I’m super new to painting models and I need all the help I can get. I absolutely love this guide: https://sorastro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Shoretrooper-Painting-Guide.pdf

but I have two problems. It’s a bit advanced, and I can’t afford ALL THE PAINTS just to use them for one squad then never use again

Does anyone either

A, have a simpler guide with less paints or B, know a way just reduce the amount of paints used in the list without sacrificing TOO much. I have SOME paints already, but none he listed

What paints do you currently have?

A very similar effect could be achieved with fewer paints. You can get away with just using standard colours instead of mixing.

For the brown cloth, you could simply use one of the brown contrast paints or just do it traditionally with regular brown paint + wash/highlight. Using just plain Vallejo buff or any other light tan/sand colour instead of the mixture, as well as with the blue and red. The wash used in the end could probably be substituted with any diluted brown-black wash.

Assuming that you have none of the paints required, you could probably get away with just using a light sand colour, a dark brown contrast OR dark brown paint + highlight, a brown wash OR dark brown contrast + contrast medium, a pale blue or just any blue mixed with white, a red and black + highlight or black contrast paint.

That gets you to around 6 - 8 paints total needed, assuming you don't have any basic colours.

Spray white primer and wash with shade of your choice (several companies make washes that are cheaper)

Paint the cloth whatever color you like and get a shade for that. Black for the gun.

You're done.

9 hours ago, Atromix said:

What paints do you currently have?

A very similar effect could be achieved with fewer paints. You can get away with just using standard colours instead of mixing.

For the brown cloth, you could simply use one of the brown contrast paints or just do it traditionally with regular brown paint + wash/highlight. Using just plain Vallejo buff or any other light tan/sand colour instead of the mixture, as well as with the blue and red. The wash used in the end could probably be substituted with any diluted brown-black wash.

Assuming that you have none of the paints required, you could probably get away with just using a light sand colour, a dark brown contrast OR dark brown paint + highlight, a brown wash OR dark brown contrast + contrast medium, a pale blue or just any blue mixed with white, a red and black + highlight or black contrast paint.

That gets you to around 6 - 8 paints total needed, assuming you don't have any basic colours.

2 hours ago, buckero0 said:

Spray white primer and wash with shade of your choice (several companies make washes that are cheaper)

Paint the cloth whatever color you like and get a shade for that. Black for the gun.

You're done.

I have grey seer spray primer

army painter: Matt black, Matt white, dark tone, necromancer cloak, uniform grey, and gun metal

Citadel paints: ulthuan grey, tau light ochre, apothecary white, and jokaero orange

Would ANY of these work?

2 hours ago, CinnaWolf said:

I have grey seer spray primer

army painter: Matt black, Matt white, dark tone, necromancer cloak, uniform grey, and gun metal

Citadel paints: ulthuan grey, tau light ochre, apothecary white, and jokaero orange

Would ANY of these work?

Using JUST those, you could use Tau Light Ochre mixed with some white (somewhere around 1:2) for the armor plates, and either Necromancer Cloak or Uniform Grey for the cloth parts. Then just paint the gun black, and give the whole thing a controlled Dark Tone wash. That definitely wouldn't be perfectly close to Sorastro's color choices (especially the cloth sections), but that's only a problem if you are trying to match his result as closely as possible.

8 minutes ago, Lochlan said:

Using JUST those, you could use Tau Light Ochre mixed with some white (somewhere around 1:2) for the armor plates, and either Necromancer Cloak or Uniform Grey for the cloth parts. Then just paint the gun black, and give the whole thing a controlled Dark Tone wash. That definitely wouldn't be perfectly close to Sorastro's color choices (especially the cloth sections), but that's only a problem if you are trying to match his result as closely as possible.

Would it look canonical though? That’s the biggest concern with me

4 minutes ago, CinnaWolf said:

Would it look canonical though? That’s the biggest concern with me

The armor color should at least be close. Without testing it myself (I don't own Tau Light Ochre) I can't say how close exactly, but it definitely should be close. As for the cloth sections, unfortunately those are canonically dark brown, so my proposed option wouldn't be exact. I suppose you could try adding some black to Tau Light Ochre (maybe 1:1, or 3:2) which could also work. If you are really concerned with sticking to canon though, you will need to do the markings on the armor as well. Ulthuan Grey could work for the blue-grey stripes, though Ulthuan Grey looks a bit more on the green side to me, so you would probably be better off picking up a different color for that. You would also need a red and a golden yellow.

Just now, Lochlan said:

The armor color should at least be close. Without testing it myself (I don't own Tau Light Ochre) I can't say how close exactly, but it definitely should be close. As for the cloth sections, unfortunately those are canonically dark brown, so my proposed option wouldn't be exact. I suppose you could try adding some black to Tau Light Ochre (maybe 1:1, or 3:2) which could also work. If you are really concerned with sticking to canon though, you will need to do the markings on the armor as well. Ulthuan Grey could work for the blue-grey stripes, though Ulthuan Grey looks a bit more on the green side to me, so you would probably be better off picking up a different color for that. You would also need a red and a golden yellow.

So

buy a brown, a blue, a red, and yellow and I SHOULD be okay?

10 minutes ago, CinnaWolf said:

So

buy a brown, a blue, a red, and yellow and I SHOULD be okay?

You would probably be fine without the brown if you're looking to buy as little paint as possible. The Tau Light Ochre/Black mix should be close enough. And with the blue, red, and yellow, I would recommend getting colors as close to the canon colors as you can, since your options for mixing to achieve the desired color are limited.

2 hours ago, CinnaWolf said:

So

buy a brown, a blue, a red, and yellow and I SHOULD be okay?

I'd drop the yellow and replace it with a light tan, Tau light ochre is very much an orange colour and I don't think it's a good fit for the Shoretrooper armour. I find if you're trying to stick to cannon, you want to use a proper paint for the dominant colour.

You can still get the yellow, it's just used for the small dots so it could be skipped/substituted. As for the brown cloth, just apply the strong tone over the primer and that should look fine.

The black and necromancer cloak should be fine for the weapon.

5 minutes ago, Atromix said:

I'd drop the yellow and replace it with a light tan, Tau light ochre is very much an orange colour and I don't think it's a good fit for the Shoretrooper armour. I find if you're trying to stick to cannon, you want to use a proper paint for the dominant colour.

You can still get the yellow, it's just used for the small dots so it could be skipped/substituted. As for the brown cloth, just apply the strong tone over the primer and that should look fine.

The black and necromancer cloak should be fine for the weapon.

Would the ochre with the Matt black make a good brown?

4 hours ago, CinnaWolf said:

Would the ochre with the Matt black make a good brown?

It might, I'd just recommend putting one or two coats of the strong tone over the grey seer primer which should achieve a similar effect to the contrast paint used in the guide. If that fails then I guess adding a little Ochre to black could give a brown colour but I'm not sure how that would look.

I used contrast paints on mine and I love the way they turned out.
Cygor Brown - pants & boots

skelaton horde - armor

Sbakebite leather - belts/pouches

The rest was black and gunmetal on weapons, and red and a sky blue for accents.