Painting a Reaper Fire Demon as a Bloodthirster of Khorne

Introduction

After fixing the head of this demon, my friend had two identical fire demons. Not the most useful for RPGs... so he decided to give one to me, in exchange for painting the Kraken.

Now this guy really looks like a Bloodthirster with whip and all, except with sword instead of axe. Good enough.

This is the last thing I painted before the COVID-19 lockdown. I left it at the Guild Hall to be used in the Age of Sigmar Path to Glory and it stayed there... so no "finished" pictures available as of yet.

Preparation

The fur piece on his back wasn't a perfect fit, so I applied some leftover milliput to fill the gap. Call it... a pinkthirster, if you will.

Painting

I had Reaper Bones behave funny before with spray primers/paints, so I decided not to risk it on this masterpiece in the making. Reaper says this material does not need to be primed, so let's put that to the test by applying paint directly on the surface!

Red skin

Heavy Red is too desaturated on its own, so I mixed it 1:1 with Beasty Brown for the basecoat.

Black wash. This used up all my remaining Vallejo Black wash... it's all Nuln Oil from now on!

Broad highlights using the original basecoat color. Note that I tried drybrushing first, as the muscles are well pronounced; but the paint started peeling off when my hand got rough. So, that does not bode well... and I went over to glazing.

Second highlight, more of a glaze, Gory Red.

Finally, thin lines of Bloody Red. And then blend it all using Bloodletter glaze.

For the final stroke, mix Bloody Red with Hot Orange, then do thin lines perpendicular to the previous highlights. All the previous ones were along the muscles - observe along the thighs.

Wing membrane

Fleshtone with a reddish tinge, as per the painting tip. 

Brown-scale details

Horns and claws; brown fur on the back; warm white loincloth; medium brown leather straps.

The brown fur isn't exactly top notch; the bone white is too stark. I think it needs smaller grained detail to look good.

Other details

Monstrous mouth, soon to be a painting tip. Basecoat the interior in Night Blue.

Basecoat the tongue in Warlord Purple. Edge highlight Squid Pink.

I also painted the membrane on the side of the mouth in a fleshtone: Heavy Skintone, Reikland Fleshshade, Heavy Skintone edge.

Simple black whip and fingernails.

Same with the hooves, but they looked too much like the whip, so I did a coat of Agrax Earthshade on top, giving a pleasant brown hue.

Small, beady eyes - basecoat white, wash Hexwraith Flame.

Metallics - silver

I took a cue from the Bloodcrushers - though I am still not convinced this looks good.

First, do traditional silver on the crossguard-looking part (also there is a silver ring on the belt, and a metallic end on the pommel). Although I'll have to re-do that painting tip - use Nuln Oil Gloss for best results!

Then basecoat the blade in Chainmail Silver.

Wash Carroburg Crimson.

I started with a Chainmail Silver edge highlight, but the blade is too large and flat, and it doesn't look any good. So I glazed Chainmail Silver over the flat areas. That leaves the runes and grooves a darker red, but the flat of the blade also retains some of the red beneath.

Then edge highlight Silver. I also did notches on the blade.

Metallics - gold/brass

Ah, and the elephant in the room, which I forgot to take a photo of. I have acquired a set of Colorshifting Paints (also called Chameleon Paints - not sure which is the newer branding), which I have longed to use, but never got around to. I wanted something special for this monster, so I chose Burning Gold for the armor plates. I did it by the book - black basecoat, gloss varnish on top, then multiple layers of Burning Gold. I surely got to 15+ layers - I spent at least 4 hours endlessly applying layer after layer. It still doesn't look top notch. Since the paint is thinned down, it flows into the recesses, which just look like solid orange. The raised edges let the black shine through. On flatter areas, the colorshift comes into play somewhat. I'm not entirely happy, but it's good enough not to repaint into something else. Next try will either be a large flat surface, or I'll hire someone with an airbrush.

Base

Light stone. 

With that, the model is (almost, but not quite) ready and usable.