Brambleten Paints...Imperial Guard Lord Commissar - Part 1

So, here we are - Part 1 of a new project, determined by my Project Generation System - an Imperial Guard Lord Commissar.

I decided to tackle the largest area first - the black clothing. This is basically his trousers, coat, left arm and hat - his right arm is metal. I'll probably still go black with the boots, but it'll be a different black.

When I say black, I haven't actually got any black in the mix. At all. Except Coal Black, which isn't Black.

I did a test run on his arm to see what it came out like prior to applying it to the rest of him. 

Unfortunately the light in the first couple of photos added additional highlights. The picture below is a lot closer to real life. 

I started off with a couple of layers of Scale Color's Necro Grey, which is a cold grey tint away from black. The advantage of not starting from black means that if I feel the need for shading, I still have somewhere left to go, rather than having to make things lighter.

Next, I added small amounts of Scale Color's Rlyeh Grey, which is from the same box of SC's Fantasy paints - Shades of Doom - which has a lovely muted tone across the box. I also added in some P3 Coal Black, because you can't highlight cold black without Coal Black. 

As I worked my way lighter, I also added a small amount of GW's Fenris Grey. 

My main aim was to keep everything smooth, which is something I need to work on. This has worked on some parts of the model and not others. I think it has worked out ok on the defined folds in the coat and on the separate arm, but less so on the hat.

While the coat as a whole isn't quite as sharp as the solo arm, I'm quite happy with how it's turned out so far. Of course, he's far from done. Here's a glimpse into Part 2...