How I Paint Things - Salamanders

[@nikborz1039]

Oh Great Salamanders I like Them!

[@Avto-polivNet]

Me too!

[@timmogridge1546]

This is great! Love the niblet green highlight.

[@ThinkingFandom]

used this technique on my first Salamanders (first models full stop tbh), came out looking good thanks to this guide, thanks!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Glad to hear it came out alright! :D

[@TheSamgo]

About the Salamander skin, I like the combination of the two arguments, most of them have dark skin originally and then the geneseed makes them coal black. Also is good because I am lazy about painting faces

[@fish7598]

Definitely agree with that. Nocturne is canonically a desert planet with a lot of heat and little agriculture, they'd definitely be darker then say, someone from Ferris.

[@JohnR1298]

'NIBLETT GREEN' - Completely agree, Rowan Atkinson saying that would be great 😆

[@christopherparry7389]

I've watched alot of painting tutorials but yours are by far the best, your Steel Legion guardsmen one inspired me to do an army of my favourite guardsmen regiment. I've learnt so much watching you so thank you.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Glad to hear it! :D Especially picking a most excellent Guard regiment like the Steel Legion.

[@logancarver6950]

I am a first-time painter and player. I am still learning the game and phases. I actually enjoy the painting far more than I thought I would. It is so hard to find things on salamanders that are so in-depth and full of information as this video. I cannot thank you enough on the face. I used Carroburg crimson shader with Bugman's glow for the face highlights. He came out ok but I am always eager to learn more! Can't wait to get another face to paint so I can try it your way!

[@sunglassesskeleton]

thanks for the advice on druchii violet for shading the skin! i shade lighter skinned dudes with red shades and i was looking at my salamanders like 'uh oh', but a darker purple works really well for the same effect.

[@matthewbox6927]

Thank you very much for this video. Please keep them coming. Ive been painting for 30 years and I enjoy your tricks and quick techniques. Also your mannerisms are endearing. Thanks again.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I'm glad any of these little things can help. It's been a real surprise hearing so many who've been into this hobby of ours for a while stopping in!

[@OldBlueDragon]

A few completely unrelated questions... Your videos show an amazing collection of paint pots. You seem to be equally enamored with ALL the popular brands and always seem to have every possible option covered. So my questions are: 1) what do you reckon your investment in paint is to date? 2) do you have any brand preference or do you love them all equally? 3) what do you figure the average shelf life of model paint is when properly stored? 4) how is your collection organized?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

These are some neat questions! I'll answer each in turn for clarity's sake. Everybody's got their own favourites for paint, so I try to talk about the specific reasons I'll use a particular range if something stands out. 1.) Oh, good lord. Don't ask. Out of the entire current Citadel paint range there are just twelve that I don't own, so... woof. Bearing in mind that this is a fairly long-term collection that stretches back across almost a decade at this point! 2.) Really, brand preference depends on what I'm painting. When I'm working with Citadel miniatures there's a weird compulsion to stick to Citadel paints, but in the main it's really down to the result I'm looking for. Vallejo's dry slightly flatter and have a deeper tone to them, it feels like, where Foundry's are a slightly more glutinous paint while going on that give a nice, translucent finish to skin and such... I'd say in the main I tend to go for Citadel's sheer variety of rich colours first, but to every task the right tool! 3.) I've got paints that are still good from at least eight years ago. They've traveled from England to New Zealand and then on to Germany, and I can crack the lid and get painting with a little water just fine. People trash the Citadel pots and I don't really understand why; open them without smearing the interior of the lid in paint and they'll close and seal just fine. My current Zandri Dust is at least two years old and I'm still not all the way through the pot! If you do happen to end up with anything caked on the inside of a lid, just pull it free with a pair of tweezers and bam, the pot seals again. Yeeears worth of value in those things. 4.) I've got to get my hands on another dropper bottle organizer, actually. I've got a big plastic toolbox-style thing with three drawers that's got all my Citadel paints in it, organized by Base, Layer, Shade, Dry and so forth, while the Vallejo and other paints are organized mostly by colour... until I find I'm painting a lot of something, in which case they naturally migrate toward vague clusters of WW2 belligerents!

[@13Robzilla]

Really love the drybrush as a guide for edge highlighting. So tired of people who think they are mutually exclusive. I usually basecoat, drybrush, wash, edge, intersecting point highlight. (depending on the unit/model of course.)

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It baffles me seeing comments about drybrushing as a 'lesser' technique, or somehow considered easy or cheating. How is anything cheating if anybody can pick up a brush and replicate the results? The drybrush-as-guide was taught to me by a friend and I'm glad to pass it on, though I suspect there's a few other cunning types like you who've already figured it out! ;D

[@vladimirpotrosky7855]

Super helpful. I was using warp lightning (contrast paint) and moot green for the armor, but contrast paint is almost impossible to use to fix mistakes with so I'll be switching to your method on my next batch!

[@Danhattan]

Vulkan Lives!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Now the next trick is finding him... ;D

[@Rustie3000]

or is he still on his respawn timer? :D

[@MegaLamb11]

applied this guide to my salamanders and its such an improvment thanks

[@gedmcloughlin866]

Man I've watched this like 10 times now. Love your work! Salamanders are so awesome. You have done them proud here!!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Thanks a lot! I'm glad it's that entertaining, though I promise the advice doesn't change between each viewing. ;D I'm a big fan of the Salamanders, too, and their really sharp colour scheme is a blast to paint.

[@gedmcloughlin866]

Sonic Sledgehammer Studio I like your style of painting. I've watched all your space marine tutorials. I'm whizzing though minis thanks to you and they look great :) cheers man

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I'm really glad to hear they help. Is it Salamanders you're working on at the moment? If you're ever of a mind to share, I love seeing work in progress and what people are getting up to! :D

[@gedmcloughlin866]

Sonic Sledgehammer Studio well I'm between projects... doing some ad mech, tau... ultramarines and now thanks to this vid I'm on the salamander train haha... I don't upload on KZbin but put my works in progress on Instagram.. g_man_paints if you'd like to follow :)

[@andreweckford6319]

Dude - love the videos (the 2 for the cultists have been pretty much my go-to for kill team). BUT... I think I need to fly over from Sydney and drill all your barrels. I'm a bit OCD about it - if not the full way (and side holes on a bolter) even just a couple of twists to give a dent in the end. :-)

[@BLEMFIDEM]

Was gonna like anyway but liked when I pictured Rowan Atkinson saying niblet green in my head while talking to boff

[@davidgpeterson]

My favorite chapter!

[@johnkelley9877]

Fantastic looking! You just get better and better.

[@stevovondivo2326]

I just found your channel and wow - I like your sharp style. Thank you for sharing

[@adamfox1669]

Great tutorial. I really enjoy your work. Great even for us ‘veteran’ painter/gamers! You’re right about army painter. It’s very good quality/ Vallejo a good alternative also. I really like GW paint (though sometimes unpopular with people!?) but those other options are great quality & value.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I really like the Citadel Base paints in particular, which - funnily enough - tend to have a similar consistency to some Vallejo paints. I'm pretty sure you can't beat the range of Shades that Citadel offers, either! ;)

[@WylochsArmory]

Beautiful job all around.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Thanks very much! Can't go far wrong with power armour, I find. :D

[@TheMadwizz]

Excellent video!

[@Krank5150]

Awesome - Merry Christmas

[@adamfox1669]

Besides soap & warm water; I also use ‘the masters’ brush soap. It works great. Do you have any suggestions/video I’ve missed? About your opinion on clean up & care of brushes/ tools. Thanks! Great channel

[@Rustie3000]

Sorry, my Question got pretty long so TL;DR: If only one Silver Paint, what to buy between Iron Hands Steel and Leadbelcher? OG Question: A question regarding the Silver Metallic Paint, that you used for the Metal Parts as well as as Base for the Gold/Brass parts: I'm on my way getting into the Hobby (you might recall me asking something in the Comments of your Armageddon Steel Legion Trooper as well) and i'm making a shopping list of what minis and paints and tools to buy to start. As someone new to the whole thing and with limited money i want to try to not buy too many colors, so i was wondering: In the Armageddon Steel Legion Video i mentioned you used Iron Hands Steel for all the Metal Parts, in this Video you use Leadbelcher. If i want to only buy one Silver but still be able to paint Salamanders as well as Steel Legion Guardsmen and maybe even Tanks, which one would you recommend between the two?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Hey bud! The short answer is that Iron Hands Steel hadn't come out yet when I was doing the video. 😅 The slightly longer answer, though: These days I tend to use Iron Hands Steel for basecoating most of my metallic stuff, because I can either shade it and not have to highlight it, or shade it a couple of times for a properly grungy finish. Leadbelcher still has its uses, but a good 8/10 times I'm going to reach for Iron Hands Steel.

[@brijant]

keep it up ,like Always fantastic job

[@tiddles12]

I bloody love stormvermin fur spray

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Best stuff that Citadel have done in a while!

[@thomasduran325]

Love your work!

[@atryonic1609]

Amazing job! Would you be able to do a tutorial on mantis warriors in their green armour?

[@kimpa8731]

Have you ever done a night lord? If you haven't it would be cool if you would

[@IDICBeer]

Awesome job buddy

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

My other half plays Salamanders. I'd never live it down if I half-arsed these lads for the channel!

[@ithinkitsaurus]

I like that skin shade

[@dist0rted320]

I don't think the black spots on the Salamanders are that important. (aside from the shoulder pauldrons, of corse) Just as long as it is kind of separated by elevation from some other part or is a separately outlined part. (e.g. The black on the shoulders is at a different elevation as the green outline and the knees are separated from the rest of the leg) This could be applied to most Space Marine factions, but in reality, the codices are pretty much suggestions except for when it REALLY matters.

[@HumbaHarry1]

Army painter green skin does replace all steps from Waagh flesh and warpstone glow?? do you recommend the spray or color of army painter??

[@uxd8964]

IMO Army painter great, I used green skin for my Salamanders, however I spray painted them black first. And now I'll be using Sonic's How to!

[@cdude665]

I love your paint job here! But the army painter greenskin is honestly worse than mixing waahg and warpstone. The two mixed create a much more emerald green which is more like the salamanders. I would gladly take the extra time to paint them the way you did to get that type of green.

[@nocturnenoble2468]

Thank you so much for the tips (especially the Niblet Green dry brushing technique)! This couldn't have come at a better time as I'm finally beginning to paint my first batch of miniatures after casually following the lore for years (decades now, I guess). The Salamanders have always been my chapter of choice and, like you, I've always identified with their Codex: Armageddon depiction and plan to also paint their skin as you have; dark, for a human rather than the current unnatural onyx. I have a question I hope you can answer please: In-keeping with the Codex: Armageddon theme; how would you paint yellow helmet lenses using the Citadel range? Thanks and all the best!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Nice one! Glad to hear you're taking the plunge, and the Salamanders are an excellent choice. I might be biased, of course...! As far as painting lenses in Marine helmets, I like to use one of the tricks from GW's own painting guides. Dab in the eye area with a little white to start with - you can leave a slight black edge around the socket if you're worried about getting too close to the edge - and once that's dry, get a small brush and touch in with a little Lamenters Yellow Glaze. It'll give you a nice, even yellow that darkens a little at the edges. If you want it stronger, just pop in a little more! It gives a neat slightly glowing effect, and it's incredibly simple in practice. :D

[@nocturnenoble2468]

Thank you so much!

[@dist0rted320]

As finicky as it may be, I prefer to paint the heads seperate, that way I don't mess up the rest of the armour..

[@javierin6670]

great job!!! What's the commission for painting a squadron of 10 space marines at this level?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

For this sort of standard I charge $7 a figure, or $8 if you're wanting decals and base applied as well. So between $70-80 for something like this. Shipping and the miniatures themselves are at cost, so depending on where you are in the world, that could be the biggest sink!

[@fallennatas5230]

So i have stumbled upon a can of army painter green skin. If i undercoat the model with that do i skip the waaagh flesh and warpstone glow and the beil tan green? Just curious what you would do if you had the green skin undercoat. Thanks!!!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Greenskin Spray is the best thing to start from. :D With that, once the model's green you can go straight to drybrushing Niblet Green, doing the Biel-Tan Green Shade and following all the same steps from there. It'll save you a bunch of time!

[@crimsonghost6073]

Great video as allways! Any chance that you gonna paint a Red Corsairs? :)

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

By coincidence I was actually thinking about which Chaos miniatures to paint first. I'd thought Iron Warriors might be a quick laugh, but Red Corsairs could be a lot of fun. Renegade Marines need love, too!

[@OldAverageBritGaming]

The whole courier for all spray cans thing is so annoying! I suffer from this all the damn time. Great tutorial as ever sir.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It's such a pain in the butt, which is why finding these things locally is absolute magic! Otherwise it can't hurt to pick up a few things at once and just stomach the shipping as a one-shot.

[@OldAverageBritGaming]

Yup same. I end up auditing all my paints on each bigger order to offset the courier cost.

[@PeninsulaPaintingProjects]

Great video mate

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Thanks a bunch, dude! Every time I'm painting a new Marine I'm quietly trying to fight the urge to start a new army... Got the Guard bug in reverse, I think! ;)

[@mikeogden6239]

Do you do anything unique for helmed Space Marines.. or could I garner that from one of your other chapter painting videos? Great video, great technique!!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

You don't need to do anything different to the rest of the armour for the helmets, luckily enough. If you're wanting the 'beakie' helmets to look a little more crisp, you can touch up with some of the base colour again once you've done your drybrush, but you'll not really need to in the main.

[@mikeogden6239]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Next question, how much would you charge to record my voicemail message?? Haha. Anyhoo, I'll be sure to check back in once I've gotten my sons of Vulkan painted up!!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

"Hello and welcome to a very special answering machine!" Be sure and let me see how things look when they're done. :D

[@garrobond0017]

Classic Mr bean reference,good on you.Keep up the good work.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Every time I said 'Niblet' I was trying my hardest not to crack up. I'd gotten myself so wound up with the stupid word...!

[@Sankexi]

I don’t own niblet green. Can I ignore that step and just use biel-tan green?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Well, sure. There's nothing stopping you from changing or altering steps as you need, but the end result will look different. That's about it!

[@Sankexi]

Sonic Sledgehammer Studio I don’t have that much money because I’m 14 and just starting. Thanks for the video anyway.!

[@Bawgle]

Do you think drybrushing black on the armor would make it look like its all soot-covered?

[@jesseboyd8660]

Man, ya gotta do Death Company...

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Death Company might be a little way off, I'm afraid - I've tackled black power armour already, if that's any help, but I can't really afford to pick up a box of Death Company just to paint one. Not yet, anyhow! :D

[@tethys17]

Its already been said but its the radiation that makes them coal black with red eyes. So they could start off as any race but they'll all end up coal black because of vulkan. The protagonist in the current tv show has an asian appearance regarding facial features but still has coal black skin and red eyes

[@mrplop38]

will these look good with caliban green instead of waaaagh flesh? or will it turn out way darker?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

That'll be way, way darker. If that's what you're looking for it'll be fine, but bear in mind using a different colour will quite simply give you a different result.

[@mrplop38]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Fair enough, see im making a necron army but I also like salamanders so was hoping to use some of the necron colours for salamanders, no worries I will invest in a pot of waaagh :) thanks man

[@Masterlss100]

Thanks

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

The Orks will tell you the same: Green is best! :D

[@Masterlss100]

Lol

[@PanzermansBunker]

Logan Smeltz No decals?

[@stefanchaoszustand2616]

Very nice guide :) I love quick painting with good results. After about 7 years I got back in 40k and start with salamanders. I have one question. You paint the whole model completely with the shade, but my one is unfortunately much darker. Are you doing something different or am I doing something wrong?

[@Mr.Rozstar]

So I can use the green skin primer to skip some steps?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Essentially, yeah! It'll save you a lot of time applying the green basecoat for the armour, basically.

[@Mr.Rozstar]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio I'll give it a go then!

[@maxhubers8733]

Nice paint job, what do you use as pallet?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I actually use the Citadel Palette Pads. They're pretty good! Last a decent while and you can re-use the same side a few times before the paint really cakes up, then flip it over and use the other side. Otherwise, any old plate will do the trick as long as it's got a glossy, lacquered surface! Bonus with them is you can clean them off afterwards, too.

[@adamfox1669]

Nice. Do you find painting ‘on camera ‘ more difficult than when you are painting by yourself; or is it the same process??

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Painting with the camera in the way is a huge pain in the butt, honestly. ;D The process is the same when I'm painting in my own time, just much, much easier!

[@luckless6381]

You didn't put the green shade in your list of paints used

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I can't believe I'd miss that! Thanks for pointing it out, it's all fixed up now.

[@luckless6381]

Sonic Sledgehammer Studio no problem. There are 2 more I think. If you re-watch your video, you will spot them. Great video, thanks.

[@luckless6381]

Stormhost silver is another one

[@jasonalbrecht6012]

I just started painting miniatures for fun. What guy is this? I can't seem to find him.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

The basic parts for this miniature come from the Space Marine Tactical Squad set. His hammer comes from the Vanguard Veteran box, though.

[@jasonalbrecht6012]

Thank you, great work

[@helmwall133]

Love hate relationship with Salamanders, i cant paint flesh, but because they are black face, they are easy to paint

[@Sankexi]

Also I did ever step in this and it looked really patchy and black someone help

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

The armour looks black? I'm not sure how that would have happened, since there's nothing that should be that dark. Are you working from a black undercoat or something?

[@Sankexi]

Sonic Sledgehammer Studio yeah I am

[@stefan020290]

Would be cool if GW had made some faces with actually African features. All the faces have typical Caucasian features and that just looks odd with dark skin, same if you are painting white scars, who in Artwork are depicted with more Asian facial features.

[@IamNintendocore]

I have an Airbrush can base coat them with any paint i want :p