The First One, En Sabah Nur, The Eternal One, the subject of today’s How to Paint Everything: Marvel: Crisis Protocol goes by many names but is best known as the Supervillain, Apocalypse. Apocalypse has grown into an adversary of mythical proportions, since his first appearance in X-Factor #5, even remaking the Marvel comic universe in his image during the Age of Apocalypse story arc.
As a major fan of the 90s X-Men cartoon, I decided to go with a blue and purple color scheme on Apocalypse. I also wanted to go with a flat color scheme with some classic edge highlighting, rather than painting his armor as non-metallic metal or go for the cartoony vibe a bit more. Also, his base had to be painted to match the Regeneration Chamber, which was metallic, so mixing metallic and NMM styles together can be a bit tricky.
Here is a notated diagram of which colors were used for each type of material, followed by descriptions of how each section was painted.
Painting the Blue Armor
The blue armor was painted Kantor Blue, making sure to get into all of the recesses. I then painted all of the raised surfaces Caledor Sky, leaving the Kantor Blue showing in the recesses. I then edge highlighted the armor panels with Teclis Blue, Lothern Blue and White.
- Basecoat: Citadel Kantor Blue
- Layer: Citadel Caledor Sky
- Edge Highlight: Citadel Teclis Blue
- Edge Highlight: Citadel Lorthen Blue
- Spot Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Painting the Purple Suit
The purple areas of the suit were painted Xereus Purple, I then painted the shadows with a mix of Xereus Purple and XV-88. The highlights were done with various mixes of Xereus Purple, Genestealer Purple and Emperor’s Children.
- Basecoat: Citadel Xereus Purple
- Shadows: Citadel Xereus Purple: Citadel XV-88
- Layer: Citadel Xereus Purple: Citadel Genestealer Purple
- Highlight: Citadel Genestealer Purple
- Highlight: Citadel Genestealer Purple: Citadel Emperor’s Children
- Spot Highlight: Emperor’s Children
Painting the Loincloth
The loincloth is blue and has to look like its made of different material from the armor. I started with a basecoat of Caledor Sky and then painted the shadows with a mix of Caledor Sky and Trollslayer Orange. From there I highlighted it back up with Caledor Sky, Teclis Blue and Lothern Blue. I didn’t highlight it with white, because I didn’t want the fabric to look shiny.
- Basecoat: Caledor Sky
- Shadow: Caledor Sky: Trollslayer Orange
- Layer: Caledor Sky
- Highlight: Teclis Blue
- Highlight: Lothern Blue
Painting the Face
Apocalypse has a grey skin tone, so I decided to start with Stormvermin Fur as a basecoat. Then I mixed in some Administratum Grey for the next layer and highlighted it with Ulthuan Grey. His eyes were painted with Evil Sunz Scarlet and I painted his lips Teclis Blue to match the rest of the blue on his armor and head.
- Basecoat: Citadel Stormvermin Fur
- Layer: Citadel Stormvermin Fur: Citadel Administratum Grey
- Layer: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
- Mouth Line: Citadel Teclis Blue
- Eyes: Evil Sunz Scarlet
Painting the Arm Coils
Since all of my Marvel: Crisis Protocol models have NMM for their metals I decided to do the arm coils in a blue grey and then do some simple edge highlighting with Neutral Grey and White to finish them off.
- Basecoat: Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform WWII
- Wash: Nuln Oil
- Edge Highlight: Vallejo Model Color Neutral Grey
- Edge Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Painting the Base
His base needed to match the metal areas of the Resurrection Chamber flooring. I started with a basecoat of Chaos Black spray primer and then drybrushed it with Iron Warriors, Leadbelcher and Stormhost Silver.
- Basecoat: Citadel Chaos Black Spray Primer
- Drybrush: Citadel Iron Warriors
- Drybrush: Citadel Leadbelcher
- Drybrush: Citadel Stormhost Silver
Special thanks to Atomic Mass Games for providing Goonhammer with these terrain sets. Apocalypse and his terrain are slated for release in September, ask your friendly local game store for availability or they are also available for pre-order on the Asmodee web shop now. Will you be picking up these? If you do, hit me up on Twitter/X (brushwizard), Instagram (brushwizardry), or if you’re a member of the Goonhammer Discord server share them on the dedicated Marvel: Crisis Protocol channel.
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