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I will be trying to paint some miniatures for the first time and i'm going for something a bit simple.

I have found a picture with a simple armor shade that i want to try out, and attached it here.

I want the armor to be more dark purple / red'ish then the one on the drawing. What would you choose to paint this one?

What i like about it, is how it makes the red and silver colours standout. Thats what black does

Depends on if you want dark purple or red 'metallic' armor, or dark purple/red 'laquered' armor.

The first is fairly straightforward. Base black, paint the armor plates a dark metallic color like gunmetal, edge highlight with a brighter metallic like steel, and then glaze with a dark purple or red ink.

The second is a bit more involved. If you just paint it black and leave it, it looks unfinished. If you highlight it too much, it stops looking black. You base in black again, but use a very dark purple or red - you may have to custom mix an appropriately dark shade - for the plates. Edge highlight in a medium-to-light tone of the same color.

Alternately, base black, paint the plates very dark grey, edge highlight in light grey or even white, and then glaze with purple or red ink.

And to really make the silver pop against the dark armor? Edge highlight with pearl white.

 Vulcan wrote:
Depends on if you want dark purple or red 'metallic' armor, or dark purple/red 'laquered' armor.

The first is fairly straightforward. Base black, paint the armor plates a dark metallic color like gunmetal, edge highlight with a brighter metallic like steel, and then glaze with a dark purple or red ink.

The second is a bit more involved. If you just paint it black and leave it, it looks unfinished. If you highlight it too much, it stops looking black. You base in black again, but use a very dark purple or red - you may have to custom mix an appropriately dark shade - for the plates. Edge highlight in a medium-to-light tone of the same color.

Alternately, base black, paint the plates very dark grey, edge highlight in light grey or even white, and then glaze with purple or red ink.

And to really make the silver pop against the dark armor? Edge highlight with pearl white.

Just the answer i was looking for. I think i want dark purple/red "laquered" armor, but i'm going to test a bit out with what youve been saying here, and some other stuff ive been looking into.
Yeah it should be straight forward and thats what i like for beginning, here ... well at least the first solution.. I think maybe the second is abit to much involved...

Is there any paints or products you would recommend for glazing in these dark purple / red coulours? - i was actually thinking of trying a vallejo surface primer for airbrush because it would be thin and not covering what colours underneath

If you're only just starting, and are worried about trying new techniques, remember you get a whole sprue of spare plastic you can paint onto to see how colours will look. Won't give quite the same impression as a detailed model but it's something.

craggy wrote:
If you're only just starting, and are worried about trying new techniques, remember you get a whole sprue of spare plastic you can paint onto to see how colours will look. Won't give quite the same impression as a detailed model but it's something.

I have been doing this, its just that im on a budget here in the beginning of this and trying not to spend to much on various paints i dont know how would look

I've been switching over to craft paints instead of the more expensive miniature paints. Yes, it takes a few more layers to get good complete coverage, but you can also do some amazing color gradients as well.

Getting four or five times as much paint per jar for half the price or less makes acquiring a wide variety of colors a lot easier on the wallet.

For glazing (as opposed to washing/shading), look for acrylic inks at your local craft stores. A jar will run you six to seven dollars, but they last forever. Fair warning, they are VERY strong colors. You'll probably want to thin them at least 4/1 (water-to-ink) and perhaps as high as 10/1 depending on the effect you're looking for. Of course, that's why they tend to go a long way; you're not using them straight out of the jar.

 Vulcan wrote:
I've been switching over to craft paints instead of the more expensive miniature paints. Yes, it takes a few more layers to get good complete coverage, but you can also do some amazing color gradients as well.

Getting four or five times as much paint per jar for half the price or less makes acquiring a wide variety of colors a lot easier on the wallet.

For glazing (as opposed to washing/shading), look for acrylic inks at your local craft stores. A jar will run you six to seven dollars, but they last forever. Fair warning, they are VERY strong colors. You'll probably want to thin them at least 4/1 (water-to-ink) and perhaps as high as 10/1 depending on the effect you're looking for. Of course, that's why they tend to go a long way; you're not using them straight out of the jar.

Paints like liquitex and other craft paints perform much better than GW paints if the surface is prepared to take advantage of the properties of the medium, in my experience.
GW style paints are like nail polish, all of nothing, and dry with a sheen that makes it easy to wash and ink recesses but more difficult to get additional layers of paint to soak into and stain.
A mix of the two media works well for a finish, in my opinion.
but, I have best results working from tube acrylics mixed with inks and craft paints.
Super cheap, lots of colors, easy to mix.

 Vulcan wrote:
I've been switching over to craft paints instead of the more expensive miniature paints. Yes, it takes a few more layers to get good complete coverage, but you can also do some amazing color gradients as well.

I think craft paints is an american product. I havent seen them in shops or online shops here in Denmark, but i think its similar to other products i can find around here really... It's just cheaper then the popular ones and i guess that was your point ^^

What do you think about vallejo? cant i do color gradients with almost any acrylic if i just thin it very much?

When im saying im on a budget i dont want to cut down on the price for a good paint i just dont want to buy to many paints that im not going to use.

I would REALLY love a paint able to do amazing color gradients

When I say 'craft paints', that's not a brand. That's a number of different brands (Apple Barrel, Americana, Folk Art, and several others) that sell acrylic paints in 2 oz. bottles for between 50 cents and $2, depending on the brand.

The pigment density is lower than in hobby paints like GW, Vallejo, P3, and such. This means the undercoat shows through more than hobby paints usually allow, and it takes two or three coats to get the same coverage hobby paints get in one or two.

But you can make this work for you as well. With the proper undercoat, you can build up that coverage on the 'highlight' areas while letting the undercoat show through in the shadows, in a more gradual color transition than you usually get with hobby paints unless you wet-blend.