Colors!

Key: GW = Games Workshop/Citadel Colour paint, VMC = Vallejo Model Color paint, VGC= Vallejo Game Color paint

Crimson Red:

• Basecoat 1:1 GW Red Gore/GW Scorched Brown at 1:1 paint/thinner consistency


• Draw out 1:3 GW Blood Red/thinner towards edges and highlight areas


• Extreme edge highlight 1:4 GW Blazing Orange/thinner, drawing higher concentrations of color towards uppermost areas

Rich Burgundy:

• Basecoat 1:1 GW Scorched Brown/GW Red Gore at 1:1 paint/thinner consistency


• +1 drop of GW Red Gore, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency drawn out starting roughly 1/16" from shadowed areas


• +1 drop of GW Red Gore, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency drawn out starting roughly 1/8" from shadowed areas


• +1 drop of GW Blood Red, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency blended into upper-facing areas


• Highlight with +1 drop of GW Blood Red, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency blended out to about 1/8" away from top of upper-facing surfaces


• Extreme edge highlight with +1 drop of GW Blazing Orange, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Several glazes of 1:1 GW Black Ink/Red Gore at 1:30 paint/thinner consistency primarily focusing on edges/crevices

High-contrast Yellow:

• Basecoat GW Skull White


• Wash/glaze with 1:10 GW Fiery Orange/thinner


• Glaze 1:10 Yellow Ink/thinner + 1 drop Fiery Orange


• Draw out 1:1 GW Sunburst Yellow/VMC White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency toward edges and highlight areas


• Extreme edge highlight 1:2 Sunburst Yellow/White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency

Low-contrast Yellow:

• Basecoat 1:2 GW Tausept Ochre/thinner


• Layer 1:4 GW Golden Yellow/thinner


• Highlight 1:4 GW Sunburst Yellow/thinner


• Extreme edge highlight 1:1 Sunburst Yellow/White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency

Mid-range Blue:

• Basecoat 1:1 GW Ultramarine Blue/thinner


• Wash with 1:10 GW Chaos Black/thinner


• Draw out 1:4 Ultramarine Blue/thinner toward edges and highlight areas


• Highlight 1:1 Ultramarine Blue/VMC White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Extreme edge highlight 1:2 Ultramarine Blue/White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency

Black:

• Basecoat 1:1:2 GW Chaos Black/GW Codex Grey/thinner


• Wash with 1:10 GW Black Ink/thinner (or 1:8 Chaos Black/thinner, or Badab Black brushed towards depressions and shade areas)


• Highlight 1:1 Chaos Black/GW Codex Grey at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Extreme edge highlight 1:4 Codex Grey/thinner

Simplified Black:

• Basecoat 1:1 GW Adeptus Battlegrey/GW Black Ink


• Extreme edge highlight 1:4 Codex Grey/thinner

White:

• Basecoat 1:2 GW Astronomican Grey/thinner


• Wash with 1:10 GW Fortress Grey/thinner


• Highlight 1:1 Fortress Grey/GW Skull White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Extreme edge highlight 1:4 Skull White/thinner

Dirty White:

• Basecoat 1:4 GW Kommando Khaki/GW Skull White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Shade with +2 drops of Khaki added to basecoat, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Line-in shading with +2 drops of GW Graveyard Earth, with mixture at 1:8 paint/thinner consistency


• Edge highlight 1:1 Khaki/VMC White at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Extreme edge highlight +3 drops of VMC White, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency

Pallid Purple Flesh:

• Basecoat 2:1:1 VMC Deck Tan/GW Skull White/GW Purple Ink at 1:1 paint/thinner consistency


• Layer 4:2:1 Deck Tan/Skull White/Purple Ink at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency drawn out starting roughly 1/32" from shadowed areas


• Layer 2:1 Deck Tan/Skull White +1 drop of 1:10 Purple Ink/thinner, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency drawn out starting roughly 1/16" from shadowed areas


• Layer 2:2 Deck Tan/Skull White +1 drop of 1:10 Purple Ink/thinner, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency drawn out starting roughly 1/8" from shadowed areas


• Wash with 1:1 GW Codex Grey/VMC Russian Uniform at 1:20 paint/thinner consistency


• Wash with 1:20 GW Liche Purple/thinner primarily in the depressions


• Layer 2:2 Deck Tan/Skull White +1 drop of 1:10 Liche Purple/thinner, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency, over upper-facing areas


• Highlight with +1 drop of VMC White with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency blended out to about 1/32" away from top of upper-facing surfaces


• Extreme edge highlight with 2 drops of VMC White +1 drop of 1:10 Liche Purple/thinner, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency


• Line-in extra shading with 1:10 English Uniform/thinner


• Add minimal spot highlighting of 1:4 VMC White/thinner

Dirty Claws:

• Basecoat 1:1 GW Red Gore/GW Chaos Black at 1:1 paint/thinner consistency


• Paint outward striations with VMC Buff +1 drop of 1:10 VMC Russian Uniform/thinner consistency


• Paint additional narrower striations of +1 drop VMC Deck Tan, drawn out starting roughly 1/8" from innermost claw area, with mixture at 1:4 paint/thinner consistency

This is a selection of some of the color progression recipes I've used on some of my figures. If anyone has a good color recipe that they wouldn't mind passing along and having posted for posterity, by all means leave a comment on the blog or send me an email!