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Hi all, I’ve seen the grimdark style before but now I’m taking an interest in it lol. I really like the effects it brings but I find the idea of using enamels and spirits very daunting.

I have most of my army painted already and I’d love to give them a grimdark feel. I don’t really want to strip them of their colours and start again. They are painted Flesh Tearers Red, Black Templar and bone using Zandri Dust and Ubshanti Bone.

Are there any tips and tricks I can use to darken them and give a similar or close feel to grimdark using the colours of the scheme?

Many thanks

I've not yet used oil based products and havn't explicitly done the grimdark style but if were you I'd try some glazes.
Buy a bottle of glaze medium and make up a few, I would use a test mini to practise on first, and maybe use a colour wheel to find the complimentary colour which will darken and desaturate the base paint. as always practise practise practise!
Though not a good example of grimdark my Mortarion (still unfinished!) has a bit of weathering which was done with simple brown glazes and Nihilakh Oxide.

Yes! That’s the kind of effect I’d love to give my marines. I’ve not used glazes before, I’m still a novice.

So my question is how’s best to apply the glazes? Slap it all over then dab off the excess? Or apply it methodically to the areas?

Apply carefully, and brush towards where you want the darker effect (this is quite important).
As I said I would practise on a spare mini to get the feel for applying and also how much glaze medium to use, I usually start 50:50 mix at minimum.
I use Vallejo glaze medium fyi, and a wet pallet to help keep the mix useable for longer.
Good luck

What is this "grimdark" weathering style you speak of? Any reference examples?

EDIT: Is this is it? Will take a looksie

https://grimdarkcompendium.com/fundamentals-the-grimdark-style-part-1/

EDIT2: Whoah! Check this mag out!!!111
https://28-mag.com/

Oils and enamels are very easy to work with. All you need is your chosen product and a thinner. The only thing you need to be aware of is lengthened drying time. Enamels dry quicker than oils so you could focus on these if you want to save some time.


I would recommend the streaking Grimes from ak interactive, or abteilung 502 if you want to use oils (abteilung dry quicker than regular oil paint) 'smoke' and 'starship filth' are my go to for dirt and grime.

Thanks so much Maxwin, I’ll definitely give that a go

Yes Tauist, that’s the kind of look that’s inspired me but I find the idea very daunting. As I said I have a lot already painted and I don’t want to strip them so I’m hoping I can darken and give them a dirty grim look some other way


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Thanks so much Maxwin, I’ll definitely give that a go

Yes Tauist, that’s the kind of look that’s inspired me but I find the idea very daunting. As I said I have a lot already painted and I don’t want to strip them so I’m hoping I can darken and give them a dirty grim look some other way

Using what paints I currently have, I’ve made a 10/1 mix of Contrast Medium and Black Templar and applied it. When that had dried I made a 8/1 of Contrast Medium and Snakebite Leather.

The marine on the left is the original scheme. I applied the 2 mixes to the one on the right.

What do you think?

Looks good!

Thanks to the OP for bringing this GrimDark painting "trend" to my attention! I'm very into it as well, its funny how I've missed the impact of the whole Blanchitsu aesthetic. I remember seeing Blanche painted miniatures earlier in old white dwarf issues, but they were so far and few in between all the other minis that I never got a "big picture" of how that style would lead to what we are seeing here. It was always hidden in plain sight for me LOL

Grimdark looks much more like how I've always imagined 40K looking like. I've uncosciously been looking for this darker, muted style even in my own painting (always preferred darker metallics than what GW uses, for example). Looks like the oils and the enamels will become an essential tool in my toolbox as well going forward.

I also love the fact that you build the paintjob by first making a mess and then dialing it back by removing paint/wash. This sort of technique will suit my flocked up eyesight much better than stressing over how I can't pull off neat edge highlights anymore after my eye injury.

I think you could get this sort of visuals without resorting to oils/enamels and hot solvents, but it would take much more effort via acrylics alone. The underlying main point of the style, at least how I interpret it is more or less:

• Edge highlighting is replaced by modulation of light and shadow across the whole miniature, emphasis more on the model as a whole rather than on individual details

• Desaturated colours, overall darker "gamma"

• Multiplying shading effects and weathering to build complexity, using translucency and layers of colour instead of relying on single shade(s) of solid colour. Kinda like how you'd combine layers in Photoshop with opacity values much below 100 in order to build a composite image and shade out from several layers


Cheers


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Azkallean wrote:
Using what paints I currently have, I’ve made a 10/1 mix of Contrast Medium and Black Templar and applied it. When that had dried I made a 8/1 of Contrast Medium and Snakebite Leather.

The marine on the left is the original scheme. I applied the 2 mixes to the one on the right.

What do you think?

You are on the right track, but I think now you need to add brightness back to the model somehow. Remember, it's not just about tonening things down, it's also about having contrast. If everything is dark, nothing is - you need to add some bright colour values somewhere on the model to make the darker values look even darker.

Adding brightness would be easy if this were done with oils/enamels.. You'd just apply some white spirit and dab away.. But if you're only using acrylics, I guess you need to paint the basecoat colours back into the areas which you want to make brighter?

Check out 28 mag issue #3, page 153 "Turning Light Into Dark" for some ideas on how to paint this sort of things using only Citadel acrylics. The Lahmian medium trick might turn out very useful, for example.

Check out Julian Bayliss' work, too. He does some amazing-looking grimdark projects. Monochromatic, muted colour schemes, heavily kit-bashed and converted minis that look unique and dynamic... like he's taken the darkest elements of the concept art and lifted it straight outta the page and onto the tabletop.

Honestly, it's super fast and super easy. All you really need is black oil paint, raw umber and burnt umber, a couple of sýnthetic brushes, some qtips and a thinner (very much preferably odeurless). Paint your model as normal, but push the highlights slightly further, slather it all in a mix of slightly diluted umber and/or black. Then wipe most of it off with some qtips.
A tube of oil paint will last you for years.