Gaah! Zombie Painting feedback & help

[Zhatan]

Hey guys I just started painting some of my zombies as the new book is soon here.

However I am uncertain on the colors to use... I have been doing some testing using deneb stone or codex grey followed by some black, green or brown washes and then drybrushing with tallarn flesh.

I realy want to be able to make the zombies quickly so I stay away from layering and such on them and use only drybrushing when higglighting and washing for shades. Also I want them to look dark and evil like.

What colors do you guys use and do you use the same for all zombies in your army or do you vary a bit from model to model?

Pictures are appreciated!

This is how mine look atm... only the skin is done here and I'm not sure if I'm done with it either.

 

[Count Darvaleth]

I think perhaps the colour could be a little stronger; he looks a little too neutrally-coloured at the moment. But that's just my opinion; I can see that it would take only a small change, perhaps a good wash or drybrush, to make him look fantastic.

 

[ExcelDamage]

Were both those zombies painted in the same way or differently? As the one on the right looks slightly browner, which I think looks a lot better... I might suggest starting from a slightly lighter base colour, as well as applying washes to select areas such as the face (especially under the eyes), hands and down the centre of their backs.

 

[Zhatan]

Yes they were painted differently, the left one was painted codex grey and washed with badab black and thrakka green and then drybrushed with codex grey and washed with gryphonne? sepia and then drybrused again with tallarn flesh.

The right one was painted deneb stone, washed thraka green, badab black devlan mud, drybrused tallarn flesh, sepia wash and then tallarn flesh drybrush again.

I know this is excessive but alot of it is just me trying different things with the models. I too like the one on the right better.
Also thinking of making one with tallrn flesh as starting point.

 

[Mad 'At]

I basecoat my zombies with Liche Purple or Catachan Green, then drybrush with Dwarf Flesh and then a second drybrush with Rotting Flesh.
Here is an older picture I found:

The one furthest to the left was basecoated with purple, the others with green.

I can also share my Ghoul skin recipe:
Basecoat: Goblin Green
Drybrush: Rotting Flesh
Drybrush: Skull White
Wash: Devlan Mud

For variation I washed with Thraka Green, Ogryn Flesh or more Devlan Mud, all were thined out with water before application. I'm sure you could use other washes alwell, like Baal Red, Leviathan Purple and Gryphonne Sepia.

Hope this helps

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

This guide might help:

https://www.vampirecounts.net/mydownloads.php?action=view_down&did=18

 

[Zhatan]

The painting procedure and colors used in the guide is actually quite simitalr to the way I painted mine but I added a black wash to get the models darker. I might have gone overboard with it though and made them too dark.

 

[horrid]

I'd suggest a dilute purple wash following the green you applied. Purple can provide a fairly dark tint but should interact with with the green rather than muting all the colours you already applied. If your models are sporting exposed innards the purple also works very well with reds. The addition of a single wash onto the rest of your process shouldn't add any significant amount of time to your painting process so you should still be able to get through your zombies briskly.

 

[Zhatan]

@Horrid
I tried the purple you suggested and it works very well. It changed the overall color on the model in a way I didn't expect. Thanks for the tip.