Alternative Plaguebearer Painting pt 1 - Flesh and Bones

So I couldn't think of a better initial post here than to do a painting tutorial.  I'm not an amazing painter by any means, but I was rather pleased with the result of this method, and I hope it helps out someone else.

When I started working on my plaguebearers, the one thing I knew I wanted was a non-green color scheme.  Green always seemed a very cartoonish color for me with Nurgle daemons, so I set out to make something a little different.  The final result looks something like this:

If this is of interest to you, read on!



First of all, your shopping list looks like this:
 
--White Primer
--Agrax Earthshade (always useful!)

Skin & Wounds:
--Druiichi Violet
--Rakarth Flesh
--Ceramite White
--Khorne Red
--Averland Sunset
--Tallarn Flesh
--Carroburg Crimson
--Reaper Grey Liner (OR Abbadon Black & Mechanicus Grey)
--Ushabti Bone
--Seraphim Sepia
--Abbadon Black
--Seraphim Sepia
--Gloss Varnish (optional, but recommended)

Swords
--Warplock Bronze
--Hashut Copper
--Bien-Tal Green
--Loren Forest
--Temple Guard Blue

Step 1 - Prime & Basecoat

I started off by priming the models white, and then basing with Rakarth Flesh.  I was trying for a more pale, sickly flesh color, so white primer made this easier.  Ordinarily I'm not particularly picky about the paints I use, but the P3 white spray primer is wonderfully forgiving about the distance that you hold it from the model.  I have given a few models in the past a "fuzzy" coat with GW white spray.  I left the sword, horns, and toe-claws alone when basing the model.  We'll come back to those later.

Step 2 - Skin Wash

I then washed all of the areas covered by the basecoat with a 50/50 mixture of Agrax Earthshade and Druiichi Violet.  You don't want to wash the model too heavily, but be generous and make sure it doesn't pool too thickly in the recesses.

I actually put a bit too much wash on this model, but this is still workable.  You definitely do not want to go any darker than this.  And yes, this is also the first WIP picture of the tutorial.  I apologize for this gap, as I had already started assembly-line painting the squad by the time I decided to do this, so no pictures for Step 1.  The sword is also based already in this picture.  Don't worry about that for now, we'll cover the swords in part 2.

Step 3 - Skin Highlights

Next, I began a highlight of Rakarth Flesh.  With both of my highlighting layers, you can largely ignore the bulging sores, since we'll be coming back to those with a different coloring.  But if you want to save time, go ahead and highlight them with the rest of the flesh areas.

Next, I added a highlight of 50/50 Rakarth Flesh and Ceramite White to the highest raised areas, like the knuckles and cheekbones.   Also be sure to add some to the smooth areas of the model, like the skin around the back, top of the head, and the arm muscles.

Step 4 - Wounds & Guts

Now for the fun part.  Nurgle is supposed to look disgusting, and nothing sells that more than having open wounds and sores all over the model.  I started by painting the exposed innards with Khorne Red.  Additionally, using a small brush, I drybrushed the edges of all of the wounds in khorne red.  If you have an airbrush, I recommend using that as an alternative, but don't go too far from the wound itself.  This isn't a glow effect, it's meant to sell the look that these wounds are infected, so just a little red around the edges that fades into the rest of the skin.

Step 5 -  Wounds & Guts Detailing

Next I took a fine-tipped brush and dabbed a little bit of Averland Sunset into each of the larger wounds.  This dark yellow color helps to convey the sense that these wounds are horribly infected.  That said, avoid adding the yellow to the smaller wounds.  For any wounds with exposed bone, like the ribs on the back of this model, you can add a streak of Ushabti Bone within the Sunset highlight.  Also, paint streaks of Sunset at the bends of the exposed intenstines, the same way you would if you were highlighting them. Trust me.

Now, we're going to go over all of the wounds with a heavy wash of Carroburg Crimson.  You can even be a bit sloppy with this and get some of the wash along the edges of the wound, blending with your drybrush.  After the wash dries, take a tiny bit of Averland Sunset and add it to the highest edges of the wounds.  Leave the intestines and guts alone, however.

Finally, take a bit of gloss varnish and apply a light coat to some of the wounds.  Technically, I would call this an optional step, but it's very simple and quick to do, and for me it adds a lovely extra bit of gross-out if the open sores and dangling guts look slimy and wet.

As this post has already rambled on for long enough, I think I'll pace things a bit and stop part 1 here.  It's not a perfect breaking point, but I'd like to balance out the amount of content between parts 1 and 2.   In Part 2 tomorrow, we'll round out the flesh detailing with the sores and boils, the teeth, the eye(s), and then cover the horns and sword.  I hope you enjoy it, and any feedback would be immensely appreciated.