“It was just a colour out of space—a frightful messenger from unformed realms of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space
James: Over the last two years I have really gotten into the miniature painting side of the hobby. Back in my younger days I would often dread the idea of having to paint a whole army, putting it off until I needed to get my minis done for a tournament or campaign day. But since getting back into Warhammer just over two years ago I’ve really found my grove as a painter, taking great pride in finishing several armies to around the 2,000 point mark.
Much better that 12 year old James’ efforts, but still room for improvement.
However, I’ll be the first to admit that these paint jobs were more about getting the armies on the tabletop and less about getting them to a Parade standard level of painting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy with how these armies turned out. But now I feel like I want to improve and experiment more as a hobbyist, trying new techniques and expanding my skills in this regard.
As a result, I will often browse the web in search for tutorials and interestingly painted minis to inspire my own efforts. It was during one of these web surfing sessions that I came across a bunch of creepy looking skeletons that had been painted by one Steffani Sorensen. Painted in a way invoked a creepy neon 80’s movie feel, I immediately took a liking to the style and had to know how she did it. Steffani was gracious enough to share her secrets with me, and seeing how easy it would be to replicate for myself I decided to paint a small detachment of Chaos Daemons in the same style*.
Louise and Adam REALLY like Nurglings.
The results were more than I could have hoped for, and give these creatures of the warp a suitably creepy aesthetic that evoked a Colour Out of Space feel to the detachment. I shared my work on my twitter account and the response was overwhelming positive, and even got my minis featured on the Hobby Roundup over on the Warhammer twitch channel. People started asking me how I did it (much in the same way I approach Steffani) with hopes of recreating the effect for themselves.
Now of course I happy to share the recipe with you all. But I feel that Steffani should get the full credit she deserves for her excellent work. Also, while my efforts are quite good I do feel as if her paint job has the better finish. So, now I’m going to hand over the reins to Steffani and let her tell you how to do it with the army that inspired all of this, her Soulblight Gravelords.
Steffani: So, these are my Soulblight ‘Rave’ Lords. 1500 points comprised of GW zombies, wolves and a vampire. Oathmark Miniatures skeletons, and some 3d printed characters, with the corpse cart is scratch built from balsa wood and milliput. The colour scheme is inspired by YouTube creator Dana Howl, but as I didn’t have an airbrush I had to be creative. I wanted a dark purple shadow with a sickly green moonlight shining from above.
Tell me that doesn’t look awesome.
The paint scheme starts with an Alien Purple spray by Army Painter all over, followed by an Army Painter Goblin Green from above, at a slight angle. I then darken the shadows with Phoenician Purple and Magic Purple contrast by Citadel, hitting only the lowest points of shadow. Highlights are Moot Green (Citadel) over the mid areas of green followed by Gauss Blaster Green (Citadel) in the highest points. For cloth, these highlights are wet blended on.
I wanted the vampires to stand out, so their skin gets a coat of Pallid Wych Flesh (Citadel) and a wash of Nighthaunt Gloom (Citadel) in the shadows and a final highlight of Skull White (Citadel). Basing is Astrogranite Debris drybrushed with Genestealer Purple and Dechala Lilac (all Citadel) and grass tufts from Gamers Grass.
She’s coming for your blood.
I started painting on the 02/06/21 and as of today I have 3 Black Knights left to paint. I like having a project per month and how I approach an army is writing out a rough list and then buying a KR multicase and foam to match the list. Once the case is full, the army is done.
James: Thanks Steffani, that great. Also, I like the idea of only getting enough to fill a case and then calling the project complete. Sadly, I think I lack the self-control to ever implement such a practise. If you want to see more of Steffani work, you can find her over on instagram with the user name Nightingale_hobbies, which I’ll link to here. If you do go, let her know how awesome her scheme is and tell her James sent you.
So that is how I paint my Neon Daemons for those of you who wanted to know. It is worth noting that I did adjust the recipe a bit compared to Steffani, adding a few Nuln Oil washes to darken down the finished product. I mean, what’s a grim dark miniature without Nuln Oil, right? Still, I hope this article will inspire you to try something new in your efforts to paint your own minis. If it does, I would love to see the efforts of our labours. Just post them up on twitter and tag me in so I can admire your own results. Or heck, just follow me @TenguPlaysGames and enjoy the random Warhammer speculation and memes I post.
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* Having finished off my Nurgle Daemons for Age of Sigmar, I found myself needing around 600 points to make up the difference for 40k.
