Here's a quick tutorial on how I painted the hero Whisper for Aftermath. You can find tutorials for the other heroes as well as the minions here.
Recipe
Citadel Contrast Basilicanum Grey
Citadel Contrast Gore Grunta Fur
Citadel Contrast Black Templar
Citadel Contrast Space Wolves Grey
Citadel Contrast Medium
Formula P3 Bastion Grey
Formula P3 Ironhull Grey
Formula P3 Underbelly Blue
Formula P3 Frostbite
Formula P3 Morrow White
Formula P3 Bloodtracker Brown
Formula P3 Bogrin Brown
Formula P3 Moldy Ochre
Formula P3 Menoth White Highlight
Formula P3 Khardic Flesh
Formula P3 Midlund Flesh
Formula P3 Ryn Flesh
Formula P3 Tharmar Black
Formula P3 Battlefield Brown
Green Stuff World Mojave Mudcrack
Method
The trick I find with painting a model like Whisper, who is largely a single colour is to find ways to subtlety adjust your shades. While Whispers fur and clothes are both grey I'll be using two different greys which will end up giving us a nice contrast in the final result.
I began with a basecoat of Bastion Grey. This is a grey with a warmer hue, it's a bit browner and it is the one I'll be using for the fur.
Next I added some contrast paints to create shadows and tint the base colour. I added Basilicanum Grey to the robes and Gore Grunta Fur to the belt.
Next I wanted to get the drybrushing on the feathers out of the way before I did more work on the mini as I thought I'd probably end up getting paint on the rest of the paintjob if I left it until later. Using my medium drybrush I brushed the feathers first with Underbelly Blue and then with Frostbite.
Next I used my detail brush to pick out all the raised areas with Morrow White. Then I thinned some Morrow White with some Contrast medium and washed all the feathers. This has the effect of softening the shadows, but I'll be adding some shading back in later.
Next I mixed up some Ironhull Grey and Morrow White. Ironhull Grey is the colder grey and will contrast nicely against our Bastion Grey. I used this to add edge highlights to the robes. Then I added some more Ironhull to the mix until I had a nice midtone and then thinned it to create a wash, washing the robes to tone down the highlights. Adding a little more white to the mix I added the final highlights, focusing them around the front of the model and imagining the light was coming from the upper left and how that would create highlights.
Next I added in the belt using Bloodtracker Brown before picking out the edges in Bogrin Brown. I also did the same to the bangle and the earring at this time.
To finish the gold effect I added Moldy Ochre to around the middle 3rd of the bangle and the earring before adding a few dots of Menoth White Highlight as reflections.
For the paws, ears and tail I began with a base coat of Khardic Flesh. I also added in the eyes nose and mouth at this time with Black Templar Contrast which will flow nicely into the recesses. And I added a dot of white to the eyes for reflections. I then added highlights to the fleshy parts with Midlund Flesh followed by Ryn Flesh, adding a segmented look to the fingers and toes at this stage using horizontal lines with my fine detail brush. I added the claws in with Menoth White Highlight.
For the fur I am using Bastion Grey and to lighten it I used Menoth White Highlight. I did thin smooth successive layers, lightening the mix with each pass and concentrating each successive highlight more towards the centre of the face, again imagining that the light is coming from above. The last highlight really picks out the details like the eyes, the nose and the ears.
Next I added a wash of Basilicanum Grey to the scalpel and the safety pin before setting to work on the feathers. With the feathers I was aiming for pigeon feathers. I began by adding Basilicanum grey to the bottom quarter. Then, using Contrast Medium, I thinned the grey out to just over half way so that it blends in to the white. I also added some Basilicanum grey to any parts where the feathers were overlapping, ensuring to thin it until I was happy with the amount of shading.
For the non-metallic metal on the scalpel I used three different greys to get a different look for each of the different types of metal. For the handle I began with a wide stripe of Ironhull Grey, roughly down the centre, front and back. Then adding Menoth White Highlight to the Ironhull I added rough and successive highlights to the centre of the handle. For the final highlight I used Morrow White and I added an edge highlight as well as a little light reflection to the very centre of the handle.
For the grip I used Bastion Grey as a basecoat. Then lightening the grey with Morrow White I added dots to pickout the texture on the area above where I have added the light on the handle. Adding more white I did it again, picking out fewer dots. Then I did one last highlight with pure white.
For the blade I got out my drybrush and brushed it with Underbelly Blue, then Frostbite, then Morrow White. Each brushing moving further up the blade. It doesn't matter how rough it looks, the highlight stage will pull it together.
Using a fine detail brush I then pick out the edges of the blade in Morrow White, adding a few diagonal strokes of reflection across the blade. I then add some shading to the base of the blade using Space Wolves Grey Contrast. I add the paint at the very base and pull it upwards so that it thins out as you move it up. Using some Black Templar Contrast I also fine lined a dark line around the top and bottom of the grip to give it more separation from the handle.
For the safety pin I used the same colours as the scalpel blade. To finish the feathers I added some Tharmar Black to my drybrush and brushed the very tips of the feathers, this has the effect of removing the lighter highlights so they now get really dark towards the tips.
To finish off the base is painted with Battlefield Brown and left to dry before adding a layer of Mojave Mudcrack.
You can find more tutorials on how I painted my Aftermath minis here. Until next time, have fun painting...
The Duke