Painting my skitarii!

[Shirtless_Iron]

Hey all! I'm looking for possible ideas or at least some direction in the paint scheme I'm doing on my skitarii army. I bought a decent batch of paints (citadel brand) and have a bottle of both nuln oil, and agrax earthshade arriving in the mail this week. I wanted my tin men to look as tho they were wearing very elegant armor made of gold and other metals and I planned on having the coats be black.

The list of colours I purchased are as follows:
Abaddon black, leadbelcher, ironbreaker, retributor armour, runefang steel, liberator gold, longbeard grey, and terminatus stone, I also have some lamiah medium and two texture paints... Astrogranite and stirland mud I believe.

There's a few I was not able to get cause the shop was out but I also plan on obtaining some ceramite white and necron compound. So now I'm just looking for some guidance on how to layer the colours and in which order. Also I'm open to other ideas as well. I'm fairly new to the painting of miniatures but I'm confident in my skills as a painter, so looking to the feedback! As always thanks in advance!!!

[Captain Bubonicus]

Have you got some black primer? I find metals look best painted over a black base with a nice wash of Nuln Oil.

[Shirtless_Iron]

Yes I've got 3/4 of my army primed black... Should I still use a base of abaddon black over that as well?

[Captain Bubonicus]

No, I wouldn't think so. You don't want to put too much paint on, or it'll obscure the detail.

...In a similar vein, you know to thin your paints with a little water, right? If you paint it straight out of the pot it's a little too thick.

[Shirtless_Iron]

Yeah I know. Plus I have a pot of lamiah medium

[YorkNecromancer]

Okay: primer is not a first coat. if you've undercoated them black, you need to give them a coat of Abbadon Black over that. The reason is that black primer is a different shade, and it doesn't go on in a single tone. a second black coat will give you a much deeper, richer tone, and help the model look less like it's just been undercoated.

Now, this coat won't obscure any detail as long as you've thinned your paints. To do this, you need to do the following:
1.) get paint (in this case, Abaddon Black).
2.) put paint on pallette.
2.) mix paint with water until paint is thinner in consistency. Most GW paints are roughly the consistency of yoghurt. You're aiming for the consistency of warm milk, not water. If you go too runny, add more paint. Too thick, add more water. Generally, you'll want a 3:1 ratio of paint:water for a basecoat.

Okay, when your basecoat is done, you'll want to add highlights. The AdMech models are easy enough to do, because they've got lots of details and so drybrush beautifully. You have a number of choices for your drybrush shade. Choose ONE:

1.) Mordian Blue will give them a rich, royal feel.
2.) Rhinox Hide will give them a brown leathery, steampunk feel. (This looks especially nice with brass metal trim.)
3.) Stormvermin Fur will keep everything feeling very black indeed.

You could experiment, see what you like best. I use Rhinox Hide for my Sisters of Battle and Iron Hands, Stormvermin Fur for my Deathwatch and Black Templars.

Once that's done, pick out the metals in either:

1.) Chainmail: very bright - this will make your weapons look new.
2.) Leadbelcher: very dark - this will make your weapons look more military.
3.) Any shade of bronze or brass: steampunky - will make your weapons look more archaeotech.

Then, shade with either:
1.) Nuln Oil: very dark - will make everything look military/grubby.
2.) Agrax Earthshade: antique - will make everything look more antiquated and archaic.

Now, your desire for gold armour? That's where things get tricky. Gold does NOT look good over black undercoat. I suggest the following:

1.) Paint the armour with thinned down Averland Sunset.
2.) Paint gold over the top.
3.) Shade with either - a.) Agrax Earthshade - very dark, looks more imposing, or b.) Seraphim Sepia - lighter, looks shinier.

And that should do your basecoat.

As for Lahmian Medium, there's no part of this project you really need that for, unless you maybe want to use it to thin your Abaddon Black. but honestly, water's better and cheaper. I use Lahmian Medium if I want a custom shade wash that I don't have pre-bought.

Hope this helps!

[YorkNecromancer]

Here's a quick look at how the black looks with different drybrushed colours:

Drybrushed with Stormvermin Fur:


Drybrushed with Rhinox Hide:


As you can see, even with my horrible photography skills, it doesn't make a massive difference, but the effect is subtle enough that it matters.

Both of these were undercoated in Chaos Black, then had an Abaddon Black base coat applied over the whole model. As you can see, there's been no loss of detail, because I thinned my paints.

[Shirtless_Iron]

Wow that's very informative and just what I was looking for advice wise. Thank you very much! I'll take this info into account. I've got a junky sm model I was gonna practice on first. And some other random bits. I might have to invest in those colors you mentioned as well! Btw those models look magnificent!

- - - Updated - - -

Now did you drybrush the entire model one colour our just certain parts certain colours?

[YorkNecromancer]

I drybrushed the entire model; it's just easier, plus it allows you to see details you need to pick out in other colours more clearly. On the above two, you can see the difference: both of them have drybrushed bodies, but highlighted robes.

Totally approve of experimenting with junky models first.

Remember: if you muck up your final models, you can strip the paint off by leaving the model in Dettol overnight and then cleaning off with an old toothbrush and water. This will take off ALL the paint though, as well as being intensely time consuming and laborious, so just be aware. But if you do get the painting wrong, it's not the end of the world.

[Deacon Ix]

If you are doing metals I highly recommend the Vallejo ones, they cover better than the GW ones and have a lot better colour, they are just a little unforgiving.