StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Greetings!

I need painting advice... I recently decided to start a Blood Raven army in 40k, and I thought I'd order the necessary paints along with the starter set. I did find one painting guide here but with all those new foundations and washes released by Citadel recently I was wondering if there is an easier/better way to paint them. I have no experience of the new colour whatsoever, and if possible I'd like not to buy more colour than necessary.

I was thinking basecoating the minis black and then painting the armour mechrite red (foundation) and then washing it either black or baal red, and perhaps drybrushing some kind of brighter red on top of that, but I honestly have no clue as to which colours will get the best 'Blood Raven red result'. Any help is appreciated!

Merchite Red with a wash of Red Ink works well to get the right sort of red for the blood ravens. You'd want Bleached Bone for the cream details too. Other than that it's really just some metallic paint for your weapons and whatever colour you pick for your details (eyes etc). You can use merchite red for the highlights after the wash since it will alter the tone.

I've not used the new ink, but I suspect the results will be about the same and the pots of ink last forever. I still have a mid 90's era pot of Red Ink on the go.

Ah, good old "ink plus Future Floorwax" shading.

I would probably base the models white instead of black, though, as red tends to look more brownish and splotchy over black, even the foundations (unless you use 2 or more coats). Plus the bleached bone will look brighter. Then, after you use red and whatever ink you like, use some orange on the highlights. Drybrushing works, but basic marines have so many featureless surfaces that you might want to try manually highlighting the model as they do in all of the 'Eavy Metal tutorials. It depends on whether you'd prefer them to look bright and shiny or dusty and worn, which is what drybrushing is really good at.

Oh, and get some sort of paint for the basing. Snakebite Leather and Bestial Brown, or even Bleached Bone can make for some interesting "sandy" bases, or you can use green, which will have more contrast to the red.

You might want to find your least favorite model and designate him the "tester" model until you find a scheme you really like. It's not like he'll need all his details where he'll be going.

I used black basecoat for my Blood Ravens (well 1 trooper so far), it worked ok.

Just to weigh in with yet another opinion, I find basing in a light grey to be a good idea. Black and white as bases tend to obscure details of the model, by hiding them in shadow or reflection from your light source.

A light grey like Elf Grey gives you a good colour fidelity over the top of it without causing undue reflections like white.