UPDATE: After three years and lots of positive feedback, this guide has been superseded by a new version, available to buy as a PDF download in the shop. The process has been reviewed and streamlined to help you get models on the table quicker, and new paints, colours and techniques explored. I will leave this free version up for anyone who still finds it useful, but I strongly recommend checking out the new version. Of course, the small fee I charge for it will help enable me to continue putting out this kind of content – so thanks for your support!
Welcome to the third and final part of this tutorial on how I paint my Blood Angels. Check out Part I here and Part II here.
The last part is where we add the final details to the model and it’s difficult to record this ‘step-by-step’ as everything is kind of happening at the same time. Instead I will show pictures of the finished model from all angles and list the paints used for each part.
Red Armour
- Edge highlight 1: Vallejo Model Color 130 Amarantha Red
- Edge highlight 2 (corners only): Citadel Vomit Brown (OOP)
Eye Lenses
- Highlight 1: Vallejo Model Color 077 Lime Green
- Highlight 2: 50/50 Vallejo Model Color 077 Lime Green / Vallejo Model Color 015 Flat Yellow
Metal & Black
- Metal areas highlight: Vallejo Model Color 171 Silver
- Black areas highlight 1: Vallejo Model Color 164 Dark Bluegrey
- Black areas highlight 2: Vallejo Model Color 162 Basalt Grey
Gold
- Hhighlight 1: Vallejo Model Color 173 Old Gold
- Highlight 2: Vallejo Model Color 171 Silver
Parchment
- Base coat: Vallejo Model Color 124 Iraqui Sand
- Highlight: Vallejo Model Color 007 Pale Sand
- Shading wash: Citadel Agrax Earthshade
- Text: Vallejo Game Color 72045 Charred Brown
Purity Seal
- Highlight 1: 50/50 Vallejo Game Color 72016 Royal Purple / Vallejo Model Color 007 Pale Sand
- Highlight 2: 25/75 Vallejo Game Color 72016 Royal Purple / Vallejo Model Color 007 Pale Sand
Weathering
- First I use a small piece of sponge dipped in Vallejo Model Color 171 Silver, dabbed on to a paper towel until there is hardly any paint coming off, then dabbed lightly on to the model concentrating on edges and areas that would naturally receive wear and tear. This gives some natural-looking random shapes to work with.
- Next, taking a size 0 brush I extend some of these into longer scratches or larger shapes.
- Lastly, on the larger areas I add some shading at the top of the chip with Vallejo Model Color 985 Hull Red, and / or a highlight at the bottom using Vallejo Model Color 130 Amarantha Red.
Base
- Base coat: Vallejo Game Color 72045 Charred Brown
- Drybrush: Vallejo Model Color 134 Tan Earth
- Rim: Vallejo Model Air 71.056 Panzer Dark Grey
I hope you’ve found this tutorial useful. Please comment if you have any questions and happy painting!
Absolutely stunning. You’ve outdone yourself this time.
Thanks Alan, glad you like him! 🙂
Dammit… just finished 2 squads of tacticals using a different scheme and have some palette envy 🙂
The yellow + white priming is particularly cool – that seems to give such a nice effect, particularly as (from memory) RLM 23 is more of a crimson/purple and the yellow seems to pull the end effect much closer to a blood red.
Random question on technique – is the silver chipping applied with brush/sponge or something else? It looks nice and random, but still more controlled than a sponge might be.
Thanks Ekfud!
RLM 23 is almost pure red but slightly on the side of magenta / pink. Over yellow it’s the perfect red in my opinion!
You’re the second person to ask for more detail on the weathering so I think I’ll edit the post to add more detail, but essentially I used a sponge very lightly first to give some random spots, then added to them with a brush. On a tank you can use just a sponge but the areas of an infantry model are too small so I only use it to start things off.
Yep… the end result is excellent… it seems to give you a lot of contrast between the lighter and darker areas but without pushing towards the orange end that most GW style blood angels go.
I actually used your drop pod process to airbrush a bunker in blood angels colours as a test run and liked the result. But when it came to do the tac squads I pussied out and went over the primers with mephiston red air so I’d have a base colour that would match the paint in the tin.
I think it takes quite a bit of confidence to build a colour on the model that only exists when you layer them together – I’m still very likely to need touch ups in the later stages 🙂
Confidence maybe, but only the confidence that comes with a lot of trial and error! What result did you get with Mephiston Red over the top? You could always thin down the Red RLM23 for use with a brush for touch-ups.
I guess the result is as you would expect – somewhere between your look and GW… although as Meph red is probably a little more opaque than the RLM23, you lose a bit of the contrast between darkest areas and lightest, so possibly a bit closer to the GW finish as the colour range is squashed (if that makes sense?).
I’m finally getting around to putting some matte varnish on tac squads this weekend, so once the gloss if off the decals I should get a couple of pics to post that actually capture the colour under the shine.
Of course, the brushwork on mine are probably also more like a kindergarten kid using crayons compared to what you get with these 🙂
Hey Luther would Vallejo ‘Filthy Brown’ be a good alternative to Citadel ‘Vomit Brown’?
Yes, certainly. I have a bottle of that myself as my aging pot of Vomit Brown is nearly spent 😀
I’m wanting to restart my Blood Angels again, I own about 4k points now already painted but I want them to have a higher standard to them so I’m buying all new models and starting over using this guide. Question in step 2 with the dark sea blue, did you spray up from the bottom to catch just the lower areas?
Hi Rayvn,
Yes the dark blue is mainly sprayed from below, but also in places like the inside of the elbow joint, back of the knee joint, neck etc – basically anywhere shadows would naturally fall.
Since I wrote this tutorial Vallejo have released the Game Air line of paints, and the Gory Red or Scarlett Red from that line are pigmented such that they can be used over the pre-shading / highlighting without the need for the yellow layer. It’s not a big deal but when you have a whole army to paint every bit of saved time helps!
I will be updating the tutorial when I get around to it.
nice work. i just think that getting an airbrush makes one go full geek towards this hobby. when i go to the hobby store to grab paint im embarrassed for the people there wearing Spiderman/batman button up shirts with baggy jeans and a-six running shoes tied tight as fuck, with poor hygiene who haven’t had a haircut in over a year. people involved in this hobby are pure losers who don’t get pussy. I think im the 1% who drives a porsche and has a girlfriend with huge natural knochers and a phat ass.