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MINIATURES

RAY LAROSE|MINIATURES

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New to this? Start here

Gold 4 steps The basecoat, wash, highlight sequence most metal is built on. Ultramarine Armour 4 steps The same idea with an edge highlight, which is what makes armour read as armour. Rust 3 steps Stippling and drybrushing, and hard to get wrong. Ork Flesh 9 steps The whole ladder: a basecoat, two layers, a highlight, then glazes to blend it together.

Every miniature I have painted, with the paints and the steps to paint it again.

Paint Schemes

How I painted each model: the exact paints, the order they went on, and the finish they gave.

Before you start, and what the technique words mean
Thin your paint
Almost everything here goes on thinner than it comes out of the pot. Neat paint dries thick and fills in the detail you paid for. Add water a drop at a time on a palette until it runs somewhere between milk and heavy cream, depending on the brand, then build the colour up in two or three coats rather than one.
Start on a primed model
Unless a step says otherwise, every recipe here begins on a model that has already been primed - paint will not sit properly on bare plastic. Black unless the scheme says otherwise, which is what most of these were painted over.
The same words mean two things
Wash, shade and layer are both things you do and names Citadel puts on pots. The badge on a step is the action. The Type column in the paint list is which range the pot came from. A step badged "layer" is often painted with a Base paint, and that is not a mistake.
basecoat
The first solid colour over primer. Two thin coats beat one thick one.
highlight
A lighter colour on the parts that would catch the light.
layer
A slightly lighter colour over part of the coat below, leaving its edges showing.
wash
Thin, watery paint that runs into the recesses and shades the whole area at once.
edge
A highlight along a sharp edge only, painted with the side of the brush.
shade
Darker paint placed deliberately in the shadows rather than left to flow.
glaze
Heavily thinned paint over dry paint, to tint it and soften the join between two colours.
stipple
Dabbed on with the tip of the brush for a broken, rough, mottled surface.
drybrush
Almost-dry paint dragged across raised texture so it catches only the high points.
blend
Two colours worked into each other while both are wet, so there is no visible line.
special
Anything that is not one of the above. The step note says what it is.

Recipes

Methods I reuse across models - skin, metal, armour, cloth and the rest. Each step is one named paint, one technique and a note. Unless a step says otherwise, every recipe here starts on a primed model - the scheme that uses it usually says which colour.

Before you start, and what the technique words mean
Thin your paint
Almost everything here goes on thinner than it comes out of the pot. Neat paint dries thick and fills in the detail you paid for. Add water a drop at a time on a palette until it runs somewhere between milk and heavy cream, depending on the brand, then build the colour up in two or three coats rather than one.
Start on a primed model
Unless a step says otherwise, every recipe here begins on a model that has already been primed - paint will not sit properly on bare plastic. Black unless the scheme says otherwise, which is what most of these were painted over.
The same words mean two things
Wash, shade and layer are both things you do and names Citadel puts on pots. The badge on a step is the action. The Type column in the paint list is which range the pot came from. A step badged "layer" is often painted with a Base paint, and that is not a mistake.
basecoat
The first solid colour over primer. Two thin coats beat one thick one.
highlight
A lighter colour on the parts that would catch the light.
layer
A slightly lighter colour over part of the coat below, leaving its edges showing.
wash
Thin, watery paint that runs into the recesses and shades the whole area at once.
edge
A highlight along a sharp edge only, painted with the side of the brush.
shade
Darker paint placed deliberately in the shadows rather than left to flow.
glaze
Heavily thinned paint over dry paint, to tint it and soften the join between two colours.
stipple
Dabbed on with the tip of the brush for a broken, rough, mottled surface.
drybrush
Almost-dry paint dragged across raised texture so it catches only the high points.
blend
Two colours worked into each other while both are wet, so there is no visible line.
special
Anything that is not one of the above. The step note says what it is.

Black Weapons

🔗🖨
Weapon
Goto scheme for simple black weapons
Paints Used
Coal BlackPro Acryl⇆Mechanicus Standard GreyCitadel⇆Wolf Grey (72.047)Vallejo⇆LeadbelcherCitadel⇆Nuln OilCitadel⇆
Steps
  1. 1
    basecoatCoal BlackPro Acryl
    Base weapon·Artis Opus Series S 3
  2. 2
    edgeMechanicus Standard GreyCitadel
    Edge all panels·Artis Opus Series S 1
  3. 3
    highlightWolf Grey (72.047)Vallejo
    Dot highlights·Artis Opus Series S 1
  4. 4
    basecoatLeadbelcherCitadel
    Barrels, clips·Vallejo Detail 2
  5. 5
    washNuln OilCitadel
    Barrels, clips·Vallejo Detail 2
Used in: Ultramarines 4th Company, Ghazghkull Thraka, Maulers, Kommandos, Dreadnought, Commissar, Death Riders, Beast Snagga Boyz, Death Korps Artillery, Commissar Yarrick, Cadien Shock Troops, Imperial Knights - Knight Questoris, Catachan Jungle Fighters

Plasma Glow

🔗🖨
Weapon
Green plasma glow
Paints Used
Bold Titanium WhitePro Acryl⇆Baharroth BlueCitadel⇆Temple Guard BlueCitadel⇆
Steps
  1. 1
    basecoatBold Titanium WhitePro Acryl
    Base weapon area·Artis Opus Series S 1
  2. 2
    drybrushBaharroth BlueCitadel
    Brush top of glow - spreading onto metal·Artis Opus Series D Small
  3. 3
    drybrushTemple Guard BlueCitadel
    Very light, very top·Artis Opus Series D Small
  4. 4
    highlightBold Titanium WhitePro Acryl
    Reestablish highlight glow·Artis Opus Series S 00
Used in: Jump Pack Intercessors, Saturnine Praetor

Red Weapons

🔗🖨
Weapon
My goto colours for bolters and whatnot
Paints Used
Mephiston RedCitadel⇆Evil Sunz ScarletCitadel⇆Wild Rider RedCitadel⇆Deep Orange IntenseAK InteractiveLeadbelcherCitadel⇆Nuln OilCitadel⇆
Steps
  1. 1
    basecoatMephiston RedCitadel
    Base weapon·Artis Opus Series S 3
  2. 2
    edgeEvil Sunz ScarletCitadel
    1st edge (long edges)·Artis Opus Series S 1
  3. 3
    edgeWild Rider RedCitadel
    2nd edge (corners)·Artis Opus Series S 1
  4. 4
    highlightDeep Orange IntenseAK Interactive
    Dot highlight·Artis Opus Series S 1
  5. 5
    basecoatLeadbelcherCitadel
    Metal bits·Vallejo Detail
  6. 6
    washNuln OilCitadel
    Wash metal bits·Vallejo Detail 2
Notes
I'll sometimes make the orange dot highlight a little longer along the edges and come in with a pale yellow for the dot instead - but that's rare.
Used in: Hounds of Morka, Squig Rider, Ghazghkull Thraka, Maulers, Kommandos, Kronus Hegemony Black Scheme, Jump Pack Intercessors, Wonka Boyz, Commissar Yarrick

Squat Weapons

🔗🖨
SquatsWeapon
All my squat weapons follow this one scheme
Paints Used
BlackVallejo⇆Field Blue (70.964)Vallejo⇆Turquoise (72.024)Vallejo⇆LeadbelcherCitadel⇆Nuln OilCitadel⇆Brassy Brass (72.058)Vallejo⇆Agrax EarthshadeCitadel⇆
Steps
  1. 1
    basecoatBlackVallejo
    Primer black·Harder & Steenbeck Airbrush ULTRA 2024 Medium
  2. 2
    basecoatField Blue (70.964)Vallejo
    Base weapon·Artis Opus Series S 3
  3. 3
    edgeTurquoise (72.024)Vallejo
    Edge highlight weapons·Artis Opus Series S 1
  4. 4
    basecoatLeadbelcherCitadel
    Barrels / clips·Vallejo Detail
  5. 5
    washNuln OilCitadel
    Barrels / clips·Vallejo Detail
  6. 6
    basecoatBrassy Brass (72.058)Vallejo
    Brassy bits·Vallejo Detail
  7. 7
    washAgrax EarthshadeCitadel
    Brassy bits·Vallejo Detail
Used in: Ironhead Squat Prospectors, Ironhead Squat Exo-Kyn, Ironhead Squat Svenotar Scout Trikes

Paint Inventory

The paints I actually own - every pot on my shelf, not a catalogue of what exists. This is what the schemes and recipes are painted with.

PaintBrandTypeHueUsed in

Paint Conversion Chart

Citadel colours matched to their closest Vallejo, Pro Acryl and Two Thin Coats equivalents, by eye, over time. Nothing here is a measured colour match - the dots say how close each one really is.

Still filling this in: 8 of the 108 colours used in the recipes here have no row yet. Mostly Vallejo. A blank means not mapped, not that no equivalent exists.

How close the match is: near identical usable avoid

CitadelVallejoPro AcrylTwo Thin Coats