28 Challenge: Female Dark Angel Space Marines finished

Two Female Dark Angel Space Marines!

Last month I painted a lightly-converted female Dark Angel for 28’s current challenge. It was a fun process and one that pushed me to paint another immediately afterwards. Instead of painting it exactly like the first, using zenithal highlights, I decided to try a drybrushing/stippling method Richard Gray made some YouTube videos on. Although he used the method to paint an Ultramarine and an Imperial Fist Space Marine, I decided to adapt the method using the paints I had on my first Dark Angel.

The combination of stippling and using a dark brown oil wash really helped to add subtle texture to the green armor.

All of the metals were painted using a variety of Vallejo Metal Color paints.

The method worked really well, beginning with stippling on a layer of Caliban Green followed by another layer with a small amount of Vallejo Game Color Glacier Blue (72.095) mixed in. I then airbrushed a smaller additional highlight mixing in additional Glacier Blue, focusing on areas that would catch the most light. Afterwards I used a brush to paint a few additional highlights and touch up areas. I also glazed in some Caliban Green to clean up any area on the armor that looked too bright or the stippling was too stark. I did not spend too much time doing this, knowing that I was going to do an oil wash later to tie everything together (as per the video). At this point, I painted all of the other portions of the model as I did on the first model. To unify and blend everything, I created an oil wash from a mixture of Abteilung 502 black and raw umber oil paints, diluted in Abteilung 502 Matt Effect Thinner. I applied this quite liberally over the entire model, careful to not let it pool anywhere. I then rubbed this oil wash off in any of the major highlighted areas, like the helmet, with disposable eyeshadow sponges (cotton buds/Q-tips work too).

Rather than painting the red squad marking, I used one of Games Workshop’s decals.

The latest Dark Angel next to one of the first Space Marines I ever painted, a Raptor.

A classic Space Marine next to the two newly painted Dark Angels.

I was really happy with how the second female Dark Angel turned out. The stippling method proved to be easier and faster than the zenithal one, while looking better in the end. I found that stippling with a drybrush effortlessly imparted texture and improved color modulation in the armor, resulting in a more interesting looking model. I am now more excited than ever to try to paint a few more Dark Angels to get enough models painted to play the new edition of Kill Team! I plan to batch paint the remaining three using the same method; we will see how they turn out!

- Eric Wier