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I only have black primer and i've been using mechrite red as the basecoat before blood red. I find that it doesn't work very well and i have to apply several coats of blood red to get a solid look. What other reds are out there for me to use as a basecoat for the blood red?

you're doing what Im doing with painting blood red, which is a notoriously hard colour to get done right.

The key is patience, because the second key, really-thinned down blood red in multiple coats, will take a bit of time to get a smooth and solid red coating. You just gotta keep at it!

I think it's easier to apply blood red, with a scab red basecoat

You might even consider building your reds up by layering.

Black Primer, Mechrite Red, Scab Red and finally Blood Red. For highlighting maybe a 1:1 mix of Blood Red and Orange Fire, maybe?

Cheers,


IK-Painter

argh okay patience got it. I had to rush around 800 points of tau in a month for a tournament i'm attending tomorrow. Now that i'm in no rush to finish my models ill try layering up more reds and using more coats of blood red if thats not enough. Thanks!

IK-Painter wrote:You might even consider building your reds up by layering.

Black Primer, Mechrite Red, Scab Red and finally Blood Red. For highlighting maybe a 1:1 mix of Blood Red and Orange Fire, maybe?

Cheers,


IK-Painter

That seems to be the usual way to do it, but the way I see it, if you're going to add in that layer of Scab Red, why not just do multiple layers of Blood Red instead? Saves you having to swap colours, since you're going to need multiple layers of red anyways.

As for the Orange Fire highlight, or any highlighting of red done with Orange tends to make the overall Blood Red look... well, orange. Blood Red in particular is very difficult to highlight, because orange makes the red look orange, and adding white makes the red look pink. I find a neutral colour, like bleached bone or something, followed by a red wash like Baal Red works quite well though.

look at my IG

http://www.fastdicerolling.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=192&st=120&start=120

I use two-stage colours as follows
- Base coat with Red Gore
- then highlight with Blood red

I use chaos black primer =^.^=

Adding a purple wash to the first coat of red actually helps it be thicker and less of a hassle.

This advise is helping me and its not my post . I am soon to get Blood Angels and i am thinking of painting them Blood Red with black or yellow helmets for the sargents.

Lay down a basecoat of Scorched Brown(no joke, this color is one of the best out there to do a basecoat).

When the Scorched Brown dries, begin painting your reds as normal.
Going Mechrite Red->Scab Red->Blood Red, in my opinion, is one of the best looks.

Depending on what you want your blood red to look like, use a brown SPRAY for the first coat and then the blood red with brush. This will make the mini to look a bit darker and scarier than the average bright red like blood angel.

If you want the blood red bright like Blood Angels then use a white SPRAY (don't no why I capitalise that) then add on the red blood paint with a brush for a brighter look.

Basecoat with calthan brown, works much better than basecoating with another type of red.

If you mix blood red with mechite red to base it with they mix lighter but still cover like a foundation.

Then build up the blood red as normal, and saves buying new paint.

CrazyMez wrote:If you mix blood red with mechite red to base it with they mix lighter but still cover like a foundation.

Then build up the blood red as normal, and saves buying new paint.

This is how 'Eavy Metal have been doing it for a while now.

DODcrazy wrote:Basecoat with calthan brown, works much better than basecoating with another type of red.

Thats the brown I was thinking of in my last post but forgot it. It's pretty effective with blood red IMO.

Lots of very thin waterd down coats.

Blood red is extremly easy...

basecoat White!! (P3 Primer works very well)

If you put blood red on top of white, it covers in 1 go, sometimes 2.. with no issues.

Now, this will make it very bright red. Which is no issue, Use a heavy wash of Baal Red and it will be darkend down.

Between black,devlin mud,baal red washes.. its always easier and faster to go Light to dark then it is from Dark to light.

I use a burgandy satin spray as my basecoat after priming the model dark grey or black. It gives a nice base to work from and allows the blood red to build up very easily, just two or three coats at the most.

Spyder68 wrote:Blood red is extremly easy...

basecoat White!! (P3 Primer works very well)

If you put blood red on top of white, it covers in 1 go, sometimes 2.. with no issues.

Now, this will make it very bright red. Which is no issue, Use a heavy wash of Baal Red and it will be darkend down.

Between black,devlin mud,baal red washes.. its always easier and faster to go Light to dark then it is from Dark to light.

If I base coat white then the Blood Angels will look bright but I want mine abit darker therefore using brown will prevent the brightness.

I use 2 different method with blood red.
1) army painter dragon red as a primer and the blood red sits great straight onto that.
2)i really like red gore under blood red, gives it a nice depth.

So red is an unusually translucent color and the colors under it REALLY show through. You have two options to get a pretty red.

The first was mentioned a fair amount: lots of layers. Thin down your paints and just keep putting on layers until you get the shade you want. Eventually you will get a nice blood red. This will give you a really nice, subtle, controlled gradient.

A quicker, more dramatic method 1:1 blood red:skull white (e.g. pink) and paint the areas you want to be bright red with that. Then paint over THAT with blood red. The pink will tone down to a beautiful, bright red. However, you gradient will be much more dramatic. This can be a good or bad thing depending on the look you are going for.

scab red over black, wash badab, blood red over that.
highlight fiery orange edges, line highlight vomit brown
glaze with baal red all over.
retouch highlight if needed.
jobs a goodun.

Kanluwen wrote:Lay down a basecoat of Scorched Brown(no joke, this color is one of the best out there to do a basecoat).

When the Scorched Brown dries, begin painting your reds as normal.
Going Mechrite Red->Scab Red->Blood Red, in my opinion, is one of the best looks.

Scorched Brown is great as a one coat base.

Another option is to drybrush the whole model with grey, or even white. The lighter color will allow red to stand up well, and it will start the shading processes as the base of the figure will still be black.

Uh. I kind of use a dry-brush process. Just lightly swipe it over until it gets to be perfect, without that ugly 'gloss' sort of thing.

Patience is key. Try watering it down if you don't want to use a drybrushing method. I have three pots of blood. One regular, unwatered. One with a bit of gloss varnish in it for thickening, and one with water in it. All three see use, especially with khorne stuff and berserkers


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CrazyMez wrote:If you mix blood red with mechite red to base it with they mix lighter but still cover like a foundation.

Then build up the blood red as normal, and saves buying new paint.

Yes, this too.

Agreeing with the scorched brown comment. Just plain old scorched over black makes a versatile painting surface

Try base coat w/ gray primer. Less "pop" on the color overall, and not such a bear of a time to bring the "red" back up from "black".

ceku wrote:argh okay patience got it. I had to rush around 800 points of tau in a month for a tournament i'm attending tomorrow. Now that i'm in no rush to finish my models ill try layering up more reds and using more coats of blood red if thats not enough. Thanks!

If they are all mostly red, why not just prime them red to begin with? Get some Army Painter and then just do the details.

I have (yesterday) purchased some 'Blood Red', 'Skull White' and some 'Boltgun Silver'. I look forward to painting my soon to get blood angels with them paints.

Photo is big. you have been warned.

Have a look at my hochland riflemen. they're built up from black, 1 coat of mechrite red, 1 coat of blood red.

Admitting that I don't care if it looks like blood-red and mechrite red mixed.

It works fine. remember to thin your paints, and then highlight with blazing orange.

then, wash with baal red and you'll be fine.

If your going for an overall red model I suggest spraying it red. Either with a citadel spray gun over the black or army painter as a primer.

I'll side with the camp that prefers a brown undercoat. However, I prefer to use lighter browns than Scorched Brown. My preferences are for Bubonic or Vomit Brown (GW colors). I'm not sure the Vallejo equivalents will work as well since GW packs are usually thicker, and you need a thicker coat (or multiple layers) for this work.

I used this method to paint my Enginseer and his assistants (counts as servitors). They're still WIP but you can see how the red turned out. It was easy in four layers: primed black using spraypaint, Bubonic Brown layer, Blood Red layer, touchup Blood Red layer.