Orange power weapons and plasma gun coils

[Loddfafnir113]

I've decided on a dark brown colour scheme for my chapter, and after a bit of consideration I don't think the traditional blue power weapons and plasma gun coils would look quite right. Having deliberated for a bit, I think orange is the way to go. The effect I'm looking to achieve is a black base with an orange edge, along the same lines as the power weapons on sockwithaticket's stunning Crimson Tears: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240799-crimson-tears-occasional-allies-update-231114/page-16

 

Has anyone done this before and if so, any recomondations as to colour's, process etc?

[Durus]

Truth be told I think brown and orange are too close together to make an interesting color combination. Not enough contrast. Actually if you are moving in RGB space and turn down the saturation and lightness of orange you get brown. That's a little different than working with pigment on a palette of course, but you get the idea.

 

A better contrast would be blue, yellow or green. Depends on the brown of course, but most nice browns (imo) tend to have a slightly reddish tint.

 

But aside from that in terms of colors black, orange, yellow with a step mixed inbetween sounds like a solid plan. Pretty straight forward. To get the contrast you need to make it pop I'd go into the yellow spectrum with the final highlight, mixing with white tends to flatten the colors. Pastel is not really as brilliant as a nice saturated yellow, unless you take it up to pure white, but it's up to you to decide what you are after.

And as I said it depends on the kind of brown you want for your main color.

 

Another thing to consider is using an off-black instead of pure black out of the pot in order to soften the transition. In the case of yellow/orange I'd suggest tinting with brown, but that would give you a tone-in tone effect with your armor, which is not really a good thing imo.

[Midnightmare]

I am going to go for orange for my Black Legionaries. but as Durus says may not be different enough from the armour, unless of course you go really bright, like eye wateringly so. I use white blended to green blended to black for my Flesh Eaters, but I am going to use the same technique except swap out the green for orange, or red. I did a mini tut a while back if you want to take a look:-

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/245078-flesh-eaters-pic-heavy/?p=3010091

[Loddfafnir113]

Thanks chaps, I'll have a play around with the idea a bit more before I put it into practice (probably be after Yule before I get chance anyway but trying to get everything straight in my head in advance).

 

The brown I'm going for is quite dark, other details on the marines will be grey and a bit of bone on the helmets, and I'm thinking black for robes etc. if I can get the highlighting right. With all the dark earthy tones I think orange would provide enough of a contrast, but I'll definitely do a couple of tests before deciding.

[ElectricPaladin]

I actually agree that bright blue plasma would look pretty cool alongside brown marines. But I look forward to being shown up!