Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

As the title says how do you choose what paints you want to use?

Well I guess you just think about what colours you like, then think about your army, then make a choice.
If you're doing a specific faction eg: Imperial Fist marines or Leviathan 'Nids then you'll use those colours.
Or the same if you're using a khorne or blood angels army you'll probably use reds a fair bit.
But there's freedom with most armies, Marines can be pretty much any colour, as can Tau, Eldar, or 'Nids.
Armies like Dark-Eldar would generally favour darker colours, but you're still free to do what you want.
Essentially, unless you are doing a pre-existing Chapter/Craftworld/Kabal/Warband/Hive Fleet ect... Then you can choose whatever colour you want.
What army are you planning to use anyway?

Also, if you want to create your own scheme, colour wheels are a great help!

http://paletton.com/

Good luck!

I just look through my paints and see what combinations are speaking to me, really. Unless i'm doing work for a client, i just play it by ear.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/smp.php

This lets you paint SM in any color you want, so you can mess around with a color scheme before committing. There may be other sites for the other races, but this should give you a good start.

I usually paint either in the colors of my Chapter (DA, so green, black, or bone with green, grey/silver, black and red accents), but honestly, paint whatever color scheme you like best. They're your models!

I'm starting my Tau army

I start an album on imgur to send images I find on google. pintrest, CMON, etc. When I have a whole bunch of ideas, I take what I like from each and go to work.

I also work on more than one project at a time and in stages. Sometimes I will think of better scheme when I am driving to work or watching TV.

My own fluff decided for me.

I have a standard color scheme that I use for most models. I originally chose it because it provided excellent contrast while being easy to duplicate from one batch of mini's to the next.

Thanks all for the info!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@Tjomball What do you mean your own fluff?

Blazin_Bullets15 wrote:
Thanks all for the info!

This should help: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/fwp.php

@Tjomball What do you mean your own fluff?

"Fluff" is the background in 40K. You can use the established GW fluff or you can make up your own.

I find that when I'm stuck on a certain palette or color group, that using swatches is the best way to break out of it. You can go to your local hardware or paint store and browse all their adorable little colored squares. Put them next to one another to see if they harmonize well, then try to match your favs to those tiny bottles of model paints (with their myriad epic names). It really is quite easy, fast and usually FREE without having to waste time and effort painting a test model.

Paletton is also amazing for coming up with color schemes, as mentioned earlier.

Looking at artwork and examples of the chosen faction, thinking about what will look good alongside my other armies, and just a rudimentary grasp of colour theory to help settle on spot colours.

I tend not to think about what specific paints to use, I just mix and match shades until I get the desired colour.

I have a chrome metallic silver spray can. I was thinking of painting my entire army base coat that color. What other 2 colors would make it look good? Are there any cool effects i can use with chrome silver?

Avoid pure white, pure black and very dark colors. But white with dirt and weathering looks ok.
I used to paint mine IG dark grey and it was gakky looking. Light grey is much better

I start painting and I hate it. So I try planning a colour scheme and I hate it. So I try using a colour wheel and hate it. I paint a few test models and I hate them all.

Basically I suck at picking colour schemes, I'm yet to pick a scheme I still liked 20 models later

Even with a single faction, you may never find a color scheme you want to stick with. I tend to change the green I use for my Salamanders every squad or so - not a conscious decision, just when I pick up a new squad I go for the green that appeals to me at the moment. Gives them all a uniqueness, which makes it easy to differentiate squads on the table. Latest 2 squads are very dark green, with others ranging from that to an Moot Green.

Generally, by the time I finished the codex/armybook, I have picked one of the chapters/clans/hive fleets/etc. If so, I copy that, and experiment with it a bit on a few cheap troop models. Once ive done that, I will end up with a familiar paint scheme, but with my own spin on it. I did that for my Goff Orks, Sa'Cea Tau (with extreme highlights), White Scars (with more red), and Dark Elves.

Failing that, I start looking at galleries of X army, seeing what I like. I usually will find a color scheme not often used, and experiment with ways to make it fit X army, or to make it fit one of the gameboards I use. I did this for my decaying copper Necrons, Tau Vehicles (in bluescale urban camo), Valhallans (in greyscale urban) and Tyranids (in a wild nurglish-greenskin with bright purple carapace).

Explore and Experiment. Surely you will find something you like.

Climb the highest mountain in the land and await a sign from your gods. Alternatively you could just pester your wife until she goes "Green, black, gold, get out of my kitchen!"

Still trying to figure out how to get a colour match for get out of my kitchen...

darkcloak wrote:
Climb the highest mountain in the land and await a sign from your gods. Alternatively you could just pester your wife until she goes "Green, black, gold, get out of my kitchen!"

Still trying to figure out how to get a colour match for get out of my kitchen...

depending on her temper, Golden's Coarse Steel with scab red overbrush.

Dronze wrote:

darkcloak wrote:
Climb the highest mountain in the land and await a sign from your gods. Alternatively you could just pester your wife until she goes "Green, black, gold, get out of my kitchen!"

Still trying to figure out how to get a colour match for get out of my kitchen...

depending on her temper, Golden's Coarse Steel with scab red overbrush.

Exalted!

Lol, but in all seriousness scheme selection can be the hardest part of painting. I had fully half my High Elves painted before I realized I hated the scheme. What it really came down to for me was 3 things.

1: How easily can I paint this scheme?

2: Can I reproduce this scheme easily in the future?

3: How does the scheme look?

Obviously you don't want to go too easy, simplicity is perfection but needles austerity kills, but you have to realize that you are going to be painting these colours on every mini, so complexity for the sake of complexity is absurd.

Here is another idea. Pick 3 colours you like, maybe even just 2. Paint a few minis to get a good idea. Like white armour, black trim, orange for detail bits, then switch it up. Orange trim on black armour with a white helmet. Try a few. Find one that you are happy with, and then paint your army. Now instead of saying "army is done" say "I'm halfway there" and put them away. If you are really stumped then take a break, maybe inspiration will come once you've had a rest.

Basically my advice is this. Just paint it to a tabletop standard, give your brush hand and your brain a break. Play a few games, and soon enough your brain will be brimming with ideas!

A lot of good advice here, I would add;

1 - Pick paints you like - as in the quality of the paint, and does it come in either a spray primer, or an airbrush version.
This makes it much easier to work with your army.

2 - Pick something that is not the same as your other armies.

3- If you don't have a army scheme..do you have a base scheme? For example, I am redoing my necrons (a mostly 4th ed army) and want a specific base style, so now I am trying to find a scheme which will look good with it.

best of luck!