how to paint hellknight

THE HELL KNIGHT

From now on, all the guides will have a larger intro and finale pic for better detail :)

Paints used

Burnt Umber	Red Iron Oxide	Golden Brown	Mudstone	Red Ink
Delta	Delta	Delta	Delta	GW

If any of this can't be found, you can either find a similar color from a different brand or you can mix your way to a quality version of it. The last color though is an ink, so you should try getting the actual color from Games Workshop.



STEP ONE: Wash and Prime

Take your miniature and wash it with soap and hot water and then dry. This will remove any oils and grime that could have possibly ended up on the figure. It really helps keep the primer on, and makes the miniature last longer.
After washing and drying, setup a newspapered area and begin priming with black primer. Take short quick sprays all over the standing miniature, trying not to make a heavy coat. Do not spray it close, and try not holding one position long when spraying to keep the priming thin. Thick amounts of primer can ruin the detail of the miniature.
Once this first coat is accomplished, let the miniature dry then lay it on its back, front or side, and prime the missed areas. Again, try keeping these to short quick sprays. After it dries, rotate and repeat until the miniature is solid black. Underneat the base of the miniature doesn't need to be painted though, as it will eventually scratch away anyway from use. If you miss any small areas with the spray on primer, try using a paint on primer to fix these tiny mistakes, then paint them black once dry.

STEP TWO: Distinguishing The Miniature

If you notice, each miniature for the Doom game is either Blue, Green or Red. To keep this concept, I've painted the rim of the base the matching color. Heres a simple paint guide to match:

Bright Red	Azure Blue	Hunter Green
Delta	Delta	Delta

It will probably take two to three coats to get the rim to look solid and vibrant, so take your time. If you get a bit of color on the base of the miniature, just get out some black paint and overlay the mistake until its not noticable.


STEP THREE: First Layer(Dark Flesh Tone)

The next step is to use the Burnt Umber Brown as a quick drybrush layer.Drybrush everywhere quickly, and dont spend too much time fussing, as this is just a base coat. Drybrushing is a technique where you dab a medium sized brush into your paint, and paint off most of the paint from the bristles onto a piece of paper, then start brushing over the miniature. This technique makes it so the parts of the miniature that stick out get painted, while crevices, cracks, and everything else gets untouched. This will pop out the texture really nicely once we move to the following steps.

STEP FOUR: Second Layer(Red Flesh)

This time we will use the Red Iron Oxide for a new drybrush layer. Take your time, and drybrush across the body once again with this lighter color. Make sure to let some of the darker color show through as you do this, so it gives the body a sense of gradience from dark to light. Make sure you've also brushed out the majority of the paint from the bristles of the brush before you begin. Too much ink can really make a mess while trying to drybrush.

STEP FIVE: Third Layer(Lighter Flesh Tone)

This last drybrush layer we will use the Golden Brown. This is where the figure will start to pop with detail. Be very sparing with this drybrush, and leave some areas more red, while some areas like the very bumpy chest and neck should be painted more. This will really make the figure stand out, and give him less of a meaty color tone. Be sure to leave the area around the mouth red in the following flesh drybrushing layers. We want his mouth to look very red and meaty, as though someone peeled off his lips(eww).
 
STEP SIX: Killing The Orange

The Golden Brown will give off a sense of orange that we don't want all over the miniature, just in some areas for gradient purposes. So finally we give this guy his last drybrush with Mudstone. Be very sparing, just enough to tone down that vibrance from the orange in some areas.


STEP SEVEN: Extreme Makeover
Here is where we do the detail work for the little things on the Hell Knight.

A) Monster Manicure

First we want to paint the nails with a fine detail brush, using Mudstone. Paint each one slowly, making sure that each is a solid stroke. Don't forget the duclaw in the back of the foot, I almost did right before I varnished it!

B) Bleeching The Teeth

We want to give this Hell Knight some nice teeth, but not bright white, so sticking with the Mudstone and the detail brush, we want to paint each tooth individually, starting from the root and brushing down out of the mouth. For the bottom teeth, just hold the miniature upside down, keeping the strokes going from root to tip. If you make small marks, with just a tiny gap in between each, you'll be set.



STEP EIGHT: Varnish

A Varnish is basically a clear hold on the miniature's paint job to ensure there will be less chances of cracking and chipping down the road. There are several Varnishes out there, I use the Delta Matte Varnish. Out of any brand you purchase(Armory, Reaper, GW, Vallejo, Delta) make sure to get a Matte Varnish, not the Gloss. A Gloss varnish can make your miniature look really shiny and ugly. Its not that pretty, trust me. I use a paint-on varnish, but you can try a spray varnish, just use a similar technique as priming, with quick small sprays from a distance. Thin coats are important in this process, because the more it builds, the shinier the miniature can become. Shine equals Bad. After this, your miniature is ready to do some damage in Doom.