FAQ: Painting Red

[ARM0R3D ASSASSIN]

is there some sort of trick to it?

I get it done, but fewer that three coats would b nice. when i paint i stoke pretty fast, and i use he reaper paints, but it always takes a few coats to make my red a consistant red. if theres a layer-saving method, i'd like to hear it.

 

(and i play blood angels so its all red all the time ;) )

[OwenCrute]

Mechrite red, the GW Foundation Paint, has obscenely good coverage. 1 coat is all you need for your base. The actaul shade of red it is is kinda dusty, though, so you may want to put a more conventional red paint over the top, in which case it'll make an easy hop from red to red, rather than primer to red.

[odinswolf]

any bright colour (red,yellow etc) will be a LOT easier to paint if you invest in an airbrush or the gw spray gun.

I used an airbrush for my sisters of battle (red) and my imperial fists (yellow) both gave supberb results over a white under coat with 1 coat of colour!!

[olii]

3-layer method:

1: spray red (can or airbrush)

2: wash 50:50 red:brown

3: highlight

 

/olii

[Drathmere]

black undercoat

foundation red

blood red drybrush

very dry blazing orange drybrush.

--done...your khorne\n\n\n blood angles are painted

[ARM0R3D ASSASSIN]

u guys over-estimate both my budget, and my paint collection

 

the only red i got is blood red, no washes, inks ect, and i dont have the budget for a spray gun

[GumbaFish]

I paint over a light grey undercoat as opposed to white or black so your mileage may vary but I have found that snakebite leather coats beautifully over the grey. Then you can do a wetbrush or overbrush of red over it to get fast coverage and a thin layer of red painted regularly after that to solidify things up a bit. If you dont have snakebite look it up and just see if you have any browns that seem to match it closely. Or even look and see if you can get some fine auto primer that is a light brown shade, then you could go straight to the red and it would only set you back 4 or 5 bucks.

[Asterixlee]

u guys over-estimate both my budget, and my paint collection

 

the only red i got is blood red, no washes, inks ect, and i dont have the budget for a spray gun

 

Even if your not too worried about making Demon-calibur models, you should invest in a couple different shades of your troop's main color.

At the very least, buy the foundation (mechrite red in the citadel variety) and a bright yellow that you can use to cut your blood red with, making different shades for highlight.

8 bucks and a bit more time will make a huge difference in the overall appearance of your squad.

 

And if you really, really are on a budget, Stick to just the foundation paints (citadel ones have the white caps) as these require just one good coat to look halfway decent.

 

 

You don't need a "spray gun" to make wonderful looking troops. The largest factor by far is how much time you put into painting, though a larger selection of colors helps.

[ARM0R3D ASSASSIN]

now a bright yellow i have, how would i go about making this work with the red?

[Asterixlee]

Read the link I posted for a detailed tutorial, but basically, you're going to mix just a bit of the yellow with just a bit more of the red to create an orange that you're happy with. The way highlighting works is pretty cool, just a tiny stripe of a brighter color lightens the whole piece.

This orange is going to be your highlight color, paint a very thin line of it along the emphasized portions of your marine. look for the right angles on his shoulders and helmet, his legs and feet. It may take some practice to get the line thin enough, but with time it will make the whole model look better.

 

For best results, start with mixing a very dark orange (say 3 parts red, 1 part yellow), paint a stripe along the areas you wish to highlight. Then make another batch of orange, this one 50:50, paint a THINNER stripe on the edge of highlighted areas. This creates a step-ladder of the eye. At a quick glance, it will simply look like its blended.

If you want to make it look more naturally blended, then water a bit of your blood red waaaay down and paint it over the highlighted areas, this will tie the whole process together.

 

EDIT: And seriously, you'll save yourself tons of time if you invest in a pot of foundation, and your models will look less blotchy.

 

Here's the link of the tutorial on the technique: http://www.ppemporium.com/painting-a-miniature-guide.php

[ARM0R3D ASSASSIN]

thanks, that would take some of the heat off any un-even spots in the red

[tedwin183]

I play Red Templars and I get my red done quickly as such:

 

Prime black.

 

Basecoat Mechrite red.

 

Wash with Baal red wash.

 

Highlight with Blood red.

 

Detail colors.

 

Done.

 

 

It's really the best/fastest way to go if you're doing mass red.

[Asterixlee]

That will work great as well

[Onisuzume]

How come that no-one has suggested this:

 

Base:

White Undercoat

Blood Red

 

Additions:

Red ink wash (or a new GW reddish wash)

Highlight blood red

 

 

Painting red directly over black is rubbish.

I usualy paint a layer of skull white over the black before doing any reds or yellows (almost never do yellows though).

I then do a wash of red ink to darken the red.

[tedwin183]

If you use the foundations red over black, it covers just as well as if it were on white and it gives the model a darker hue. Really nice for those of us who desire a red that doesn't look like khorne/blood angels.

[Remiel]

But now how would you go about painting red cloth. I have this problem with my sisters. The red is always too bright and i don't know how to get that medium-dark red that looks properly layered and shaded.

[tedwin183]

Paint the cloth the color red you want and then wash it over with badab black. It'll make the red look like a nice, deep, dark, rich red. That's typically what i do when i need to make red look dark like that.

[Remiel]

Ok thanks

[Onisuzume]

Or something I've read today in an old white dwarf:

Base the cloth red gore and then highlight with blood red.

[Serraphim]

For a crimson, I would say base it in scorched brown then work your way up to a 50/50 blood red/red gore.

[Serif]

another way to get a rich vibrant red is to base white, mix red with white 2rd/1wht so it's a nice pink colour, then paint solid red.

 

Adding white to a colour really helps coverage and consistancy

[Dusktiger]

this is what i did for my bottle of red fabric:

• bottle of blood red
  
• bottle of chaos black
  
• paint eye dropper
  

 

i took one bottle of blood red, and i added 3-4 full squeezes of chaos black to the blood red bottle, and mixed it by first stiring it really well, and then shaking it for a few minutes while watching one of my shows. i got a nice deep even red that looks nice in contrast to the red gore i use for wax seals, and the blood red on armor. so if you can afford another paint bottle of blood red, thats a cheap full bottle worth of fabric red that coats nice and evenly. i'd start with just 2 squeezes of black from the eye dropper and test the results til you get the shade of darker red you want.

[The Crimson Cartel]

Just started a new BA army and here is the method i've found useful so far..

 

Armory grey primer

 

mechrite red or gore red base coat

 

bring the color up with blood red, and red ink wash on some models.

 

So far this is working pretty well. i have been tempted however to use a "blood redish" spray paint color for some of my larger models to save time though...

 

my 2

[chaoseldarbloodangels]

i play blood angels have a chapter built and is currently being painted. the first thing for easy easy paint job is

 

white prime . shake can a lot! and spray away from model until white shows up better on what your spraying

then blood red gw spray gun! i tell you its better then my airbrush less hassle and cheaper to fix clogs.

then heavy wash baal red.

 

for awesome table top quality. (this is time consuming but looks awesome. this is how mine are getting painted.)

 

white prime

spray blood red

then line in carefully red gore in armor cracks

extreme highlight blazing orange

then water down your blood red about 20-40 percent. on palette. this is critical to master as this will allow you to hover the blood red over your darker colors and as water evaperates the red rest down over red gore. you see the reason everyone hates red is that if you notice as you stroke the paint on .the red PARTS on the model showing the underneath color. i will do another tutorial myself explaining this in more detail later. also when using brush strokes zig zag the brush as you apply the paint on large armour areas. its like you just want to shift the puddle of paint around so that you have even coverage. lastly use on only fine edges very sparingly bubonic brwn

spray testers dullcoat or lusterless flat. this will help blend the paints and also darken red just a little.

 

last choice just to get them painted fast and looking nice. army painter dot com