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I have a few models I practice different ideas on and one idea was trying to make some of my Guardsmen look older with grey hairs mixed in or even a Reed Richards kind of style. Any tips /ideas?

What models are you using? I don't normally picture a lot of exposed hair when I think of IG troops. For those that do have some, I think you're going to have to go a bit extreme to have the effect be noticeable - distinct shocks of bright gray (perhaps even highlighted up to near or pure white) are going to stand out much better than a subtle stippling of gray amidst blond or light brown. Officers, which you might expect to be a bit older, might look more convincing being entirely gray.

[edit:] Had to look up Reed Richards - not really a comics guy, so I had NO idea you you were talking about Mr. Fantastic. His style, or more central brow streaks a la (a shorter haired) Sweeney Todd are perfect examples of the extreme shocks I was talking about.

I was referring more toward IG officers and some scenery pieces I am starting. I didn't want to over do it but I think you might be right with making them distinguishable streaks. I was thinking of basing with white and then maybe even dry brushing grey then brown. Not sure what technique to use but I'll keep tooling around until I get it. Once I get my camera I'll post some pictures.

Also was thinking about stuble for some of the IG grunts. I don't want it to look like I painted a full beard on them, just a subtle shadow. Any ideas/tips?

Sounds backwards, to me. I'd base grey then highlight with white, not the other way around.

Stubble, at least, is reasonably well documented in tutorials. Mostly comes down to very subtle glazes of dilute gray or normal painting with a gray/flesh mix, both over an otherwise finished face. A bit of searching should net you examples with pictures that better demonstrate the idea.

Here's a good tutorial for stubble. I'm going to be trying it out today.

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2009/06/facial-stubble-tutorial.html

Highlight the hair (normal colour) with a light grey. Avoid white, it is unnatural.

 Badger_Bhoy wrote:
Here's a good tutorial for stubble. I'm going to be trying it out today.

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2009/06/facial-stubble-tutorial.html

I firmly believe every painter worth his/her salt should have From the Warp bookmarked, such a useful blog.

Thanks all for the tips. I will be practicing some of these tricks tonight. Time permitting.