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I've recently started collecting Space Marines, and now I am in the right mind to paint them. I don't want to use a pre-defined chapter, so I am going to start my own, and an own colour theme as well. I was thinking of something white, snow or angelic themed. Posibly mixed with gold and/or blue.

I'm looking for good ways to get a good white colour. I doubt just splashing on with layer after layer of skull white will work good. I did recieve a tip from a redshirt once, for a snow-themed Imperial Guard army I never collected. Spray with Ogre Flesh, drybrush skull white, and make highlights with skull white. That would supposedly give a more realistic(as in, not supershiny white) look on it. I've also heard the new foundation white is pretty good too, not sure how well that would work.

What's your suggestions for these astartes?

EDIT: Finally got around to making a few attempts. I'm not too happy with these first drafts, this was the best picture I managed to take of them. Click on picture for closer gallery look.

White can be a pain to paint, but good luck.

Maybe do a white & grey scheme? Space Marines look surprisingly good in camo, I've found. I figure a few Chapters have to have the guts to claim their chosen camo pattern has cultural significance in line with bright yellow armor.

Snow themes are always fun to do especially as you can write great fluff on the chapter. Maybe you could do a chapter of marines that live on an arctic world and they are constantly under threat of the treacherous blizzards.

You could really pull the stocks out with this army...... maybe even convert your chapter master to be on one of those kevlar polar bear things....

Oo

Yeah, I like snow, and snow-based military forces. And it would be real glorious to see white coloured, golden glimmering space marines stride the battlefield. I always thought White Scars white + red mix looked pretty stupid.

The White Consuls are white with light blue-ish trim, with blue eagle faces for the Chapter Symbol.

Heck you could always do that Dark Angels successor chapter that is all white too. Angels of Absolution I think? I'm at work so cannot really check.

The White Scars have sub chapters with White and Gold and White and Blue.

The DA successor chapter is bone colored IIRC, not white.

OP: White can be very difficult to paint effectively but it looks stunning when finished. Good luck and don't forget to show us all your work!

Ozymandias wrote:The DA successor chapter is bone colored IIRC, not white.

You are correct, sir!

Also, you going to be there this Saturday?

Unfortunately no... I'll update slo gaming.

So uhm, any advice on how to actually paint the white?

Depends on what you want, grey/white or blue/white. First prime your miniatures with white primer. Then decide on the lightest grey or blue you can find and make a 50/50 mix of these with white. This will be your base color. The grey or blue will be your shading color. Dry brushing white is difficult at best, it will tend to streak in unpleasant ways. I just highlight by hand the edges. The whole effect will be a dark white.

Alternatively, you can just paint the miniature white(over white primer) and then shade with a 75% white/25% blue or grey mix. There is no highlighting.

Good luck.

Giant Moth wrote:So uhm, any advice on how to actually paint the white?

Lots of thin coats worked best for me, but I'm no expert.

The absolute best advice I can give on painting white is to Prime white, then water normal skull white down nice and thin. Give the model about 3 to 4 coats to ensure even coverage and then use Bdab Black, VERY CAUTIOUSLY, the shade the recesses. Add colors of your choosing and fix as needed.

This is if you are looking for a VERY stark, pure white foundation, I have found that natural lighting takes away the need for serious highlights if you are doing solid white armor. I'll try to get some pictures posted of the marines i did this way.

If you like them you are more than welcome to take the color scheme and run with it as I have chosen a completely different one for my army.

White Marines would rock. There are plenty of GW created chapters you could use, the most obvious being White Scars.

Plus you get to use the Khan special character. Outflank+Fleet Bike FTW!

For how to paint white see;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/220201.page

Thank you for the various advice. I'm going to have to try some of them out, to see which one I want the most. Blue-white or grey-white could fit well for a more snowish theme, stark-white is good for a more angelic, pure theme.

Those are some gorgeous models Sirath. But I will not be using any of GW's premade chapters. I like to make up my own story and the characters of the chapter. Besides, I can still use the Khan if I want to, the 5th edition codex writes even if you play a custom chapter, you are still allowed to take the special characters of the book. You just have to make up a similiar space marine of your own chapter.

Update, and looking for feedback!

I went to GW and asked for additional advice, and one piece that I thought sounded(and looked, after a demonstration) pretty good was the following:

Prime black, to easily recieve shadows in crevices and such.

Basecoat a mix between astronomican grey and skull white, thinned out with brush-tip dip or two in water.

Add one or two layers of skull white at places that I want to be whitest, thinned out as well.



I will show some pictures of my progress later.

I used a couple different methods on my marines.

Set 1:
Prime black.
Use Astronomicon Grey (the light Foundation) to base coat, leaving black in recesses.
Many coats of thinned white.

Set 2:
Prime Black.
Dry brush white.
Many coats of thinned white.

Set 3:
Prime white/grey
Wash with Badab Black fairly selectively.
A few coats of thinned white.

One key I found for either method is to use a good quality white. I use Vallejo, and the step change from craft paint to that was very noticable. The craft paint got a little yellowed too with age, which was wierd. I don't know how good the GW white is.

In general though, resign yourself to at least 2-4 coats of thinned white, otherwise it gets clumpy and streaky, which really shows in white.

If you prime a bleached bone, wash with Gryphone Sepia, then apply a few 50/50 mix white/bleached bone -> drybrush white applications that works, but it probably doesn't have the same black recess as priming black would.

I've gotten nice results using black primer, then Codex Grey, then Fortress Grey, finally Skull White. With the rate I paint, I try to avoid mixing, as the mixed paint will've dried out by the time I get back to it (and my eye's not good enough to match colors perfectly). It may not the best way, but for the skill level I'm at, it looks pretty good.

Updated with a picture of my first batch. Not too pleased about it, looking for comments on how to make it look cleaner! I thinned most of it with water, and used 2-3 layers of white.

I'm finishing up 2000 points of Fire Angels that I wanted to be Maytag refrigerator white, with crisp black shadows and hard edges--some pics here http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=166412

This look takes a ton of work, and I don't really recommend it, but figured I'd toss it out to show you an option. They are undercoated black, and then highlighted up from brown, to tan, to cream, and finally to pure white, using multiple thin layers of paint.

If I were going to do it again, I'd experiment more with Citadel spray white, going for very thin layers until I got the opacity I wanted, and then go back to black-line everything. The way I've done these is pretty agonizing.

Another option for white that I did NOT try, but which is very well done, is here http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164985

Man, White is the worst colour to paint with.. anyone know of any good brands of white paint other than citadel?

You did a good job tho =)