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Hey guys. I am new to the hobby. Only two weeks in so far so please bear with me as I learn. I am needing some help in trying to find the right tutorial on how to paint my Blood Angel Army. Ive been on youtube and bing and google and watched every video I could find when I searched for them. But, a big but here, is that in the good tutorials they mix and match the paint that they use. One will start using Citadel, which is what I have and using right now, but then swap out to a Valejo wash or Reaper paint or even to Army Painter. The ones that use mostly use citadel will change up on colors and use one I dont have every time and its makin me angry!! Can you guys help? Ive seen the Warhammer TV one as well. Can someone please tell me what colors I will need to paint this army? I need Citadel colors or maybe you can point me to a great video that uses mostly Citadel and a few others but tell me what Citadel will match the color they are using. Thanks

I can get why this is frustrating, you get into the habit of substitution further down the line. I have a substantial collection of paints and still I don't always have what I need. Mixing is the trick for me in those cases.

This is the list GW suggests, perhaps a place to start.

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Blood-Angels-Paint-Bundle

Also a little help to find out GW alternatives might be this chart (the matches are not perfect but give a ballpark.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

The reason people tend to switch a lot is that they find favourites from different brands since they tend to have varying strengths and weaknesses.

Maybe that chart will help me out! Thanks a lot! I went and watched the WarhammerTV youtube channel and after watching him paint I called and ordered everything on his list. I just figured that since its WarhammerTV and Part of Games Workshop that that would be the definitive guide and paint color list. Then I read the same page you sent me with the web bundle. I almost cred. LOL. I saw another really good tutorial but when I watched it I didnt have any of the correct paint. I went and bought it and now I cnat find the video for the life of me.

Most though are using the old colors so I couldnt tell what some were with the old names. Other times they would start strong with Citadel and then boom, halfway through they throw you a curve ball and start using some wash that you have never even heard of. I guess I could copy and print this out for uses. Thanks for helping me out. Maybe now I can use the correct colors and get finished painting.

GW has a very comprehensive BA painting guide that obviously uses GW everything. You gotta pay for it though....

Also, if you have a specific problem with a paint choice you can always turn here. Just post a thread and answers will come

Remember to use clear and informative topics, this will give you more and better answers.

Good luck!

Honestly a great start is youtube I'm new to the hobbie as well. Mini wargamer jay has a great 52 part totorial covering the very basics on startup to beginner,intermediate and experienced painting and building tips. I highly recommend watching his videos.

Good luck, cheers!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0292071C3B38CAC

Redflex wrote:
Honestly a great start is youtube I'm new to the hobbie as well. Mini wargamer jay has a great 52 part totorial covering the very basics on startup to beginner,intermediate and experienced painting and building tips. I highly recommend watching his videos.

Good luck, cheers!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0292071C3B38CAC

I only looked through a couple of them and I get that he is trying to show it at a basic level but I find him very sloppy and it shows in the result. Might be a good place to find a run through of basic techniques but I would find other places of information to help refine further.

How do YOU want to paint them?

Is there a specific image you've seen that you want to replicate? I've been painting BA for 20 odd years and have only recently changed how I paint them t a completely different style. I went from the GW solid bright red to a much darker more sinister set of colours.

A very simple way to paint them for the tabletop with a basic set of skills is prime in grey (white will do as well) then coat with a red, not upto speed with gw paints but blood red or mephiston red etc. Then wash over the details with a brown (I still have agrax earthshade which I believe has been replaced) then pick out blacks and silvers and do purity seals and eye lenses with a green.

If you want to paint them to codex, the basic color for the power armor (which is like, 80% of the surface area) is Mephiston Red.

As Granander mentioned, there is the Sons of Sanguinius painting guide, which is excellent if you want your models to look like the ones on the box art. The techniques used are not difficult. There is also the general, Citadel painting guide which is a decent book with an excellent video (on DVD) for starters. Both are a little pricey.

The reason you see so many variations is that there's really no "Right" way to paint a model. Sure, Blood Angels are general red, but do you want them a darker, more serious red, or a candy, brighter red? The highlights can be in orange, fleshtones, or yellows. Some people like blue jewels, others purple, or red. Some people like to paint cloth more yellow, others more brown.

Now, as you start out, if you want to choose guaranteed success in a nice-looking model over creativity and trial-and-error, that's a perfectly legitimate path. In this case, look at the painting guide's finished model and see if you like that. Then, just follow it.

Good luck!


Edit: If you are going to be painting a lot of Blood Angels to codex, you should do yourself a favor and go with GW paints. The reds are fantastic, and the basecoat red and primary BA color, Mephiston Red, is just so much better than the competition. Jah will disagree with me of course, and say that P3 Skorne is his favorite Which is all good and fine, but Skorne red is not the right shade for Codex BA. I would avoid Vallejo, as they have a way too many shades of red that are very close, all of which have terrible coverage. IMO, the best Vallejo red is Game Color Scarlett Red (no, it's not my bad typing -- VGC Scarlett really has 2 t's) -- but this paint is too dark for Blood Angels. It's like a less purple version of Khorne red.

I actually swear by Vallejo Model Color Flat Red now, but all their other reds so far are trash.

In any case, there's no right way of painting BA as Talys has pointed out. I'm making a medieval Lannister army now and all of my units have reds on them, but I've done it different every time so as not to bore me.

In short, follow what Talys said. Or better yet, list down the paints you have and/or post sample photos of paintjobs you would like to achieve, and we can help you out more.

@Talys: the only problem with your assumption about what i would say, is that i don't paint Blood Angels with Skorne Red...
i paint them building from a basecoat of Sanguine Base, through a mix with Khador Red Base, up to pure KRB, as i have detailed in my P&M WIP thread, and my jahminis blogspot page...
KRB is a perfect BA red, in my opinion...

of course you are correct in assuming that i would never endorse buying GW paint, since i think it has been rubbish for the last two or three generations...
to me, P3 is just a better quality paint, that last a lot longer in the pot than modern GW...
it's a shame really, because my GW paints from the early 90's are still as good as new...
once P3 came out, in 2006, i never looked back, and GW's paints have not done anything to change my mind since, no matter how many chances i give them...

cheers
jah