Space Marines are the most painted miniatures in the hobby, and for good reason: large, clean armour panels make them an ideal canvas for learning the core techniques of basecoat, shade and highlight. This guide uses the Ultramarines blue as the example, but the method works for any chapter - just swap the base colour in the scheme generator.
The signature look
Ultramarines are deep cobalt blue with gold trim, white helmet stripes or shoulder details, and bone/parchment purity seals. The blue should read rich and saturated, not washed-out, with crisp edge highlights that define the hard angular armour.
Painting the blue armour
The recipe above gives you the full ramp, but the technique matters as much as the paints:
- Basecoat smoothly. Thin your base colour with a little water and do two thin coats rather than one thick one - thick paint clogs the detail and dries patchy.
- Shade in the recesses only. Use a targeted wash in the joints and panel lines rather than slopping it over the whole model, so the flat armour stays clean.
- Edge highlight. This is what makes Space Marines pop. Drag a fine brush along the topmost edges with the highlight colour, then hit only the corners with the edge-highlight tone. Keep the line thin.
Adapting to other chapters
Every chapter is the same method with a different base colour. Open the chapter's armour colour in the scheme generator and the recipe rebuilds itself:
- Blood Angels - deep red, gold trim.
- Dark Angels - dark green, bone robes.
- Imperial Fists - yellow (build yellow up from a brown/orange base for coverage).
- Space Wolves - blue-grey with lots of metal and fur.
- Salamanders - dark green with a green-stable energy and black skin.
Tips and common mistakes
- Two thin coats beats one thick coat. Almost every "my Marines look messy" problem traces back to over-thick paint.
- Don't over-wash. A full-model wash muddies the clean armour. Shade the recesses, not the panels.
- Gold trim last. Paint the trim after the armour so you can tidy any overspill with the blue, then a brown wash brings the gold to life.
- Decals over edge highlights. Apply transfers after highlighting, then a matt varnish blends them into the surface.