Hey everybody, for today’s How to Paint Everything: Marvel Crisis Protocol, I will be going over how I painted the honorable Korbinite hero, Beta Ray Bill!
Initially debuting in 1983, Beta Ray Bill was the first hero outside of Thor himself to be worthy enough to wield Mjolnir. After a battle with Thor over who would gain the right to wield Mjolnir, claiming victory and saving Thor from a fiery death. He then relinquishes ownership of the mystical hammer back to Thor. Afterwards, Odin rewards him with a weapon of his own, Stormbreaker, a little ol’ warhammer you may know as Thor’s second weapon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Beta Ray Bill’s character model takes inspiration from the cover of his debut issue, The Mighty Thor #337. Its a really cool pose, but it can be a little awkward to reach into some areas of the model, especially inside his cape. To make it slightly easier to reach, I would suggest painting the interior of his cap and back before assembling him to a base. Below you will find the chart of colors I used for each area of Bill’s model. Let’s get cracking.
Painting His Skin
Beta Ray Bill has an orange skin tone, but I don’t want it to be too orange. With that in mind, I mixed Mournfang Brown with Jokaero Orange for the basecoat to darken it up a little bit. I then mixed Jokaero Orange and Kantor Blue together to create a color for the recesses and shadowed areas. From there I did layers of straight Jokearo Orange, then a mix of Jokaero Orange and Ushabti Bone for some highlights. I finished it up with some highlights on Ushabti Bone.
Basecoat: Citadel Mournfang Brown: Citadel Jokaero Orange
Shadows: Citadel Jokaero Orange: Citadel Kantor Blue
Layer: Citadel Jokaero Orange
Layer: Citadel Jokaero Orange: Citadel Ushabti Bone
Highlight: Citadel Ushabti Bone
Painting the Gloves and Bracers
For the gloves, I started with a basecoat of Administratum Grey, I then added a layer of Ulthuan Grey to brighten it up a bit. I washed the gloves with Apothecary White Contrast paint and once it was dry I highlighted them with Ulthuan Grey and White.
The Bracers were given a basecoat of Mephiston Red and a few quick highlights of Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Rider Red. The line in the middle of the bracers was just painted black with no highlighting done to it.
Gloves
Basecoat: Citadel Administratum Grey
Layer: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Wash: Citadel Apothecary White
Highlight: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Bracers
Basecoat: Mephiston Red
Highlight: Evil Sunz Scarlet
Highlight: Citadel Wild Rider Red
Midline: Vallejo Model Color Black
Painting the Dark Blue Suit
His suit is split into two different types of materials which will be painted with similar color sets. The main body of the suit looks like some kind of cloth, so we will only highlight it up to Lothern Blue. We start with a base coat of Kantor Blue, I then mix in a bit of Trollslayer Orange for the shadows. If needed, I do some clean up on the raised areas with Kantor Blue again and then add a layer of Caledor Sky to add contrast to it. I then highlight the surfaces and edges with Teclis Blue. It is finished off with another highlight of Lothern Blue.
Basecoat: Citadel Kantor Blue
Shadows: Citadel Kantor Blue: Citadel Trollslayer Orange
Clean Up: Kantor Blue
Layer: Citadel Caledor Sky
Highlight: Citadel Teclis Blue
Highlight: Citadel Lorthern Blue
Painting the Light Blue Areas
I started with a basecoat of Ulthuan Grey on light blue disc areas on his chest. Since I was planning to used Fluorescent Blue for his lightning effect, I used that for these as well to tie them together. I added a bit of white to the center of them and then washed them with Pylar Glacier.
Basecoat: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Layer: AK Interactive Fluorescent Blue
Layer: Vallejo Model Color White
Wash: Citadel Pylar Glacier
Painting the Dark Blue Armor
The blue armor sections of his suit are painted with a similar set of colors as his clothing. But this time we are going to highlight it all the way up to white and add some black into the recesses for extra contrast. That way it will give off the look of these areas being shiny metal. We start with Black and then layer on Kantor Blue and Caledor Sky, leaving the darkest areas black. I then do highlights and edge highlights with Teclis Blue and Lothern Blue. Finally another highlight of White is added and I then dark line the armor panels with black in all of the recesses.
Basecoat: Vallejo Model Color Black
Layer: Citadel Kantor Blue
Layer: Citadel Caledor Sky
Highlight: Citadel Teclis Blue
Highlight: Citadel Lorthern Blue
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Darkline: Vallejo Model Color Black
Painting the Cape
His cape was given a solid basecoat of Mephiston Red, making sure it had even coverage. The recesses of the folds and underside of the cape were painted with mix of Mephiston Red and Warpstone Glow. After doing any needed clean up, I added a layer of Evil Sunz Scarlet to the folds in the cape. Highlights were then applied, first with a mix of Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Rider Red and finally with straight Wild Rider Red.
Basecoat: Citadel Mephiston Red
Shadows: Citadel Mephiston Red: Citadel Warpstone Glow
Clean Up: Citadel Mephiston Red
Layer: Citadel Evil Sunz Scarlet
Highlight: Citadel Evil Sunz Scarlet: Wild Rider Red
Highlight: Citadel Wild Rider Red
Painting the Gold Belt and Boots
Non-metallic gold can be a little tricky. I try to simplify it a bit here. For Bill’s gold boots and belt I started with a basecoat of XV-88 and then began setting up the highlighted areas with layers of Averland Sunset and Yriel Yellow. From where I started adding highlights and edge highlights with Phalanx Yellow and White. To reinforce shadows, I painted Rhinox Hide in the recesses to help add more contrast and break up the yellow a bit more.
Basecoat: Citadel XV-88
Layer: Citadel Averland Sunset
Layer: Citadel Yriel Yellow
Highlight: Citadel Phalanx Yellow
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Darklining: Citadel Rhinox Hide
Painting His Silver Helmet
For some basic non-metallic silver, I like to use blue-gray colors and a Aethermatic Blue to help make it seem like it is reflecting blue tones. I start out with a basecoat of Luftwaffe Uniform WWII. I follow up with a layer of Neutral Grey mixed with Altdorf Guard Blue and a highlight of Ulthuan Grey. This is washed with a coat of Aethermatic Blue Contrast paint and then highlighted and edge highlighted with Ulthuan Grey and White.
Basecoat: Vallejo Model Color Luftwaffe Uniform WWII
Layer: Vallejo Model Color Neutral Grey: Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue
Layer: Citadel Ulthuan Grey: Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue
Layer: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Wash: Citadel Aethermatic Blue
Highlight: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Painting the Lightning
I don’t really enjoy painting lightning effects, so I try to do it as simple as possible just to get it over with. For Beta Ray Bill’s lightning, I started with a basecoat of Fluorescent Blue and then I did quick and dirty highlights of Ulthuan Grey and White.
Basecoat: AK Interactive Fluorescent Blue
Highlight: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Painting his Base
All of my bases for MCP are painted in the same way, to keep things as consistent as possible. I start with a basecoat of Stormvermin Fur, making sure that the coverage is as even as possible. I then stipple the surface with Administratum Grey and Ulthuan Grey to give it some texture. It is then finished off with a wash of Nuln Oil.
Basecoat: Citadel Stormvermin Fur
Stipple: Citadel Administratum Grey
Stipple: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Wash: Citadel Nuln Oil
That’s Beta Ray Bill all ready for the gaming table. Have you painted Beta Ray Bill? If so hit me up on the socials, you can find me over on Bluesky (brushwizard.bky.social) Twitter/X (@brushwizard) and Instagram (@brushwizardry), I love seeing what the community is working on and try to share what I see whenever possible. If you’re a member of the Goonhammer Discord server, be sure to share them in the Marvel: Crisis Protocol channel there as well.
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