How to Paint Space Marines: A Beginner's Guide

Space Marines are the poster boys of Warhammer 40,000, and there is a good reason most hobbyists paint them first: their big, flat armour plates are forgiving, and even a beginner's squad looks fantastic on the table. This guide walks you through a clean, classic blue scheme inspired by the Space Marines, but the same steps work for any chapter colour you fancy. Take your time, keep your paints thin, and you will be surprised how quickly they come together.

What You'll Need

Gather a few basics before you start: a pot of dark blue, a lighter blue, a shade, some metallics for the details, and two brushes (a general basecoat brush and a finer detail brush). A wet palette helps enormously but is not essential. If you paint from a Vallejo, Army Painter, or Scale75 range instead of Citadel, use our paint converter to find the closest match for every colour named below. Thin your paints with a little water, because two thin coats always beat one thick, gloopy one.

1. Undercoat

Prime the model with a black undercoat, either from a spray can or a brush-on primer. Black gives you natural shadows in the deep recesses and makes your blues look richer. Spray in light passes from about 30cm away and let it dry fully before handling. If you own a coloured spray such as Macragge Blue you can jump straight to the base colour, but plain black is the most forgiving choice for a first army.

2. Basecoat

Apply your main armour colour, a dark blue like Macragge Blue, across all the armour plates. Leave the black showing in the deepest cracks between panels; you do not need to paint into every recess. Two thin coats give a smooth, even finish. Ignore the weapon and trims for now and concentrate on tidy coverage of the big plates first, since they are the largest area on the model.

3. Shade

Now bring out the depth. Wash a shade such as Nuln Oil into the recesses and panel lines. You can either apply it carefully where the plates meet, or wash the whole model and let it pool naturally in the gaps. The shade darkens the shadows and instantly makes the armour look three-dimensional. Let it dry completely, because shades take longer than normal paint and rushing this step smudges your work.

4. Layer

Reapply your base blue to the raised areas, leaving the shaded recesses dark. Then switch to a lighter blue such as Calgar Blue and paint the central, most raised parts of each plate. This layering-up rebuilds the brightness on the surfaces that would catch the light, while the shadows you just created stay put. Keep each layer a little smaller than the one beneath it.

5. Edge Highlight

This is the step that makes Marines pop. Take an even lighter blue like Fenrisian Blue on a fine brush and run it along the sharp edges of the armour: the rims of shoulder pads, the ridges of the helmet, the corners of the knee plates. Use the side of the brush rather than the tip, and aim for thin, confident lines. Do not chase perfection; a few crisp edges read far better than lots of wobbly ones.

6. Details and Base

Now the fun part. Paint the metal areas, such as the bolter, backpack vents, and holsters, with a metallic like Leadbelcher and shade them with Nuln Oil. Pick out gold trims with Retributor Armour, purity seals in bone and red, and the eye lenses in a bright colour that glows against the blue. For the base, spread on a texture paint, drybrush it a lighter tone, and finish the rim in a neat brown or black. A few tufts of static grass tie it all together.

Final Tip

Batch painting is your friend. Undercoat and basecoat a whole squad at once, then move through the stages together. It feels slower at first but saves hours, and your ten Marines end up looking like a unified force rather than ten separate projects. Above all, do not sweat the odd mistake, because at arm's length on the tabletop nobody ever sees it.