How to paint Pink Horrors

Introduction

In the spirit of the "How to" series, I'll keep the techniques simple and efficient. Again, the goal is bringing the squad to a good standard in a short time, and keeping them looking as canonical as possible. This time however, I can't label this "quickly and for beginners". The Pink Horrors are somewhat more complex than Bloodletters or Daemonettes, and the color scheme I decided upon requires multiple layers on certain elements.

Getting to it

Step 0. Extract your models from the sprues and glue them together. 

Pink Horrors give the impression of being more customizable than the other lesser Daemons. While not necessarily true (same options: Champion, banner, instrument), the arm and head choices really do make them look different (e.g. flailing arms in different directions on the Horrors vs small pincers held in different poses for the Daemonettes).

 

Step 1. Prime your models in white

White works well for a bright color scheme.

 Step 2. Pink body basecoat

At the time, I did not have pink paint yet, so I mixed it using red, white and purple.

Note.

If you've followed my batreps, you can recognize these guys; I've used them like this for a long time. Now, it's time to take them to the next level.
I did not want to apply an overall black wash on pink; but I did not want to apply a lighter wash on all the metallic elements on the Horrors; so I decided to basecoat the metallic parts, then wash the bodies, then continue detailing from there.

Step 3. Basecoat the metallic parts

 

Step 4. Wash the pink parts

I wanted a red-ish wash to darken their skin and pop out the details. I only have black wash on stock, so I mixed up red, brown and purple, then applied a large quantity of water to the mix.

Step 5. Basecoat the details

The beaks will be yellow, so that needs an orange basecoat.
The flames will be yellow-orange-red, so again an orange basecoat goes well.
I'll let the tongues be purple for now.

I want blue feathers for a nice contrast.

Let's improve the flames by giving them a red center.

Then improve the feathers with a dark center line and white drybrush on the margins.

 

Further improve the flames with yellowish margins, and a slight yellow drybrush overall.

Put a layer of yellow on the beaks.

Note.

At this point I took these guys to the tournament, so I painted up their bases in ochre, so as to give a sandy impression. Except the banner guy; I want to glue a stone on his base so he won't keep falling on his face.

That is already a colorful squad that looks good on the table - way better than solid monochrome pink. But there's still some way to go.

Step 6. Carry on basecoating the details

Layer on gold on the silver. Depending on the gold you use, multiple layers might be required.

I decided to go the extra mile and paint their fingernails with a bonewhite color. I used the same for horns as well as the skulls on the bases.

Again for contrast, their eyes will be white.

Step 7. Black wash the details

Go wild when washing the large surfaces, such as the instrument and the banner. However, when washing the fine details (golden jewels, eyes, nails and claws on hands and feet), I used a small brush; an old detail brush that has already frayed out.

Step 8. Highlights after the wash

The black wash darkened too much the gold and bonewhite parts for my liking. I did not want to drybrush such small areas, so I tried a kind of edge highlighting. It was more like repainting with the original color all the raised areas. This includes the jewels, teeth, claws, eyes. I especially like the eyes. It's a white spot, circled in black (due to the wash), then extra bright in the middle (due to the highlight).

I then applied a uniform drybrush on the bodies. I used an available bright pink color for this. I first went on a top-view scheme, then decided to do a bit on the front too, since that part of the figures will usually be visible.

It really brightened up their body color, for which I was glad. I really want these guys vibrant and cheerful...

...in a daemonic fashion, obviously.

Step 9. Basing

I want these guys to have sandy bases, giving the impression of a desert. I decided that flat bases would be too dull, so I threw in some small mounds. I used my home made putty:

Wait for this to dry (I left them overnight), then paint the mounds in ochre:

Sometimes, the base is visible through the flocking. I don't want that to be white.

Step 10. Varnish

I took a break from basing to varnish the miniatures. Liquid varnish does not mix well with flocking, so this should be done before that. It could have been done before the putty mounds, but I was too excited to just get on with that.

I used a matte varnish on all areas (still glistening here due to being wet):

Except the tongues. I put on a layer of gloss varnish to give the impression of drool:

You can see that it does catch the light here and there.

Step 11. Back to basing

Apply glue to the base, then spread on the flocking. I used two kinds of sand, one white and one ochre, as well as red gravel too make it look more interesting.

Step 12. Take pictures of the finished squad