Imperial Fists - Contrast on Power Armour Made Simple! [How I Paint Things]

Yellow still has a weird reputation for being difficult to paint! Luckily there's been so many developments in and new varieties of paints over the years that there'll always be another, simpler way of getting bright yellow Space Marines on the table.

There's a few Contrast paints which are really more like intense glazes - fans of Lamenter Yellow will probably get a kick out of the new Imperial Fist, as it acts very similarly.

00:00 - Intro
00:54 - Priming
01:37 - Basecoats
06:56 - Shading
09:03 - Highlighting
11:53 - Varnishing
13:05 - The Finished Fist

Thanks to Producer Patrons Alan, Kyrie, Andrew, Jimmy, Rod, Phil, Robison and Woodcock - as well as all the other Patrons that made this video possible, and Exit23 Games for recording equipment that helps keep the channel ticking over! Find out more at the following links:

THE BASE: Vallejo Brown Earth texture paint, drybrushed with Dark Sand. Paint base rim in XV-88 and add tufts to taste. Done!

PAINTS USED:

PRIMER:
Wraithbone (Citadel Spray Primer)

CITADEL:
Wraithbone (Base)
Imperial Fist (Contrast)
Baal Red (Contrast)
Black Legion (Contrast)
Leadbelcher (Base)
Retributor Armour (Base)
Skeleton Horde (Contrast)
Marine Juice (Lahmian Medium, Reikland Fleshshade, AP Dark Tone)
White Scar (Layer)
Stormvermin Fur (Layer)
Dawnstone (Layer)

ARMY PAINTER:
Dark Tone

VARNISH:
Stormshield (Citadel Technical)

[huwtindall]

Saw a great tip for contrasting IM models today - really simple but great tip - just do the black in areas first before the yellow. Makes cleaning up mistakes of black on yellow a thing of the past.

[mirage]

Imperial Fist Contrast is some absolute black magic. Stuff makes yellow not just accessible, it makes it easy!

I need to make mix me up some of that marine juice. Could be really nice for painting Horus Heresy models.

[RuthlessMojo]

You have to be one of the hardest working content creators in the hobby sphere. Your tutorials are always clear, concise and easy to follow. You’re a master of your craft.

[brohugs]

marine juice tasted great, would drink again 10/10

[SwabianClancy]

I like it very much, it also has this light matte and dark look that I like so much with the colour combination of the Imperial Fists. My Fists have always had a black Aquila with a white skull, which darkens the model nicely, also for battledamage/dirt.

[TheeMrRasmus]

I use marine juice on all my minies now. I saw you use it about 2 years ago and it really changed my painting!
It is legitimately a real life cheat code!
My marines are an inverted Brazen Claw, but it just works so well on both red and blue !

[CMTechnica]

Always love tutorials like this. Yellow, black and white are always the hardest colors to paint

[eallaterza]

Your genuine passion for this hobby is inspiring and contagious as ever, and your simple, yet efficient paint guides are some of my favourites. I'm happy there is someone like you on this platform :D

[Mr_Waffle.]

I was thinking of starting an Eldar army and painting them as Iyanden since that's what I did as a kid, I think I might copy paste this recipe over to them! Great stuff!

[churchilla]

Great video! I was gonna paint the marines in Leviathan as Imperial Fists (been playing them since I started 40k). Thanks for the tips!

[metajock]

Well done!!! Someone else just did a video showing a light pink wash before doing the yellow contrast and it came out fantastic. The pink turned into a light orange shadow effect that totally rocked.

[TashiMortier]

I so love Stormvermin fur on Black Leather :> Just makes it look nicer and rubbery. Thank you for the video :D Looking so good :)

[arandomlostsoul]

Very nice, I'm starting a Lamenters army and I'll definitely have to try something like this for them!

[Ghost]

Mate, you have been killing it lately. I love your recent Space Wolves and Imperial Fists painting tutorials. Keep them coming.

[Verdigris]

I've been doing some Eldar (or Aeldari I guess, if you're not old like me) Craftworld Iyanden using the Imperial Fist Yellow contrast, and I've found that if you do the pre-highlighting and pre-shading like you showed in some of your original Contrast videos, it'll give the same highlight and shade effect when you apply the IF yellow contrast paint. Obviously that's more just tinting the highlights and shades rather than an actual "contrast" effect, and it definitely won't win any painting contests, but it works pretty well for getting stuff done quickly.

[allanburt]

Nice work, that's put me in the mood to give that a try ... cheers

[burdonite]

I love this kind of mini painting content and you sir are the lord and master of it all :). I have to thank you for the introduction to 'Marine Juice'. I've applied variants of it to a few projects now and it has worked a treat on all of them. So thank you :D. Also a big thank you for making these videos, you continue to inspire us all in our hobby endeavors.

[johnkelley]

Great tutorial. I have used the Marine Juice on sand colored tanks and it works really well on them too. It is not quite as dark as Agrax Earthshade or even Dark Tone and it flows better. Thanks for sharing this.

[wargamesontoast]

Your videos are a constant source of joy and information. You are, without a shadow of a doubt, the most enjoyable painting channel on youtube. Great results in an approachable manner.

Thanks man

[andyshaw]

Cracking video. Yellow is such a tricky colour. Could easily use this process for my Orks 👍