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I've got a Grey Knight army that needs painting but I wanted to get some opinions on non-Citadel paints.

I know of other brands like Vallejo and Coat D'arms and I've also looked over the compatibility chart on dakka: http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

If anyone has painted a GK army using other paints, what do you recommend?

Show us an example of how you'd like it to look? I'm sure then folks cna help you match up paints.
Are you hand-brushing, airbrushing, etc?

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
Show us an example of how you'd like it to look? I'm sure then folks cna help you match up paints.
Are you hand-brushing, airbrushing, etc?

Just the basic GK scheme that's in all the artwork. I've used all my creative energy on a scheme for my Marine army.

I plan on hand-painting most of them since the army is small.

95% of my paints are Vallejo and I have a few Coat D'Arms as well. For Vallejo, I actually prefer to use the Game Air line for the metallics. They go on just as easily with a brush as opposed to an airbrush and the pigments are very fine and dense. If you want that typical GW silver with a hint of blue look for the GK's. here is what I recommend:

VGA: Vallejo Game Air
VGC: Vallejo Game Color
VMA: Vallejo Model Air
VMC: Vallejo Model Color

I use the VGA/VMA when I want the color to flow easily, I use the VGC on areas where I don't want it to run so much.

Basecoat VGA Gunmetal
Detail brush VGC Blue ink into the lines and details of the model.
First highlight: VGA Chainmail
Line highlight: VGA Silver
Soft armor: Either VMA or VMC Dark Panzer Grey or Black. (I prefer the Dark Panzer Grey with a VGC Black ink wash for depth)

Weapons: whichever force/power weapon effect tickles your fancy.

Lenses: Detail Brush VGC Magic Blue, Fine detail brush second highlight VGC Electric Blue, Final fine detail brush VGA White. Wash with VGC Blue ink to blend the effect.

Anything red (purity seals, tilt shields, etc) first layer of VGC Gory Red, first highlight VGC or VGA Blood Red, final highlight VGA Orange Fire, ink wash either red or sepia.

Anything off white or ivory I start with a base coat of VGC Bone White, followed by a sepia wash and a final highlight of Pallid Flesh.

Anything gold starts with a base coat of equal parts VGC beasty brown and VGC glorious gold, followed by a sepia wash. First highlight is straight VGC glorious gold, final highlight is equal parts VGA Glorious Gold and VGA Silver.

i use P3 paints, with a splash of Vallejo Air Metals...

my layers go like this:

steel:
Thamar Black
Pig Iron
Armor Wash
Pig Iron
Blue Ink
Cold Steel
VA Aluminium

Gold:
Thamar Black
Battlefield Brown
BB + Rhulic Gold 1-1
Rhulic Gold
Flesh Wash + Sanguine Base 1-1
Rhulic Gold
RG + VA Gold 3-1
VA Aluminium

the end result looks like this:



all brush-painted...

good luck!!!

cheers
jah

Awesome! Thanks so much for the advice. I'll look into picking up some of these paints.

One last question, do you have any recommendations for primer? Again I've used Citadel spray paint and something called Army Painter(?). Hadn't had any issues with either, but if anyone knows of a cheaper alternative I'd love to hear about it.

I believe THIS was the most recent discussion on primers. It comes up quite regularly.

 Ghaz wrote:
I believe THIS was the most recent discussion on primers. It comes up quite regularly.

Cool, I'll give that read.

Thanks again for all the answers!

Tamiya makes some beautiful metallic paints. The metal flake/pigment is very finely ground and consistent. Two big catches, though: it's an alcohol-based acrylic and it's best if applied with an airbrush. I used Tamiya Gunmetal Gray to paint my GKs with a little bit of acrylic blue ink mixed directly into the pot, giving them that blue-steel look.



I hand-brushed these models with Tamiya paints. It just takes some getting used to how quickly the alcohol-based paint evaporates.