If you love a Warhammer 40k army with big Tron energy, one wargaming fan has the perfect paint job for you. 21-year-old Justin Rosado shared his synthwave Space Marines to Reddit on December 7, showing off a 2,000-point army in neon pink, purple, and yellow.
To create Space Marines that are “only loyal to the beat”, Rosado primarily used an airbrush for miniatures. “It’s a lot more layering than it looks”, he tells Wargamer. Start by priming your Warhammer 40k faction with bright white, and then add a bright blue base layer.
Rosado recommends a purple mid layer, as well as Zenithal priming for details like shoulder pads. Then, top the whole thing off with a saturated pink and a golden trim.
“Basically, it’s the brightest, most saturated of each paint color I could find”, Rosado says. “After that, it’s just experimentation. It took several attempts to figure out the final recipe, and it evolved as I painted more models.”
Rosado tells Wargamer the color scheme was inspired by “Retrowave / Synthwave art and album art I’ve run across on Spotify”. “I also wanted to make something outside of the typical grimdark that’s so prevalent.”
One particular synthwave album comes to mind here – FM-84’s ‘Atlas’. Rosado created a backdrop for his Space Marines that’s a dead-ringer for the album artwork. We recommend blasting it while learning how to paint Space Marines in Rosado’s style.
For more advice on painting miniatures, here are the best paints and best paintbrushes we’d recommend. And for more awesome paint jobs, check out these Hello Kitty Space Marines, or these fine art paint jobs. If you’re after something more news-y, here’s a recent Games Workshop announcement that staff will receive a $3,000 creator bonus this year.