Painting Dark Angel Space Marines Robes

This is a tutorial for how to paint the robes on Dark Angel Space Marines. You will need the following materials to complete this project:

•a Dark Angel Space Marine, undercoated black. See Getting Started: Basic Tools for building and prepping your models.

•fine tipped paint brush

•a paint pallet to mix paints (an old dinner plate words really well, or a plastic lid)

•the following paints: Dheneb Stone, Seraphim Sepia, Agrax Earthshade, Skull White

Step One:

1. Using the brush, paint the robes with Dheneb Stone. Paint in two or three coats to get nice even coverage. Don’t worry if you cover some of the armor, as we will paint over that later.

The robes after 3 coats of Dheneb Stone

 

2. Use Seraphim Sepia to “wash” the area. This type of paint is very thin and will flow into all the folds in the robe. Let the first coat COMPLETELY dry before doing you second coat. You will ruin the effect if you try to do a second coat before letting the first completely dry.

A heavy coat of Seraphim Sepia is next.

 

3. Now we need to carefully re-paint the robes with Dheneb Stone, leaving the darker brown undisturbed in all of the deep folds. Using your brush, mix up the Dheneb Stone and Seraphim Sepia in equal parts on the paint pallet. Paint that onto the model everywhere that is not part of a recess or fold. This takes time and patience. If you get paint into the folds, re-wash that area with Seraphim Sepia and try again.

Repainted robe, leaving the darker recesses.

 

4. Now we need to give the robe the appearance that light is reflecting off the parts that are raised. This is known as highlighting and gives the model some real depth. This time, paint pure Dheneb Stone onto the raised parts of the folds. The difference between this layer and the one beneath if will be really tough to see. It is that gradual progression that we want.

Giving the robe some depth.

 

5. The final step is to paint the parts of the robes that would get the most light. Using your brush, mix Dheneb Stone and Skull White in equal parts. Paint the folds in the robe that are the highest on the model, the places where light would catch most prominently. This is time consuming and takes a very steady hand.

Final highlight.

 

The same model from the back.

The same final step from the back.

 

That is it. The armor and remaining pieces of the model use some of the same techniques. I will post a picture of the completed model when I finish him up.

Edit 2/18/2014

As promised, here is the completed model. He needs “grass” on his base, but he is mostly finished.

Completed Dark Angels Sgt.
From the back.

2 Comments

  1. 21pfeila
    2/8/2013
    Reply

    Where do you get the paints?

  2. Acrylicaddict
    3/5/2013
    Reply

    Hey

    Really nice paint job and awesome tutorial, nice and to the point. You really let the pictures to the job.

    I have a question if you don not mind: How do you get such nice coverage and flowing brushstrokes? When i build my layers it generally gets “patchy” or the transition between the colors gets to sharp….

    Keep up the nice work!
    http://acrylicaddict.blogspot.se/

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