Blood Angels, and Templars

[Grey Knight Purifier]

So although I play Black Templars, and have no interest in switching, I am also very much enamoured of the Blood Angels. My Templar Crusade's fluff gives me reason to include a squad of Blood Angels, and I kinda want a break from painting black all the time. I was thinking of throwing a few marines, painted as Blood Angels into one of my Crusader Squads. Any tips on painting red, versus painting black? Any tips on how to make them look good, and how to highlight? I was thinking a wash of Badab black over a blood red basecoat.

 

For Dorn and The Angel!

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

I aim primarily for speed and acceptability when painting, not high-quality so maybe a pinch of salt required...

 

I give them a couple of thin coats of Army Painter Pure Red spray, wash with Devlan Mud and then paint the flat armour parts Blood Red. Bleached Bone on the aquila, wash Ogryn Flesh then drybrush Bleached Bone back on. A lot of people seem to prefer to paint the aquilas black but it doesn't do it for me.

 

I don't highlight so can't help you there.

 

AP Pure Red is an exact match for Blood Red, by the way.

[Gv0zD]

I generally undercoat them black, then basecoat with 1:1 mix of Chaos Black and Blood Red, and only then apply pure Blood Red.

As for highlights I use 1:2:2 mix of Skull White, Blazing Orange and Blood Red. Blending with mix also works pretty well, as it gives the nice brighter look to the pure red. Check my BA kinky in my signature.

 

Hope it helps.

 

-EDIT-

I forgot to mention applying 1:1 mix of Baal Red and Gryphonne Sephia with a tiny addition of Matt Varnish.

And I paint recesses with black.

[Tamwulf]

My Blood Ravens start with Armory Paint Color Primer Bright Red. I wash it with a 50/50 mix of Baal Red and Gryphon Sepia. I then use GW Blood Red on the armor. I'll wash all the red with Baal Red again, and add a couple more layers of GW Blood Red. Hightlite as required with a light brown/red mix. It's quick and simple, but gives good results.

 

If you don't have the Army Painter Bright Red Primer...

 

White Primer will make the red very, very bright unless you add a lot of red layers. I had to add a touch of Badaab Black wash to Baal Red wash to match my other minis.

 

Black Primer will make your reds darker, and again you'll have to add more layers of red.

 

Grey is a nice, neutral color, and if I didn't have red primer, I'd use Grey.

 

After the non-red primer, I'd base coat with Mechanite Red, wash the mini with a good Baal Red, then start the GW Blood Red layers all over again.

 

Best advice I can offer- do a test batch of 3-4 marines painted in different ways. Keep a painting journal- write down the colors used, mix ratios, that kind of thing. Then when you figure out which one you like the best, you'll have the template for painting the rest. A Painting Journal is an invaluable tool, especially if you start painting other stuff, then come back later to your first army. I learned my lesson when I painted my Space Wolves, shelved them for a couple years, then came back to them and had no idea what colors/mixes I used on them.

[SnorriSnorrison]

Armypainter Pure Red is great, make sure to apply thin coats though(as already said).

 

After that, I paint one or two VERY thin coats of Blood Red because paint straight from the can looks a bit differently to paint that is actually brushed on.

 

For recesses, apply a mix of Chaos Black and Blood Red 1:3. You're aiming for a brownish-shade here, not too black.

 

Highlighting works either with orange, Vomit Brown or Tallarn/Dwarf Flesh, whatever floats your boat. I'd keep the chest eagles black though, it's just personal preference.

 

Edit: Oh, I forgot about two thinned washes of Baal Red, they tone down the Blood Red and combine the different colours.

 

If you don't have Armypainter at hand, I'd go with a white foundation(be careful here, it's easily messed up) and brush on Blood Red until it's good, and then proceed as explained above.

 

 

 

Snorri

[Brother Chris]

Currently the chest eagles are shown black. They used to be yelloe or gold (see that limited edition games day figure, or the article in 4th edition rule book) I much prefer it.

 

Blood red over mechrite red over black, highlighted blaxing orange (don't like it but that is the convention) washed with baal red or devlan mud (can't decide which I prefer. I am very fond of mechrite red as a base, but not many people on B%C seem to use it.

 

Red is a pain as it is hard to achieve a consistent finish without using several coats. Whereas I find trying to get a convincing highlight is where black goes wrong (we do quite a lot of black, what with the DC and all)

[dadieau]

There are lots of ways to get red darker. The only way I know of to brighten it back up is to dry brush white and then put the blood red back on.