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I have noticed that many citadel greys are difficult to work with when I try to reach for "neutral", flat greys.. Many of the greys seem to have some blue or green to them, making them a pain to use..I find painting realistic grey stones etc especially tricky, when painting bases with "natural" greens and browns (desaturated shades as found in nature) on them..

I am finally starting to build my DKoK minis from KT21 and want them to have a neutral grey uniform, or failing that, a grey that tints towards brown. Was thinking I'd start with a Mechanicus Standard Grey base.. and once the paint dries, I find myself looking at a model that looks "green grey", not neutral grey?! WTF GW..

So, can anyone recommend a GW, Vallejo or AK grey which is truely, positively a neutral grey colour? Or failing that, a shade that tints towards brown a bit but never towards blue or green?

All in all, I find it very hard to find "pure" or neutral shades of colour from the Citadel colour range.. are they tinting all the shades on purpose or what? Their blues have yellow, whites have blue/yellow, reds have purple.. its almost like they're trolling.. or trying too hard to make their paint shades difficult to imitate..

TIA for any insight!

EDIT: My fiancé says the colour looks neutral grey to her.. ? So am I going colourblind? Is that what this is?

The first production run of Mech Grey rattle cans was a perfect match to Mech Grey in the pot, but all subsequent production runs have been an odd greenish grey as you've found. This is an on going production error that GW will egregiously lie to your face if questioned on.

Try Vallejo.

Honestly, i think they do it on purpose because they realized that mech standard gray was near impossible to tell the difference between primed and spur lol.

But yes, i would say, try other primers.

Armypainter Uniform Grey is a really good grey, and matches the dropper bottle extremely well.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
Armypainter Uniform Grey is a really good grey, and matches the dropper bottle extremely well.

.

This is true. I used to use it and thought I was excellent but now (because of Brexit!!!!!!!) I can’t get it anymore and the only grey rattle can I can get seems to be this stupid citadel green-grey.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check out Army Painter Uniform Grey. I need a neutral grey in my lyfe desperately.

Did more tests with my paints, and only found one grey colour which tinted towards brown — AK Tenebrous Grey. Which would have been otherwise great, but the colour is way too dark for what I'm going for.

I did also order a GW Death Korps Drab just now, just to see if that's a brownish grey like I suspect it is, based on the colour chart pics online. But not getting my hopes up tbh

(EDIT: fixed the paint name)

 tauist wrote:

I did also order a GW Krieg Drab just now, just to see if that's a brownish grey like I suspect it is, based on the colour chart pics online. But not getting my hopes up tbh

Do you mean Death Korps Drab? If so, it is distinctly green. You can see it in use in the 'Death Korps of Krieg - Alternate Schemes' tutorial from GW on YouTube.

 Ghaz wrote:

 tauist wrote:

I did also order a GW Krieg Drab just now, just to see if that's a brownish grey like I suspect it is, based on the colour chart pics online. But not getting my hopes up tbh

Do you mean Death Korps Drab? If so, it is distinctly green. You can see it in use in the 'Death Korps of Krieg - Alternate Schemes' tutorial from GW on YouTube.

Oh that's the colour they were using? Waste of money once again.. I swear, buying miniature paints is THE WORST. I always end up with tons of useless shades when hunting premixed colours for new colourschemes. I should just learn how to mix my own jars of paint..

EDIT: Actually, looks like you were incorrect about Krieg Drab being used in the alt Vet Guardsman colour scheme. I checked the Citadel Colour website tutorial video, and it's a Castellan Green base, not Krieg Drab. Here's hoping Krieg Drab will actually prove useful..

Sorry, but that's not all of the paints used in that video. Death Korps Drab (and not Krieg Drab) is used on the trousers starting at the 1:55 minute mark.

I see. However, that still doesn't mean the Korps Drab will be inappropriate colour for me, since the colour of those trousers is actually looking close to what I'm going for! Doesn't look all that green next to that Castellan Green jacket.. but might look too dark otherwise??

Guess I'll know soon enough when the pot arrives.

His videos may be a bit silly but maybe it'll help you to see colors a bit differently in stone and rubble.

I use this same style when it comes to rocks and turf and find myself frequently adding greens and pinks into my earth tones. It's surprisingly effective and likely the reason you see it often in gw pots.

 Freya wrote:
His videos may be a bit silly but maybe it'll help you to see colors a bit differently in stone and rubble.

I use this same style when it comes to rocks and turf and find myself frequently adding greens and pinks into my earth tones. It's surprisingly effective and likely the reason you see it often in gw pots.

Oh I can totally understand adding red and red-based tints to grey rocks. I have collected rocks from my local area, and there are a surprising amount of red and brown in most rocky areas which mostly look greyish when looked at from a distance.

But greens? Notsomuch, unless we're talking about moldy rock, rocks partially submerged in water etc. This adding green feels to me more like a "colour theory" trick which helps makes the colours feel more vibrant. Which might be a cool effect in itself but is not something I have witnessed in my local nature references.

However, I am aware that locales differ. What looks like unrealistic coloured terrain in Finland, looks realistic in southern France and all that so YMMV

Lastly, to come back to my original point. When I take a grey tub of paint in my hand, I'd expect it being a neutral shade of grey unless the name suggests a tint of some sort. Tinting colours towards any other primary colour is easy, just add a filter, glaze or mix in a drop of some other colour to the pallette. But I can do this easily by myself, if and when I need it. Now it's like I have to be hunting high and low for neutral grey colours.. They seem almost like unicorns tbh.

All in all, finding "pure" colour shades in acrylic miniature paint ranges feels like an excercise in frustration. If miniature painting was considered a "serious" field of art in global academia, no self respecting miniature art school would use Citadel colours.

This colour range is what I'm talking about - does something like this exist in miniature paint ranges? ie shades of greys which only affect a colours value or chorma, and not its hue
https://www.goldenpaints.com/technicalinfo/technicalinfo_neutgray

Doesn’t have to be mouldy. Lots of lichens and mosses are green, so green splotches on the rocks might work nicely

Ok, fair enough. Mosses and lichens are certainly green. However, again, based on my nature studies, moss and lichen can mainly be found in highly forested rural areas. It also exists in areas where air humidity is high, like on a island etc, but it's not something that can be globally attributed to rock colouring, regardless of environment. Moss doesn't really thrive in urban areas, for example.

Back to the topic at hand (neutral grey acrylics suitable for miniature painting), think I have finally found what I've been looking for:

https://www.migjimenez.com/en/ammo-paints/537-black-white-technique-set.html

Anyone using it? These are all 100% neutral greys, right?

EDIT: Upon closer inspection, this set only contains black and white paints and washes, plus some intermediary medium for making grayscale gradients easily. So while this set looks like a great starting point for getting into black & white acrylic painting style, it's not a good solution for my specific needs. I will buy this down the line though as I love the concept of black & white painting, would be a cool style to learn!

I've been looking at Vallejo colour range now, and they are offering at least a colour called "Neutral Grey". I'd expect that to be a great starting pojnt as a "proper" Mech.Std. Grey replacement. Time to order some..

PS: Yall were right, Death Korps drab is nowhere near grey, it's an olive colour