Richard Rider began his superhero career, like many others, as a lowly high school student. That is, until dying Nova Centurian, Rhomann Dey, passed on his suit and powers to Richard. Eventually, he went to space to fight Skrulls and joined the New Warriors. When Xandar was destroyed by the Annihilation Wave, Nova was imbued with the power of the Nova Force and allowed the Xandarian Worldmind to upload its consciousness into himself, becoming more powerful than ever before. This is the version of Nova we have in Marvel: Crisis Protocol.
Depending on the comic you’re using for reference, some artists have Nova in a black suit while others have him in a dark blue suit. Since I’m not a huge fan of painting black superhero costumes, and would have added blue in anyway to highlight it, I decided to go the dark blue route on Nova. For Nova’s gold areas, I decided to crack open the AK Interactive NMM Gold box set. I’d previously used it to paint Thanos and wanted to give it another go on a smaller character and I feel like it worked out really well.
Below you’ll find a chart of all the colors used on Nova. Let’s get going!
Painting His Blue Suit
I started with a smooth basecoat of Kantor Blue. I then painted all of the shadowed and recessed areas with a mix of Kantor Blue and Trollslayer Orange, followed by a quick pass of Kantor Blue for Clean-up. From there I mixed Caledor Sky into Kantor Blue and layered that on all the muscles and high points, as well as some of the shadowed areas to give them some definition. Then I painted another layer over the same areas of Caledor Sky, followed by a mix of Teclis Blue and Caledor Sky. I then started adding more highlights to things with Teclis Blue and Lothern Blue. Finally, To help give it all a bit more depth, I painted a few deep shadows with Black.
Basecoat: Citadel Kantor Blue
Shadows: Citadel Kantor Blue: Citadel Trollslayer Orange
Clean-up: Citadel Kantor Blue
Layer: Citadel Kantor Blue: Citadel Caledor Sky
Layer: Citadel Caledor Sky
Layer: Citadel Caledor Sky: Citadel Teclis Blue
Highlight: Citadel Teclis Blue
Highlight: Citadel Teclis Blue: Citadel Lothern Blue
Highlight: Lothern Blue
Darklining: Vallejo Model Color Black
Painting His Face
There’s not a ton of skin showing on Nova, so I went pretty basic with his face. I started out with a basecoat of Tanned Skin. I then mixed Altdorf Guard Blue into Tanned Skin to create a color for the shadows. From there, I highlighted the face with Tanned Highlight and Fair Skin.
Basecoat: Reaper Tanned Skin
Shadows: Reaper Tanned Skin: Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue
Highlight: Reaper Tanned Highlight
Highlight: Reaper Fair Skin
Painting the NMM Gold
I started with a basecoat of Sahara Yellow and then added some depth to it with a mix of Purple and Sahara Yellow. I added a layer of Sahara Yellow mixed with Sand Yellow to start creating the shining areas. From There I used Sand Yellow, Ice Yellow and White to create the highlights and edge highlights. Finally to add more depth, I used Hull Red in the recesses to add extra contrast.
Basecoat: AK Interactive Sahara Yellow
Shadows: AK Interactive Sahara: AK Interactive Purple
Layer: AK Interactive Sahara: AK Interactive Sand Yellow
Highlight: AK Interactive Sand Yellow
Highlight: AK Interactive Ice Yellow
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Darklining: AK Interactive Hull Red
Painting the Glowy Discs
Nova sports a trio of glowing discs on his torso, for these I like simplicity and started with a basecoat of White. I then laid down a thicker than normal wash of Pylar Glacier Contrast paint and highlighted the center with White to make it pop.
Basecoat: Vallejo Model Color White
Wash: Citadel Contrast Pylar Glacier
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Painting the Blue Energy Blasts
The blue energy blast and the flame effect on his fist were basecoated White. The dark areas were painted Talassar Blue and feathered out so that there wasn’t a stark line where it ended. While that was wet, I painted Pylar Glacier from the top and blended it into the darker areas. I let these dry and then did it again to deepen the colors and then highlighted it with White.
Basecoat: Vallejo Model Color White
Dark Sections: Citadel Contrast Talassar Blue
Light Sections: Citadel Contrast Pylar Glacier
Highlights: Vallejo Model Color White
Painting the Concrete
All of my Marvel: Crisis Protocol bases are painted in the same way. I start with Stormvermin Fur as a basecoat, then I stipple the surface with Administratum Grey and Ulthuan Grey. To finish it off, I give the entire surface with Nuln Oil, allowing it to pool for extra color variation.
Basecoat: Citadel Stormvermin Fur
Stipple: Citadel Adminstratum Grey
Stipple: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Wash: Citadel Nuln Oil
Rim: Vallejo Model Color Black
Nova is now ready to blast off at the speed of light! Have you painted the Nova and Yondu character pack? If so, hit me up on the socials! You can find me over on Bluesky and Instagram, 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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