Grimdark Compendium

Villainy Inks make flesh look more alive. By nature of enamels, they create a mottled effect that can easily blend and transition with other enamels. This mirrors real skin and flesh because, if you look at your own hand, you can see a lot of different hues and colours in a non-artificial pattern. That is something that Villainy Inks aim to replicate.

The basic application is straightforward. Shake the bottle well (stir the inside if it hasn't been used in a long time), put the paint on a flat surface, and use a brush to wash the miniature. Don't overflow the model; treat it like an acrylic wash.

After drying (or a few moments with a hair dryer), the enamels can be reactivated with mineral spirits. Q-tips or makeup sponges are best for this, as they soak up the excess enamel. In a tapping motion, you reveal the basecoat, creating highlights. And that's pretty much it!

Using different Villainy Ink flesh effects on a single miniature will make for a better look; for example, use Dystopian brown as a wash, remove excess, and then use Carrion Crimson around the eyes, mouth, and nose.

If you happen to be at Spiel Essen next week, we will be there showing off Villainy Inks from 22.-23.10. 3- 6 pm at a @pkpro_onlineshop stand. You can try them out in person and have a chat with @echoes_of_vermin

There is also an October spooky deal with our Core sets: For each one, the 2nd is 50% OFF. Check it out if you are looking to try out Villainy Inks! Head over to our YouTube store for it.

villainyink.com/collections/villainy-ink-sets

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1 day ago | [YT] | 102

Grimdark Compendium

A few entries for Black Chalice Round 3 slipped through, and we want to show them off, too!

Judging will happen soon; we will let you know when it's happening, and then you can expect the winners to be announced! Good luck to you all.

You can start preparing for the final 4th round of this year. Remember:

- Medalists/Winners/Champions: Prepare a Single miniature entry to compete for the Black Chalice trophy and the 5000 USD cash prize

- Anyone else: There will be a standard round for you, with Single, Large, Diorama, Open, and Unit categories as normal, prizes and all. If you win, you qualify for next year!

Cheers people! Have fun, and spread the word around!

Prizes include goodies from us and our sponsors: @bestiarum.games, @grave.forge, and @warlordgames.

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2 days ago | [YT] | 360

Grimdark Compendium

Part 2 of the Black Chalice Round 3 entries. Check the previous post for the 1st half.

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3 days ago | [YT] | 233

Grimdark Compendium

Hey folks! We are finally done with organising all the entries for the Black Chalice Round 3; you can take a look at them here! With this many entries, it's pretty much impossible to tag everyone, so please feel free to shout yourself out in the comments and say what entry is yours! You can even share the post around if you'd like; it helps to spread the word about the competition!

We will move to judging asap, probably during the next week. If you can't find your entry among these and you think it didn't reach us, shoot us a message; we will figure out what happened.

Now for some info about the final Round 4, the one where all the champions and medalists can take a swing for the big Black Chalice Prize and the 5000 USD cash reward.

The Main Category will be about creating an entry that fits into the Single Category. Roughly something between a human and a Primarch, not too big. If you already qualify, you can start working on it! Good luck!

For the rest of the painters who did not qualify, a normal round will take place, with all the categories as in Round 3. Medalists will qualify for the next Main Round in 2027.

If you have any questions, please ask us in the comments or shoot us a message.

We will have some more news about Round 4 pretty soon; some big things are coming! See ya for now!

Prizes include goodies from us and our sponsors: @bestiarum.games, @grave.forge, and @warlordgames.

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3 days ago | [YT] | 142

Grimdark Compendium

We've got a pretty cool ork skin recipe for you guys. It starts with a pretty dark human skin tone, which gives the entire skin this warm, fleshy shadow. Go over that zenithally with green, either by airbrush or dry-brushing with a big brush, and optionally highlight raised areas with a brighter green.

This all now gets a unifying wash with a mix of 3 Villainy Inks, Vile Tinge Green, Caput Mortuum, and Coelia Green. This mix gives a pretty cool dark green wash.

After that dries, or after a moment with a hairdryer, remove some excess of the wash with a Q-tip, either dry or dipped in mineral spirit. For this skin recipe, it's kind of optional, though.

Now apply Villainy Ink Carrion Crimson just into the recesses and mouth, making the flesh look strained, lively, or bruised.

The last step is to stipple a light amount of Abteilung 502 Buff oil, smearing it with a clean brush. Oils will blend with the enamels that we applied and create really smooth transitions, much more easily than with acrylics. And it's done!

You can check out the whole process of painting these Orks on our YouTube channel!

https://youtu.be/DngTW-YafiU

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4 days ago | [YT] | 204

Grimdark Compendium

This custom Weirdboy is the focus of the final 3rd episode of the Armageddon Ork course by @mortis_et_atramenti, where he teaches the basics of kitbashing and our classic GDC mundane item routine: how to use wires, chains, and cloth on miniatures, making standout effects and bits.

We'd appreciate it if you checked out the course! And let us know what you think!

Cheers!

5 days ago | [YT] | 176

Grimdark Compendium

Today I'd like to talk about something I've learnt to pay attention to not that long ago, and that is overdoing effects. I used to just go into town with my weathering without that much care about placement; the more rust, the better, I thought. But as I got to paint under the scrutinising gaze of a camera lens and feedback from the other members of the Compendium, I learned that with effects, less is almost always more.

Weathering doesn't need to be all over the surface; rust can be just a hint of orange near the bolts, and suddenly the material looks really rusted while remaining recognisable, and there is still the visual balance of it, like seeing a somewhat polished bronze, and next to it a chalky heavy verdigris. The effects pop out more when contained and controlled, letting the rest of the miniature breathe, so to speak.

But you can overdo it on purpose, like adding lots of streaks with Ichor of the Damned, layering strong textures like fur and cheesecloth, weathering everything, or using a blood-and-soot effect on a hellish beast to create a maddening pattern.

But when overdoing it, it's still important to remain in control of the placement and refine the effects, because they will be the most prominent part of the model. But that also means, at least in my mind, that the rest of the mini can be very simple, or maybe even should be, to not complicate it and confuse the eye.

A really good example of this is the Night Lords and Word Bearers from Dark Ages Workshop. Cleanly and neatly painted, and then there are selective effects that read well and are very prominent, without over-reliance on enamels.

Cheers, people, thanks for reading!

- Echoes of Vermin

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6 days ago | [YT] | 357

Grimdark Compendium

With Orktober starting, our new Orky Armageddon course is about to finish releasing, with episode 3 coming out this Friday!

This series of painting tutorials starts with a free video on our YouTube channel, going over painting the new Boyz in the grimdark style. You can check it out freely if you want!

Episode 1 goes over the creation of a lightly converted Dakka Rig, with armour texture and a focus on painting bare and weathered metal.

Episode 2 creates a dusty, wasteland base of Armageddon from scratch.

And in the coming Episode 3, we will take a look at building and painting a custom Weirdboy.

The episode will be released on our website and YouTube channel for members, as well as on our Patreon. We will be glad if you decide to check it out! And give @mortis_et_atramenti some love on his first soon-to-be-finished course!

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1 week ago | [YT] | 227

Grimdark Compendium

Painting with super glue sounds like something only a completely insane hobbyist would do, but with the right tools and knowledge, it can become a useful staple in your painting.

What CA glue does for us is achieve a specific texture and finish, especially useful for rendering multiple transparent layers of skin, but on the more technical side, it lets us lock and protect previous layers, even uncured oils and enamels, which otherwise would take hours to fully cure.

That allows us to further work with enamels and oils on top without reactivating previous layers, as well as decimate acrylics with IPA alcohol for creating veins, for example. Without the glue's protective layer, you need to exercise a light hand to not destroy the previous layers with the alcohol.

This here is just a quick rundown of what the glue technique is, and if you'd like to know more, there is a video on our YT channel made by @dark_ages_workshop which goes over every part of the technique in great detail, including what brushes and glue to use. Hope you'll enjoy that!

https://youtu.be/wgMaZpj3tGQ

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1 week ago | [YT] | 209

Grimdark Compendium

Hey! We wrote a short build guide talking about the Panzer Hermit by @echoes_of_vermin, a show of what the combination of Warhammer and scale models can look like.

This creature is called a hermit because, like a hermit crab, it finds old machine wrecks for protection, like a shell; it's a bit shy, you see. It stays in place, moving slowly under the cover of night. That changes with the arrival of these other little creatures, gremlins of sorts (I haven't really thought of a name for them).

They find the Hermit, looking for protection in its shell, and start upgrading it with scraps and usable pieces of other machines, effectively turning the Hermit into a weapon. Through this symbiosis, they all become much bolder and more capable.

That's the main idea behind this build. What do you think about it? If you've got any questions regarding the parts used that aren't mentioned in the post, just drop us a comment.

The full video tutorial episode can be found on our website, Patreon, and YouTube for members. We'd appreciate it if you check it out!

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1 week ago | [YT] | 202