How to Paint: Metallic (?) ULTRAMARINES - Contrast hack!

How to Paint Ultramarines! Today we’re teaching you how to paint space marines using contrast paints: It’s a twist on the normal Ultramarine Blue we’ve seen in Warhammer 40k for decades, we’ve used drybrushing and the Ultramarines Blue contrast paint, with some painting tips and tricks to help you get amazing results, every time.
The method is surprisingly easy, we even show you the experimentation so you can work out your own drybrushing metallics + [colour] schemes.
If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments 😊.
0:00 Intro
1:02 Paints used
1:09 Experimenting with paints
3:33 How to paint Ultramarine armour
12:53 Detailing
13:47 How to paint chainsaw hazard stripes
16:18 Tie your model to the base
19:18 Finished model and outro
How to Strip Miniatures fast (Ultimate Easy Guide): • HOW TO STRIP MINIATURE...
Space Marine tutorials:
Ultramarines (Airbrush + Drybrush + Wash synergy): • How to paint Ultramari...
Dark Angels (high tabletop drybrush armour): • How to paint DARK ANGE...
Salamanders (high tabletop drybrush armour): • How to paint Salamande...
Black Templars (ultra-crisp drybrush+wash armour): • How to Paint BLACK TEM...
Imperial Fists (artistic purple shadow drybrush armour): • INDOMITUS How to paint...
Space Wolves (our take on Space Wolf Grey): • Space Wolves Painting ...
Minis:
Necrons (aged Verdigris scheme): • How to Paint Necrons -...
'Ghostbuster Green' Nighthaunt (Contrast + Washes): • PAINT GHOSTLY MODELS F...
Classic Nighthaunt: • How to Paint Classic N...
Vehicle tutorials:
Space Wolves: • How to Paint Warhammer...
Turquoise Tanks (alpha legion overclocked rhino): • How to Paint a Space M...
Star Wars Legion AAT: • How to paint: AAT Batt...
Large Miniatures:
AMAZING Great unclean one in 3 hours with Drybrushing: • INSANE Great Unclean O...
Fundamental/Basic army level Techniques:
How to Control GW Texture paints (e.g. Agrellan Earth): • GW Texture Paints Unlo...
Black Armour: • PAINT BLACK ARMOUR LIK...
Leather 3 ways: • How to Paint Leather F...
White 3 ways: • Painting white miniatu...
Gold 3 ways (bonus advanced gold): • How to Paint GOLD: FAS...
Yellow 4 ways: • How to Paint Yellow Wa...
Assembling, converting, and painting Forgeworld (Rogue Idol): • Re-posing an Orruk Rog...
Paint Realistic Flames - with DRYBRUSHING!: • How to Paint FLAMES an...
Chipping using AK Interactive Products: • Easy Chipping effects ...
Terrain:
Glowing 40k/SF Terrain: • How to paint 40K terra...
Glowing/firey/endless spells: • Paint all GLOWING Terr...
Dungeons: • Game Changing MODULAR ...
Grey Walls: • How to paint terrain D...
Upgrade those Grey walls with enamel washes in 3 quick steps!: • Upgrade ANY terrain in...
Glowing Green GHOST WALL: • Drybrush Striking Glow...
Synthwave Purple/Pink Wall: • Drybrush Fluorescent G...
Yellow Shipping Container: • PAINTING YELLOW MADE E...
Texture paint (agrellan) Basing Drybrush Scheme tutorials:
Mars/Desert Basing (quick, 'warm' basing): • How to Paint QUICK & E...
Cracked Lava Base: • How to Paint Volcanic/...
Grimdark (cool grey): • How to paint High qual...
Huge bases fast (airbrush, drybrush, wash): • How to Paint Big Bases...
Icy Bases: • How to paint Icy Tundr...
Basing Tutorials:
Metallic Sector Mechanicus 3 ways: • Simple Sci-Fi Industri...
Build a Scenic Base fast (with greenstuff and a rock!): • BUILD a better base fo...
Paint your Scenic Base - Spooky Basing: • How to Paint a Moonlit...
Limestone Basing: • How to base miniatures...
In this video Byron’s using the Artis Opus Brushes!
Series D: These high-quality brushes are perfectly designed for stippling, smudging, drybrushing, buffing, and even edge-highlighting. store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Series S - The perfect point, the ideal everyday brush: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Series M - Shorter heads for precision detailing: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Series D Brush set: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
XL Series D: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Accessories (brush racks, cleaner, pallets): store.artis-opus.com/
Music: Bensounds
#ultramarines #warhammer40k #spacemarines

[@abbiplay5974]

Looks cool. Pls more Marines like this. Looks a little bit better whan the other Marines.

[@ArtisOpus]

:D Dark Angels seem to have been requested consistently, maybe they'll be the next ones to get the treatment :)

[@wing459]

Truly just love your style. Just absolute mastery of what others may consider basic or speed painting techniques. It's so impressive the quality that you achieve almost solely through dry brushing and contrast paints. Really love the vids.

[@Ed-xo9pc]

Really loved this, especially the weathering, and it's great seeing your experimentation process too,

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks dude

[@TheAngelosShow]

Really cool, different take on how to Paint any marine. Not everyone wants to spend 10 hours per marine making NMM red on their blood angels haha

[@Himle_]

Do find this approach to painting metallics is very interesting. Still stuck on painting Deep Madness minis, so can't really use it atm, but will give it a whirl when I'm done. Time wise, i'd say around 30 mins is the "best" way. With the occasional 45+min in depth one. 30 mins is easy to fit in, and you can watch it in 1 go without being disturbed. Also, do as you're doing. Focus on the main theme off the video, and make (if you haven't already) separate videos for attaching transfers, painting eyes, weathering etc. That way it's much easier to find what you're looking for. For Dominion, start off with the Kruleboys!

[@brandanweeks2625]

Loved this video. I like seeing your experiment process and the detail into the sword and armour. I like the length of the videos too.

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks so much man, glad you found it useful! Experimenting is a huge part of the process, and often yields the most surprising results :)

[@swissmoose]

chainsword looks amazing with that shading

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks, my man, hazard stripes plus shading and chips is just a winner, always!

[@kevinwallace1759]

Damn that looks awesome! An Pre Heresy Alpha Legion Vid in this style would be magnificent.

[@ArtisOpus]

They would be perfect, wouldn't they! Maybe a dig through the new contrasts would give some inspiration :)

[@tombrand236]

Metallic + contrast is my thing. I really like the effect with Akhellian green and terradon turquoise. Next…stormcast please!!!

[@ArtisOpus]

I am honestly going to have to put real effort in to doing any Kruelboyz, the SCE are so much more tempting to me as a painter, you will 100% get your wish, if not immediately very soon, and in many colours :D

[@jayceeni]

Excellent video, the blue armour looks soooo good . Great job ty

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks, Jay! It really would look amazing across an entire army, very different look, but still obviously smurfs :)

[@Dannos3d]

Love it . Looks great. Thanks again for the vid.

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks dude! Our pleasure, man :)

[@vladimirpotrosky7855]

I don't mind long videos. Make em longer! I love watching the process take form

[@isisnmagic1812]

Awesome video, great tip with the metallic base, now I want to add more marines as I was moving from them thanks lol

[@S.A.S.H.]

Videos dedicated to specific in-depth subjects, like mixing experiments would be great, please.And then a playlist of all the detailed videos for a given miniature "project" so we can then watch a segment or the entirety of the segments at our leisure.

[@ArtisOpus]

This is a great call, we're going to take a step back and nail some fundamentals this year, watch this space!

[@epicdiestudio73]

Recently found your channel and really enjoy your style. I found that after binging you vids that 20-30 minutes works well for me at least. As per other commenters, 30 min or less feels easier to fit in, and you dont need to stop and maybe come back later. Cheers!

[@ArtisOpus]

Cheers dude, glad you're finding the format useful!

[@ainsinnes]

In the spirit of the mini just painted, the wisdom of Guilliman could prove useful. The chapter system allows for longer, but more versatile and adaptable, videos. Make them as long as you can, split into chapters that people can access if and when they need. I absolutely love this channel and adore watching several relaxing hours miniature painting, hopefully absorbing it all like a sponge.

[@joaobasilio1081]

Amazing Work as always! I really liked the different approuch u made on this ultramarine, i need to ddefinitely try it myself in my Scythe Mechs. About the video format, as i m still learning, I Would love to see the full painting, beacause i feel those skips can make me miss important steps. Dont need to be in every video, but ocasionally when you trying new stuff/different approuches is really fun to watch the whole painting, speeding up some parts maybe, and keeping the amazing explanations ofc! Love your work, and big thanks for sharing it with us!

[@ArtisOpus]

Good call Joao, I can absolutely see that - if in a future video I skip something feel free to ask me which other video it's covered in, and I'll point you in the right direction :)

[@chyeeeeee]

Great video was looking for this exact thing the other day for a custom chapter. If you're gonna do stormcast it'd be nice to see something that isn't one of the standard colors. Great video as always I like seeing your whole process cause I like seeing how other people tackle stuff

[@MrTrenttness]

Fantastic! 🔥🎸🔥

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks, dude! :D

[@pete_the_bak]

Definitely keep the format the same for me please! The experimentation section answers a load of questions on the different options i might think of e.g. what about that colour etc. I also really like learning the thought process. Also please keep the level of detail on different aspects like the stripes and weathering etc as it's great to learn easier ways to do things that might be intimidating. For future content, do you ever use pigments / powders for weathering? A guide on those would be fantastic maybe with a comparison to other methods of doing the same thing.

[@ArtisOpus]

I've not used pigments for ages, but they used to be a real staple of my painting, great suggestion, Pete! Thanks, really glad it's been useful to you, even if it's not something we always do it's definitely nice to go in depth every now and again!

[@3d-tischler100]

i like all your videos and i learnt a lot from you. Thanks👍

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks dude! Our pleasure :)

[@danielwaters6235]

more colour mixing and experiments and how to make your own choices. love the way you add that in to some of the videos. I would also like to know how to use contrast in more ways and combined with pigments for more realistic weathering.

[@ArtisOpus]

Great suggestions dude, I should definitely cover the different 'non-normal' uses for contrast, and alterations

[@robertcoble1445]

Very nice mate, turned out great

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks dude :) he's a shiny boy!

[@overbehindunder]

Really cool!

[@ArtisOpus]

[@SeanSBrosseau]

Amazing video! The intro with all the paints used is perfect. The outcome you show makes me want to redo an army. Can you make any videos on dark space marine characters like Judiciar or a Primaris Chaplain?

[@wideboyrob]

Lookin' good! I vote for Stormcast painted up as Radiant Suns of Sigmar. I'd love to see that Vallejo game air silver over those new sculpts (the assault marine looked awesome just with that base coat!)

[@ArtisOpus]

Good call, Scott! They're amazing sculpts, couldn't agree more :)

[@S2uBuGaming]

Another excellent tutorial Byron. I love the method for turning the armour metallic and though the Doombull weathering was amazing. I have started to try pigments but they always go clumpy for me which is super annoying. I will definitely have to try this technique for future projects. Thanks again for a great channel and great tutorials. I would be interested in seeing how you would approach a space marine non-dry brush. How would you tackle consistent panels so they do not look streaked by the bristles etc. Keep up the great work. Always love watching these tutorials.

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey dude :). Regarding pigmets, try making a 'paste' first, apply carefully, then use a completely clean wet brush to smudge them about/dilute them. The other method is to use them super thin like my doombull :) When I get the time I will do an attempt at a more 'Eavy Metal style of marine, I'm not Mr Edgehighlights, but it's always worth a go!

[@dr.batsayl]

Huge fan of the experimental blocking out in the beginning. Could even do a full video of just block over base colors in reference to all the major space marine chapters and/or the chaos space marines, though I'd love to see more of the full treatment for chaos in general. As far as you AoS question, I'd love to see the Kruleboyz in various orky styles and skin tones. Would also be very curious to see how your drybrushing method affects some of the non-GW Shifting Color paints, even if there ends up being no practical application.

[@JayzusKhrist]

Would love to see this technique with Salamanders!

[@ArtisOpus]

It'd 100% work with them, you'd end up with a legit looking army!

[@scampbell419]

second for salamanders

[@exceldamage1861]

for salamanders id swap the silver for gold to get a warmer green, as over pure silver it could end up looking quite cold, and as we all know, salamanders like things fiery :D

[@claytonwaggoner9588]

Very informative video and great paint job! I've seen quite a few Space Marines vids on this channel. It'd be cool to see a video of a kharadron overlord model be painted (skywarden, airship, etc.). Thanks and really good paint jobs!!!

[@Ksteve90]

LOVE the format! Could you do this with Black Templars as well? Swapping in Black Templar Contrast?

[@JW-kw2lt]

Really enjoyed the video and like many of the others you have posted, it is a really good format. Including the experimental stage really helps with understanding the thought process. What i would love to see you do is a Marine Chapter that is halved vertically (or quartered) as achieving the quality you do while keeping the dividing line can be quite a challenge.

[@ArtisOpus]

You sadist! Why not, this has been asked enough that we should probably try it... with drybrushing, just so people can watch me suffer, that's at least 49% of why people are here at this point, right? :)

[@JW-kw2lt]

@@ArtisOpus 🤣 It's more sharing the love/pain than sadism.... I came back to the hobby after 3 decades away and started by painting a first edition Chapter, the Marines Errant and it has been one big learning curve!

[@jarekdudkiewicz]

I would love to see how You aproach Dark Angels chapter with this technique. Spectacular end result!

[@ArtisOpus]

I think that'd look legit dude, shiny deep green would really stand out!

[@bevanwilson8820]

I'm gonna have to give this style a try on my templars again. I tried something similar when contrast paints came out but couldn't get a black I was happy with. I think I can take some lessons from this that might make it work! cause This ultramarine looks sick! I vote for the Angel lady from dominion cause WINGS!

[@MikePhumanaut]

That looks really good. Interesting. I'm generally not into metal marines.. but this is nice.

[@ArtisOpus]

Yeah, I think there's definitely a 'middle ground' feel to this, it's almost half and half, with a shiny finish :D

[@allanjenkinson4219]

I also vote for Stormcast/Celestial Vindicators!

[@ArtisOpus]

They do seem to be very popular! I'll 100% do a battle-ready one, amongst other popular SCE schemes :)

[@jamiekitson8087]

Great video with some beautiful brushes. I'd love to see you paint some Necrons and specifically Skorpekh Destroyer's.

[@ArtisOpus]

It's been so long since we've painted some Necrons, I'd love to do some!

[@copacetic723]

You had me at “really procedural” and colors that pop! Have binged so much of your content in two days. Looking at your GUO and giant for a lot of advice, but how would go go about doing purple squigs with magenta bellies? Huge fan.

[@ArtisOpus]

:D man after my own heart! I'd start from a deeep purple, and then highlight up the purple with drybrushing, trying to leave the sections you want magenta, but don't worry if it's not perfect - then follow carefully working your way up the magenta drybrush, and fade them in to each other, it should work surprisingly well. If it doesn't a very careful final highlight drybrush fade from one to the other (maybe just over the transition) should work wonders to pull the entire thing together. Hope that helps dude! If it does/doesn't let me know in another comment, YT isn't great for notifications for ongoing conversations!

[@mrunmoyable]

Amazing as always 🎉could you do a video on death guards please

[@MEchanicAL_LSTAR]

I would love to see a you paint up Howling Griffons or Mortifactors. I have painted Howling Griffons in the past would love to see your take on it. But I’m one of those guys that has a soft spot for the lesser know/played chapters.

[@ByahEric]

Would love to see your take on Celestial Vindicator Stormcast!

[@ArtisOpus]

Amazing, I'll be do a battle-ready one amongst other typical schemes when I approach Dominion :)

[@thekoboldx]

Realy cool paint scheme i don‘t know if you remember but i recently asked you for an Ultramarines Video and here ist is! Although i hoped for something to get closer to the Box art as fast as possible i still liked this a lot!

[@ArtisOpus]

We'll get there at some point dude! Until then taking the steps from the blood angel and changing the colours is very close :)

[@robertmarley7938]

This video could be a lifesaver for me, got Curze on my table and I am aiming for a dark blue metallic. I'm aiming for the "midnight clad" look but I have been struggling with the highlights. I will definetly be testing this out with the dry brush and contrast coat as a highlight.

[@ArtisOpus]

Yes, Robert! It's a super-fun technique and it shines (literally) particularly well in person, irl the army will look insane :)

[@simonleach6632]

Nice finish on that one man, looks great! as for video format, just keep 'em coming as they are mate, the current format works well, they're long enough to get the point across clearly and simply, with plenty of explanation, but they're not so long that they feel dragged out if you know what I mean?

[@ArtisOpus]

Yeah bud, that's exactly what we're going for, we'll keep them coming!

[@Vikingeek]

With contrasts sometimes being a bit funny on a metallic base coat - do you think a once over with just contrast medium would retain the metallic colour but give a better surface to lay the coloured contrast onto?

[@ArtisOpus]

Absolutely dude, I've experimented with this myself, both from brush, and airbrush! Both are fine :)

[@Vikingeek]

@@ArtisOpus hadn’t really thought about contrasts through an airbrush… straight spray? Or do they need flow improver/thinner?

[@macaulylovatt8009]

im planning on making a diorama using space marines painted with this recipe but i have a tech marine too that id like to add how would you recommend painting it with a similar recipe to the one in the video (paints used,mix ratios) ps great work looking forward to more

[@ArtisOpus]

I'd just use the same mix, dude, is there a reason to change it? You can always highlight more/less or use mroe medium to dilute, if you want variation though :)

[@evilldead6824]

Wonder if this wuld work well for black. Think I’m gonna try this for my black templars.

[@ArtisOpus]

It should absolutely work for it, let me know how it goes, dude!

[@crazyazn171]

Hi there can you please do this with the Raptors chaptor space marine please

[@SeanSBrosseau]

So I tried this marine with some Artis Opus brushes that Santa brought me and the result is a pretty heavy failure. 😢The 1 purple + 1 blue + 5 contrast mix still came out to strong or I over applied it. Found putting that mix on shoulder pads hard even with 2 layers as it was hard to evenly coat or “finish in the recesses”. Everything seems blotchy. Plus I didn’t realize to not place it on the edges either. Sigh… guess I’ll pull up that video on paint stripping and start again. Hope for better results next time. Part of the process I guess.

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey buddy, sorry to hear it, I just stripped a failure last week, too. Give it a go thinner (thinner/and or how much you put down), on a small secxtion, you can always do two steps!

[@MrGenerichead]

What do you think about leviadon purple as a substitute for kantor blue to use this technique on Crimson Fists?

[@ArtisOpus]

It'd work man! I'd maybe mix the two, as a bit of a middle ground, as they'd be very strongly coloured

[@niallcampbell]

Picked up the Recruit Edition lately for my son and I to work on :) new to Artis Opus but off to Element Games to grab some! Is that textured mat you’re testing on? That’s quite cool.

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey dude, we love Element! 😅 It is our texture palette, I highly recommend them. A great place for learning, experimenting, and keeping physical references, as well as testing off-mini, and cleaning brushes :)

[@westonbarney3737]

would love to see using an airbrush to apply the contrast paints, so that we can see the difference in application results compared to a brush

[@Brickerbrack]

As I understand it (I've never used Contrast, but seen plenty of vids on the subject), using an airbrush takes away the _intended_ properties of Contrast (the way it flows away from high edges and pools in the recesses to create shadows and highlights), and basically makes into more of a tint or glaze, with an even coverage. Which is actually pretty useful when you're using it as a colour filter for jobs like this.

[@ArtisOpus]

DrawnSteel is exactly right, you could significantly bulk it out with glaze medium (and maybe even gloss varnish?) but essentially through airbrush they're an ink - of varying 'softness' depending on the strength of the contrast that you pick :)

[@okristudio3152]

Tome keepers astartes would be interesting scheme to try?

[@ArtisOpus]

O_ooo - good guys in Death Guard colours! Very cool :)

[@Fred-dc4sj]

why not spray it silver and then work with deluted black contrast paint or wash? wouldnt that be faster and have a very similar look?

[@tr7851]

Hi! For the eyes you listed "Bright Yellow Green", but that is a Pro-Acryl color, not Citadel. Could you clarify this? And thanks for the video it's some really nice work of art and a great inspiration for my upcoming project!

[@ArtisOpus]

It is Pro Acryl, any equivalent will do, though! Our pleasure, buddy :)

[@tr7851]

@@ArtisOpus Thanks!

[@sinthas_]

I feel slightly betrayed .... Just worked out my own method to do this :D I went for Levaiadon / Black Templar only into the recesses, followed by a 50 / 50 mix of Talassar Blue & Contrast Medium over the complete armor, Edge Highlighted Stormhost Silver and then went over it with pure Talassar Blue. The trick with the Doombull Brown I will test on the next miniature. Looks super easy and efficent. Further I would love at least a short overview about your process and color choices of the rest. Like the seal and the gold in this case. Or you could reference some old stuff. I guess many people will try to paint after your video and maybe their are disapointed if they don't have a clue for the other stuff and their finish will look very different. Last thing .... what's about a good old Rubric Marine ? This is my next project and I would have to do a lot of testing. Maybe their will be a video before I do it this time ;) It's although a hot topic on Facebook and Reddit all the time .... so I guess it has a traget group :) Thanks in advance

[@colouredIncognito]

Any chance of some painting Ulthwe tips?👀👀

[@barryrawson6058]

With the imminent release of the thousand sons codex, can you please do a rubric marine tutorial.

[@ArtisOpus]

I love how they look! Just no so into the idea of painting their fiddly bits, I guess the box gives me a good excuse to pull my finger out :D

[@phione2014]

I would like to see stormcast in a celestial vindicators color scheme from the dominion stuff!

[@ArtisOpus]

Metallic, or normal? :)

[@phione2014]

@@ArtisOpus that’s a tough call. Is it bad that I want both? I feel like metallic would look best on the annihilators, but yndrasta in the normal way.

[@moakadarkmaster]

Can you do a Dark Angel version of this technique?

[@ArtisOpus]

On the channel, or is it possible? It definitely is possible dude, exactly the same method, just swapping the blue for an appropriate green :)

[@moakadarkmaster]

@@ArtisOpus On the channel of course :) It's not only swapping the color, I am pretty sure you'll show some new tips and tricks. Keep up the awesome work, I really enjoy your videos in general.

[@hugheja89]

How come your texture pad is black? Can’t see that on the store?

[@ArtisOpus]

I primed it :)

[@hugheja89]

@@ArtisOpus haha obvious answer but I wanted to check :)

[@Alf_Hairy-arse]

Nice - this would be good for Alpha Legion. My vote is for kruleboyz (or whatever they are called). New faction is much more interesting than one we've seen before. As for the format I think you have it spot on. Longer with more detail is better than short, but there is no need to show basics all the time. This video as an example, you showed the main theme of shiny armour, then showed weathering. There was no need to show basic painting of the boltgun and aquilla for example, as there was no technique you were showing off there.

[@Timbucktoo32]

Paint some metallic red Vindictors!

[@ArtisOpus]

O_o they'd look so good, wouldn't they!? So tempting :D

[@clemo85]

I'd love to see a how to paint black legion Yes, I'm a dirty heretic xD

[@maxwilliams1060]

Love your videos (It's Apoc-athreeee, not -Ath-ary, though. we're not Americans gentlemen) ;)

[@ArtisOpus]

Oh really? Genuinely didn't know, noted :D

[@lconklin6930]

Do it in green

[@ArtisOpus]

I do think DA in this would look legit!

[@ger5956]

If you’re reading this comment you should go like and comment to appease the almighty algorithm 👍🏼