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Hello,


I'm new to painting Imperial Guard, and I was just wondering if i could get some suggestions on how to paint them so they just look good. I'm not looking for knock-out detail or anything, just a simple way to make them look decent.


What colors or washes are involved?



Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Dheneb Stone and an Ogryn Flesh wash, highlight with Elf Flesh where necessary. If that ends up paler than you'd like use Elf Flesh for the base coat instead.

Bosh, you're done. Simple but surprisingly effective, especially if you have lots of models to do (as I'm guessing you will be with Guard).

I find after priming it black, coat it with dwarf flesh and wash it with ogryn flesh. Then highlight with elf flesh.

Here's an example of a face I did.

Bullfrog wrote:Dheneb Stone and an Ogryn Flesh wash, highlight with Elf Flesh where necessary. If that ends up paler than you'd like use Elf Flesh for the base coat instead.

Bosh, you're done. Simple but surprisingly effective, especially if you have lots of models to do (as I'm guessing you will be with Guard).

I was going to pick some Dheneb stone up today, however I guess it was sitting there fore a while. It looked completely separated. :/

If left to sit the foundation paints will get a grey/black layer on the top. That's not a problem, they just need a good shake and they're good as new. My Dheneb Stone (with some water added to the pot) goes about 1/3 grey when left for a while.

For Guardsmen, you really want something quick and simple which has depth. If you want a pale face, Dheneb Stone plus Ogryn Flesh gives a good look; personally, my Guard are quite tanned (Desert themed) so I use Tallarn Flesh then Devlan Mud. Works a treat.

i used a base of dwarf flesh and gave them a very quick dry brush of elf flesh, when infantry are so numerous and small, i could never be arsed too much to do anything fancy

if you want brown skinned then for dark brown do calthan brown with dev mud wash, for light brown do tallarn flesh with multiple dev mud washes

Try this:
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?99163-How-to-paint-faces-and-skin

That's an excellent guide Jon! I'll be having a good read of that!

Personally I use a tallarn flesh basecoat on top of white primer, followed by an ogryn flesh wash (let wash pool more in the darkest face areas). I then highlight up with a mix of 50:50 bronze flesh/bleached bone, then a lighter mix, and finally a little spot in the most raised areas of a mix that is nearly all bleached bone. If I'm painting an arm rather than the face, I use an additional layer of tallarn flesh after the ogryn flesh wash, where I paint all apart from the crevesses.

GW also did a good White Dwarf guide on painting faces (I may have got this scheme from there).. it's on the GW website if you register, i think.

My method sounds a bit rubbish and boring, but i basecoat the face with Dwarf Flesh, then wash with Devlan mud, and then re apply Dwarf Flesh to the cheeks, forehead, nose and chin. it gives a nice warm skin tone, that has darker areas. and its quite quick to do

Do them like this.



Much cooler.

Hey thanks everyone for the advice! I'm glad there is a 40k community that actually helps people.





Automatically Appended Next Post:

Aelyn wrote:For Guardsmen, you really want something quick and simple which has depth. If you want a pale face, Dheneb Stone plus Ogryn Flesh gives a good look; personally, my Guard are quite tanned (Desert themed) so I use Tallarn Flesh then Devlan Mud. Works a treat.

You wouldn't happen to have a picture of one so I can see what it looks like, do you?

Clowns are scary....

OoieGoie wrote:Do them like this.



Much cooler.

Damn someone beat me to it! lol

I can vouch for the Tallarn flesh followed by devlan mud. Only beef you might have with it is that the faceses will come out with a VERY tanned or dirty tone.

I'm trying to think where I saw it - maybe LBursley - but somewhere I saw a technique for using Dwarf Flesh, highlighting it with Elf Flesh (I usually just add a little Bleached Bone to my Dwarf Flesh and us it), then using a purple wash rather than ogryn flesh. Strange as it may sound, it actually brings out skin tones rather well. Then you do another highlight of Elf Flesh to finish it off. I lightly stipple some Fortress Grey on shaved areas for a little five o'clock shadow where appropriate.

My advice: if your painting a mass army of guardsmen don paint eyes (you'll be 90 before you notice)

Have a look in here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/317624.page

Its a little complex, but could easily be adapted to be more simple.

sluggaslugga wrote:My advice: if your painting a mass army of guardsmen don paint eyes (you'll be 90 before you notice)

Well said, i very rarely paint eyes on my imperial guardsmen, takes far too long, and when there are that many of them noone notices.