Sons of Sek; Paint schemes and Berocca paintbrush holders

So, time to attempt some colour.

First things first, basic palette.

Again, teasing data from the books shows that the SOS have yellow ochre uniform, with glossy black body armour, which rose over their mouths into a hand cupping into a gorget.

For some reason though, a paragraph lodged in my memory that indicated that the SOS wore 'acid yellow' uniforms, and whose belts, bindings, and accoutrements was formed from the flayed skin of their enemies. However, without being able to find this in the fiction, I went for the option which I could guarantee I could find.

Basic Palette
So the basic palette was nice and simple;



Lellow! (Averland Sunset).

Brun (Mournfang Brown)

Black (Imperial Primer/Abaddon Black)

Skin (Cadian Fleshtone)

Budget

As with my entire 40k mentality keeping to a budget was key. This crept into the painting style as I refused to buy any of the recommended layers sold by Games Workshop. Because of this, my paint collection barely stretches to more than 15 pots of paint (3 of them duplicates).

Any highlights or secondary layers would be mixed using White Scar to give a very cold feeling miniature, darker colours with Abaddon, depth would be Agrax Earthshade or Nuln Oil

I'm very aware that far superior results could be attained with a wider collection, but like many people, space and money is a premium. My painting kit, conversion kit, bits box and gaming supplies all fit into this old Champagne magnum box and I (and my wife) would like to keep it that way thank you very much. 

A Berocca tube makes and excellent paintbrush holder.

Test Mini

Firstly, an (unprimed) and relatively unconverted mini had the the four primary colours applied, then washed. 

Nothing too jarring here but equally not too Chaos-y, the yellow stands out on the table and if I need to do a large section of these guys in bulk this can be accomplished in about 20 minutes per mini.

After this I then go back over the yellow with 2 highlights with increasing amounts of White Scar in the Averland Sunset. 

The flesh gets a highlight of pure Cadian Fleshtone, then a second with a little White Scar, before a light wash of Agrax again to tone it back down. (Mental note to go back over the baldies with a little stubble).

All the detail was added after, with most items getting a single highlight. Bronze metal was picked out for a bit of variance and the pilfered and defaced water bottles and the backpack were given a Cadian Camo-colouring, some tattoo detail here.

The blood was Tamiya's clear red, which i'll comment on later. Finished shots below.

Overall, I like them. My hasty painting (around 7 hours total for this first batch) aside, means that the detail is there, the feel is there, the intent is definitely there.

Things learned

1.  I'll only sparingly use drybrushing again. The SOS were given a Leadbelcher drybrush over weapons and armour and not only did this mean that the glossy black body armour wasn't glossy at all.

It also meant that the finish across most of the models surfaces was poor, and unfortunately shows through on the few flat surfaces visible.

2. Dilute, dilute, dilute!

Still not impressed by how much paint I use. Must improve.

3. Tamiya clear red is very good between the teeth of chainswords and when pooled, everywhere else it needs darker tones for realism!

4. Better tatoos!

5. Softer skin tones.

And finally, don't paint the SOS with brown cupping gorgets and then paint them black afterwards, start as you mean to continue!

Next up, Primaris Psykers!