Mutant Modifier: Painting the Killa Kans

I started by priming the miniatures with Matt Black spray. That was followed with copper spray (cheap one), sprayed from all sides at an slightly downwards angle. Then subtle dusting of gold spray (expensive), straigth from the top only. These provided a sturdy base colour to work over, with quick and easy zenithal highlighting effect. I felt these spray paints worked very well together, and the resulting metal tone was very nice and realistic.

Next up was a bunch of different washes and contrast paints. These included the lovely Sepia Ink, Agrax Eartshade wash, and the Darkoath Flesh, Guilliman Flesh, Aggaros Dunes and Wyldwood contrast paints. Each one of the Killa Kans got a bit different mixture of those. I just poured two of them to the palette at a time, splashed the lighter one on upper parts and edges of the model, while the darker one went more towards the legs, armpits, holes and undersides. When one of the washes was about to end from the palette, I poured some another one on its place and continued from there. So it was a constant cycle of two different washes, with the leftovers from the former ones getting somewhat mixed in. A cheap big brush (maybe 1cm wide) with long bristles (2cm) was used. Fast and good.

Looking much later at the finished miniatures, I couldn't tell which combination of washes went into each one. But I took notes of those when painting (and after the washes had dried). Some just felt a lot better to paint with, and also ended up looking nice back then.

The main points I wrote down:

* Sepia great for shadows & cover-ups.

* Darkoath nice reddish tone.

* Aggaros more yellow.

* Guilliman nice, but Darkoath better.

* Agrax boring.

* Wyldwood nothing special.

So I'll propably be using the Sepia Ink + Darkoath Flesh and/or Aggaros Dunes combo for the rest of the Ork Mek army. More shading on later stages can be done with Agrax Earthshade and Dark Tone.

After the brown washes had dried thoroughly, it was time for some oxidation effects. I watered (a lot) some Kabalite Green, with a drop of Nihilakh Oxide added to the mix in a few spots. This was washed on the recesses most likely to gather pools of water. And because it looked so awesome, got spread into many more details as well. In the end there was some of this nice mixture left on the palette. Didn't want to waste any of it, so I watered it down a bit more, and sprinkled tiny droplets all over the Kans heads.

When dry, the Kans were drybrushed with Hashut Copper to re-establish the coppery tone. Concentrating on the edges and upper parts. Base was painted with Amsterdam Acrylics Neutral Grey. I'd say any mid grey will be just fine here. The bases were then washed with Dark Tone, mixed with a little Pale Grey Wash and VERY dirty paint water bottom sludge (that was kind of a pale reddish grey in colour). Spots of Typhus Corrosion were added and mixed in with the washes to provide variation and extra texture.

Then it was time for some details. The green skins and cables were painted with Snake Scales. Matt Black on some other cables and details. I tried to paint some of the armour panels, shoulder pads and barrels red, and others with black & white checker patterns, triangular glyphs or flames. Used Blood for the Blood God & Evil Sunz Scarlet, Matt Black and Off White. Tried different combinations and orders of the reds, just one or the another, and even wet blends. Black over white or the other way around. Absolutely none of these worked in any way. I had planned on covering the whole army with these Orky-typikal colours, glyphs and patterns, but it was not to be. I just couldn't achieve the look I was after, or that was even half tolerable. In the notebook I had written: "Fu** this Sh**".

All the attempted red areas and black & white patterns/flames had to be covered up and repainted copper then. Luckily I had done the trials only on one of the Kans, so not that much time got wasted. The few details left black were highlighted or drybrushed with Stormvermin Fur, then Ash Grey, Pale Grey Blue and Off White. Concentrating on the edges, trying to keep highlights sharp and the overall tone black. This was then washed with Dark Tone, before picking up the utmost edges again with Off White. The bases were also drybrushed with these greys.

Kan Klaws and Drillas were painted with Gun Metal, then washed with Agrax Earthshade. Bases got dirty paint waters, bottom sludges and a little Dark Tone on some shadowy spots. Tiny fuel tanks, a few cables and other details were done with Blood for the Blood God, highlighted with Evil Sunz Scarlet and then Gloss Varnished. I tried other orders/combinations/wet blendings of these reds and varnish, but that simplest method was also easily the best looking.

For the green skins and cables I first tried the following: Snake Scales basecoat, heavy Military Shader wash, layer of Snake Scales, Poisonous Cloud highlight (a bit translucent), Coelia Greenshade recess shading and glazing, Poisonous Cloud fine higlights. The end result was alright, but the first few steps felt like a struggle. So the next version I tried was: Commando Green base, heavy wash of Ork Flesh contrast, Snake Scales & Poisonous Cloud highlights, subtle recess shades and glazes with Athonian Camoshade and Ork Flesh, and final sharp highlights of more Poisonous Cloud where needed.

The bases got Matt Black rims and Underhive Ash drybrushed on spots, then Gloss Varnish. A few details picked out with: Spiritstone Red (eyes, red cable highlights); very much watered down Nihilakh Oxide and careful drybrush of Sycorax Bronze (copper parts recesses and edges respectively); Greedy Gold, Seraphim Sepia and Fuegan Orange (base, shade and highlight a few golden bits); yet multiple more layers of dirty paint waters, bottom sludges and always fantastic Flesh Wash (spots and pools on the bases); very careful drybrush of Pale Grey Blue and Underhive Ash (to bring back some details on the bases). Iron parts got attention from Runefang Steel, Necron Compund dry, Aggaros Dunes, Purple Tone, Dark Tone and Flesh Wash. Sticks/horns/claws/teeth with Khaki, Bone White, Aggaros Dunes, Bone White & Off White.

I "ferget" to take any WIP pics, but here are the finished ones!

KRUMPLUG (~noise hear~)