Dark Angels Basic Painting Tutorial

[Tranc]

Greetings!

My younger brother is getting interested in 40k, and in particular Dark Angels. I'm putting together a Basic painting tutorial for him, but I normally paint Ultramarines (linky) so I'm not THAT familiar with the Unforgiven. Below is the first draft of my tutorial and I would love to get your expert opinions on it! Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how to improve it.

Much thanks!

-Tranc

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Dark Lining / Line Highlighting

I think a table-top marine can look good with careful application of just a few simple techniques. The first couple techniques I want to cover are Dark Lining and Line Highlighting. We'll start with the shoulder pad because it's relatively simple in shape and details.

1. The shoulder pads were clipped from the sprue with a little bit of the sprue left on to act as a handle. I like to paint my pastic miniatures in pieces and assemble them afterwards.

2. A white paint-on primer was brushed on and allowed to dry. Both Reaper and Vallejo sell paint-on primers, which I prefer, but you can use a GW spray-on primer as well.

3. With a large brush, the shoulder pad was given a thin coat of Dark Angels Green (thinned either with water or thinner). Note that because the coat is thin, it is perfectly reasonable for some of the white primer to show through underneath. That's ok, wait until it dries and apply a second coat (and possibly a third). Multiple thin coats, rather than one thick coat, is the key to achieving a smooth and even paint job.

4. "Dark Lining" is a technique which involves painting a dark line in the crevasses and grooves of a surface to give the impression of shadow. Using Chaos Black, paint such a dark line around the perimeter of shoulder pad inset, where it meets the rim.

5. "Line Highlighting" is a technique which involves painting a bright line along the edges of a surface to make the shape of the surface stand out. Using Snot Green, paint a thin line around both the inner and outer edges of the shoulder pad rim. Goblin Green can be used for even brighter line highlights.

6. At this point I clipped the "handle" off the shoulder pad, filled/sanded down the residual protuberance, and applied touch-up paint.

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More Dark Lining / Line Highlighting

Space Marine legs are more complicated to dark line and line highlight because of the many panels and grooves, but it's just a wider application of the same thing.

1. Start by preparing and base-coating the legs the same way as the shoulder pad.

2. Paint a thin Chaos Black line inside every indentation on the legs.

3. Paint a Snot Green or Goblin Green line along every edge, and also along the underside of every groove (below the dark line) to give the edge of the groove a 3-D affect.

The marine's left knee-pad was carefully quartered, with the 2nd and 4th quadrants painted off-white using the layering technique discussed in the next section.

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Layering

Layering is a technique which involves painting successive layers of slightly different color thinned-paint over a receding area to give the effect of a smooth color transition, i.e., a color gradient.

There are many good layering tutorials on the internet, so I'll just give some links:

http://www.jenova.dk/Blending.htm

More advanced version:

http://www.mainlymedieval.com/ozpainters/viewtopic.php?t=49

Here are a few color sequences that I like to use for my layered color gradients:

Black to Red to Orange: Black, Black + Scab Red, Scab Red, Red Gore, Red Gore + Blood Red, Blood Red, Blood Red + Blazing Orange, Blazing Orange, Fiery Orange.

NMM Gold: Scorched Brown, Snakebite Leather, 50/50 ratio Snakebite Leather & Skull White, Snakebite Leather + More White, Snakebite Leather + Even More White, ..., White with a hint of Snakebite Leather, Pure White.

Brown to Bone to White: Scorched Brown, Bleached Bone + a little Scorched Brown, same as previous layer but with more Bleached Bone, Pure Bleached Bone, Bleached Bone + a little Skull White, Bleached Bone + more Skull White, ..., Pure Skull White.

To illustrate layering along 1-dimension, I'll next tackle the Imperialis wings on the space marine's chest:

1. The chest imperialis is first undercoated using Scorched Brown paint.

2. Next, using a very small brush (I like LOEW-CORNELL's size 18/0 liner brush), each feather is basecoated in Snakebite Leather. Leave the space in between individual feathers Scorched Brown, but if you get stray paint there, don't worry about it!

3. Paint a sequence of layers on each feather that slowly recedes towards the feather tip, using the "NMM Gold" sequence of colors given above. E.g., the first layer is painted with a 50/50 ratio of Snakebite Leather & Skull White and should cover the outer 90% of the feather, the next layer should contain more Skull White and cover the outer 70% of the feather, etc. The final layer is applied only to the feather tip, and is pure Skull White.

4. Unless you are a robot, there is probably stray paint in the crevasses between some of your feathers. Dark Line in the space between feathers using Scorched Brown.

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More Layering

Instead of painting the tactical marine's Boltgun a flat red, a color gradient was used to make it look more interesting. (Another great example of this is the Salamanders dreadnought on p.119 of the 5th edition Space Marine Codex.)

The Boltgun was painted using the layering technique and the Red sequence of colors given in the previous section. Note only the middle portion of the sequence was used, from Black + Scab Red near the top of the Bolter to Blood Red near the bottom:

Because each layer of paint on the Boltgun's surface is wider than the width of a brush, we have to keep the colors consistent over the length of the gun. Otherwise, the technique is the same as that used for the Imperialis feathers.

Finish up the Red areas of the gun by Line Highlighting with Blood Red + Blazing Orange. Brighter highlights can be achieved using Fiery Orange.

The metallic areas were basecoated using Boltgun Metal paint, Dark Lined using Chaos Black, and Line Highlighted with Chainmail paint. The metal areas were then given a wash of Badab Black + Delvan Mudd, which deepens the color of the Boltgun Metal but leaves the Chainmail bright. Finally, pick out the rivets and other protrusions you want to be shiny with Mithril Silver paint.

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Finishing the Model

At this point, we've covered the 3 painting techniques required to finish painting this miniature to a clean basic standard.

The tactical marine's eye lens was painted using the Layering technique with the Black-Red-Orange sequence of colors. A small White dot was added to the Black region of the eye to give the appearance of a glare.

The chapter icon on the helmet's nose was painting using the NMM Gold color sequence (and then Line Highlighted in White).

Regarding decals: originally I wanted to keep it simple and just use water to apply the shoulder pad chapter and tactical symbols, but I couldn't get the transfer to adhere to the round shoulders without massive folds appearing in the decal film. Eventually, I gave up on the notion and broke out the Micro Set decal solvent. If you want something done right, you have to use the proper tools! Looks like my little brother is getting some Micro Set for Christmas ;-)

The backpack was painted the same way as the shoulder pads and legs: basecoat of Dark Angels Green, Dark Lined using Chaos Black and Line Highlighted using Snot Green. The chapter icon was painted using the layering method with Codex Grey paint and increasing amounts of Skull White, and then Dark Lined with Chaos Black.

The base was covered with PVA glue, dipped in sand, and then brushed over with a second layer of watered down PVA glue to aid adhesion. When the glue was dry, the sand was basecoated in Scorched Brown, and drybrushed (first use of drybrushing!) with Brown + Bleached Bone, Bleached Bone, Bleached Bone + Skull White, etc. The rocks were created from cut up peaces of cork and Woodland Scenics' Extra Coarse Turf was used for the foliage.

[Crankyprof]

Wow ... fantastic tutorial and the models look great. I'll definitely be adding this to my list of DA painting pages. Thanks.

[Boomsly]

looks very good to me, i also like the ultras you have painted, again very well painted

[Wayward]

Excellent!

Only thing I`ll drop is the double highlight on the shoulder pads. It looks over the top, but I do my DA DARK, so maybe its just me :)

[Gillyfish]

That's a superb tutorial, Tranc. Do you mind if we add it to the Laws of the Lion thread, where we maintain a list of good DA painting tutorials?

 

On a personal note, I think that's a very well painted miniature. Personally, I like to have a little more layering on the upper surfaces of the shoulder pad, but this is supposed to be a basic tutorial and light-directional highlighting is a little harder to do (I still haven't got it right yet!).

 

Out of interest, why the white basecoat? Habit, preference?

[Tanhausen]

Great, beautiful and impressive tutorial.

 

In a nutshell most of the techinques you'll be using... very very good!

 

@gillyfish

 

I used to use black primer (my GW is painted like that) because its faster to paint TTL. But white priming (my DW and any future models) brings up A LOT of luminosity and makes the mini much crispier and brighter... much more unforgiving though :P

[Isiah]

Yes a very nice tutorial indeed. Interesting use of a white base coat I thought. I find the DA green isn't the most opaque so tends to look too light for my tastes over white - but your multiple DA Green coats fix that - see, I'm just a lazy painter and use black :whistling: .

 

 

Cheers

I

[Tranc]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone!

 

@Wayward - Interesting... I didn't feel the double line highlights on the shoulder rims were over the top, but maybe it's because I normally paint 2nd company Ultramarines, and their shoulder rims are generally a lot brighter (yellow or gold!) Are you saying you only line highlight the outer edge?

 

@Gillyfish - Of course you can link the tutorial in the Laws of the Lion thread. That's very flattering.

 

I agree that the next step I'd take to make this paint job more advanced would be to add layered highlights (and not just line highlights) to all the green areas.

 

Regarding Black primer vs White primer: I feel they both have advantages / disadvantages and it's not too big a deal at the end of the day. I'll just give a few points to defend White primer since I think a lot of people get into the hobby thinking Black is the only way to go.

 

1. The main advantage of Black primer is that it acts like shadowing if you don't paint all the way into the crevasses of the model. However, if you're going to do multiple thin coats and layers anyways for a smooth paint job, and dark line / line highlight everything to make the miniature pop, then that advantage goes away.

 

2. White primer is like a blank canvas, and you can see all the model's details better than if it were primed Black.

 

3. In general, it's harder to lighten something already dark (like Black Primer) than it is to darken something light (White Primer). Now in this case, Dark Angels Green is a dark color, so this argument isn't really valid. For metallic areas, I will say I undercoat them in Black before basecoating them in Bolt Gun Metal, because I think the metallic paints look better over Black paint than White primer.

 

But the main reason I used White primer in this tutorial is because I switched from a spray-on primer to a brush-on primer a few years ago, when I discovered my spray can of primer sometimes left a rough/grainy surface, and as far as I know, brush-on primers only come in White B)

 

- Tranc

[Zebukkuk]

Regarding Black primer vs White primer: I feel they both have advantages / disadvantages and it's not too big a deal at the end of the day. I'll just give a few points to defend White primer since I think a lot of people get into the hobby thinking Black is the only way to go.

 

[...]

 

But the main reason I used White primer in this tutorial is because I switched from a spray-on primer to a brush-on primer a few years ago, when I discovered my spray can of primer sometimes left a rough/grainy surface, and as far as I know, brush-on primers only come in White :D

To back up what you've said about spray-on primer, that's correct. Spray paint contains a carrier that eats the surface of soft plastic (such as that used by GW). Sometimes this is a good thing if texture is required, but most often, it's not a desirable outcome.

 

One way to prime plastic effectively is to use thinned-down, flat enamel paint in an airbrush. The finish is phenomenal with the right ratio of paint to paint thinner. Of course, it's hard to go wrong here, since too much paint will make the airbrush impossible to use... :P

 

Backing up your points on white primer, I've always primed in white because it's a pain to brighten up black, especially to prepare a surface for bright colors. I carefully paint around areas to be left white, adding color when the main base coat of dark green over black is ready. This neatly leaves bolt guns, eye lenses, skulls, purity seals, etc. white and ready for detailing. In particular, it's quite frustrating to paint the eye lenses white over black before adding the red-- in my experience, the result is usually a mess, if not a disaster. Citadel Foundation paint could help here, but imo it's too difficult to control water-to-paint ratio with any of the Citadel paints.

[Tranc]

Interesting information Zebukkuk...

Even though I use white primer I actually often undercoat my reds using black, because I usually don't basecoat with Blood Red, but rather go through a series of layers from Scab Red to Blood Red + Fiery Orange.

Here's another Dark Angels marine I painted to show my brother an example of a Company Veteran:

I used Reaper paints instead of GW paints for this guy in order to force myself to change up my color palette. (You know how you get use to painting Greens a certain way, or Reds a certain way, I just wanted to mix things up.) I also wanted to go with a more faded green instead of GW Dark Angels Green to match the color of the Dark Angels codex cover.

[EPK]

Great Tutorial Tranc! Have any pointers on painting black armor? My next project involves a Tac squad of Consecrators. Still in the building phase at the moment so I have time to mess around with a technique for them.

 

My Ravenwing were done quite simply, black prime and a couple layers of line highlighting, building up from a dark gray to a lighter gray. I found the primer, though black, is very matte (as it should be) and I think this time around with the Consecrators, I will prime black but give it a quick dry brushing of Chaos black as a basecoat just to give it has a bit more luster.

 

Example of the black primer vs. black paint issue. It may be hard to see, but the backback was actually simply painted with chaos black while the rest of the biker was primed black with spray and highlighted. More evident up close, the backback actually is more shiny. I suppose it may also be the difference between using chaos black as a primer in this case... don't cut corners.

[Zebukkuk]

Wow, another nice model you've painted there! Looking at this one, loaded with all his gear, I get the feeling he's been fighting for a long time, armed to the teeth and ready to slay in the Emperor's name for another year or three! ^_^

 

 

Great Tutorial Tranc! Have any pointers on painting black armor?

 

If Tranc can forgive the bud-in, I'd recommend that you refrain from highlighting black all the way up to white. GW seems to have a thing about that, but if you want your black surfaces to stay really dark, only highlight up to a mid-hue blue-grey, very close to the edges of where the light would hit.

 

Another thing, instead of using straight greys, mix a bit of blue into the highlights for a more realistic effect; too much grey makes black look more like rock; depending on the project, that could be a good thing, but for Space Marine armour, it's better to make it look more "metallic" with blue-grey.

[Terrahawk]

Very nice tutorial and it does contain some nice information on painting in general. Oh, and your marines look awesome! :)

 

I think I'll take a look here again when I can spend time again with my beloved Dark Angels (that didn't sound right...).

[Tranc]

Thanks guys!

 

To tell the truth, I haven't had a lot of experience painting black, so I'll have to point to pre-existing tutorials like this one by past UK Slayer Sword winner Jakob Rune Nielsen:

 

http://www.jrn-works.dk/tutorials/tut.php?...ack&lan=eng

 

If Tranc can forgive the bud-in, I'd recommend that you refrain from highlighting black all the way up to white. GW seems to have a thing about that, but if you want your black surfaces to stay really dark, only highlight up to a mid-hue blue-grey, very close to the edges of where the light would hit.

 

From what I've seen, it's ok to highlight all the way up to pure white as long as you are conservative about where you place the extreme highlights. Maybe just use them for the very brightest points and not all the edges, like on this Black Templars dreadnought by Bohun:

 

http://coolminiornot.com/pics/pics14/img4c851d1e67588.jpg

[Bartali]

Great painting guide Tranc, thanks.

 

+1 to using white primer (unless painting black of course). Black masks detail and sucks the brightness out of colours.

I've experimented with Grey Primer, but I've found Army Painters spray on gray primer pretty horrible out of the can. Any alternatives (either spray on or brush on ?)

[IanSturrock]

Vallejo do a spray-on grey primer. I have a can, though I've not used it yet -- bought it to basecoat my son's Ork Stompa with.

[FerociousBeast]

Excellent work, Tranc, but unfortunately it highlights the thing I hate about the hobby the most: how darn long it takes to paint your minis well. I'd never use this technique because it looks like it requires just too much time, something that's at a premium for me these days :devil: