New Chapter - Colour Theory Question for the Colour Blind

[Ryno]

Alright, one last inquiry from my end before I get rolling on things. The general colour scheme for my chapter is going to be white and silver, with some deep red for the chapter and role markings and cloaks/purity seals. The homeworld is a snow/ice planet with an iron-rich makeup making the rocks red/orange. Foliage I'm thinking will be largely purples, mostly dark.

With all that in mind, I'm colour blind so things don't always look "right" to other people when I do them, and I'd like this to work nicely for everyone, so I'm looking for a little input:

- Originally I thought light blue glowing eye lenses, as I like how that looks on white armor, but there's no blue anywhere. Should I go red, orange or purple for the eyes?
- Wax seals: I like the deep red purity seals seen on some BT, and they work with the red accents on the white armor. Thinking probably purple wax holding them in place is a solid choice?
- White tint: Neutral white might look a little characterless, but I can't decide if a warm or cool tone would be better. I thought about a slight purple hue to the undertones might work well. Has anyone done that? Do you think that will work with the silver and red?


Sorry for the rudimentary questions, but my eyes just don't see this stuff properly. 

[EDIT to add: If it factors into it at all, the chapter is wolf-themed, but decidedly not Norse.]

Edited February 16 by Ryno

[Wormwoods]

I've found greens to work well for lenses/seals on red armour, though that is, unfortunately, not ideal for colour blind painting, is it?

 

Are you looking to keep the seal and eye colours separate? And, further, do you have a planned plasma colour for if/when you include some of that? 

[Firedrake Cordova]

What do you mean when you say "there's no blue anywhere"?

 

From your description, my mind went to (cold) white armour with blue eyes, deep red aquila and markings, which looks good in my "mind's eye"  

 

 

[LameBeard]

If you mean “there’s no blue anywhere else” then don’t worry - it will still look great as a spot colour. As well as eyes, other lenses or even plasma can get a bit of blue.

 

I worry that any dark purple could be a bit close to deep red and create a clash on (say) the purity seals. I wouldn’t worry about using a purple tint on the white though, that may bring things together a bit.

 

One last thought: how they look *to you* is more important than how they look to those of us with a more common arrangement of rods and cones - you will be looking at them the most!

[Moonstalker]

Usually, snow and ice is going to mean cold whites - blue reflections from the sky adding a cold, blue hue to the snow.  Staying with cold whites for your armor will make your marines blend in better with their environment.  Using purple in shadows is pretty common in art (makes them richer and more vibrant, vs other colors that can make your shadows muddy), but this could still be cold or warm depending on which purple you use since purple is blue (cold) + red (warm).  A cold purple in your armor's white could help differentiate your armor from snow on the bases, if you use blues for any snow or ice on the bases.  I think this might be a bit hard to pull off in practice, though, and would personally probably stick with cold whites all around.  I'm not sure about the tools available to you (airbrush?) and what paints you use, but if you stick with just Citadel and brushes there's definitely more support for cold whites than warm.  You can still do warm whites with Citadel, there's just more effort involved.

 

You want your lenses to pop a bit, and often that means saturation + using a color you're not using anywhere else.  It's easier to spot some blue when there's no blue anywhere else, than when there's blue everywhere.  Blue lenses can work on cold white armor, but I think a color with more contrast (one of the warmer colors you had in mind) would pop more.  So long as you have enough saturation in the blue then it'd probably be fine, but if you make the blue too light then it might just disappear into the shading you're doing on cold white armor.

 

I probably wouldn't go more purple than burgundy for the wax seals.  Yes, you could get wax in just about any color, but in the whole visual language of Warhammer we expect purity seals to be a deep red, maybe with a touch of purple.  Breaking with expectations can work sometimes, but it's gonna make people raise some eyebrows.  A little bit of red to contrast with your cold whites is fine and good, you want some details to pop and that's a good place to use vibrant, contrasting colors.  However, I'd avoid using red and green - they do contrast, but you will get "Christmas Marines."

[Ryno]

Amazing, thanks for all the input!

I was concerned that only having blue in the eyes would stand out in a negative way, but it sounds like it might actually stand out in a positive way instead, so that's cool. In my mind I saw it being a lighter blue, but if the base colour is darker and it's the highlights that push it into the lighter territory, that may balance it enough to still pop on the armor? I'd like to stay away from straight up green as I just simply don't like the colour itself. Only ever really liked green on plants, unless it's a classic British sports car in a dark British Racing Green ;) 

 

The base snow I'm not 100% sure about yet. The planet's surface under the snow I'm seeing as reds and purples. My thinking was to base purple under the snow to keep the snow tones cool still, and then I started thinking that a purple tint to the white shadows would work on the armor, too, but they may get lost in the bases then. Foliage I'm seeing mostly in purples with red bark, and I'd like to try to work in a decent amount of bioluminescence; particularly in coaster marine life, so I might pull a little of that into the foliage as well. Maybe the snow I employ a little more limited on the bases, and lean into ice and exposed rock a little more. Gives more opportunity for the reds to take precedence on the bases to contrast the cooler armor?

My concern with reddish purity seal wax is that it'll blend with the red seal parchment itself, which lead me to think purple for the wax. 

Maybe a warm darkish purple wax, with cool purple tint in the white of the armor? Blue eyes and plasma? Cool tone highlights to any black (was thinking swords in black, subdued power effects where they exist)? 

What about the silver; should I look into tinting it either direction as well? I was thinking of it being neutral, but if it's the only neutral it might not work?

It's been decades since I did any colour theory, I can't remember much anymore  While what I think of the scheme is the important part, the number of times in my life I've had someone dumbfoundedly question a colour combo I've run with gives me pause!  

Thanks again for all the input, everyone!

[Firedrake Cordova]

On thing to bear in mind is that depending on how snowy you want your planet to be, it might be the case that a white Space Marine may blend into the base a little.

[Ryno]

6 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

On thing to bear in mind is that depending on how snowy you want your planet to be, it might be the case that a white Space Marine may blend into the base a little.

It's a fine line between making the art pop and making the logical tactical choice for blending in to the environment.  

[LameBeard]

Do you want to link a picture of these Templar purity seals? I am very much a traditionalist here: bone coloured parchment, dark red wax.  As suggested above, that will be most easily read, even if you have to place them carefully. Similarly, the Alien foliage is asking a bit more of the reader, although I’m looking forward to seeing that. 

[Ryno]

10 hours ago, LameBeard said:

Do you want to link a picture of these Templar purity seals? I am very much a traditionalist here: bone coloured parchment, dark red wax.  As suggested above, that will be most easily read, even if you have to place them carefully. Similarly, the Alien foliage is asking a bit more of the reader, although I’m looking forward to seeing that. 

Now that I'm looking, I'm having a harder time finding them!

I believe they're actually Crusade Seals, not purity seals, in these cases but I think Helbrecht is shown with red crusade seals (or brown? I dunno... colour blind and all :P).

I'm not planning on showing the chapter as being overly adorned with seals as I think I might take them in a more pragmatic approach to their doctrines along the lines of the Raven Guard, though not as deep as the Raptors, but there are several models which are molded with them and a little character on the models is good.

[Firedrake Cordova]

The seals on Helbrecht are definitely a deep red.  

[LameBeard]

Helbrecht does indeed seem to have many red strips with white writing on them, but some appear to be held with moulded skull broches (bone white) rather than wax, which might explain the need for contrast. He also has bone-coloured parchment strips inside the cloak, where that provided a better contrast.