Painting Tutorial: Skull Takers

You want an easy way to pain some Guard/Astra Militarum guys quickly? Need to have a large number of troops ready for next month or so? Here is a very simple solution that can be carried over to other colors, or schemes, or even armies.

Colors I used:  GW Paints Link 

Pants/Jackets

Mechanicus Standard Grey Base

Dawnstone           Highlight

White

Celestra Grey        Base

Ulthuan Grey        Highlight

Belts/Straps/Boots/Rifle Butts

Charadon Granite or Dryad Bark

Wooden Handles

Baneblade Brown

Heavy Weapon
Steel Legion Drab

Skin

Reaper Olive Skin

Reaper Olive Skin Highlight

or

Ratksin/Bestigor Flesh /Ungor Flesh

Bugmans Glow/Cadian Fleshtone/Kislev

Metal parts

Ironbreaker

Misc

Desert Yellow, Black

Shade

Army Painter Quickshade: Strong Tone

After priming in white this time, I painted the ground and all the terrain first. This is where you can be sloppy without fear of messing up your guys. I then applied the Mechanicus Grey to the pants and jackets if they had one.

Using Dawnstone, I then highlighted any folds in the pants or anything that would appear raised. If these guys had jackets on, I would follow the same steps.

Most of the time, I paint any skin first following the inside-out technique. The first layer of flesh was applied to all of the skin. This layer should be the darker of the two skin tones. If you want, you can just paint the second tone to cut out a step. Just remember, each layer you add gives the model more dimension.

Here you should be able to see the second layer of flesh added to all the raised parts. You just want to get the higher portions, any part that may be seen from above. Neatness helps, but it's not completely necessary in this case.

I followed the same technique for the whites on the shirts, any Imperial Eagles, and the horns.

Then Dryad Bark/Charadon Granite was added to boots, straps, rifle butts, anything that you want to contrast or look dark, even hair.

Steel Legion Drab was added to most of the hardware, heavy weapons and the shovel.

Ironbreaker was used to get buttons and any shiny parts of metal, like the helmet or rifle.

The hair was painted desert yellow. You could also use bane blade brown, black, etc.

I wanted to get everything basecoated with a nice layer before I moved on to the next step, the shading. Before you begin the next step, ensure you protect your clothing and/or furniture with an apron, extra paper layer, or what not. The varnish will stain anything it contacts!

The figures and weapons were then covered with a liberal coat of the Quickshade Strong Tone. Army Painter has a video on how to apply it nicely. The wall and the ground did not receive the Quickshade, just the figures. Ideally, you want this to sit for 24 hours. It should be dry to the touch in twelve hours.

Already you can see how it sits heavily in the corners, creases, and crevices throughout the piece, while also adding a nice tone to the rest of the figures. This is a thick coat that doubles as a gloss, adding a layer of protection to the model. If needed you can use some thinner to make it easier to move around or clean up.

Once it has dried, they were sprayed with a dull coat; Testers, GW, or Army Painter works fine, whatever you prefer. This concludes the painting.

The process allows for a full squad to be painted up very nicely in one night. The Quickshades allow a fast effective finish to help you get a large amount of guys onto the table fast.

This technique (aka dipping) can also be changed around to what ever color combination you want. You can utilize this with greens, blues, yellows, or whatever you need. Just realize that you may need to start with lighter shades to get the colors you want, as it will darken the overall piece. Dark colors will work with the Strong Tone, but not as well as the lighter colors. In addition, this will work great with any vehicles you have. Just be sure to add any decals before the shading begins.