Tzeentch The Shimmering Horror - A beginners painting log

[Berzul]

Hey everyone!

 

I am a long-time Dark Angel player, who is a very inexperienced beginner in the whole paint-side of the hobby. One who has decided to try and form a 1k Mono-Tzeentch army of Daemons, despite his otherwise long-standing Imperial Allegiance. I've always loved the look of the forces of Tzeentch. Paiting them will be a lot of fun, and playing them will also add something nice to the variety of armies my local gaming group plays.

 

So, here I go.

 

This will be a slow process, which I'd like to keep track of here. To record my progress along the way. I hope anyone who wanders off into this thread will find some nice pictures and anecdotes of this attempt at painting a Daemon Army.

 

Thank you.

[Berzul]

So, to begin this journey, I went and ordered a simple box of Blue and Brimstone Horrors. The idea being that, if I am to build up some experience with painting, I might as well go for models that don't have that much details to them, that can be painted with mostly just a general application of color, and that won't really be on the battlefield much (since they will mostly be in reserves, waiting for some other Pink Horrors to get killed in order to even show up).

 

I went for some regular Citadel paints (not Contrast, although it has been made clear to me that I should have gone for Contrast paints... oops), and some paint-applied White Primer. Spray cans are a no-go for me, due to the size and characteristics of my appartment, plus the fact that I have very, very young children. Exposure to the spray could be an issue.

 

 

I went ahead and took two pairs of Brimstone Horrors to start. 

 

I primed them with Scale75 Whie Primer, which I sadly miscalculated in the dilution with water. The result was a lot of pooling in the recesses of the minis. Still, they did get fully primed in the end. 

 

Then, I totally forgot to apply an undercoat of paint. I had a bottle of Vallejo White for this purpose, but it just slipped my mind completely. I instead went straight for two coats of Flash Gitz Yellow, right over the uneven primer. So, of course, this was a bit of a pain to apply. Still, the end result was good enough for my tastes. No detail on the models was lost, and aside from a pair of places on one model that I noticed later, they got a good even coat of yellow on them.

 

Next up, fixing the one model that got a couple of grey spots on it, and some Casandora Yellow, for shading.

 

[WarriorFish]

The start of many to come no doubt, keep us updated on your progress - the Dark Gods have little patience for those who can't deliver after all ;)

[Tallarn Commander]

Berkeley, welcome to the forces of Chaos!

 

Brush-on primer does have a bit of a learning curve as you note, but once you get the hang of brush priming the advantages are significant (health and safety, environmental, usable year-round). As with paints, two thin coats of primer works better for me than one thick coat.

 

I look forces to watching the forces of your daemons evolve!

[Berzul]

The start of many to come no doubt, keep us updated on your progress - the Dark Gods have little patience for those who can't deliver after all

 

I'm not one who can paint every day, but I do want to keep up with this project.

 

Tonight I went ahead and assembled/primed the whole ten pairs of Brimstone Horrors. With two coats of white primer.

 

I went ahead and just applied it all by overbrushing the models with non-diluted primer. I gotta say, I clearly need more practice, but I do think that the results were far, far better than before. The coats look much more homogenous across the models.

 

Next time its white undercoats to the whole eight modes I just primed. As a step towards bringing them all to their yellow layers, and having the entire squad at the same stage of paint.

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by Berzul

[WarriorFish]

I am sure very few people paint every day, as long as you make progress you're winning at the hobby and your progress is great so far :tu: 15 minutes of hobby soon mounts up over time, so whatever time you can steal counts :)

[Berzul]

Hey! I'm here to post some progress.

 

I took a good while, and applied both a couple of coats of Vallejo White, and of Flash Gitz Yellow, to the entire squad. Mostly by diluting the paint a fair bit, then applying it with a very discharged large brush through overbrushing. I have no idea if this was the ideal way to go, but it was fast enough for the time I had and gave me results I am happy with.

 

My nest step will be applying shades, to see if the model begins to take shape. Then I'll move to some reds and oranges to finish the flame forms of the models, plus something for the eyes and teeth. Not sure how I'll paint those, yet.

 

 

 

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

That's a good start.

 

Personally, I wouldn't be too worried about whether "this is the ideal way" to go about things - given that this is your first time painting this unit, you might want to take the opportunity to experiment with different methods to figure out which one has the best results for you. 

[WarriorFish]

Indeed, painting isn't a set process in this regard. I always say it takes months to finally cement a scheme and even then you can still return to change or improve it - the hobby isn't static so neither should we be as hobbyists :)

[Berzul]

Hi everyone!

 

It's taken a while, for a very quick step forward, but progress is progress. On a personal note, I am about to become a father to my second child. So, time to paint has been (and probably will be) scarce. Still, I have vowed to continue painting no matter what, to get these guys ready. 

 

So, in that spirit, I have gone now from the yellow layer that I applied over my white base coat, to the shade over said yellow! I did this by applying a generous amount of Casandora Yellow from Citadel, and just overbrushing the minis all over with it. 

 

I am quite happy with the results, to be honest. The contrast of color really makes the minis pop when I look at them now.

 

My next step will be to start adding details, such as oranges and reds on the ends of the flames and the claws, as well as bone (or perhaps even black) on the teeth. I plan on doing that later this week, whenever I get a chance.

 

 

 

 

[WarriorFish]

Congratulations! Little Brimstone Horror goes down for a sleep, the Lord of Changing can get some quiet time hobby in ;)

[Berzul]

Thanks, WarriorFish! And, yeah. In fact, I have reorganized my entire workspace, so as to be working while the little horror sleeps.

[Berzul]

Hey, everyone!

 

No updates for a bit. My newborn daughter is finally here!

 

Hidden Content

 

As one should expect, life is a bit... hectic, at the moment. Even though my eldest daughter is now old enough to mostly take care of herself, and that my work allows me to stay at home all day with my wife and do my job remotely. All of which helps a lot.

 

Thing is, time to one's self is scarce, so painting is going very slow.

 

I am trying real hard to find time to continue painting my brimstone horrors. As soon as I get a chance to do so, I'll post updates!

 

I'll take this opportunity to ask for advice:

 

I need to figure out how to paint the fangs and eyes of the brimstone horrors. Any suggestsions?  I was thinking of painting both black. I have a vallejo plain black paint here, as well as model color "German grey" that a friend uses to paint "blacks" for his T'au army. Both might work, I guess? I was also thinking of going with something like dark blue, or even turquoise, to contrast with the yellow itself. 

 

Any advice is appreciated.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Berzul

[WarriorFish]

Congrats! Painting can wait for when you have the time of course, but I think a dark grey would be better, worth a go on a model and see how it looks?

[Berzul]

Thank you, WarriorFish!

 

I did, in fact, manage some painting time today. 

 

I decided to use this time to finish up the bodies of the horrors themselves. I did the arms, from the elbow to the claws, as well as the fire on the heads, on a watered down layer of Trollslayer Orange, and then I did the claws and the tips of the flames on the heads with a bit of Mephiston Red. 

 

 

 

I'm not entirely comfortable or happy with how they look on their own, and up close. The way the red ended up looking on top of the orange feels weird to me, in a way. But, when you look at the whole squad from tabletop distance, I think they do look quite nice! I think I'll have fun playing these guys when the time comes for it.

 

 

 

Once I cover the bases (which, for now, I'll just do in a plain black), and add some color to the teeth and eyes (which I MIGHT do with a dark grey, or I might just do in black), they woll look even better.

[N1SB]

 

I need to figure out how to paint the fangs and eyes of the brimstone horrors. Any suggestsions?  I was thinking of painting both black. I have a vallejo plain black paint here, as well as model color "German grey" that a friend uses to paint "blacks" for his T'au army. Both might work, I guess? I was also thinking of going with something like dark blue, or even turquoise, to contrast with the yellow itself. 

 

Any advice is appreciated.

 

Hi Brother, to propose an alternative to save you time, I actually used Shades/Inks for the eyes of my Nurglings, which are also quite small.

 

Because they are tiny eyes on a tiny miniature, I find it works a lot better than regular paint, of any colour.  There's a side benefit - even if I use a little too much ink on an eye, and the shade wells up around the eye, when it dries, it looks like a glow, like demonic glowing eyes.  The whole effect makes them look properly daemonic, it's effective, easy, fast.

 

A light turquoise shade/ink, imho, is absolutely a great idea.  Just sharing this because this was how I managed to speedpaint an army before an Armies on Parade.

[WarriorFish]

Perhaps something like a bit of a drybrush to help work the colours together more? Or (or and) a wash to make the separation more muted?

[Berzul]

 

 

I need to figure out how to paint the fangs and eyes of the brimstone horrors. Any suggestsions?  I was thinking of painting both black. I have a vallejo plain black paint here, as well as model color "German grey" that a friend uses to paint "blacks" for his T'au army. Both might work, I guess? I was also thinking of going with something like dark blue, or even turquoise, to contrast with the yellow itself. 

 

Any advice is appreciated.

 

Hi Brother, to propose an alternative to save you time, I actually used Shades/Inks for the eyes of my Nurglings, which are also quite small.

 

Because they are tiny eyes on a tiny miniature, I find it works a lot better than regular paint, of any colour.  There's a side benefit - even if I use a little too much ink on an eye, and the shade wells up around the eye, when it dries, it looks like a glow, like demonic glowing eyes.  The whole effect makes them look properly daemonic, it's effective, easy, fast.

 

A light turquoise shade/ink, imho, is absolutely a great idea.  Just sharing this because this was how I managed to speedpaint an army before an Armies on Parade.

 

 

That sounds like a good idea! I'll give it a try! Thanks.

 

 

Perhaps something like a bit of a drybrush to help work the colours together more? Or (or and) a wash to make the separation more muted?

 

Yeah, I was thinking of touching up the red parts with another layer of Mephiston Red, but this time watering the paint down a lot more. To make it more into the consistency of a shade? And see how that might help it mesh with the orange better.

[Berzul]

Ok so, I was stuck in a loop over how the reds were done in the minis, and I decided I was not going to be able to rest until I continued to paint and make it look decent enough.

 

So, I went in, and following a friend's advice and the advice of the board, here, I did the following:

 

1) I made a diluted down Trollslayer Orange mix, and applied it to more of the mini. The legs, and other flames sprouting across the body. To frame the color around the orange, better.

 

2) I made a diluted down Mephiston Red sort of shade, and applied it to the red bits of the mini, trying to blend the red into the orange a bit... I kinda over did it with the red, though, I think.

 

3) I painted the very tips of the claws and flames with a diluted down Vallejo Black "shade", for a charred effect on the fire itself.

 

4) I painted the eyes and fangs of one of the minis in just plain Vallejo White, to try it out, and see how it looked. I went with a flat white, as it felt brighter than a broken white or maybe a bone, and this —in the end, I thought— would tie in better to the firey look of the mini itself.

 

Here are my results. See what you guys think:

 

 

 

[Berzul]

My wife took our daughters out for the day. I had (emphasis on the past tense) a low work load, for the day. Perfect combination of factors to grab some brushes, and get these guys DONE at last!

 

So, with some application of whites, and blacks, this is the final result. All that is left is to varnish them, to protect the paint.

 

[WarriorFish]

Nice work, the black and white really completes the colours :tu:

[Berzul]

Thank you!! Yeah, I'm pretty happy with how these guys turned out. I'm definetly looking forward to painting a couple more sets of 10, to form up the core of my battalion later on.

 

Now, I am moving on to the 10 blue horrors I have in sprues, here. I hope I can sit down to assemble them before the year is out.

[Berzul]

Ok, here we go! 2022! Starting the new year, with some progress!

 

These guys are next up in the painting queue. Some Blue Horrors, to finish up the box. Let's see how they turn out. 

 

[Berzul]

Hi guys!

 

Yesterday I had a chance to sit down for a good long time to paint some more. I managed to make some good progress. 

 

1) I primed the entire squad in white

2) I basecoated them in Caledor Sky Blue

3) I shaded them with Druchi Violet

4) I added light dry brush strokes of Caledor Sky Blue

5) I added some more light dry brush strokes, now of Temple Guard Blue

 

With this, I'd call the core of these guys ready. Next up, I plan on doing the white of the claws, fangs and eyes, as well as the white that will go under the yellow of the flames. Next, would be the yellow of the flames, followed up by blending in orange, red, and black. Final touches would be adding some yellow to the eyes on these models, as well as going for some silver on the daggers and bracers, as well as purple for the tongues.

 

I am hoping I can get these guys ready before the end of the week.

 

Here are some pictures, following the chronologocial order of the steps I took to get them done.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

The blue on those guys looks great.  I'm looking forward to seeing the other colours on these guys.