As with everything there is probably a quotation that better encapsulates this. I’ve been painting the same three models for months and of course I could have done better, but I finished these models and on time according to the vow I made over on the Bolter and Chainsword, so look upon my works ye mighty and despair.
In offering one’s opinion, one must first ascertain whether or not the recipient is in the right frame of mind to receive counsel.
Skin Tones
A lot of time was spent painting the guts and intestines on these models, the Chaos Lord in particular is covered in tubes which actually seem to be intestines. The plague marines of course have tubes and intestines too, but I also had to conjure up several different skin tones and they couldn’t be pink, purple, or even green, especially after how I painted the plague knives.
The Chaos Lord’s face came out too blue. It was more seafoam then I put an un-thinned turquoise wash on it, the old red lid Games Workshop ones. That is a mistake I hopefully won’t make again, as I basically had to highlight the model back up and I don’t think I did the best job. I also don’t think I did the best work on the eyes, in some photos they look better than others, he must have deep eye sockets and I just used a random and not bright enough red, likely a Citadel hexpot I put into a dropper bottle when the lid broke.
Paint Grey then Tint Blue
I’ve done better blue skin and I’ve changed how I do it as I’ve experimented, one way is to paint the skin grey then glaze it with a blue wash or the aforementioned turquoise glaze, you need to thin your wash or ink though. Several thin coats is safer than just gobbing it on. Nowadays painters are spoiled. Army Painter seems to have a light tone, a strong tone, and a dark tone plus even more tones so maybe there is one you can just use, but I already own so much paint, I’m done buying more for a while.
There are severed heads on the Chaos Lord’s banner and on the belt of one of the plague marines. For the plague marine’s severed heads I had painted them Grey Seer so I used some Instant Colors I got off the Internet: Zombie Skin and Rotten Pus. The former is similar to paints made by Games Workshops and other manufactures, I seem to have a large collection of rotten flesh tones after Games Workshop stopped making actual “rotten flesh” paint.
However, because my plague marines are purple and green, I use blue for flesh tones and I basically used most of the greys I own then a thinned the turquoise glaze, putting it over the highlighted grey. I’m a big fan of the Wargames Foundry triad system, you don’t even need three paints, you can paint something on the model the mid-tone straight over black, then put on a highlight, then a wash, then the same highlight again. That is fine for many things but for flesh especially on your latest greatest Chaos Space Marine Lord I put extra effort making his face, both his weapons, and his banner stand out amongst the hundreds of chaos space marines I’ve painted.
A thinned contrast style paint is a good option over black and grey. I’ve been using this technique since way before Contrast paint and slapchop was a thing. No slapchopping was done on these models. I will try to use that technique more, I think it works well with daemons, but I’ve already got more painted than I’ll likely ever need, but I’ll try a Nefarious Fire Chaos Space Marine someday, but I honestly want to spend less time highlighting black or any other color with tiny lines. I need to get more of my unpainted miniature collection painted.
Does Paint Brand Matter?
Sadly yes, I got many bad pots of Citadel paints especially in their old paint sets. Their new paint seems to separate a lot including the Contrast Paints, buying that vertex mixer was one of the best decisions I’ve made. New paint lines keep coming out and the friendly local game store now stocks even more including Pro-Acryl.
If I was just starting out or advising someone just starting out in miniature painting, I’d advise getting a small set like the old Citadel Colours one, but it didn’t have black or white, so I would definitely recommend those two colors along with a grey plus of course: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple. Nowadays you’ll want a metallic paint and probably a wonder wash. I do like the Army Painter tones and you can thin Strong Tone, but I do also use the Games Workshops shades the three I like best from the current range are: Bezerker Bloodshade, Mortarion Grime, and Seraphim Sepia. However, I have not tried them all, I’m not made of money.
The sepia was my favourite of the old formulation, more than Devlan Mud. I used Seraphim Sepia over the same greys and rotting skintones as I used the turquoise glaze on the severed heads on the Chaos Lord’s banner. The sepia was used on the severed head on the left. I like sepia to shade bone, parchment, off-whites and not quite pure yellows, the plague marine’s tabard has a Seraphim Sepia was or two. My biggest problem with Games Worshop’s paint besides separation is the silly names and that the colors don’t match the historical colors.
Nostalgic Painting
I said nostalgia was a big part of miniature wargaming and model painting. People did it when they were younger and wished they had more money and time. Now I do have more money, but I don’t have a lot of free time or energy, I did well on these models. I painted every weekend until they were done. Now I already know my next three models and I want to maintain some painting momentum, but I also am going to take some courses for work, so I will have to self-study again. Hopefully it is nothing like the CFA® Program but it is literally offered by the same people.
Pots versus Droppers
I like pots, especially for quick touchups and I like the old style pots rather than new Games Workshop pots and the bolter shells especially the twist off ones were horrible. None of those paints survived storage. I have a picture of them dead and piled up in my old apartment, which I apparently never posted to this blog until now. I don’t know if Nostalgia ’88 or Coat d’arms make a beginner’s set, but I do like having primary colors in pots. For mixing especially wet pallet stuff, maybe droppers are better, but all squeeze bottles are not created equal. I have to get out a pin every time I use most of them it seems, so I do once again like Pro-Acryl and plan to buy more paints from that range though I do use Army Painter, Vallejo and even old Reaper Master Series paints.
I got paints from new lines such as Huge Miniatures and Wargames Fantics which I used on these models. I wasn’t terrible impressed with Warcolours, others like them, but he is the guy who makes Nostalgia ’88 which I do use and despite the cost I ordered the two key triads I previously used when painting the bulk of the Nefarious Fire Chaos Space Marines. However, I don’t know if they do a beginners set, I know Army Painter does and probably Games Workshop too.
What paint set would you recommend someone just starting out? Do you have a favourite paint line? Do you like to mix and match or are you loyal to one particular brand? Any thoughts on AK Interactive? Asking for a friend.
Music and Beer
I can paint without music and beer. In fact I prefer not to paint and drink alcohol. My eyes are not great anymore and I put on my magnifying headset and I do the eyes and the fine detail work wearing that. The rest of the time I prefer to paint with my glasses off and the model close to my face while hunched over. That is the old school method. However, I do like music playing when I paint and when I blog I do seem to enjoy a beer or two.
MC 900 ft. Jesus
No one guessed and no one asked, but my new Chaos Space Marine Lord will be named MC 900 ft. Jesus. MC Nine Oh Oh to friend and foe. Because calling him MC Hammer would be too obvious. When I was almost finished the model I thought of another name, but I feel I owe it to MC 9-0-0 as I still have the words to this song memorized.
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
I didn’t listen to “Truth is Out of Style” over and over while painting these miniatures, but I did discover via a cover done by Robert Earl Keen, the importance of colour and branding when manufacturing motorcycles. Now I may be slightly obsessed with this song and may try to learn it on guitar. Here is another cover of it, but I will try to learn it fingerstyle, you know because I have so much free time.
What’s Next?
Well the 1000 point army list I typed out, which is now possibly obsolete because Games Workshop changes the rules quarterly if not sooner, has a Warpsmith as I’m now the Irony Warriors of Nurgle and will use the Fellhammer Siegehost rules because I need guns.
Specifically I want guns that can shoot over twenty-four inches and have a strength higher than say four. I will probably do up a Predator Annihilator, I fear I may have two NIB, I definitely have one. I will likely paint up a Defiler, a Dreadnought, and if I can get through all that I’ll buy a Forgefiend, because I own those other models already. I may even run three Havoc squads at some point as I think I have enough models already painted, I just need to rebase everything.

If they ever let us have Chaos Lords or any character on a bike, boy to know what kind of bike he’s going to ride. I may name a character “Vincent Black Lightning” even if he can’t have a bike, my biker champ may get that name, when I finally get around to painting those models. My updates to this blog may become scarcer but I complete my vow and the Internet can sleep easy tonight. So I can have a second beer and edit this post before publishing. If you have thoughts on painting, paint brands, Chaos Space Marines, music, truth, or motorcycles you can leave a comment below.



















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