Librarian armor color?

[Guiltysparc]

I've got that sweet primaris librarian to paint and I know their armor is supposed to be blue regardless of chapter, is it the same blue as other ultramarines or should it be a different shade?

[Freman Bloodglaive]

I paint them the same shade.

[Blindhamster]

technically its darker.

Librarians have armour based on kantor blue whereas ultramarines are based on macragge blue (based on official schemes)

[Guiltysparc]

technically its darker.

 

Librarians have armour based on kantor blue whereas ultramarines are based on macragge blue (based on official schemes)

 

Ya, right, i noticed on the box art it was darker and figured it was probably kantor blue.  Is there a lore reason behind that?

[Blindhamster]

I doubt it, they probably just did it so that librarians would stand out even in a blue army, The way highlights are done is also starker than on typical crimson fist paint jobs.

[Captain Idaho]

Old GW paint schemes were always the same blue as the army but I reckon it'll look really good with dark blue. Ominous.

[Sugarlessllama]

I use Vallejo Magic Blue as a base and highlight from there. I use it because Space Magic. :D

[Seahawk]

No, technically it's exactly the same color, it's just the paint range has changed over time.

 

Librarians are Ultramarines Blue, Techmarines are Blood Angels Red, and Apothecaries are White Scars White.

[Guiltysparc]

No, technically it's exactly the same color, it's just the paint range has changed over time.

 

Librarians are Ultramarines Blue, Techmarines are Blood Angels Red, and Apothecaries are White Scars White.

 

I had initially thought this as well, but the box cover for the primaris librarian is definitely a darker blue than the other primaris units, which prompted my question.

[Seahawk]

Well, with no updated fluff about it, we can safely bet that the color remains the same. The painter just took a wrong turn somewhere and painted a Crimson Fists non-librarian psyker; he used Kantor Blue as the base after all. 

 

When you have a thousand examples of Librarians, all of which say it's the same color as the Ultramarines armor color, and only one example that shows otherwise, I'd err on the former until we have a reason for the change or fluff that describes it. 

 

*shrug*

Edited August 5, 2017 by Seahawk

[Techmarine Harkus]

I would agree that the darker blue is the correct colour currently however, my colour choices are strongly 'retro' influenced, so my librarians are all Ultramarine blue. To make them stand out they still have their yellow robes and where suitable, banners.

 

Some pictures. Because who doesn't like pictures. My librarians also like to keep their helmets on if the sculpt allows.

 

 

[Toxichobbit]

Well, with no updated fluff about it, we can safely bet that the color remains the same. The painter just took a wrong turn somewhere and painted a Crimson Fists non-librarian psyker; he used Kantor Blue as the base after all. 

 

When you have a thousand examples of Librarians, all of which say it's the same color as the Ultramarines armor color, and only one example that shows otherwise, I'd err on the former until we have a reason for the change or fluff that describes it. 

 

*shrug*

 

Librarians have only ever been written as having blue armour. it's never been described as dark blue, light blue, baby blue or blue polka dot. So with that in mind, for the tone of blue all we have to go off is the artwork and painted models. You say there are thousands in Ultramarine blue and only one in dark blue. Sorry, that's demonstrably wrong. Thousands is obviously an exageration for effect, no issue with that bit . There are a lot of examples of Librarians in Ultramarine blue, Codex photograph sections, painting guides, Index Astartes articles, Insignium Astartes and general artwork. I don't know how many examples exactly, but it's a lot. What is wrong with your statement though, is you saying that only one is in dark blue. It's not just one, it's every Librarian GW have released this decade*. Here's some links to show you what I'm talking about.

 

Primaris Librarian

Terminator Librarian

creepy mecha-baby Librarian

Blood Angel Terminator Librarian

Blood Angel Librarian Dreadnought

Librarian Turmiel from Dark Vengeance

 

If you look at the 360 pictures, especially of the generic Librarians that are painted as Ultramarines, the colour difference between Ultramarine blue and the new darker blue is very obvious. Also, if you do a search on the GW site for Librarians you can see all the Librarians listed above compared to Tigurius and the metal Librarian with force axe, who are still in Ultramarine blue. Plus Exzekiel who's so old nobody knows what colour he was painted in anymore. Artwork is more of a mixed bag. Generally I ignore the colour tones on artwork unless it's one of the uniform pictures, because artists tend to be more individual and there's also lighting effects of the overall piece affecting the tone. Artistic licence and all that. The official uniform in C:SM 7th ed had the Librarian in Ultramarine blue, so there's something to support them still being the traditional colour.

 

The thing is that without written context telling us what shade of blue Librarians are, all we have to go on is the model pictures and artwork. For the last 7-8 years the paint schemes have been dark blue, so Librarians are now mostly dark blue. As noted, there are exceptions.

 

Now to throw a real spanner in the works. Notice that I've said Ultramarine blue and dark blue but not Kantor Blue or Crimson Fists? That's because none of the Librarians are Kantor Blue/Crimson Fist blue (as far as I can tell). They're still firmly in the camp of Ultramarine blues, if you're going by paint names. As Seahawk says, in the past Librarains were Ultramarine blue. Sometimes this was literally Ultramarine Blue (the paint colour), other times it was a different blue but it was always the same blue as the studio Ultramarines. Nowadays they're actually Macragge Blue. So in a way, they're still kind of Ultramarine blue, just a darker shade. For those interested the official colous (source: Sons of Sanguinius panting guide) are:

 

Macragge Blue base.

Nuln Oil shade.

Macragge Blue highlight.

Aldrof Guard Blue highlight.

Caldar Blue highlight.

Fenrisian Grey highlight.

 

For comparison the official Ultramarine blue (source: Sons of Ultramar painting guide) is currently:

 

Macragge Blue base.

Nuln Oil shade.

Macragge Blue highlight.

Calgar Blue highlight.

Fenrisian Blue highlight.

Blue Horror highlight.

 

The two colour schemes are almost identical, with just different mid and final highlights. I have no idea if this would faithfully reproduce the two blue tones seen on Librarians. There is always other stuff like how much shading is done, how extensive each layer of highlighting is, plus the actual skill and techniques of the painter that will affect results. As it stands though, that's what's in the painting guides so it's the best we have to go off.

 

 

For the record, mine are actually a lighter navy blue than standard Ultramarine blue and don't match any of GWs "official" colours, so I'm not fussed what shade of blue they're painted outside of answering the OPs question. If I was choosing between GWs two colours I'd prefer the darker blue as I like the contrast between the Ultramarine chapter colour and the specialist armour colour. It makes the Librarian stand out a bit more among his Ultramarine brothers. Honestly though, go for whatever you like the most. They don't even need to be blue (assuming a non blue Chapter ofc). There are examples that I can remember of Librarians that are standard Chapter colours with just a blue left arm for Salamanders and White Scars, probably other Chapters as well.

 

*the new dark blue colour scheme seems to have started with the plastic Blood Angel Dreadnought in 2011. Tigurius and the metal Librarians (2008 I think?) are in the older Ultramarine blue.

[Seahawk]

I can't find my book so I can't yet properly respond to your well written post, but I will say for now that we know for certainty that the primaris psyker was painted with Kantor Blue as a base; the painting article says as much.

[Arkangilos]

I am 75 percent sure that in the third edition BA codex their librarians were a darker blue than Ultramarines at the time.

[Seahawk]

Well...

 

 

 

 

I've been digging through all my books through the ages at the suggestions presented in the thread, and up to the new plastic terminator Librarian, they all have been Ultramarines blue. Naturally, it did get darker while the other chapter colors stayed brighter because they were working on the new paint range, with Macragge Blue being much darker than Ultramarines Blue.

 

Now we are on Kantor Blue as the base coat, quite darker yet than Macragge Blue even.

 

Having read all my sources again (and Toxichobbit's excellent post), I can agree with the following assertions:

 

- Librarians are getting darker; while before they were simply "Ultra Blue", i.e. the same colors as the Ultramarines as the paint ranges change, they are now officially darker than the Ultramarines themselves. Their color is now "Crimson Fists Blue" (at least Primaris is).

 

- Every written source simply says "blue armor". I'd accept anywhere from midnight to baby blue being "acceptable".

 

- It is up to the painter's choice on how bright or dark you want your Librarian to be.

 

 

Personally, I will always match my specialists' armors as they were before: Ultra Blue, Blood Red, Skull White. However, like I said, I think any variations to the painter's taste is acceptable now.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Seahawk

[MithrilForge]

I've got that sweet primaris librarian to paint and I know their armor is supposed to be blue regardless of chapter, is it the same blue as other ultramarines or should it be a different shade?

 

Geez Guiltysparc!!!  see what kind of a Blue Can you just opened   Just paint your Libby in a Blue that you like  ...

without all the background fluff n hype i'd actually paint mine a wee bit darker just for being able to let myself and my opposition spot him quicker  on the tabletop... 

 

good luck with whichever way you go...

 

Mithril 

[Guiltysparc]

I've quite enjoyed this thread. The depth of knowledge on this board is amazing.

 

...i am still undecided what shade I'll go with, lol!

[Stoic Raptor]

Part of the perceived difference in hue is an optical illusion.  Look at a model with just the base color, then look at one that also has edge highlights done - it will seem like a slightly different color depending on the color of the highlights.