Greetings Initiates, I trust the realms treat you kindly.
Today I want to discuss quite an interesting topic.
One that may appear so obvious, yet it seems it’s always so hard to give a definitive answer.
I get asked so many times, still to this day:
“What even is the Grimdark Style?”.
Or “is my miniature Grimdark enough?” – with a picture attached.
Today’s discussion is gonna be all about bringing some clarity to this whole matter from my point of view, in an effort to offer both a common ground of general rules, and very personal insights to anyone that is genuinely struggling to understand, or is ridden with prejudice towards this whole approach.
Definition of “Grimdark”
Let’s start off with a general definition: “grimdark” is a sub-genre that can be expressed in many forms of media, be it visual art, illustrations and paintings, narrative and literature, and why not, even cinematography.
It has a distinct, pervasive sense of dread, bleakness and unhealthiness.
The dehumanizing aspects of war, brutality, fanaticism impact the characters on a physical and psychological level.
The loss of personal values leads to nihilism, to a point where one cannot truly distinguish good from evil.
On a practical and visual standpoint, we are used to associate dirty, desaturated colors and visceral textures with the sense of unease and discomfort.
This is the most basic, surface level definition and set of rules to portray the grimdark style.
And that’s perfectly OK to use as a general guideline and starting point.
But there is an entire world beyond this: an oil or enamel wash alone doesn’t make a miniature automatically grimdark.
Honestly there is much more to it than that.
So what is the grimdark style supposed to represent, in miniature painting?
It is the embodiment of a narrative’s raw essence, where the twisted and demented foundations of a universe are visually brought to life.
It demands that every subversive aspect of the world and setting are being reflected on the characters, with all the burdens they must endure in order to survive or even exist.
There are so many and varied nuances beyond drab colors, dirt and grime, that in a certain way make the grimdark style not just a “label” or a set of do’s and don’ts, but a whole philosophy of approaching miniature art.
The Grimdark Style as interpreted
by the Grimdark Compendium
The Grimdark Compendium is a subscription based platform where you can learn a myriad of techniques, nuances and concepts. It’s a powerful tool in the hands of any artist, that offers tutorials and courses for all skill levels.
You can use this website to replicate recipes for various types of flesh, armor, basing and anything you can think of.
Or you can use it as a source of inspiration, driving force and knowledge for every hobby or professional endeavor.
The content here on Grimdark Compendium focuses exactly on unraveling and teaching all these nuances, and it’s been doing it for the last decade, inspiring hundreds of thousands of hobbyists and painters.
There are some aspects that we find are simply crucial to step up the grimdark style to the next level, such as:
- Exercising in world-building
- Creating unique and purposeful characters
- Using unorthodox, fun and creative techniques to model and paint your miniatures
Perhaps the most foundational element for grimdark is establishing the idea of the setting we want to represent.
Characters should mirror and reflect the world around them.
They are the product of their own culture, the tyrannical regimes or desperate conditions they live in, and therefore any effort into creating a context, and implementing these elements in your models, can only positively impact the final result.
This mental exercise is called world-building, I feel it’s by far the most quintessential aspect of the grimdark philosophy.
In our effort to teach the grimdark style, we include different perspectives and points of views to enrich any narrative.
If you feel you’re working with a model that doesn’t reflect the narrative it’s supposed to follow, leave your fears and doubts behind and do everything that is necessary to address this, even in the middle of the process.
The choice of poses, expressions, clothing and weaponry is crucial in conveying all the aforementioned sensations.
If the body language and composition of your model already screams “grimdark” to you before you’ve even put the primer, it just means you’re off to a great start. Everything else will just follow very naturally.
As for the painting and modeling techniques, we experiment with an array of materials and mediums, and focus on creating rich, natural looking textures. We like to create characters that look like out of a stop motion film, lifelike and visceral, exploring the uncanny valley through the use of never before seen techniques in miniature painting.
Learn the Techniques
The Grimdark Compendium offers different subscription plans, from Free (Lifetime) to Premium (Monthly, Yearly, Lifetime).
You can Become a Member, choose a tier and get started.
In case you’re in to start a Free Membership (Grimdark Initiate), we highly recommend you watch Zatcaskagoon’s
“Learn Grimdark Course“
It’s a 10 Episode series with more than 2 and a half hours of content, in which you can expect to find:
- Basic application methods
- Introduction to thinners and solvents
- Reductive Technique
- Working with textures, chipping, rust effects
- Applications with oils and enamels
I highly recommend you check out the course in its entirety to understand the way we use these products in different combinations to achieve very intentional, specific results, as well as reproducing surface finish variation based on the nature of each individual material.
This way you can dip your toes into the Grimdark Style and get yourself acquainted with the basics of grimdark.
What kind of products we’re going to use, how to use them and why.
Now, let’s briefly talk about painting and modeling techniques.
Let’s start from the most basic and well known.
Reductive Technique
The Reductive Technique consists in applying a filter, building up a certain hue that can be an undershade or a unifying wash, and subsequently re-activating it and removing it, to shift the tone of a surface.
This creates depth and volume and lets you have full control of how much of the color gets dissolved and removed.
I’ve recently made a Youtube video explaining the Reductive Technique, showcasing some models for Trench Crusade.
The Reductive Technique is also explained in great detail in the Learn Grimdark Course. But it’s not all we have to show.
Here is a quick rundown of most of the techniques you can find in the Premium Courses on the Grimdark Compendium.
Fur Application Technique
The fine texture and natural sheen of actual fur is nearly impossible to replicate by conventional modeling methods such as sculpting.
By using this technique, we introduce a totally new and unexpected texture and surface finish variation that can be quite striking.
This type of rendition really brings a model to life, and completely shifts the attention and focus point.
This is a Skaven from my Guide to Mordheim, and the whole process is explained in detail in Episode 9 specifically.
Soft Pressing Technique
It enables artists to replicate to-scale scratching and chipping details onto the miniatures’ hard surfaced areas without any use of painted-on chippings.
This technique is exceptionally useful over bare metal effects but can be used in a wide variety of hard surface detailing.
The Dark Angels – Secrets of the First Legion series is a good starting point to understand how soft pressing can be utilized, for armor, cloaks and pretty much any material.
Glue Application Technique
We take advantage of the properties of cyanoacrylate glue to paint skin and materials in the most realistic way possible, creating all kinds of freckles, veins and capillaries that would be otherwise impossible to achieve through standard ways.
An explanation of the glue application can be found in the Tyranids – From the Void They Come course, since superglue is a pretty dangerous product you want to be sure you’re prepared for the job with the right tools and safety precautions.
General Modeling Techniques
Different types of materials of everyday use, turned into versatile means to enrich characters, vehicles.
Cheese cloth, cables, jewelry bits, wires and meshes of all kinds can help create stories, and unique hand crafted models.
Genestealer Cults – Cult of the Leper God series heavily utilizes this concepts. Every miniature includes hand crafted details that are added during the modeling stage, to elevate characters and vehicles to a higher level.
These are just a portion of the variety of techniques we are developing and teaching.
In case you decide to fully invest yourself and want to know more, you can consider to Subscribe with a Premium Membership and watch all the videos on streaming, with unlimited view time as long as membership is active.
Think of it like Grimdark Netflix for miniatures.
You will unlock the vast library of Courses, in which we share all our deepest secrets and knowledge.
They contain everything you need from world-building, Beginner to Intermediate and Advanced techniques in great detail.
Or, if you prefer, you can purchase Individual Downloads to download and own the videos, so you can enjoy them anywhere anytime, without the need to be tied to a Subscription Plan.
To make things easier for you, we have also compiled a comprehensive list of Amazon Affiliate Links that you can use to purchase all the products you will need for your endeavors and that we mention in our tutorials.
Personal Interpretations
Apart from all these techniques and applications, there’s one final ingredient that is needed to create excellent grimdark art: and it is your personal vision.
Your contribution, and interpretation.
We as people and artists, share a collective unconscious of symbolisms and imagery, but we also possess a personal type of consciousness that is on the other hand of very intimate emotions, temperatures, perceptions.
The places we’ve been, the people we have met, the books, movies and videogames we’ve experienced at a specific point in life.
This is one of the most fascinating and interesting parts of the process. All these sensations can bleed through your work if conveyed properly, and give birth to unique pieces.
I see the grimdark style as a way to explore the
deepest recesses of emotions and fears; the romantic, moving, and devastating feeling of being confronted with the inner shadow self.
But also catching the opportunity to immortalize the little moments of beauty, wholesome displays of mundane activities. Or bitter irony, moments of dark humor.
Art should evoke a visceral reaction.
So take this opportunity, learn new techniques, try to take a deeper and more insightful look into the subject you’re working on, experiment, and most important thing of all: Have fun doing it.
Three Fundamental Rules
To reiterate, it matters not whether your style is leaning towards a sketchy, artsy and loose one, with a hint of classic.
Or visceral and photorealistic, Grimdark Compendium-style. You have the power to express yourself through the application of three fundamental rules that I feel are necessary to master, in order to successfully convey grimdark.
1) Understanding the power of World-Building:
Every endeavor commences with a deep dive into the study, a mental exploration work
that is necessary to enter the demented and dystopian worlds of grimdark universes.
Comprehension of the source material is essential to convey a vision that feels original, yet inherently authentic.
2) Storytelling through composition, modeling and painting:
Immerse yourself and commit to physically incarnate the vision of the world you’re trying to portray.
While kitbashes are not mandatory, mind that even simple personal touches, or enrichment through modeling, slight changes in expressions, use of subtle symbolism, evocative body language and a basing work that is representative
of the world, will bring your models to new heights.
3) Creative use of paint and textures:
Embrace your unfettered, raw, dark, and twisted sense of creativity.
Find a balance between meticulously applying all the creative techniques and skills you have gained
letting your pure subconscious run wild, guided by your artistic instinct.
Explore the vast realm of interesting materials and textures.
Express your unique vision through painting.
Navigate the uncanny valley between the “believable” and the “nightmarish”.
The grimdark style is an opportunity to create visually striking miniatures that speak through every facet, from the modeling to the painting aspect. It’s about adhering to the world building criteria of a grimdark universe.
The grimdark style is the way a grimdark universe is supposed to look.
This is exactly what the Grimdark Compendium is committed to offer: providing artists with techniques, tools, and valuable insights to let them express their creativity to the fullest, pushing boundaries and challenging the mainstream standards of what is possible to achieve with miniature art.
Once you have fully grasped these concepts, you will have very little doubt in recognizing what is miniature art in the grimdark style, and what is just a painting exercise with oils and enamels with a dirty look.
Grimdark Compendium is the place to learn new perspectives, point of views and techniques.
You will find everything you need from developing a mindset to actually bringing projects to reality.
We are also launching a new paint line of enamel colors, the Villainy Inks, which we will explore in a future blog post. Zatcaskagoon is waiting for SDS (Safety Data Sheets) for them to be legally shipped worldwide, so when that is taken care of, they will be ready to be carefully packaged and shipped to your door for the ultimate grimdark painting experience.
I hope this read made you feel curious about exploring the Grimdark Compendium, and generally enjoyed this rambling.
Sometimes stirring up the conversation can lead to new places and thought processes, and I’m all for this discussion.
Feel free to comment and express your thoughts.
Hear you soon Initiates, take care, and stay Grimdark.
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