Contrary to what many pots of paint would have you believe, there is no single “skin tone”. The reason for this is because human skin is a complex, multilayered structure and derives its colour as a sum of its components, much of which is constantly in flux in life. Skin is translucent and “skin colour” is largely a combination of the colours present within the skin – the pigment melanin, red of blood and yellow of fat. If you have had the misfortune of seeing a corpse, then you can observe the sallow cast that develops – the loss of blood from the skin on death leads to a loss of ‘red’, leaving the melanin and fat behind. Because the surface tension (I think) is higher, the shade pulls away from the edges and vertical surface and does a better job of concentrating in the recesses. This left my edges alone and I was able to move on without any touchups!

Brush-On Primer: A medium grey paint that can be applied as a primer over bare metal and plastic. The consistency of the primer is nice, it goes smoothly on models and doesn’t drip off like some thinner brush-on primers. The durability can’t match a spray primer of course. Weapon Bronze:A bright and vibrant bronze paint with mediocre coverage. Similar to GW Brass Scorpion, but slightly lighter. Lighter in real life than on the colour swatch. Glaze cheeks of type I and II skin to provide the blush – this always develops due to sun damage to the exposed cheeks. A faint tint is sufficient, don’t deepen with more layers it unless you want your model to be wearing makeup. The colors underneath the dried wash gain a predictable “warm” and darker tone. Merely add your preferred layers and highlights onto your model. My issue with Vallejo washes, however, is that they dry a bit glossy. They are also more unpredictable when they dry.The other negative is, of course, the new pots. While the price has stayed the same, both new and old shades have been moved over to the 18ml Contrast-sized paints. Nothing avoids inflation (or shrinkflation, as it were). Warpaints Mixing Medium:Another transparent fluid, this medium is for thinning and diluting acrylic paints without changing the flow. It makes your paints more transparent.It’s basically paint without pigments. Perfect when building up highlights for blending layers. Most of the new Contrasts are both vibrant and a little transparent. This makes them absolutely perfect for near instant plasma weapons. Just be sure to prime white and paint everything except the plasma coils first. This way you don’t risk tainting the pure white base coat on the coils which is the key to this technique. For the blue one, it was just a coat of Frostheart Blue (which is also perfect for ice weapons). I then immediately took a bit of Contrast Medium and wiped away the center where I wanted the white glow to be. That’s it! The green was very similar except I applied Ironjawz Yellow to the white first. Ironjawz Yellow, unlike Bad Moon or Imperial Fist, is much more transparent and behaves like the usual Contrast paints. Once that was dry I applied Striking Scorpion Green and again used Contrast Medium to wipe away the center and push the green towards the recesses. You can do the same thing with Ironjawz Yellow and Magmadroth Orange for a much more chaos-y plasma as well. [Editor’s Note: Holy shit Darcy, this is incredible] Apply a dot of White to the top-left of the jewel (the part painted with Incubi Darkness). This should be a literal dot. Don’t worry if you mess up: Re-paint the area with Incubi Darkness and try again!

I start by brushing on Citadel Khorne Red. If there’s any browns left I try to leave these showing in the recesses.

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What I want to do is highligt all the lighting and Aquila motifs like how it shows in the book but finish the model off Duncan style. Now I just gotta gotta get something to remove this paint I accidently sprayed too much of.. Actually, you don’t necessarily need Games Workshop’s Grey Seer and Wraithbone primers – in fact, any light basecoat will do. I successfully tested Corax White or Matt White Color Primer from The Army Painter.

Military Shader:This is a drab green wash. Compared to GW Althonian Camoshade, it’s less yellowish. I like it quite much, I think it’s great for shading drab or muted greens when you don’t want that yellowish hue of Althonian Camoshade.

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Every one has their own secret sauce for the gold on their Custodes. I wanted to go for a slightly more antiqued look from the usual bright retributor armor color. First, I airbrushed the entire model with Vallejo Game Color Hammered Copper, then did a zenithal highlight of Vallejo Model Air Gold. For those without an airbrush, you could easily paint the model in Hammered Copper and drybrush a gold over top. If you’re working with GW Paints, I’d recommend Screaming Bell or Brass Scorpion, then a drybrush of Liberator Gold or Golden Griffon.