How to Paint Everything: Marvel Crisis Protocol - Blue Marvel

Adam Brashear started his hero journey during the Korean War, where he met his friend and later nemesis, Conner Sims. During a scientific experiment gone awry involving Anti-Matter and the Negative Zone. This resulted in them both gaining a suite of superpowers, Adam becoming Blue Marvel and Conner vanishing, later becoming Anti-Man. Eventually Adam is forced to retire during the 60s after his identity is revealed, with the Kennedy Administration believing the public isn't ready for an African American superhero.

Later, Conner reemerges as Anti-Man and the Avengers call on Adam to take up the mantle of Blue Marvel again.

For this one, we are going to lean heavily into Army Painter's Tidal Blue, Phalanx Blue and Aegis Aqua. They are a very nice set of blues, I picked them up specifically for this model too. I wanted to try out something different than my standard blue recipe and I think it worked out really well on him.

So let's get started, as usual you'll find a handy paint chart below. Here you'll find every color that was used during the painting of Blue Marvel.

credit - Brushwizard

Face

Basecoat - Citadel Rhinox Hide Layer - Citadel Rhinox Hide: Citadel Doombull Brown Layer - Previous Mix: Citadel Gorthor Brown Highlight - Citadel Gorthor Brown Highlight - Reaper Tanned Shadow

I wanted Blue Marvel to have a darker skin tone, so I started with a basecoat of Rhinox Hide, which is easily one of my favorite colors of all time. Rhinox Hide has a nice hint of red and purple in it and we'll be using that to our advantage.

Once we are happy with the basecoat, I then mix together Doombull Brown and Rhinox Hide to add a bit more red to the color. This mix is painted on the forehead, cheeks, nose and chin. Using this mix, Gorthor Brown is then added to it to lighten it up a bit and added to the prevous layers. To finish him off, I do a highlight layer of Gorthor Brown and Tanned Shadow to the highest points.

Eyes

Eyeliner - Army Painter Fanatics Matt Black Eye Whites - AK Interactive White Eye Glow - Army Painter Fanatics Aegis Aqua

I always make sure that any heroes that blast energy have glowing eyes. For Blue Marvel, I wanted him to have bright blue eyes. To start I painted the eye Black, I then added White to the eye, leaving a thin black outline. To finish it off I thinned down some Aegis Aqua and painted that over everything to give it a bit of a blue glow.

Hair

Basecoat - Citadel Rhinox Hide: Army Painter Fanatics Matt Black Highlight - Previous Mix: Gorthor Brown Greying Sides - Army Painter Fanatics Matt Black: Army Painter Fanatics Ash Grey Greying Highlight - Army Painter Fanatics Ash Grey

His hair started with a basecoat using a mixture of Black and Rhinox Hide. Like his skin, I added some Gorthor Brown to it to highlight it. I gave him greying side with a mix of Black and Ash Grey, and a quick highlight of Ash Grey.

Blue Suit Sections

Basecoat - Army Painter Fanatics Tidal Blue Shadows - Army Painter Fanatics Tidal Blue: Army Painter Fanatics Burning Ore Deep Shadows - Previous Mix: Army Painter Fanatics Matt Black Clean Up Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Tidal Blue Highlight - Army Painter Fanatics Phalanx Blue Highlight - Army Painter Fanatics Aegis Aqua Highlight - Army Painter Fanatics Aegis Aqua: AK Interactive White

The blue areas of his suit were given a smooth basecoat of Tidal Blue. I added in shadows to the shaded and recessed areas using a mixture of Tidal Blue and Burning Ore and deepened them by adding a tiny amount of black to the mix and painting that into the darkest areas.

Tidal Blue was used again to clean up any stray brush strokes and act as my first layer of blue. I then began highlighting the suit using Phalanx Blue, Aegis Aqua and finally a bright highlight of Aegis Aquas with a small amount of White mixed in.

Black Sleeves, Belt and Boots

Basecoat - Army Painter Fanatics Matt Black Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Matt Black: Army Painter Fanatics Tidal Blue Highlight - Previous Mix: Army Painter Fanatics Phalanx Blue Highlight - Previous Mix: AK Interactive Ivory

His black sleeves, belt and boots all started with a Black basecoat. To keep in the blue theme, I mixed Tidal Blue into Black for the first layer and applied it to all of the raised areas, leaving the actual black in the recesses. Using this mix, I added Phalanx Blue to it and added the first highlight layer, followed by another highlight with Ivory added into the mix.

White Accents and Gloves

Basecoat - AK Interactive Pastel Violet Highlight - AK Interactive Ivory Highlight - AK Interactive White

In my usual fashion, the white gloves and accents begin with a basecoat of Pastel Violet. Once I'm happy with the coverage, I highlight it with Ivory and White. This lets the White act as a highlight and keep the painted areas bright and clean, rather than grey and dingy.

Spell Effect

Basecoat - AK Interactive White Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Aegis Aqua Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Phalanx Blue Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Tidal Blue Drybrush - Army Painter Fanatics Aegis Aqua Drybrush - AK Interactive White Black Orbs - Army Painter Fanatics Matt Black

Blue Marvel's spell effect was first painted White to make sure that it was as bright as possible. Working from light to dark, the first layer was done with multiple coats of very thin Aegis Aqua. I then moved on to a few thin coats of Phalanx Blue, feathering it out into a gradient with the Aegis Aqua. I followed this up with a layer of Tidal Blue, feathering it into the Phalanx Blue. With the paint completely dry, I then drybrushed the whole thing with Aegis Aqua and White. Finally, I painted all of the little orbs on it Black.

Concrete Basing

Basecoat - Citadel Stormvermin Fur Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Ash Grey Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Brigade Grey Wash - Citadel Nuln Oil

His base got my standard concrete paint job. It starts with a basecoat of Stormvermin Fur. The base is the stippled with Ash Grey and Brigade Grey to create surface texture and then given a wash of Nuln Oil to shade the recesses and tie everything together.

credit - Brushwizard

Blue Marvel is now ready to go and blast his way onto the gaming table! I'm really interested to get him into some brawls, but I haven't landed on a home for him yet, since I'm not ready to bring Mighty Avengers out yet. But I might have to soon!

A big thanks to Atomic Mass Games for sending these new characters for this tutorial, I very much appreciate it! Have you picked up the new Spectrum and Blue Marvel character pack? Let us know in the comments, which of the new characters is your favorite. Hit me up on social media too, you can find me on Bluesky, and Instagram. Also, if you're on the Goonhammer Discord server, be sure to hop into the Marvel Crisis Protocol channel and join the conversation.

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