Burning the Midnight Oil

A flash of inspiration is sometimes all it takes to achieve something fantastic... Sometimes though it can just be some small children hassling you to show them what a large drybrush does, which is what happened today. As I was preparing some of my recently acquired models to have their paint stripped my nephews were asking what each brush and tool I own is for so I decided to just show them. I'd already base coated my Flamers in Mephistion Red and given them a wash of Carroburg Crimson but I had no idea where to go next. My demonstration of the dry brush technique had me use Troll Slayer Orange and from there my Daemonic muse took over and gave me the idea to carry on with the fire colours for the main body instead of the flames themselves. The next layer was another dry brush of Yriel Yellow followed by a 60:40 mix of Yriel Yellow and White Scar as both a dry brush and an edge highlight. Finally a very light dry brushing of White Scar around the edges of the mouths. The teeth were painted in the usual way (Zandri Dust, Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull). The flames were done in 3 different sets of colours; pink, purple and blue. The pink flames were done in Screamer Pink, Pink Horror, Emperor's Children and dry brushed in Changeling Pink (side note, I never actually used Changeling Pink when I painted my Changeling. Funny.) The blue flames were based in Caledor Sky, dry brushed with Calgar Blue, then with Fenrisian Grey. Finally the purple was done with Xerus Purple, then Genestealer Purple, Daemonette Hide and finally Slaanesh Grey. A lot of dry brushing but I'm very happy with the results. Oh also the eyes were picked out with Temple Guard Blue.


It's taken about 5 hours from the orange to the basing but now the painting is done! I've decided that these Daemons need burnt grass instead of just dead grass so I'll pick some up when I get chance but even without that I'm very impressed with how they've turned out. The soft edges of the dry brushing have given both a softer blending and a more organic look than simple blending or straight up painting and highlighting.