around an armor piece. This is wrong, and ends up looking as those guys in that TRON flick. DEpending on your model, you\'ll only need to highlight, again, only those parts where light will hit directly, as the upper edge of a marine kneepad.
These are some painted examples:
Space Marine Veteran
And
Marneus Calgar
to clarify on line highlighting:
It is very important to properly unload your brushes before applying the paint.
Here is the process:
Make your colour mix and thin it to the correct consistency.
If you used your brush to mix (shame on you) wash it and then load it by dipping the tip in and letting the paint flow up the bristles.
Then touch the side of the brush gently to a paper towel or rag, repeat until you only see paint where the brush touched the towel, not outside where the towel sucked out the excess paint.
Now, when you use the side of the brush it won\'t flood the area with colour but apply a thin line of colour.
It is very important to properly unload your brushes before applying the paint.
Here is the process:
Make your colour mix and thin it to the correct consistency.
If you used your brush to mix (shame on you) wash it and then load it by dipping the tip in and letting the paint flow up the bristles.
Then touch the side of the brush gently to a paper towel or rag, repeat until you only see paint where the brush touched the towel, not outside where the towel sucked out the excess paint.
Now, when you use the side of the brush it won\'t flood the area with colour but apply a thin line of colour.
The Megadoomer 3000
New member
I would go with Coyote and Errex on thier descriptions of line highlighting, which are much better than mine.
