Blood Angel Painting Guide - Part 1

This is a step by step guide for painting Blood Angels using my method. It's almost certainly not the best looking way to paint Red, nor is it the easiest, but I think it's a nice medium between a quick basic paintjob and a hyper-detailed aproach. I'm mainly writing this down as a record, just in case I ever forget the exact details.

For a quick and easy way to get a decent Blood Angels army on the tabletop, check out http://the25mmwarrior.blogspot.com/ , this fellow uses Army Painter quickshade and get's great results. I've experimented with this stuff on Eldar Guardians, and I think it's wonderful stuff.

Here's part one of my guide :

Paint Needed: Mecherite Red, Blood Red, Red Ink, Magneta Ink, Chaos Black

Step One

Undercoat the sprues with Black Spray, followed by painting on watered down Chaos Black with a tank brush, careful not to splash paint all over the furniture! After the black paint is dry, get the same tank brush, and brush a couple of thin coats of Mecherite Red over any area of the model which will be red. You don't have to be too careful here, you can paint it over with Chaos Black later.

You can cut the models off the sprue, trim any mold lines with a knife and stick the models on the bases now. I tend to paint models in several smaller parts, with the Black Reach marines I'm currently painting I'm leaving the Boltguns and Backpacks seperate till later.

The models should look like this:

Step Two

Paint over the bare plastic left from the sprue with a new coat of Chaos Black, followed by a thin coat of Mecherite Red over any part of the armour that should be red, but has been missed. When this is dry paint the entire model with a watered down coat of Blood Red using a smaller brush, taking care to be neater. Mix up a wash made up of 20% Red Ink, 20% Magneta Ink and 60% Water, and liberaly coat the entire model wherever it should be red. Leave to dry.

Unfortunately Red Ink and Magneta Ink are both no longer sold by GW, and the new inks are too dark to use as an alternative. When I run low on my inks I will almost certainly turn to Valejo's Game Ink range, as they seem to be similar.

Step Three

This is the insanely annoying step, and the one that takes the longest. The idea is to simply paint any part of the model which will not be red with Chaos Black, using your finest brush. Sounds simple, but takes several years. At this point I like to get the base for the Squad Badge on the kneepad done, just for a little variation. As this is the 3rd Squad, I use a basecoat of Iyanden Darksun. 

Here are the results below, along with an example of a finished battle brother. There's plenty left to go, but I find that I can finish a 5 man squad in around 6 hours, when listening to an interesting podcast (Skeptics Guide to the Universe is highly recomended, google it!).

I'll post part 2 of this guide some time in the next few days, I really need to get steaming ahead with my Blood Angels and this will be the perfect excuse to get a squad painted. I think it's a nice example of the effect Inks can have on Space Marine armour, and how a little inking can give it that vibrancy it can sorely need.

-Gavin