How to Paint Space Marines: Colour Schemes and Step-by-Step Guide

Space Marines are the most popular Warhammer 40,000 army — and for good reason. Their iconic armoured aesthetic translates to rewarding results for painters at every skill level. Whether you want a quick Ultramarines force for the gaming table or a display-quality showcase piece, this guide covers how to paint Space Marines from primer to varnish.

What You Need to Paint Space Marines

Before you start, gather your supplies. Space Marines require relatively few colours compared to other armies — a typical chapter scheme uses 4–6 colours. You will need:

• Primer: Chaos Black spray or Grey Seer (spray or brush-on). Chaos Black is the standard for dark-armoured chapters and gives Contrast paints an ideal base. Grey Seer is better for lighter schemes (White Scars, Salamanders, etc.).
• Base paints: 2–3 colours for the armour, gold for trim, a skin tone for any exposed faces
• Washes: Nuln Oil (for dark metal and recesses) and Agrax Earthshade (for browns and warmer tones)
• Layer paints: 1–2 highlight colours per armour panel
• A dry paint: Ryza Rust or Necron Compound for edge highlights (optional but fast)
• Brushes: A medium base brush (size 1 or 2), a small detail brush (size 0 or 00), a drybrush

Space Marine Colour Schemes: Which Chapter to Paint

Choosing your chapter is the first decision every Space Marine painter faces. Here are the six most popular options and why painters choose them:

Ultramarines (Blue)

The classic Space Marine chapter — Macragge Blue base coat with Nuln Oil wash and Calgar Blue or Fenrisian Grey highlights. Gold trim with Retributor Armour. Extremely well-documented online with GW’s own official tutorial videos. Ideal for first-time painters. The blue armour shows washes and highlights clearly, making the process intuitive.

Space Wolves (Grey-Blue)

A lighter, more distinctive blue-grey using The Fang or Fenrisian Grey as the main armour colour. Space Wolves lend themselves to battle-worn and weathered effects — chipping, sponge weathering, and rust streaks all look natural on Wolves. Their fur, leather, and bone elements give variety to individual models.

Dark Angels (Dark Green)

Caliban Green base with a Nuln Oil wash and Warpstone Glow edge highlights. The dark green armour rewards careful edge highlighting — even basic highlights look striking on dark backgrounds. Gold and bone robes on Deathwing knights provide colour contrast that makes armies visually interesting.

Blood Angels (Red)

Mephiston Red base with Nuln Oil wash and Evil Sunz Scarlet to Wild Rider Red highlights. Red armour is notoriously difficult to highlight smoothly — edge highlighting and drybrushing work better than layering for most painters. The Contrast approach (Flesh Tearers Red over Wraithbone) is particularly effective for a fast, rich red.

Salamanders (Dark Green, different from Dark Angels)

Warpstone Glow or Caliban Green base with Biel-Tan Green shade for recess shading, followed by Moot Green highlights. Salamanders have distinctive black skin on their characters — painted with off-black blending up through dark greys. Copper metallics (Warplock Bronze → Gehenna’s Gold → Brass Scorpion) replace the gold trim of other chapters.

Imperial Fists (Yellow)

Yellow armour is the most difficult Space Marine scheme. Iyanden Yellow Contrast over Grey Seer primer is the fastest reliable approach. Traditional layering requires building from Averland Sunset through Flash Gitz Yellow with careful blending. Avoid black undercoat for yellow — it requires too many coats to achieve coverage.

How to Paint Space Marines: The Contrast Method (Fastest)

For painting large numbers of Space Marines quickly, the Contrast method is the most efficient. You can achieve a tabletop-quality finish on a full Space Marine squad in an evening using this approach.

1. Prime with Grey Seer or Wraithbone. Contrast paints require a light base — they do not work over black primer. Apply a thin, even coat with good coverage. Allow 24 hours to cure for best results.
2. Apply Contrast armour colour. Brush Ultramarine Blue, Dark Angels Green, or your chosen Contrast colour over the armour panels. The paint will flow into recesses naturally. Apply with a slightly loaded brush and avoid going over the same area twice while wet — Contrast dries fast and re-activating it creates streaks.
3. Paint the gold trim. Retributor Armour base, then Reikland Fleshshade wash. The wash adds warmth and depth to the gold without effort.
4. Base coat secondary elements. Black bolter casing (Abaddon Black), Leadbelcher for metal parts, your chosen flesh tone for faces.
5. Wash the metals. Apply Nuln Oil to all silver metallic areas. Apply Agrax Earthshade to leather straps and any brown elements.
6. Edge highlight the armour (optional but recommended). Even on a Contrast approach, a single thin edge highlight significantly improves the result. Use a colour 2–3 shades lighter than your Contrast paint and run it along armour edges with a small brush.
7. Paint the base. Texture paint (Astrogranite, Stirland Mud, etc.), drybrush with Terminatus Stone or Tyrant Skull, add tufts.
8. Varnish. Apply matte varnish to protect the model and reduce shine.

How to Paint Space Marines: The Traditional Method (Best Results)

For display quality or if you want more control over the final result, the traditional basecoat–wash–layer approach gives better results than Contrast alone.

1. Prime with Chaos Black. Ensures a strong bond and enhances recess shading.
2. Basecoat the armour. Apply 2 thin coats of your main armour colour to achieve full, even coverage. Thin with a few drops of water to avoid obscuring panel details.
3. Wash all recesses. Apply Nuln Oil over all armour panels — it will flow into every recess and joint. This single step does 80% of the shading work. For warm-toned chapters, use Agrax Earthshade instead.
4. Rebase raised panels (optional). For a cleaner result, re-apply your base colour over the centre of each armour panel, leaving the wash visible only in recesses. This restores the clean colour while keeping the shadow.
5. First highlight. Apply a 50:50 mix of your base colour and the next lighter shade to edges and raised surfaces. Use a small brush held at a near-90-degree angle to the surface.
6. Final edge highlight. Apply a brighter highlight colour (or pure white for extreme edge highlights) to the sharpest edges only — shoulder pad rims, helmet top ridge, knee pad edges.
7. Paint trim, lenses, and details. Work from largest to smallest. Complete all gold areas before lenses — it is easier to re-clean the lenses than the trim.
8. Lenses. Apply a dark base (Caliban Green for green lenses, Khorne Red for red), add a highlight dot in the upper corner, and a tiny white reflection dot opposite. This three-stage process creates a convincing glowing lens effect quickly.

Common Space Marine Painting Mistakes

• Too much paint on the brush. Thin your paint before applying. A coat that is too thick obscures panel detail and dries with visible brush strokes.
• Applying wash over a whole model at once. Washes can pool unevenly on flat surfaces and dry as tide marks. Apply wash to specific recesses, or if applying overall, wick up any large pools that form before they dry.
• Skipping edge highlights. The wash does the shading, but without even a minimal edge highlight the model looks dark and flat. Even one pass of a lighter colour on the most prominent edges makes a significant difference.
• Painting lenses first. Lenses are small targets — always paint them last, after all surrounding areas are complete and clean.
• Skipping the varnish. Space Marine models see table use. Without varnish, the paint will chip at contact points within a few games.

Frequently Asked Questions

What colours do I need to paint Ultramarines?

The core colours are: Macragge Blue (base), Nuln Oil (wash), Calgar Blue (layer highlight), Fenrisian Grey (edge highlight), Retributor Armour (trim), Reikland Fleshshade (trim wash), Abaddon Black (bolters and knee pads), and Leadbelcher (boltgun metal). You can achieve a complete, table-quality result with just these eight paints.

How long does it take to paint a Space Marine?

A tabletop-quality Space Marine using Contrast paints takes 20–30 minutes per model once you have your system in place. A traditionally painted model with full highlighting takes 45–90 minutes. A display-quality piece with blended armour, free-hand details, and careful lenses can take 4–8+ hours.

Should I use black or white primer for Space Marines?

Black primer (Chaos Black) is the standard choice for most chapters and is recommended for beginners. It enhances shadowing in recesses naturally and forgives coverage imperfections. White or grey primer (Grey Seer, Wraithbone) is required for Contrast paints and recommended for yellow, white, or very pale colour schemes where black would require excessive layers to cover.

What is the easiest Space Marine chapter to paint?

Ultramarines are the easiest and most forgiving. The blue armour shows wash and highlight results clearly, making it intuitive to understand what each step does. Blood Angels red is the most difficult standard chapter for beginners due to the challenge of highlighting red smoothly.

Can I use Contrast paints for Space Marines?

Yes. Contrast paints produce excellent results on Space Marines, particularly for batch painting squads quickly. Apply over Grey Seer or Wraithbone primer. The main limitation is that Contrast armour tends to look slightly more mottled than traditional basecoating — this can be reduced by keeping your brush strokes neat and avoiding double-coating wet paint.

Do I need to thin Citadel paints?

Base paints and layer paints should generally be thinned with 1–3 drops of water to improve flow and reduce brush strokes. Shade paints (washes) are already pre-thinned and should not be watered down further. Technical paints (texture, blood, etc.) are best used straight from the pot. Dry paints must not be thinned — they rely on their thick, chalky consistency to work.