Grey Knights Painting : General Painting Advices

[David Ravel]

Hello everyone, my name is David. First time poster here. I normally play Imperial Guard but as bad as I am painting models, I still love it. I paint Chaos Space Marine, Cultists, terrain, even Grey Knights just for fun. That being said, I do it because I want to get better. I have no goal of becoming pro, but since I'm painting, I might as well be the best I can be. 

 

So I did those Grey Knights as a gift to a friend, and I'm far from satisfied with them. I'm posting them here to get some advices from the community.

 

I don't need specific GK advices since I don't play them and don't plan on painting them again soon, but more general advices, techniques, tutorials, etc. What would be the next step I should work upon ? I know there is alot of them, but what would be most important ? 

 

PS: I'm a brush guy. I don't use airbrush and don't plan to do it soon. 

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7OHiI1IF76o/U2kgko6hHyI/AAAAAAAAAS0/amUX_mcoEpU/s1600/IMG_3451.JPG

 

You can see more picture at my amateur blog here : http://thoseonceloyal40k.blogspot.ca/2014/05/grey-knights-finished.html

 

You will also find much better painter than me on the blog if you look at it. 

 

Thank you very much !

[Shubniggurath]

They look very nice!

[RedFred]

What prime are you using? It looks very light. Silver should be applied over a black base coat, it helps build the shadow and it runs on the color very smoothly.

 

Also, might I suggest layering the cloth hanging between his legs? I may be wrong but it looks like it has been based and then washes to help define the contours. My suggestion would be to paint it dark then build the color up.

 

Grey Knights are difficult to make pop as they are a very singular colour scheme. You rely heavily on the jewewls, the bolter, the cloth and the nemesis weapons to make the model stand out dramatically.

[David Ravel]

The cloth is a failure indeed. I did layer. 3 color, 2 type of wash + drybrush. And it feels like it's exactly like you said : no work at all. Next time I'll use more contrast colours I guess !

 

The primer was white. The reason being I wanted a more pale silver since I knew I would wash with Nuln Oil. You think it would have given it a better shadind with black primer ? I was afraid it would be too dark. If so, in general, when would you suggest white primer ? (I normally always use black, but this time I thought I was doing good with white !)

 

Thank you for the advices. 

[RedFred]

I don't claim expertise but I do know most will prime black when painting silver. It comes off much nicer and you don't have to go and redo the shading if you get the base coats done properly.

 

This is what I achieved with a black primer. I then followed it up with a 50/50 mix of boltgun metal and black, and did one extra layer with just boltgun metal.

 

It gives it a very sharp contrast.

 

The hardest part is keeping the painting clean. I'm still working on that.

 

http://i59.tinypic.com/6tfwau.jpg

[David Ravel]

Wow yes ! That's a nice color. The big plus of your way is that it helps distinguish any form of highlights. Very cool. Thanks for the advice. 

[RedFred]

The highlights you see in that picture were done with mithril silver- thinned appopriately with water.

[Darth Mustard]

Holly Chrome !!!

Now that's what I'm calling a knight in shinning armor !!!

Very well done Sir !!!

[Blissful Brushes]

For Grey Knights I base black as has been said and work my way up from Leadbelcher (Boltgun metal) to mithril silver (not sure what it's called now, still got my old pot!). The general rule I work on is ⅓ - ⅔ (if that's too small to see..didn't realise that'd happen, I'll write it too: one thirds - two thirds). The 'one third' is the higher parts of the model - the more raised surfaces, the parts that would be more likely to be hit by direct sunlight - I highlight these parts. The two thirds I leave boltgun metal and shade in the darkest recesses.

One of the things that I've found quite fun to do with grey knights specifically, is instead of doing a black wash into the recesses, is give it a diluted blue wash. This makes it look a bit like blued-steel, and considering most people paint psychic powers in blues, I think it gives off the impression of the psychically charged armour that they have.

With regards to the cloth, I find it extremely challenging to drybrush cloth successfully. Layering and washing will usually bring about a better result. For me, I start with a mid tone, give it all a wash to show me the recesses better, then I manually shade down into the recesses, and highlight the raised bits.

Generic painting tips:

- Thin your paints (they don't look thick in this, but just incase!) It also makes life cheaper ;p

- When you edge highlight (like on the top-right bit of the backpack) use the edge of your brush rather than painting a line, if that makes sense. This requires less control than painting a very thin, dead straight line.

Hope I've helped!! I don't think that they're bad at all, certainly not for an early attempt. Just keep pushing yourself, see someone's work you like and try and emulate theirs, and ultimately, of course, better them!

Good luck

[David Ravel]

Thanks for the advice ! I will use them all.