1 Day Daemons - How to Paint Screamers of Tzeentch

If you have any questions / comments, please feel free to post on the forum thread for this tutorial.

Hi Guys, screamers this time:

There's always time for a bit of preamble, and in this case I'm going to rave about this kit: basically it's absolutely fantastic, loads of spares, goes together beautifully, loads of options for the way in which you assemble your little sting-rays.

2 Issues:
1. I don't particularly rate these flying stands, they're fussy and your models won't stay on, I'd recommend glueing them in whatever position you like when you're finished.

2. (This one's definitely nitpicking) is that there's no obvious place to hold the models while painting them, I chose the biggest teeth in the kits for this reason and held them by those while painting, leaving their painting until the final step. Normally you'd have a base to hold but it'd get sprayed etc/you'd have to mask it off/it's crap - see above.

Overall 9/10though, great set.


Paintings!

Paints used: (bold+underline is for Base/Foundation paints)
Ice Blue Lothlern Blue
Enchanted Blue Caledor Sky
Regal Blue Kantor Blue
Liche Purple Xereus Purple
Warlock Purple Screamer Pink
Dheneb Stone Rakarth Flesh
Skull White (Dead White) Dead White
Matt Black
Glaze Medium



Bases:
Vallejo Cold Grey
(for edges)Bestial Brown Mournfang Brown

Step 1.) Preshade/highlight:
For once I didn't use zenithal (from above) prehighlights, these guys are alien, they don't need to obey the sunlight. Base in black and then spray their 'wings' white. (Top and bottom)




Step 2.) Dark base-coat:
Regal blue down the middle, don't forget the tip of the tail.

...If you are thinking that I forgot to take a picture of the first stage and just turned this one black and white you are entirely correct...

Step 3.) First highlight:
Enchanted blue+a little regal blue, not going to the edge



Step 4.) Second Highlight:
Enchanted blue, tad of skull white and ice blue, with a bit of Vallejo Glaze Medium (this means that the white you left at the edges in the previous step will be super-bright).



Step 5.) First Drybrush:
Ice Blue - all over, very light, be patient, these models have beautiful texture, let the brush do the work







Step 6.) Drybrush 'Highlight':
Ice Blue + White, again very light, and again be patient. (**I normally drybrush as the last stage of flesh, check below for an explanation of why I didn't on these fella's).
Apologies for blurry picture




Step 7.) Wash - or 'Shade' in the new silly GW terminology:
Leviathan Purple + Asurmian Blue, all over, this is where the rewards of the careful drybrush are reaped. Get everything, flesh or not, eyes and bases of horns/teeth need this wash as well. I always add Vallejo Glaze Medium to my washes, even if it's just a dot, in increases drying time however so bear that in mind and miss it out if you're in a rush.




Step 8.) Wash - detailing:
There are some really great details on these models, I went back and 'dotted' the scales with the mix (little higher in ratio of purple this time) to make sure they had a nice gradient fro shade to highlight at the edges, only takes a moment but really makes a difference.




Step 9.) Basing (Something to do while wash dries, I had to wait a couple of hours though):
With flying stands I tend to put the base together (but not glue it together) to make sure that the glue, and sand don't get under where the rod will go, once dry it should leave a nice place to be clipped back together afterwards.




Step 10.) - Varnish sand:
Essential to avoid it flaking off later, if you're spray-primering the base then not as much, but I always do just in case, the bases were painted in the same was as the ones in my army basing tutorial, except rather than tufts I used Gw's Dead Grass.




Step 11.) Teef:
Once your models are dry (I'm holding them by their tails now) it's time for teeth, for this I used a special tool: a slightly sub=par brush, which splays at the end. Using it you can get a 'feathered' effect at the base of the teeth, which looks more natural than a flat line, and is more regular/fast than doing it yourself, works well for horns also. I used Dheneb stone + a little white, in 3 thin applications.




Step 12.) Teeth + Eyes:
A highlight to the hirns was added with a 50/50mix of Dheneb + White, while I was at it I carefully dotted the eyes to make sure the next layers came out nice and bright. (some of these fellows have eyes underneath, careful not to miss them).



Step 13.) Eyes 1:
Blazing Orange, be careful not to get it on the blue bits, if it's not completely regular around the edges it's not an issue though, we'll be countering that with a wash shortly.




Step 14 (a, b and c).) I've got all of the stages done on different eyes in this picture, my patient helpfully has 4, which worked out nicely! From right to left we have the above step, the above + sunburst yellow, plain sunburst yellow, and then a sepia wash all over. The middle 2 stages were done fast, placing the sunburst onto the previous mix while still wet, and 'smudging' the edges a little, it's like a poor man's wet-blending, but works fine for small things. The wash neatens the edges, and homogenises the lot.




Step 15.) Pupils + Basing:
Carefully draw them on, in this case I did slits, with pupils like this it works well to have them 'ending' below or above the level of the eyelid, it cuts down on mistakes (you're doing half the amount of freehand), and also lessens the need for symmetry top and bottom etc. As well as this it makes things look a bit more intelligent, in this case in an evil fashion.


Step 16.) Forget to take pictures of the spines...
Apologies for this, I posted a WiP picture, got some feedback and then painted the spiney-bits, forgetting to take pictures. The Stages were:
Base: Regal Blue + Luche Purple
Highlight: Liche Purple
2nd Hihglight: Liche Purple + Warlock Purple



Done!



**Theory/Waffle Content Warning**
Normally I'd leave my drybrushing as the very last stage of the skin process, however I wanted these to have a very other worldly feel, and part of that was the model looking very cohesive, all over (bluey purple), so to take back the white of the final drybrush I did the wash after the final drybrush, rather than the other way around.

In the same way that you can do an all over glaze to a model for the above effect a wash will work nicely, especially if you'e put a little normal acrylic paint into the mix, it 'pulls' all of the individual aspects of a model together. It's by no means suitable for everything, but very useful for certain things.

The above is one of the reasons that dipped models can look so cohesive when done well, equally it explains why it can be beneficial to go back in after dipping (and matt varnishing - your paint won't stick otherwise), and to hit areas again which you want to stand out - such as weapon blades that you want super shiny.

As ever any comments, criticism, or your own take on any aspect of the tutorial/odels pop it down below, or hit me up on The Twitters.

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