Today is a tutorial about how I paint my pink, and blue horrors of Tzeentch. This is a 5 step process, as illustrated in the figure below.
The first step is to give your plastic horror an undercoat (step a). I've been experimenting with a number of different undercoats over the years, and let me say that for brighter colours (as found on horrors), a white undercoat is the way to go. This is because it helps your basecoat stand out well. A black undercoat is more appropriate when you want the recesses of your miniature to be dark and your overall colour tone is not a bright one. For this particular undercoat, I've slightly watered down the white paint. This is because I sometimes find it to be a little too thick and can obscure some of the detail on the miniature before you even get to work on the proper colours.
In step (b), I've applied the base coats. For this miniature, I wanted half of it to be pink, and the other half blue. This is just a personal experiment with colour scheme: feel free to have a totally pink or blue horror, or steal this idea from me by all means! The blue basecoat is ultramarine blue, whereas the pink is a mixture of skull white with warlock purple. If you have any of the old citadel pink colour, then that is also a good alternative; as is Vallajeo paints. I've also painted the tongue in blood red.
Next, I apply an ink layer (step c). For those of you who still own citadel inks, I've used blue on the blue side and a mixture of magenta and black on the pink side. If you do not own the inks, then I would recommend mixing up some of your own. This can be done by watering down a dark blue colour (for the blue side) and a red plus black mixture (for the pink side). Be sure that your inks are not too thick -- you can always apply a second ink coat if it is too thin, but removing a coat that is too thick is a much tougher problem!
Step (d) is the highlighting step. This can be done in one of two ways. Firstly, you could be lazy and apply a drybrush layer to both sides. Or secondly, you could apply solid colour. For the first method, take an old brush and mix yourself up a lighter version of pink (i.e. pink plus white) or light blue (perhaps even space wolves grey). Dab off excess paint from the brush and sweep over the miniature with brief strokes all over. Do this again for an even lighter shade of pink and blue. For the second method, again you'll need a lighter shade of pink and blue. But this time, selectively apply a solid blob of colour to the prominent raised portions of the miniature (e.g. the musculature, the eyebrows, etc.). Do this again with a lighter shade, but apply much less, and only on top of the previous layer.
In step (e), I bring the highlighting together by using a colour wash. The citadel washes are good for this, but again if you want to make up some of your own, simply dilute yourself a small amount of your basecoat colour. The blue and pink/magenta wash work to bring the layers of colour in line with one another and create an overall tone in the flesh that looks like a natural progression of colours rather than an abrupt change.
Also in step (e), I have performed some final details. This includes the teeth and claws (one layer of dheneb stone, followed by a highlight of skull white), the eyes (same again actually, but with a black slit painted on with a steady hand and triple zero brush for the pupil) and the various bits of jewellery and accessories (variously painted in yellows, silvers and leathery colours). The final result can be seen in the last picture where I've pinned and mounted the horror on to a pre-painted resin base.
The first step is to give your plastic horror an undercoat (step a). I've been experimenting with a number of different undercoats over the years, and let me say that for brighter colours (as found on horrors), a white undercoat is the way to go. This is because it helps your basecoat stand out well. A black undercoat is more appropriate when you want the recesses of your miniature to be dark and your overall colour tone is not a bright one. For this particular undercoat, I've slightly watered down the white paint. This is because I sometimes find it to be a little too thick and can obscure some of the detail on the miniature before you even get to work on the proper colours.
In step (b), I've applied the base coats. For this miniature, I wanted half of it to be pink, and the other half blue. This is just a personal experiment with colour scheme: feel free to have a totally pink or blue horror, or steal this idea from me by all means! The blue basecoat is ultramarine blue, whereas the pink is a mixture of skull white with warlock purple. If you have any of the old citadel pink colour, then that is also a good alternative; as is Vallajeo paints. I've also painted the tongue in blood red.Next, I apply an ink layer (step c). For those of you who still own citadel inks, I've used blue on the blue side and a mixture of magenta and black on the pink side. If you do not own the inks, then I would recommend mixing up some of your own. This can be done by watering down a dark blue colour (for the blue side) and a red plus black mixture (for the pink side). Be sure that your inks are not too thick -- you can always apply a second ink coat if it is too thin, but removing a coat that is too thick is a much tougher problem!
Step (d) is the highlighting step. This can be done in one of two ways. Firstly, you could be lazy and apply a drybrush layer to both sides. Or secondly, you could apply solid colour. For the first method, take an old brush and mix yourself up a lighter version of pink (i.e. pink plus white) or light blue (perhaps even space wolves grey). Dab off excess paint from the brush and sweep over the miniature with brief strokes all over. Do this again for an even lighter shade of pink and blue. For the second method, again you'll need a lighter shade of pink and blue. But this time, selectively apply a solid blob of colour to the prominent raised portions of the miniature (e.g. the musculature, the eyebrows, etc.). Do this again with a lighter shade, but apply much less, and only on top of the previous layer.
In step (e), I bring the highlighting together by using a colour wash. The citadel washes are good for this, but again if you want to make up some of your own, simply dilute yourself a small amount of your basecoat colour. The blue and pink/magenta wash work to bring the layers of colour in line with one another and create an overall tone in the flesh that looks like a natural progression of colours rather than an abrupt change. Also in step (e), I have performed some final details. This includes the teeth and claws (one layer of dheneb stone, followed by a highlight of skull white), the eyes (same again actually, but with a black slit painted on with a steady hand and triple zero brush for the pupil) and the various bits of jewellery and accessories (variously painted in yellows, silvers and leathery colours). The final result can be seen in the last picture where I've pinned and mounted the horror on to a pre-painted resin base.
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