Ghostly blue

[Plaguecaster]

Hey unsure if this should go here but I need some painting advice. I am trying to paint my army and have a possible scheme in mind but unsure of how to do it as I am not a great painter, I am trying to do a very pale blue so it kind of gives an eerie ethereal look to it has any on done a ghostly blue before and have any advice as it would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[NovemberIX]

Maybe prime white, and do thin glazes of Guilliman blue. I ended doing that for some Legion of the Damned, and it ended up working out fairly ok. 

[GhostLegion]

white priming followed by blends of blue and white or blue and light grey will get to the effect youre looking for.  best results use wet blending, but standard layering techniques and dry brushing or overbrushing can achieve a passable version too.  real trick for this is keeping the paint close to the thinness of a wash....  though the white prime with glazes of blue could also get something youd like, I have to agree with NovemberIX there.

[Durus]

The problem with paintjobs like that is that they usually work better on models with a lot of surface detail, like the LotR and Fantasy ghosts for example. They have loads of surface detail that really bring out the effect. On a Space Marine that might end up looking a little boring.

So I'd try to incorporate stuff like battle damage,decorated armor with trims and honors as well bare heads (with battle damage?) as much as possible if you are going for Space Marines.

[Uprising]

Try black primer, Rak flesh heavy dry brush, skull white dry brush, then use Nihilakh oxide as a wash. 

[Firepower]

Someone did an eerie green Legion of the Damned squad a long while back which came out splendidly, but as was mentioned above, those models have a lot of detail. Nooks and crannies are nearly essential to make this sort of thing look good, and the typical Marine model doesn't have many of those.

I'm not telling you not to try. I'm simply warning you that it probably won't be easy.

If you want a textured look, drybrushing will probably be the way to go. Although it also suffers from flat, smooth surfaces. More likely things like washes will be the key. Glazes too, to a lesser extent, as they stain the whole surface, and pure white will be important at some points.

You may try blues and greens mixed together, like these guys (thank you Google):
 http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2008/11/29/5335-Ghost%20Army,%20Space%20Marines,%20Warhammer%2040,000.jpg

 

These guys seem to be pure blue, but the models are aided by lots of detail.  You may also notice the lack of any pure white like I mentioned above:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/1/2/311206_sm-Banner,%20Ghosts,%20Grand%20Master%20Mordrack,%20Grey%20Knights,%20Headquarters.JPG

 

Anyway, in the end, I think it'll be a mixture of drybrushing and washes that get the results you're looking for.  I wish I could be of more help than that, but this isn't something I've ever tried before, and I can already tell that even if I had a chosen palette and recipe, there would be a lot of fidgety trial and error between models.

[Uprising]

If you want a textured look, drybrushing will probably be the way to go. Although it also suffers from flat, smooth surfaces. More likely things like washes will be the key. Glazes too, to a lesser extent, as they stain the whole surface, and pure white will be important at some points.

That why I suggest to use Nihilakh oxide as a wash, it gives the eerie blue, as well as texture. 

[Hyaenidae]

Something like this?

[Plaguecaster]

Something like this?

yeah that is what I am trying to do how did you do it? I've tried doing a few test models here is one of the ones I tried which came out ok I think

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/1d/f2/4d/1df24d3002125fac928e11d82ae186ee.jpg

I tried using that oxide it was alright but didn't seem to come out as good I used some glazes and washes which seemed to make it stand out quite well ( though some areas didn't turn out so great) , but then again the test hellbrute had alot of flesh that I had to paint so unsure what a model that will be all blue would look like so I'll keep giving it a go and hopefully can get a good result

Thanks to everyone for the advice

[appiah4]

I remember a WD article from years ago about painting some LOTR figures or another (Barrow wights maybe?) in a ghostly green scheme.  I believe it involved priming white and shading with green washes then highlighting up to white.

 

I'll check when I go home and see if I can dig it up.

 

Unfortunately GW removed EVERYTHING worth a :cuss from their website, so you may not be able to find it online.

[Bryan Blaire]

Some suggestions for Ethereal/Ghostly Blue:

 

For Non-metallics:

Method 1:

1) Basecoat white

2) Glaze the entire model with a homemade glaze of Temple Guard Blue with Lahmian (or another glaze) Medium, you're probably looking for something in the 1:5 or so Temple Guard Blue:medium range, or possibly go more with the medium, it depends on how much tinting in one go you want to achieve

3) Shade all recesses with Drakenhof Nightshade (for a pure blue) or Druchii Violet (for more midnight colored recesses)

4) Layer with Ulthuan Grey

5) Highlight with White Scar

 

Method 2:

1) Basecoat light grey

2) Glaze entire model with mix of 5:1 Guilliman Blue:Temple Guard Blue

3) Drybrush (or layer) 1:1 Celestra Grey:Ulthuan Grey

4) Drybrush (or layer) Ulthuan Grey

5) Very light Drybrush (or sparse layer) White Scar

6) Shade recesses with 1:1:2 Drakenhof Nightshade:Sotek Green:Lahmian (or other glaze) Medium

7) in some recesses you want to give a greenish tinge to, glaze with Waywatcher Green (don't over do this)

8) Edge highlight with White Scar

 

For Metals:

1) Basecoat all metals with Leadbelcher

2) Layer with Ironbreaker all metals except metallic recesses

3) Shade all metal recesses with Drakenhof Nightshade

4) Apply a few choice spots with Seraphim Sepia (where rust may have formed some, before becoming ghostly)

5) Glaze all metals with Guilliman Blue

6) Edge highlight with Runefang Steel