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Hi everyone,
This is my first proper try at doing a grimdark style with oil paints. I'm happy with the colour variation on the armour. It's quite subtle but I think it works.
I'm wondering if I need to go darker overall though, I'm not really sure if this qualifies as grimdark for the moment! I'm thinking of varnishing to seal in what I've done, then going back with a black oil wash to darken it down more.
Still WIP on the blue jewels by the way.
Thanks for looking!

Yeah, it's not a bad use of oils. I'd suggest trying to do a filter using those same oils on the shields as they look too bright compared to the rest. Put small dots of oil paint on it, then use some thinner to feather it out and create a layer which will be your filter. I'd desaturated your reds by adding some brown to the mix too, and maybe darken the gems, using their secondary shine as a spot colour.

Thanks for the advice, here's what I've done as a result of the feedback here and elsewhere. I'm pretty happy with it and I'm moving onto the next models using the same process.
Any c&c is always welcome.

they look good! you could maybe add a touch of brightness in the top of the plumage for a touch of spot colour?

They look great, wait you actually used oil paints? Didnt know that was a thing. Is that not a nightmare to work with? Results look same as acrylic

I used a base coat of acrylics an then added oils to do the weathering and shading. The gems are also done exclusively with acrylics.
The advantage is that you can easily take off excess paint and it can be worked for a long time. It can also give subtle colour variations and gradients that are more difficult to do with acrylics. It's difficult to see with the photos but all the shading around the armour would have taken much longer and required much more skill with acrylics, and GW washes don't really have the same effect at all.
Logistically, yes they are more involved to use because you need white spirit to work the paints. They also work best with synthetic brushes, but I just got some cheap ones which I will use only for oils.
But I will stress that this is the first real attempt I've made with these techniques: Lots of people use oils to achieve a weathered, gritty, grimdark or even realistic finish and I'm trying to work towards that!


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 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
they look good! you could maybe add a touch of brightness in the top of the plumage for a touch of spot colour?

Yeah I'm still not sure for the plumes, the texture of the hair makes it a bit messy so I might have to clean it up a bit to leave just the recesses dark.

 Axel Dale wrote:
They look great, wait you actually used oil paints? Didnt know that was a thing. Is that not a nightmare to work with? Results look same as acrylic

Oil paints are one of the best kept secrets in the hobby. Scale modellers have used them for years. I've started using them this year and they definitely up your game. I started using them for washes mainly, but moved onto using them for filters, glazing, weathering and all sorts. Oil whites tend to be very bright too so you can get that super nice high point that just isn't achievable with acryllic. It's best to get a good grasp of using acryllics first though before dipping your toe into oils.

Those are some lovely Custodes. Really like the style. I'm glad you toned down the reds to bring those parts in line with the armor.

For anyone interested in using oils on minis, James Wappel has done a lot of tutorials and demonstrations, eg:

Ta for that, Wavey. Master of Asgard has got some lovely effects on that custodes, but like Axel I'm scratching my head over how the method is different from acrylic glazes.

 Vermis wrote:
Ta for that, Wavey. Master of Asgard has got some lovely effects on that custodes, but like Axel I'm scratching my head over how the method is different from acrylic glazes.

The main difference is the working time, and forgiving nature (in some respects) of oil paints. They don't really tint as much as acryllic glazes if you apply them thinly. They are known as filters. To me they seem thinner than glazes and give a more subtle effect. I tend to use glazes to tint areas, and filters to add depth to an area, or to tone down colours.

They are also more matte.. Usually.

Oils are amazing, I also only use them for washes and weathering (I went with a much cleaner look to my Custodes here, using oils for the wash), but I've been tempted to try some for regular painting for a while now. James Wappel has been posting some great tutorials like the one linked above, and then this one just came out last night from Dmitry Fesechko and it's incredible. He goes over brands and brushes qualities of different paint colors (not all pigments are equally opaque) and then paints a truly amazing Sister of Battle from beginning to end (edited down for time). Certainly has me inspired to try them out, might just redo my red cloaks in that style to see what happens

Yeah oils work well over a base coat of acryllic in the same tone. So if you were doing blue, you'd base coat acryllic blue, then put a layer of blue oil over the top, which will then have a long working time allowing you to essentially wet blend your highlights or other tones into the base layer, over a period of days! Plus oils wet blend so much better than acryllic too.

 Kalamadea wrote:
[...] this one just came out last night from Dmitry Fesechko and it's incredible. He goes over brands and brushes qualities of different paint colors (not all pigments are equally opaque) and then paints a truly amazing Sister of Battle from beginning to end (edited down for time). [...]

That's a fantastic video, thanks very much for sharing.

Custodes look fantastic - really interesting take on them as quite a radical departure from the studio job.

Thanks for sharing