I was working on some blending on my figures, but I was asked to paint a unit in black, so my approach didn’t really work. Instead, I drybrushed all the edges and then washed flat plates with the original color and hit details. The rest of this article is really just the elaboration of this basic technique.

PRIMER - Start off with black primer, no zenithal needed.

BASE COAT + EDGE HIGHLIGHT - Base coat the whole model with Abaddon Black, then dry brush with Iron Hands, hitting all the edges and details. Afterwards, take some watered-down Abaddon Black and wash large plates and fix details where needed. For extra oomph, you can edge highlight by hand, but drybrushing all over the model works just fine for me. By “drybrushing,” I mean putting paint on your brush, drying it out on paper towel, then on your hand until you can’t visibly get anything off the brush. Then you move the brush downwards across surfaces. The brush will catch on any edges, resulting in edge highlights, and any flat surfaces will get a small amount, which is why you go over large plates with a wash of the original color.

SHOULDER PLATE - Anyways, after this (make sure to get the gun well with highlights) take the Iron Hands and liberally apply to the shoulder plate, the circle-vent-thingies, and the cover of the jump-pack, as well as the elbow decal, choice places on the bolter, along edges of bullets, decals, that computer bracelet, etc. If a decal is on top of a surface that is already Iron Hands, use Warplock Bronze instead. For the golden decal in the middle of the pauldron, I mixed 1 part Retributor to one part Warplock Bronze, as my retributor seemed especially yellow today. Another option is to Guilliman Flesh over the Retributor, an approach that Duncan takes with his Bladeguard Veterans. Afterwards, wash multiple times with Nuln Oil to darken behind the letters.

FACES - For faces I used Rhinox Hide, then applied Model Color’s Skin Base (I don’t have any Citadel flesh colors yet) mixed with a tiny bit of Rhinox multiple times until it looked right. Then, I did the eyes with a little bit Blood Angels contrast to Corax White for a peachy color and used it on the eyes, then dotted in some black lines with Corvus Black. You can do whatever you want for eyes. Afterwards, I washed the head with Agrax Earthshade. In the case of the beard, I used Jokaero orange and washed with Agrax, with Corvus White for teeth. At this point, drybrushing the original Basic Skintone highlights the head, and that’s what I did, very lightly.

Jesus Christ, this text is so dry I need a drink. But it’s better to tell you how I did it than leave somebody guessing. I guess.

For VISORS I dotted in some Corax White in the center, then Blood Angels contrast over it, and again but this time only hitting the bottom half. I like to mix any remaining contrast on my palette with some water, and using this to create a glaze (?) giving off the effect of glowing eyes. Don’t go overboard though, and really thin out the water so you can tell what’s happening.

For the LEATHER bags I just painted them Rhinox Hide. With the previous drybrushing that you DID do, hopefully the layer underneath will give undertones or whatever painting bullcrap they’re feeding us today.

For the PURITY SEALS I used Rhinox Hide, than Basic Skintone to give it a parchment look. On a different model I used Corax White and then skintone, but it didn’t look as good. Then use a black and scribble little lines on, and then use Mephiston Red for the wax.

Then, for the big GUNS, for the muzzle and the magazine I painted them Warplock Bronze, along with the loading lip thing, and Iron Hands for the inner piece. If you do the Iron Hands first, you can just paint over the mistakes.

Finally, I used multiple layers of Nihilakh Oxide to create the blue cords, or you can not be a loser and just get that Warpstone glow and wash it I guess. I used multiple layers of the Oxide to create the blue edges on the knives, so that is useful.

THE CAR WASH - Finally Finally, I used broad swathes of Nuln Oil to make it luk gud, and you can go crazy here. Make sure to hit the metal details, I find Nuln Oil makes it look dark and brooding, just like me.

SLAP THAT BASE - For the big winner, slap some Nihilakh Oxide in desired places, then drybrush and stipple some Warplock Bronze on, leaving some black spaces for the mind to fill in. Then stipple some Rhinox Hide and Jokaero Orange onto the base for dirt and rust, and if there’s not enough Bronze stipple some back on. Finally clean up the sides of the base with Abaddon Black and we’re done!

I use three brushes. A large-ish flat brush for basecoats, washes, and drybrushing, a size 6 pointed brush for fine details and general painting, and a rough flat brush for stippling and drybrushing. I believe all three came from a variety pack of brushes from Hobby Lobby for less than $10. I also bought one medium layer brush from citadel for what must be the same price or less ($6-8 for one brush vs. <$10 for a lot of brushes), and I honestly don’t use it. Even if I bought a fine detail brush I also doubt I would use it, as I just don’t like tiny brushes. So keep your money, and thin your paints. No really, thin your metallics and paints ever so slightly, so that they can actually come off your brush someday.

Ciao! A Lotus