Earlier this year, Adam challenged several members of The Army Painter studio and marketing teams to paint up the same model, but with their own unique spin on it. The iconic Space Marine Captain from Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 game was selected and Thomas, Steffen, Lasse, Tyler, and Adam himself got to work painting one up. Space Marines can come in an infinite number of colour schemes, some “official” chapters, as well as whatever your mind can conjure up to fill in the blanks. With this very loose set of guidelines in place, the painters enthusiastically jumped in. You can watch the results of this right now on Youtube or at the end of this article.
While a large selection of paints was used on each model, we asked each painter to tell us their Top 5 colours from the project. This could be anything from the most prominent colours on the mini to the ones that were most surprising in their results or even just their personal favourite colours used.
Thomas Coltau
Thomas: For the vibrant red, I started with Warpaints Fanatic Mulled Berry, then a Warpaints Fanatic Dark Red Tone, and then highlighted it up to Warpaints Fanatic Raging Rose. This was then finished off with a glaze of Blood Red Speedpaint. Glazing Speedpaint on top of the Fanatic paints is my favourite technique for vibrant colours. You get the excellent coverage of the Fanatic range and the super vibrant look that you only get from our Speedpaints.
I used the same technique for the blue armour, where I started with Warpaints Fanatic Phalanx Blue, highlighting it up to a close to white, and then glazing it with Speedpaint Caribbean Ocean.
Lasse Sell
Lasse: Warpaints Fanatic Dark Blue Tone has become one of my most used paints. I slap it on the mini after a zenithal prime and let it sink into the recesses, then I remove most of the excess, giving me clearly defined panel lines on the armour - as long as I don't mess them up later! I think I have a thing for playing around with painting white armour and Warpaints Fanatic Frost Blue is a really good transition colour when you want to take any blue tone up to pure white.
Warpaints Fanatic Greedy Gold in combination with a Warpaints Fanatic Orange Tone wash gives a warm, vibrant gold effect which contrasts quite well with the cold, white armour. It's my new favourite way for easy, warm golds.
I needed some cool reds to go with my cool whites so Warpaints Fanatic Wyvern Fury was a perfect starting point for me. Red, but with a cold tint, and plenty of vibrancy!
Tyler Mengel
Tyler: This was my first time really using an airbrush and the Warpaints Air range on a model the size of a Marine. My plan from early on was to use Warpaints Air Shark White and Yeti White across the whole model, doing most of the work for the white armour, and also creating a pre-shade for the red and yellow areas later. Those areas were largely knocked out using Speedpaint Blood Red and Zealot Yellow before being enhanced with colours from the Warpaints Fanatic range.
Speaking of Warpaints Fanatic, one of my favourite parts on this model ended up being his power sword. The main colour on this is the lovely new Warpaints Fanatic Cobalt Metal. The blue tint to it not only makes the sword look really clean and pristine but also helps reinforce the powered nature of the blade. This was further enhanced with lighter silvers, as well as our duo of wonderful blue Washes.
Adam Abramowicz
Adam: These paints are the core colours for my custom chapter, the Fists Adelphi. Speedpaint Plasmatic Bolt works as a great shadow filter and can also be applied as a focused recess wash, while Warpaints Fanatic Amulet Aqua is the workhorse highlight tone. All of this is applied over the two main colours from the Warpaints Air range that I use, Majestic Fortress and Elemental Bolt. I had to throw in the Warpaints Fanatic Radiation Glow Effect because it is so fun and easy to use. If you haven't yet, you need to try the Glow Effects!
Steffen Aarestrup
Steffen: Warpaints Air Witchbane Plum is a really great saturated purple. I love how you can use this over an underpainting/zenithal and get such a great-looking saturated gradient due to the slight transparency of the paint. Plasmatic Bolt is my favourite Speedpaint. It goes really well against the purple and adds some cold tones to the shading without being desaturated. One of my favourite metallics is Warpaints Fanatic Dark Emerald. It also plays well as a way to add a green tint to compliment the purple.
Speedpaint Ghillie Dew is a very versatile green that looks amazing over a black and white zenithal pre-shade. Lastly, Warpaints Fanatic Deep Azure was used to add a bit of a turquoise spot colour to all the purple and tie it in with the Plasmatic Bolt shadows.
Don’t forget to watch the video and let us know which Space Marine Captain you think is the best in the comments!
