Need color and highlight advice

[The Imperial Guard]

Hi all,

I've decided to bite the bullet and paint my IG and would love some feedback on my current plan as well as any advices you would like to offer! My only requirement is that the paint job be relatively simple with no more than 6 colors to the entire figurine, excluding the usual metalic colors for the guns and what not.

The color scheme I am going for is the popular dark/black cloth and red armor, though I want to go with a more dull look to the armor than I've seen before.

I'm looking for some advice on how to highlight the wrinkles in the cloth without using alot of colors and advanced technique. I'm not looking for a huge amount of detail, just something to accent the wrinkles a bit against the black. My current thought is to go with a Charodon Black base on the cloth, followed by some dry brushing of Codex Gray and then a standard thinned black wash in the joints and low spots. Thoughts?

Also, I'm wanting to go with a darker red/clotted blood color for the armor plates and was wondering if you had any advice as to which GW color makes a good dark red as well as a color you would recommend for highlighting the edges and what not. My current thought is a Scab Red base, highlighted in Red Gore and Blood Red. Then a light black wash in the cracks to finish it up. Thoughts?

[Culven]

For black cloth - try painting with a dark grey and using a Badab Black wash.
For Red Armour - try Mecharite Red with a Devlan Mud wash.
With each, you can go back with a drybrush of the base colour to highlight.

[The Imperial Guard]

Thanks for the quick response! I like your idea of the Mecharite Red, its just the darker red that I was looking for. When you refer to "dark gray", could you give an actual color, either Citadel or Vallejo so that I can make sure I get it right! Also, as I am still under my 6 color limit, would you recommend doing a secondary wash over the armor with Blood Red to help bring the Mecharite and Devlan wash together, or do you think the benefit would not be worth it?

[sukigod]

I would stick with your grey drybrush over black for speed but don't use Codex Grey right out of the pot - cut it down 50/50 Codex Grey and Chaos Black. The Coedx Grey straight up is too light for most drybrushing and will be very noticable. Save the solid Codex Grey for only the highest highlights. Then do your Badab Black Wash.

For the reds I'd use the Mechrite to block out the base areas. If you're looking to keep things dark and dull, use the Red Gore over that with a very watered down highlight of either a 50/50 Red Gore/Blood Red or thinned BLood Red. The Scab Red is sooooo close to Red Gore, you can almost do with out one or the other entirely. A slightly thinned Badab Black wash is good over this. You can see waht it looks like here...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes13.jpg

If this is too bright or light for you, just don't do the full on Blood Red.

Good Luck!

[BloodDemon]

You could use a dark blue to highlight the black it looks rather well.