Ravenwing - gathering speed!

[dice4thedicegod]

After being reassured about how good Ravenwing bikes are (thanks guys!) I’ve gotten enough to put together:

Squad of 4 bikes (sergeant with combi-Melta, 2 others with Melta guns)

Squad of 4 bikes (sarge with combi-plasma, 2 others with plasma)

2 attack bikes with melti meltas

And (my version of ) Sammael, who of course got painted first. Ended up going for a clean look and calling him finished for now ( I’ll probably redo the sword when I get inspired).

There's a lot of black on the ravenwing- more than I’m used to! Just compensated by a lot of grey highlighting - anyone got any other tips?

[ValourousHeart]

You could try the contrast line of paints.

 

Otherwise the trick with white and black is that you don't paint white or black, you simply go for the APPEARANCE of white or black.

 

With white you start with a grey or tan and then add brighter and brighter layers and highlights until you have the appearance of white.

Black is moving in the opposite direction with you going darker and darker further into the recesses.

 

This is what the contrast paints are doing for you.

They glaze the model and get most of the pigment to settle into the recesses.

The contrast base colors are a grey and off white... and give the contrast a cold tone (grey) or a warm tone (off white).

They also work well over silver and gold.... I've personally seen the green over silver and the red over gold, and both looked amazing.

 

The trick to using the contrast paints is the same technique you would use if you were using inks.

Load up your brush, liberally apply to the model, then wick away the excess where it pools up.

 

Once you are happy with the black you need to break up the black with touches of color.

For example, the engine and exhaust pipes could be silver with a nuln oil wash.

You could also go for a bluing effect on the metal to give it that burned / oil stained appearance.

 

Then you add a 3rd color that breaks the monochrome appearance of the black/silver.

I would pick a color that would tie the units to your other models, so typically for the standard Dark Angels color scheme that would be Red used on the Weapon housings.

 

Finally you add some finishing touches that complete the model, add colored lights to the displays, leather and fabric colors.

Have a distinction between the hand and the handle bars or the hand and the sword handle.

For the blade, even if you want it to be a similar color to the armor and bike, do something slightly different to show that the sword is polished and sharpened, like using the nuln oil gloss.

[Shaneos]

Hey I think I saw you post on reddit is that right? I swear I saw this custom sammy but minus the black paint :)

Welcome to The Rock!

[Hellunder]

My recipe for black:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv8-21lHbCa/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 

I think your black already looks good. You could just glaze down some areas with thinned down black/lahmian medium and use dots of a brighter grey (dawnstone?) on the more extreme edges.

 

As Valorous says the model could need another colour to break it up. I use bronze trims on my bikes for example.

[bevulf]

I like it the way it is. I do not think that in case of Ravenwing you need to break black colour with addition of sth brighter. Dark Angels are imo the most grim and dark () in all 40k. I wouldn't add any other brighter colour to your ravenwing pallette except maybe some gold accents. I would also change the black on hood with ushabti bone but that's all.

 

But remember: I spent too much time locked by Chaplain Stobz in a very dark Cell 42 so my eyesight might by disturbed by darker colours only

[dice4thedicegod]

Hey I think I saw you post on reddit is that right? I swear I saw this custom sammy but minus the black paint :)

Welcome to The Rock!

Thanks!

 

Not on reddit, but I did put it on Facebook:)

[dice4thedicegod]

My recipe for black:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv8-21lHbCa/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 

I think your black already looks good. You could just glaze down some areas with thinned down black/lahmian medium and use dots of a brighter grey (dawnstone?) on the more extreme edges.

 

As Valorous says the model could need another colour to break it up. I use bronze trims on my bikes for example.

Your recipe looks great - I’ll have to try that approach with the bike squads!

[ValourousHeart]

I wouldn't add any other brighter colour to your ravenwing pallette except maybe some gold accents.

 

Finally you add some finishing touches that complete the model, add colored lights to the displays, leather and fabric colors.

Have a distinction between the hand and the handle bars or the hand and the sword handle.

For the blade, even if you want it to be a similar color to the armor and bike, do something slightly different to show that the sword is polished and sharpened, like using the nuln oil gloss.

 

While I agree that Ravenwing in the traditional black colors scheme doesn't require any bright colors.  Displays should have a stark contrast the panel around them.  A black wall with a lighter black screen on it isn't very interesting to look at.  You don't have to go for neon yellow, but dark purple will likely not show up at all.

[Zustiur]

As Valorous Heart said, most black things aren't as black as black paint. Likewise for white.

These days after a black undercoat I use a zenithal spray method with successively lighter greys, but each still registers as black at first glance. Then brush highlight with mid grey and a light grey.

It's common to take the black towards blue or purple or green, but I personally have not tried that.

[JJD]

The method I settled on is from this guide

 

https://taleofpainters.blogspot.com/2015/05/tutorial-how-to-paint-dark-angel.html?m=1

 

I’ve used red weapon casings, cream robes and white Ravenwing symbols as spot colours.