How do you all (quickly) paint your Templars these days?

[Ahistorian]

I suppose the title says it all. I've looked through the Resources, and I feel like there must be some way to combine black undercoat, Citadel Dry paints and Nuln Oil/Black Templar for a quick but effective finish.

 

In previous experiments, I've found Black Templar dries quite grey over white, so I was thinking of maybe wetbrushing another colour (probably green) over a black undercoat and then giving it a couple of coats of Nuln Oil - one before the other details, and one after, to help tie the model together. Or I could do a single coat of Black Templar and an Agrax coat to tie the model together/shade other details, but that will limit my ability to make repairs on the fly if I'm messy with other stages.

 

So I turn to you all, because black-drybrush-black wash is probably the simplest of simple solutions, and I ask: how do you all quickly smash through your Templars these days?

[Medjugorje]

I normally use chaos black and then 70% of the model with wraith bone and just for forshadowing a bit (about 10%) white spray. 

 

Then I use (of course) Black Templar. The edges are highlited by a mix of fenris grey and a bit of grey mix although for the most models this step comes after I´ve painted the other models. shoulder pad grey and then white. And after this all tiny details...

[tychobi]

Dark grey undercoat. Light grey drybrush highlight. Black wash. Gloss varnish. Black wash. Mid grey highlight. Fix mistakes with dark grey touch up followed by black wash and grey highlight.

 

You can skip the varnish mid stage and grey highlight and still get a great product. Care to not go too bright on the drybrush step or too heavy with highlights so the armor reads as black.

Edited August 2, 2020 by tychobi

[Ahistorian]

These are all nice recipes, but more involved than I like to use for troops (although I am keeping them in mind for characters). I'm not used to painting 28mm armies any more - I rarely even do a killteam's worth, so I'm hoping to mine a method that involves a max of one spray coat and two brush coats. Mea culpa if that seems lazy, but between work & ill-health I rarely have the energy to paint more than 2 hours a week these days.

Off-topic: Six years ago I was knocking out over 1000 figures a year, last year it was 200 (a three-fold increase on the year before).

[Brother Kraskor]

Leadbelcher spray, Black Templar contrast, highlight boltgun metal then mithril silver. 

 

I haven't been drybrushing the highlights but I guess they would work (probably better than my shaky hands...).

[Hymnblade]

Undercoat black, drybrush light grey instead of edge highlighting, then hit the whole thing with a coat of nuln oil to knock the highlights back a little. If you want to be fancy, you can do two stages of drybrushing. This tutorial shows how it looks at each step. This is the best method I know for quickly painting black armor that still looks decent.

[Ahistorian]

Undercoat black, drybrush light grey instead of edge highlighting, then hit the whole thing with a coat of nuln oil to knock the highlights back a little. If you want to be fancy, you can do two stages of drybrushing. This tutorial shows how it looks at each step. This is the best method I know for quickly painting black armor that still looks decent.

I think we may have a winner here, that guide looks right up my alley. Has anyone tried using other colours between the black undercoat and the Dawnstone highlight to give some tonal depth to the armour? As an example, this apothecary's armour is worked up from browns and greens.

[Marshal_von_Speer]

Undercoat black, drybrush light grey instead of edge highlighting, then hit the whole thing with a coat of nuln oil to knock the highlights back a little. If you want to be fancy, you can do two stages of drybrushing. This tutorial shows how it looks at each step. This is the best method I know for quickly painting black armor that still looks decent.

After quite some time testing and trying I also came up with this method. Although I replaced Eshin Grey with Dawnstone all together - decent results with little effort!

[Urkh]

Unfortunately, I don't paint any of my minis quickly. =(

[Ahistorian]

 

Undercoat black, drybrush light grey instead of edge highlighting, then hit the whole thing with a coat of nuln oil to knock the highlights back a little. If you want to be fancy, you can do two stages of drybrushing. This tutorial shows how it looks at each step. This is the best method I know for quickly painting black armor that still looks decent.

 

After quite some time testing and trying I also came up with this method. Although I replaced Eshin Grey with Dawnstone all together - decent results with little effort!

Good to hear it works for other people too! Was it the first "wider" drybrush or the second "sharper" one you got rid of?

[Marshal Wolfhart]

I go with chaos black spray and a quick and dirty highlight with an about 60-40 mix of abaddon black and Mechanicus Standard Grey. This is done in a bit more than ten minuts with broad strokes and some really thin paint, so it doesn't cover too much. If i feel fancy i consecutively mix the paint with lighter grey to get more levels of shading, but that's usually reserved for characters on rainy sundays. Then i block out all colours, like shoulder pads, guns holsters, metal bits and stuff. Next i highlight details in the respective color. Then i edge highlight black armor with administratum grey. Clean up, shade with nuln oil on armor/ metal, seraphim sepia on scroll and gold, agrax on white cloth. Maybe go over the shade if it came off too stark. Takes me a good 2 hours for an Intercessor model and i like the results. Once i got a chunk of the Indomitus box painted i will update my crusade thread and add some pics if you're interested.

[Ahistorian]

Ach, 2 hours per model is way too long for me... I try to keep it dosn to 30-45 minutes!

 

But I definitely look forward toyour plog update!

[Marshal_von_Speer]

 

 

Undercoat black, drybrush light grey instead of edge highlighting, then hit the whole thing with a coat of nuln oil to knock the highlights back a little. If you want to be fancy, you can do two stages of drybrushing. This tutorial shows how it looks at each step. This is the best method I know for quickly painting black armor that still looks decent.

After quite some time testing and trying I also came up with this method. Although I replaced Eshin Grey with Dawnstone all together - decent results with little effort!

Good to hear it works for other people too! Was it the first "wider" drybrush or the second "sharper" one you got rid of?

 

 

It was the first drybrush I got rid off. I found that the Nuln Oil shade damped the Eshin Grey too much. Depending on how much time I spend on Details, I manage to paint aprox 1 model per hour (batch painting). I would gladly send you a picture, unfortunately my phones camera ist trash.

[SydonianDragoon404]

Something I tried doing recently is drybrush eshin grey then fine detail edge highlight the edges that catch the most light with dawnstone. It's better than my previous method which is edge highlight for both, which takes a long time but I like how it looks haha. 

[Maritn]

 

 

Undercoat black, drybrush light grey instead of edge highlighting, then hit the whole thing with a coat of nuln oil to knock the highlights back a little. If you want to be fancy, you can do two stages of drybrushing. This tutorial shows how it looks at each step. This is the best method I know for quickly painting black armor that still looks decent.

I think we may have a winner here, that guide looks right up my alley. Has anyone tried using other colours between the black undercoat and the Dawnstone highlight to give some tonal depth to the armour? As an example, this apothecary's armour is worked up from browns and greens.

I painted a test model using Mechanicus Standard Grey and Fenrisian Grey instead. Turned out really nice, but I don't know if it's better than the linked tutorial. I'll give that a try as well. Edited August 4, 2020 by Maritn

[Ahistorian]

 

 

 

Undercoat black, drybrush light grey instead of edge highlighting, then hit the whole thing with a coat of nuln oil to knock the highlights back a little. If you want to be fancy, you can do two stages of drybrushing. This tutorial shows how it looks at each step. This is the best method I know for quickly painting black armor that still looks decent.

After quite some time testing and trying I also came up with this method. Although I replaced Eshin Grey with Dawnstone all together - decent results with little effort!

Good to hear it works for other people too! Was it the first "wider" drybrush or the second "sharper" one you got rid of?

 

 

It was the first drybrush I got rid off. I found that the Nuln Oil shade damped the Eshin Grey too much. Depending on how much time I spend on Details, I manage to paint aprox 1 model per hour (batch painting). I would gladly send you a picture, unfortunately my phones camera ist trash.

 

That makes sense, and sounds like I could smash through it in decent time. Thanks!

[MegaVolt87]

You could be more adventurous and use darker greys + bone/ creams as highlights with a combination of black washes/ blue glazes on the cream/ bone highlights. I prefer dark reaper highlights on blacks, much better to use blues/green blues highlighting black than grey IMO. 

[General Strike]

I did chaos black spray, then dry brushed dawnstone, then washed it in Nuln oil for my custodes. I don't have pictures, but it came out good and took a quarter of the time that my BL did. It should work for BT too.