Colour Theory: Painting dark red

[Magos Takatus]

Hi. I am in the early stages of painting some Primaris Marines and I'm going for a very deep red colour (Gal Vorbak red from the Forge World paint range). I would like to shade the models even darker but I am unsure what to try. Going by colour theory you can mix green to make a red darker but I'm a bit hesitant to try. There are some other options I am considering. I could try a purple, a dark blue of just use a black like Nuln oil. In my old test model I mixed black into the Khorne red I used but after hearing from more experienced painters they avoid using pure black to shade miniatures. I'd like to collect a few opinions before I risk messing up the first batch.

[StraightSilver]

Yes I would definitely avoid black if I could.

 

I always use purple to shade red but that's mainly because my dominant colour is usually blue. For Gal Vorbak style reds though I would still go for purple as they are described as "wine" red.

 

However blue and green will also work, I just stick with purple as it gives me nice results. 

Edited October 12, 2017 by StraightSilver

[Major_Gilbear]

Well, the answers are exactly as you've posted - green, blue, and purple.

 

I tend to use blue and purple more often myself, but that's because I like deeper cooler shadows. A friend of mine goes even darker with a colour called "Coal Black" from P3, but you could use Vallejo Dark Sea Blue or GW Incubi Darkness for a similar colour.

 

Some people use browns or even black mixed into their reds, but I find the colour quickly gets very muddy-looking that way if you want some deep shading.

 

As for the colours, you can either mix them gradually into the red, or you can apply them as very translucent glazes over your base colour until you build up the colour levels that you're happy with. The latter option ends up better (in my opinion, as the shade colour ends up looking "cleaner" - but it takes longer to do.

 

Ultimately, you'll just have to put a little on your palette and try it out - nothing beats personal experience! ;)

[Magos Takatus]

Thanks for the advice. I'll give the purple a go. I've got a pot of Leviathan Purple floating about so I'll apply that sparingly as a glaze. They are technically test models so this is a good time to experiment. :)

[Ovidius Incertus]

Personally, I use Vallejo Mahogany or Hull Red as a post shade for Gal Vorbak (or Army Painter Chaotic Red).  It works best if the primer was a mid/dark tone gray (I use Duplicolor gray primer) to avoid the muddiness mentioned above.

 

I do that because I've been doing it for years now, but I have half a mind to switch to a blue shade instead because I've taken to highlighting the blacks on my Flesh Tearers with blue.