How to (properly) paint red.
- Thread starter necrowolf
- Start date
ScottRadom
Shogun of Saskatchewan
James Wappel (Wappelious) paints my favorite type of GW style big poppin\' reds. You could PM him (He\'s very helpful!). Actually, I PM\'d him and got his colors. Hang on a minute here..... okay.... here\'s the message he sent me....
Hi there! My reds continusouly change... especially now that I use the Citadel glazes more. Lately I have been starting out with scab red and regal blue, working back to blood red (or sometimes I start with blood red and glaze darker with the blue/scab red mix). I add blazing orange, and then firey orange, even going as high as sunburst yellow. I have been taking a leviathan purple and baal red mix to smooth out the darker shaded areas... or even to tone down the highlights if they are too bright. I hope this helps! James
I really like it. I\'ve not done too much with this, but his stuff looks great. I do like the blue as a shade quite a bit too!
I hope James Wappel doesn\'t mind me posting that message!
Hi there! My reds continusouly change... especially now that I use the Citadel glazes more. Lately I have been starting out with scab red and regal blue, working back to blood red (or sometimes I start with blood red and glaze darker with the blue/scab red mix). I add blazing orange, and then firey orange, even going as high as sunburst yellow. I have been taking a leviathan purple and baal red mix to smooth out the darker shaded areas... or even to tone down the highlights if they are too bright. I hope this helps! James
I really like it. I\'ve not done too much with this, but his stuff looks great. I do like the blue as a shade quite a bit too!
I hope James Wappel doesn\'t mind me posting that message!
freakinacage
New member
i doubt he minds, he seems insanely nice
i like james\' recipe, but i\'m not a fan of the GW reds\' coverage...
i used \'em for years, and never knew a better option...
mixin\' the regal blue into the scab red does help it cover better...
scorched brown helps as well...
i prefer the P3 reds...
startin\' with sanguine base has made life easier...
then a mix of sanguine and skorne red...
a mix of skorne and khador red base...
khador red on it\'s own...
then a mix of khador red and heartfire for a highlight...
this is my prefered method, but i\'m playin\' around with the washes right now, but i find glazes and washes are just too subtle for basic commission work, unless that\'s your style...
i mostly enjoy makin\' a pleasant scheme just usin\' the straight colours out of the pot, to achieve a strong graphic novel style, but you would need about six slightly different reds to do this...
red is one of the few colours that i find i have to mix to get smooth transitions between the layers...
cheers
jah
i used \'em for years, and never knew a better option...
mixin\' the regal blue into the scab red does help it cover better...
scorched brown helps as well...
i prefer the P3 reds...
startin\' with sanguine base has made life easier...
then a mix of sanguine and skorne red...
a mix of skorne and khador red base...
khador red on it\'s own...
then a mix of khador red and heartfire for a highlight...
this is my prefered method, but i\'m playin\' around with the washes right now, but i find glazes and washes are just too subtle for basic commission work, unless that\'s your style...
i mostly enjoy makin\' a pleasant scheme just usin\' the straight colours out of the pot, to achieve a strong graphic novel style, but you would need about six slightly different reds to do this...
red is one of the few colours that i find i have to mix to get smooth transitions between the layers...
cheers
jah
Gilvan Blight
New member
With just GW:
I start with Scorched Brown as a base.
Then Scab Red
Then Scab with increasingly more Blood Red
Then Just Blood Red.
Then some orange from the old Colour or was it Monster Paint set. It doesn\'t have a label so I\'m not sure what the name is.
Like Jahminis, I\'ve changed my formula since finding P3 paints.
I start with Scorched Brown
Then use sanguine base.
Then sanguine with sanguine highlight
Then blood red added to this
finishing off with some heartfire.
I start with Scorched Brown as a base.
Then Scab Red
Then Scab with increasingly more Blood Red
Then Just Blood Red.
Then some orange from the old Colour or was it Monster Paint set. It doesn\'t have a label so I\'m not sure what the name is.
Like Jahminis, I\'ve changed my formula since finding P3 paints.
I start with Scorched Brown
Then use sanguine base.
Then sanguine with sanguine highlight
Then blood red added to this
finishing off with some heartfire.
wrestlerguy21
New member
I dont like the look of the highlighted red with either pink or orange. I found that golden paints makes a very good red (matt fluid). I start with a dark purpleish color and highlight to red. The red is the end highlight. If you look at my picks I have a confrontation wolf thing on a lava base. His armor was done this way. Hope this helps
Tercha
New member
Ok for a nice even red (no shading blending or highlighting) undercoat white, then undercoat yellow, then paint red.
doyme
New member
Try putting in a touch of some blue into the highlights past blood red/orange. i.e. use slight amounts of space wolf grey with burning orange. I find that if I highlight with oranges through to yellow then what I obtain is too orange looking for classic red. Also look at a red car in sunlight and you tell me if you see any straight yellow! Blue is required because highlighting by just adding white produces too pinky a red.
For the shadowing past some colour like red gore I usually use the complimentary colour i.e. red gore + dark angels green.
So my formula for a deep red looking red (from shadow to highlight) is something like:
red gore+dark angels green
red gore
blood red
burning orange
burning orange + small amout of spacewolf grey
This is just rough and each time I do red I mess around adding things like purples/blues to the shade and blues and yellows to the highlights until I get something that looks right. I get images from google of red objects and then sample the colours in photoshop to get a good idea of what they are.
Anyway that's how I do red.
For the shadowing past some colour like red gore I usually use the complimentary colour i.e. red gore + dark angels green.
So my formula for a deep red looking red (from shadow to highlight) is something like:
red gore+dark angels green
red gore
blood red
burning orange
burning orange + small amout of spacewolf grey
This is just rough and each time I do red I mess around adding things like purples/blues to the shade and blues and yellows to the highlights until I get something that looks right. I get images from google of red objects and then sample the colours in photoshop to get a good idea of what they are.
Anyway that's how I do red.
Wyrmypops
New member
Allowing for fluctuations in different surfaces and what have you: I tend to start with Scab Red. Blending into Blood Red. Then moving into highlights I'd first add Blazing Orange range into the mix, then continueing add more white and yellow. White on its own makes an unsatisfying pink, while yellow on its own makes for a flamey effect, but both together create a salmon colour that doesn't prompt such a wtf problem for us as we look upon it.
Can apply a Red Glaze afterward if considered neccesary. Glazes are useful in tying reinvigorating an area with a tint of colour, and work a treat in pulling together blended highlights.
Depending on the subject matter, could chop and change a few paints. Replace the orange with another with different properties. Blazing Orange and Fiery Orange are quite different. Bubonic Brown could be a murky replacement for the yellow. A blue glaze added to the red could be used for something visceral.
Can apply a Red Glaze afterward if considered neccesary. Glazes are useful in tying reinvigorating an area with a tint of colour, and work a treat in pulling together blended highlights.
Depending on the subject matter, could chop and change a few paints. Replace the orange with another with different properties. Blazing Orange and Fiery Orange are quite different. Bubonic Brown could be a murky replacement for the yellow. A blue glaze added to the red could be used for something visceral.
Dragonsreach
Super Moderator
Adding to the options I find that the coverage of GW's red is poor so I have a tendancy to use Vallejo's reds.
But using the GW foundation Mechrite Red with a dark brown gives a good basecoat for red over black 'primer'.
But as a highlighting colour to give a smoother transition try using Dwarf Flesh added to the red to soften the reansition and prevent the "Slaaneshi" Pink that you get with adding white.
But using the GW foundation Mechrite Red with a dark brown gives a good basecoat for red over black 'primer'.
But as a highlighting colour to give a smoother transition try using Dwarf Flesh added to the red to soften the reansition and prevent the "Slaaneshi" Pink that you get with adding white.
You can get lots actually... for the past year or so, my kids and I have been playing a game called 'Spotto', where we try and spot yellow cars. When driving West before sunset, every oncoming red car on the freeway looks yellow - and I mean yellow - to the point where we can't even call 'Spotto' until the cars are practically passing us.
