Let’s start off by declaring my love for the new Citadel paint range. That’s right internet, you heard me. “I’m a GW fanboy and proud of it”. Seriously though, there is always a downside to discontinuing a range of paints and that is will the new paints match the old ones? Read on to find out how I’m getting on.
My 15,000pts of Ultramarines have all been painted with Vallejo paints. I can still buy these paints so it’s not like I’m being forced to change. I even used them recently for a detailed Land Raider Tutorial.
So what made me want to change? Well it’s the convenience of popping into my local GW and picking out some new colours to play with. I can see the actual colours instead of trying to buy Vallejo off the internet and the new colours turn up nothing like how I expected. I also feel I tend to waste a lot of Vallejo paint constantly squirting it out onto a palette.
The other reason for painting this test model is Stahly. He is a big inspiration to me. His neatness is gobsmackingly good. I see his work and it makes me want to tighten up my own game. These models aren’t cheap so I no longer want to rush them. I’m really enjoying taking my time with my Necrons and trying to paint them the best I can. So I want to carry this over to my Ultramarines. This test model features some really fine lines and holds up really well to close up scrutiny.
This model was painted with Vallejo Game Colour paints.
My old Ultramarine scheme started with Vallejo Game Colour (VGC) Ultramarine Blue, then I had to mix VGC Wolf Grey into it progressively to highlight. Then I’d line the armour with VGC Stormy Blue.
The model was painted with Citedal paints
This new Scheme starts with a basecoat of GW Caledor Sky, it’s then shaded with a glaze of GW Macragge Blue a couple of times on the lower areas (not all over – it’s a not a wash). It’s then highlighted on the upper areas with a glaze of GW Hoeth Blue. Line the armour panel gaps with Kantor Blue before finally highlighting the upper edges with Fenrisian Grey. It’s all about softness and you get that from mixing in Lahmian Medium to create glazes. It’s subtle, looks natural and most of all isn’t too different to the old colour scheme.
Has anyone else been brave enough to switch colours half way through a project?
34 Comments
Leave a Reply
Tale of Painters is the unofficial Warhammer hobby magazine run by hobbyists like you. Support our work by using the affiliate links from our 🇺🇸 / 🇨🇦 partner stores for your next orders so we can continue to bring you fantastic FREE content every day:
Or support us directly:
So, I tried out my first Space Marine and well…it's alright
I was wondering about your first highlight. By applying to the lower areas you mean not physically lower such as feet and legs, but the lower areas on the whole model?
God, I would kill for a video tutorial by the masters here at Tale of Painters 🙂
Hi garfy and hello from australia. Could you please answer my question. When I paint competition minis I highlight them by imaging there is a light and painting where that light hits the mini. I believe this is called zenithal lighting. When these lighter layers ae painted on the transition between highlight and basecoat is rough and is not smooth at all most of the time. Could you please help me because I hate how the transition isn't smooth. Thanks Bradley.
Hi Bradley, my tutorial on painting NMM blades explains layering with glazes really well. Check it out, you can see even with the extreme close-ups the blends hold up really well.
http://taleofpainters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/tutorial-how-to-paint-nmm-style-blades.html
You know how some paints are thin and take several coats to get an opaque coat, well glazing is like that. You turn your paint into this thin glaze. The glaze allows you to see the layer underneath. Adding more glaze layers are basically the transition. Doing it this way you can blend two colours together without having to mix colours together for the transition.
Does this make sense? It's really hard to describe.
Thanks so much garfy for your help with the eyes and this Garfy yes it does make sense thankyou.
God I still have about 4 full pots of ultramarine blue and space wolf grey……I don't dare switch. Great insight on how you took the plunge though.
For Macragge!!!!!
much obliged, Master Garfy 🙂
Sure my recipe is: Basecoat Castellan Green -> Highlight Elysian Green – Highlight Loren Forest.
Please send me a picture once you tried it, would love to see a fellow battle brother's work. Post it on our facebook page is probably easiest.
This might be a bit of topic, but what is your opinion of Army Painter Warpaints? I found a set over here (Poland) of 36 dropper bottles including the 3 shades, metallics and a varish for like 64 Euros. The AP site lists the set as 99 Euros. For a beginner like me it looks like a cool deal especially considering that it comes with 5 brushes. Are the paints any good? Or does this seem a little too good to be true for that price?
Hi Leszek, Stahly has reviewed these paints before. You can read the review by following the link below.
http://taleofpainters.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/review-army-painter-warpaints.html
Hey man, loving the way you paint your Ultramarines, definitely gonna give this way a try. Quick question, what green did you use on the shoulder pad trim? On my marines I can never seem to get the green to compliment the blue like the way you have managed too.
Thanks
I ended up switching paints when I saw that GW did Kantor Blue and I was working on Crimson Fists, and its shade and coverage just looked so much nicer than the VMC Dark Prussian Blue I was using.
I had been firmly in the VMC & VGC camp since I decided to switch back in the mid 2000s and found their paints easier to work with, but now I'm finding myself picking paints from an increasing number of ranges, like P3, Coat D'Arms and Foundry.
One thing I know for sure is that GW's Citadel Base paints are superb, I really don't think I'd contemplate painting yellow minis without Averland Sunset, since I tend to undercoat in grey primer as I always seem to have dusting issues with any white spray I use.
Hi, how did you paint the eyes. Thanks
Paint the lens black, then paint half the lens with warpstone glow, then paint a thin line of bright green (I forget the name), finally dot the black area with white and add an ultra thin line to the bottom of the lens.
Brace your wrists on your desk to steady yourself. Water your paints slightly so the paint doesn't drag off of the bristles. Take your time and practice.
That's a nice looking Ultra. I'm glad to see the new citadel blues looking as good as they do here – looking at them in the pots, they all looked a little washed out and pastel-ey compared to the vibrant ones they replaced, but they seem to turn out fine.
As an aside, did you paint this guy in sub-assemblies? If so, how many? I can't imagine painting a model in that pose without at least having the bolter arm detatchable… I have to magentise the arms on my CSM for that reason.
No sub-assemblies. If I had to paint it in parts to make it easier I would just leave the bolter off. No need to magnetise arms.
As always Garfy you are an inspiration. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing the paint for your bolt gun.
I have a an old Citadel dragon (This one http://goo.gl/ruwsh) that I've wanted to paint as a black dragon for ages, but have never been able to work out the highlights.
That black casing is the exact colour I've had in mind, thank you for sharing as you always do 🙂
Nice post garfy – love yours and Stahly's Ultramarines. For the marine you painted with caledor sky, what colour did you prime him with. I am using the gw scheme for ultramarines on a black primer and end up with an almost crimson fists shade of blue – this ultimately led me to stop playing for the false emperor and move onto more xenos fields (name Eldar). Also could you do a tutorial on your black grey knight please since that colour scheme is very appealing.
Thank you
I used a black primer yes.
You'll have to ask Rev nicely for a tutorial for his Black Grey Knights. My Grey Knights are blue steel and there's a tutorial for them here…
http://taleofpainters.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/tutorial-how-to-paint-grey-knights.html
The new paints are air tight and don't dry out. It was the old style hard plastic lids that use to dry out.
Just keep the rim of the pot clear of old dry paint build up to ensure a good seal and they won't dry out.
The problem is they still dry out when you have the paint pot open. There is still dried paint under the lid lip and around the inside. That is the reason why i have converted to vallejo and GW I repackage into dropper bottles.
The amount that is wasted by keeping a GW pot open while painting is greater than an extra drop out of a dropper bottle. (You can stem this by dropping 1 or 2 drops of flow aid into the GW pot after use and shake well)
Now for washes I convert them back over to GW bottles, god i hate washes in dropper bottles.
I meant to add i have had maybe 5 pots over the decades dry out from the seal at the top of the bottle. It's not hard to clean and keep going. All of the versions have done well.
And GW original INK pots, I would love to have more of them.
I just started painting, but I heard that the new caps for GW form a pretty decent seal. If you shake the jar every few days (weeks?) the paint should keep for a while. right? I ask cause I want to start collecting different colors, but I know that sometimes boring things like jobs get in the way 😉
Yes and no, I got part way through painting some raven guard successors in a similar scheme to the soul drinkers from the black library before real life meant I took a break for a bit. By the time I'd got back into it the GW liche purple had dried out, and the replacement I bought was a completely different shade. Gutted!
Thank you for the informative and interesting post.
I tend to mix my paint manufacturers, with paints from most (if not all) of the main suspects.
However I am yet to try any of the new GW paints. I saw the move coming and stock-piled my favourite paints prior to the complete changeover.
Tony
Ah that's a shame you wrote them off before even trying them. I think they're great paints. I know what you mean though, we all have our favourites.
I think the real change is:
" Lahmian Medium to create glazes."
I find I waste a LOT less paint with the vallejo paints, GW bottles are mehh. They dry out every time you open the bottle.
Also using Liquitex mediums causes 4 drops of paint to cover most of a models and llow multiple shadings, glazes etc.
Very Cool color scheme. I'm still having a hard time getting my chest eagles just right. Did you use the same scheme from the Bolter on the chest eagle? I've been basing with Balthasar THEN washing with Earthshade and trying to highlight with Gehenna and then some Auric or Runefang. Maybe I'm trying too hard 😉
If you want more contrast and shading turn Warplock Bronze into a wash by mixing a lot of Lahmian Medium with it. Then using a fine brush run it into the gaps of the feathers. Just take your time and use a fine detail brush to pick out the individual feathers. Drybrushing won't work.
Nice idea.I was gonna pick up the bronze colors to try Space Wolves anyways. I think I can cut the basing with Balthasar step and just use Gehenna with your Warplock bronze idea. Many thanks 🙂
I think my second mistake is not "cleaning up" after the Drakenhof shade. I tried to follow Citadel's advice and used both Altdorf Guard blue and Calgar Blue as highlights on the raised edges
How have you found the new metallic paints by Citadel? I may have just been unlucky but I have problems with pretty much every metallic colour I've bought.
Oh and out of intrest do you mind sharing the recipe for the Boltgun from the above Ultramarine?
Metallic paints from all manufacturers suffer from separation. I'm a regular painter and always shake my metal paints so never really had an issue with Vallejo or GW metallics. My top tip though is mix some Vallejo Glaze Medium or GW Lahmian Medium into the metallic paint instead of water. It thins the paint out and it paints on silky smooth.
Bolt Gun recipe:
Black casing: Abaddon Black -> Eshin Grey -> Dawnstone
Metals: Leadbelcher -> Agrax Earthshade -> Runefang Steel
Gold: Gehenna's Gold -> Agrax Earthshade -> Auric Armour Gold.
Hope this helps and thanks for the reply 🙂
I have swopped from the old GW paints to the new half-way through my 4th Co Ultra's (Snap!) – not sure if its the newer paints but definately happier with what I'm achieving now. The difference is noticable but I think thats more due to my improving standard of finish – I'm still at the stage where I'm making significant improvements in standard as I finish each squad etc. I also have a Bad Moons Ork project which is painted in a mixture of old and new GW – difference seems less noticable with the "yellow range" of paints though.
Really like your latest test scheme – will you be posting a tutorial as I'd like to give it a go?
As its my first post I's also like to say thanks for continuing to post some excellent tutorials and inspiring projects – you're regularly putting the regular GW site to shame!
Thanks Battle Brother Snorri for your kind words about the our blog.
In answer to your question about a tutorial. I can tell you there will be a tutorial on my Ultramarine scheme, but it won't be until October.