How do you work out where the colours go?

[Dragonlover]

So I've decided I'm going to homebrew my colours, but I'm having trouble working out what do do beyond base armour colour and trim colour, and was wondering how other people go about it.

 

Dragonlover

[Dark Bjoern]

What colors have you decided for the base armour and the trim?

[Dragonlover]

Green armour, bronze trim.

 

Dragonlover

[Dark Bjoern]

Look for a color that harmonize with those colors. Ivory for example is doing well together with green and bronze. Or a not too bright yellow could also work.

[Fajita Fan]

Browse the web and look at what others have done. Do you want stripes? Do you want checkerboards? Do you want alternating panels? Do you want marbling, weathering, chipping, dust, grime, or battle damage?

 

It’s not stealing, it’s inspiration.

[Dosjetka]

Using ivory as a secondary colour is a good call, Dark Bjoern. I approve. :tu:

 

With regards to stripes/checkerboards/etc you could perhaps establish particular recurring patterns for Titans of a given maniple?

[Dark Bjoern]

Stripes, checker boards and similar thing are good for a unique heraldic for each titan.

[Mandragola]

In terms of a pattern, I think that titans probably should not all be the same. If you look at the images from GW you'll see individual patterning, not a set approach for each legio.

[Doctor Perils]

I quite like the idea of a set pattern or pattern-style for a maniple (while still keeping each unique), but might not work quite as well for a Traitor legio?

 

To me it looks like any and all plates are open game for the Collegia Titanica, as opposed to Knight Houses which have a rather regulated set of sections for House heraldry and personal heraldry; still, I'd go with at least two thirds of panels in the titan's main colour (or main colour+pattern)

[Mandragola]

I think the question of uniformity will vary a lot between Legios, but not necessarily depending on whether they’re loyalists or traitors. I like how individual my Astorum titans’ schemes are, but they’re loyal. I’ve used the same scheme for the two warhounds I’ve finished so far, as they’re in a squadron together, but there’s no need to even do that.

 

I don’t think any of the legios I’ve seen in the FW books have identical schemes for all their titans. This includes legios like Krytos, who you might expect to be more regimented due to their association with the Iron Warriors. Every titan seems to get its own separate identity. This is something I like quite a lot about the game – every model is a distinct character.

 

Solaria seem to have more or less identical schemes, due to having camouflaged panels. However they still have individual heraldry in areas like knee plates.

[Fajita Fan]

I don’t think any of the legios I’ve seen in the FW books have identical schemes for all their titans. This includes legios like Krytos, who you might expect to be more regimented due to their association with the Iron Warriors. Every titan seems to get its own separate identity. This is something I like quite a lot about the game – every model is a distinct character.

^ this. Go nuts, do what you like. My loyalists are identical right now but that’s due to limitation of my freehand skills, not by choice. Once I get some practice with transfers I might fight some the right side for knee pads or shoulders. My traitors will be more different from each other.

[Gillyfish]

Grab some images form across the web of different legios and use that for inspiration. I agree with the ivory, depending upon the shade of green you are looking for. Silver can work quite well with the bronze. The right shade of red could be used too, but beware the Christmas tree effect. Similarly, a pale blue with a dark green can look impressive. Have a look at the colour wheel and colour theory - it can really inform what choices you decide to make. 

 

Variation between titans is a must - you can use iconography as a unifying factor though. Maybe your legio uses medieval weaponry to denote the class of titan kill, or chess pieces.

[Fajita Fan]

The right shade of red could be used too, but beware the Christmas tree effect. 

LOL I finished my first squad of Deathwing with green icons and red bolters many years ago in November and someone said, "Oh those look like lovely Christmas toys!" They went right into a bath of Simple Green.

 

Green looks great on titans and ivory would be a good color to use for bars or checks.  Also consider a rich purple, green/purple would look nice with bronze trim a la the GW scheme for Dark Eldar box art.  I'll be doing a green Ordo Sinister titan soon that's more metallic green (I hope) and they have silver trim but I struggle to think how to embellish it. 

[Mandragola]

Sad to say, I cannot look at Legio Solaria without hearing sleigh bells. The dappled "snow" on green and the red bits strongly suggest hiding from carol singers, fighting other consumers and arguing with my family.

[Gillyfish]

LOL I finished my first squad of Deathwing with green icons and red bolters many years ago in November and someone said, "Oh those look like lovely Christmas toys!" They went right into a bath of Simple Green.

 

 

:D That's the reason my Deathwing have very, very little red on them... Gold works very well though.

 

Figuring out the shades for each colour for the Titans is a key consideration. De-saturate all the colours and it may not 'pop', lots of mid-tones may generate too much noise. The proposed scheme sounds like it has real potential though.

[Dragonlover]

The proposed scheme sounds like it has real potential though.

I've actually managed to get paint on some guys! There's more pics in my plog, but here's what some of them look like:

I actually ended up knocking up a spreadsheet to work out my colour placements and make sure all my Titans get the colours in different places.

Dragonlover

[Gillyfish]

I think you may have just coined 'paint by spreadsheet'.

 

They are looking good, what will you use as a spot colour?

[Doctor Perils]

Yay! Nice start What colour are you going with for the trim?

[Dragonlover]

Spot colour, not a scooby at the moment. The trim is Warplock Bronze, it looks better in better light, I probably won't be going over it with any other colours.

 

Dragonlover

[Fajita Fan]

I’m giving serious thought to trimming my white traitors with warlock bronze instead of gold.