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Hey guys,

I want to paint my death guard up in a dark colour to contrast against all the bone and flesh.

So I've tried to go a really dark grey (almost black).. I've primed in black, based in mechanicus grey and then a layer of nuln oil to try get it to the blacker side. But it's still very grey... Do I put a few more layers of oil on or should I just start from black and either highlight, dry brush or "wet" drybrush up with grey?

Im not sure how to go about this.. I'd be open to suggestions or even recommendations for different colours.

Thank you.

Have you tried actually using a dark grey? I'd assume GW has some, but Mechanicus Grey isn't that dark is it?

Vallejo for instance has a couple dozen shades of grey up to and including "Black Grey" which is pretty damn dark.

There is also a (now hard to find) dark Panzer Grey available in spray form from PSC and maybe Battlefront has one available.

In my experience, the highlights have a stronger effect on what you tend to perceive as the overall color on first glance than the base. What I would actually recommend if you want a dark grey would be to start with a significantly darker base, maybe a very washed out black, but still not to the point of reading as "grey", and then highlight in grey. If you base in grey and then highlight lighter, it's going to quickly start to read more as white.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If you don't already have it, I would recommend downloading the Citadel paint app, it is a great, great resource for figuring out what bases, shades, and layers will produce what colors, with finished samples on space marine backpacks.

For example, this is Mechanicus Grey shaded with Nuln Oil, layered with Skaveblight Dinge, and highlighted with Stormvermin Fur



While this is Mechanicus Grey shaded with Nuln Oil and highlighted with Dawnstone

Huh, I never knew about that app. that is pretty damn helpful, thanks!

Skavenblight Dinge is a great, dark grey that I use for basecoating stone all the time.

Eshin Grey should be dark enough for you

Thanks for the answers.. I've looked through my paints and I do actually have eshin grey and it seems to be the correct colour, should i Base that with nuln wash over.. Or Base black and highlight with eshin?

Really depends what you want. If you want a dark grey, base with Eshin, shade, and then highlight with a lighter grey. If you want more of a mandrake-skin sort of gleaming black, highlight grey on black.

See I used to base coat the miniature and then completely cover in nuln oil.
Then I discovered the joys/tedium of recess shading, maybe give that a go? Shade in the recesses of the Death Guard with nuln oil while.
As a Death Guard player I can tell you, you will probably spend a good half hour to an hour doing this on a single mini (I have done so with mine, because I play Pallid hand Death Guard, which are screaming skull recess washed with Seraphim Sepia)

Than maybe highlight it with something like a Dawnstone (either dry brushing for a very natural scratchy look, or edge highlighting to have a more refined look)

Tis my two cents any how

OverlyGrumpyTau wrote:
See I used to base coat the miniature and then completely cover in nuln oil.
Then I discovered the joys/tedium of recess shading, maybe give that a go? Shade in the recesses of the Death Guard with nuln oil while.
As a Death Guard player I can tell you, you will probably spend a good half hour to an hour doing this on a single mini (I have done so with mine, because I play Pallid hand Death Guard, which are screaming skull recess washed with Seraphim Sepia)

Than maybe highlight it with something like a Dawnstone (either dry brushing for a very natural scratchy look, or edge highlighting to have a more refined look)

Tis my two cents any how

I can't agree more. Early on when learning to paint, the ole "slap Nuln Oil on everywhere", "liquid talent" (hell, we all know at least one person who literally dips their models in a wash) method for shading is a great way to get your models looking table ready in a jiffy, but later you come to realize how much more profoundly useful washes are when you take the time to put multiple shade colors on the same model, choosing each one for the effect you want at that particular piece, and put as much time and attention to detail into the shading as the basecoat and highlighting.

Nuln Oil is definitely going to be you was of choice for a dark grey, though, and you want to look for a heavy recess with a good, even feather out onto the high surface. Using lighter shades for you contrasting pieces will also help the contrast. Seraphim Sepia is good, for bone, as OverlyGrumpyTau suggests, but for Death Guard I'd actually recommend Agrax Earthshade, which can create more of sclerotic, rotting bone effect.