Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello all!

First time poster here. I have recently resumed painting, after a life long hiatus... I painted during my teens, and have resumed it now in my early forties (call it a mid-life crisis, call it looking for something to do during lockdown). My skill never went beyond "moderately sucky", maybe because I'm not particularly "artistic", or because I never really persevered. Let's see how it goes with 30 more years under my belt and a dwindling eyesight.

Jumping back on the mini painting train has been quite a ride... Back in the day I learnt basing, washes and drybrushing, and that was it (Never learned to thin my paints, ooops!). So I was surprised to find such a rich landscape of techniques: layering, wet blending, edge highlighting, zenithal highlighting, glazing... plus many other tricks, let alone Citadel's crazy new paint ranges (Contrast paints are interesting, but do you really need a special paint for drybrushing?). I am now trying to catch up, avidly scouring the many available sources online.

Anyway, enough of my life story...

After some warm up work (I painted a box of genestealers I bought some time ago, somehow foreshadowing this moment... mixed results, but noticeable and encouraging improvement as I went through the 8 minis), I have now started painting the Space Marine Intercessors that came with the WH40K Elite Edition box. Always the rebel, I decided to go with Space Wolves, instead of the mandatory Ultramarines and, not being really a rebel at all, decided to follow the instructions provided by the Citadel Colour App. While I'm getting the growing feeling that was the wrong decision, I'm trying to make the most of it and the paints I bought. So, I'd appreciate your help in making sense of the guidelines provided by the app. Bear with me for just a little while longer.

-Base paint: Citadel Colour suggests "The Fang"... that's very, very blue, son! According to Citadel Colour, "Combat ready" only takes this plus an Agrax Earthshade wash (I assumed a "recess shading" would make most sense here and I went with that), which basically means the "Combat Ready" Space Wolf looks like a dull version of the Ultramarine? I'm not sure how to feel about that.
-But I'm not one for half measures -also, I do not want my Wolves to look like neutered smurfs- so I delve into "Parade Ready" territory, which for the ceramite plate means...a Russ Gray highlight. Considering I do not want these bad boys to look so smurfy, I assume I'm supposed to coat with a full layer, only leaving the more deeply recessed areas with the base coat. I have done this, and things have improved, but a)the minis still look too blue, IMHO, and b)for some reason, the coat of this layer looks awful, uneven and chalky. Should I apply a second layer? Maybe I have overthinned the already thin-ish Russ Gray layer paint?
-This is as far as I have gone. Citadel colour would advise to follow with a further highlight of Fenrisian Gray, but a)I haven't bought it yet; and b) I wouldn't know how to apply it. I don't think this supposedly "paint by numbers" approach would expect me to do any kind of decent blending -spoiler: I would really mess it up-, so maybe this final highlight should be an edge highlight? -spoiler: I will mess that up too. Just slapping another layer on top of the other one feels like a waste of time, but maybe this would be the way?

Anyway, in case you were patient enough to read this far -hey, thanks!-, would you care to share any tips on what would be the most sensible way to follow the barebones guidelines provided by Citadel Colour? I know they are just guidelines, intended to make it easier for newbies like me, and frankly, on hindsight I think I'd have rather followed a different one, but as long as I have committed to it, I'd like to make sense of it. Advice on how to avoid that chalky finish in the Russ gray layer would be welcome too. I'm attaching a pic, in case you want to see the CHALKY FINISH OF THE CHAMPIONS.

Yes, those paying attention may notice that I took some Russ Grey, mixed it with some white and proceeded to attempt the faintest, laziest, shakiest edge highlight the world has ever seen. So kind of you to notice!

Haha, that was a fun essay to read!

Yes, you'll definitely have to put down multiple thin layers of the same colour to get rid of that 'chalky' look. I started with citadel colour as well and while I feel it is sometimes a good way to go, quite often it isn't. They have a propensity to want you to layer up from a really dark base to a pretty light finishing colour which is usually a lot of unnecessary work, layering each stage over and over to get a smooth finish before changing the colour again. I've found it's often best to simply prime in white (or black depending on how dark or light the finished colour is going to be), then find the colour you want as your main mid tone (presumably this is fenrisian grey for space wolves?) and work on getting that as smooth and even as possible before doing washes/shading and highlighting. You might have to put more layers down on that single colour, but you'll only have to do it once rather than the three times they ask for in the citadel colour method.

Bear in mind, though, the colour you prime with will still affect the final colour you end up with, as, even with multiple layers, the paint will still be slightly translucent and the darkness or lightness of the primer will still show through to a degree. Coloured primers can also work well in certain situations, usually where the finished colour is close to the original primer (Blood Angels or Saim Hann with mephiston spray, for example). As a beginner, you probably don't need to worry about things light zenithal, blending, etc. You can always try them out later.

And yes, I agree with you about the 'battle ready' stage not being up to snuff in their instructions. Sometimes (rarely) it works okay, but usually it leaves models that are completely the wrong colour. I feel this is a really basic finish for people who don't really care how their models look on the table - they just want SOMETHING painted. It certainly wouldn't be good enough for me.

Thanks a lot!

That was really useful, confirming my gut feeling about Citadel Colour’s “method” and suggesting a potential fix for my personal chalkaggeddon (tm). Fingers crossed!
I’m actively resisting trying advanced stuff as I do have a lot of room to improve on basic stuff, and I know getting frustrated is the greatest risk I face in painting on a more regular basis (that, and the missus dropping the hammer on my painting related expenses). I have seen some very cool glazing videos from Dana Howl and I’m looking forward to trying that, but I will wait for a nice chance to “start small”.

Again, thanks so much for the quick and helpful answer.

No problem! I'm far from an expert, I've only been painting seriously for a year and a half and there are much better painters on here than me, so don't take what I say as gospel. If anyone else wants to chime in with tips or techniques, or just say I'm flat out wrong, please do.