How I did it: Flesh-eater Courts Ghouls

Feel the pain from jackals' wrath

Dance in flames for the final quest

Hear the Ghost of Violence

Fear the God of Detriment

-the Stormrider

   The very first Battletome I bought at the beginning of my journey through the Mortal Realms was the Flesh-eater Courts one. I was pleasantly impressed by the layout and I would definitely want to  know more; on top of that, the price is very affordable. I have never been such a fan of undead in Warhammer, indeed I have never had a Death army, but in that case it was different... I simply discovered in the Battletome (one of the best AoS issues so far in my honest opinion, and I have/have read quite everything) that FEC were a bunch of mad cannibals who believed they were noble warriors or knights of all sorts. That was an epiphany... my mind began to gallop wildly the path of background and I promised to me that one day I would have painted a whole army of these deluded fools.

   Two years later that moment arrived, eventually, and I took the chance to improve my skill, painting around three thousands points of them mostly (90% or so) with an airbrush. 

   Let's see how!

   The process is so simple that I've been battled quite a lot between putting this tutorial in the speed painting section or not, but the instruments needed are many and the skills not so taken for granted, albeit not at all excessive, so I decided to make a regular How To; despite this, the speed of the making is beyond any doubts.

    The idea around them was to do something "horrorlike", realistic and with a very powerful look-and-feel, paying less attention on the details than on the whole miniature and the sensation that it suggests. So I chose to go in a full gray scale, playing on the contrast between dark and light, creating also a kind of metaphor for the souls of these wretched poors.

    Of course there will be more posts about them, including their story and background, so I will not dwell too much here about other concerns than painting. 

   IMPORTANT: You can use this tutorial, obviously, on every and each FEC model, theorically making a whole army in a blink of an eye.

   White Skin

   Basecoat with Chaos Black.

   Basecoat again with Vallejo Usaf Light Grey and Vallejo White, mixing a 50/50 solution of them in your airbrush cup. Add just a drop of thinner if you feel unsure.

   Do it two times to have a good cover. 

      Spray a solution of 50/50 Athonian Camoshade and clean water on them.

       Now you have to tide up some parts of the model, such as face, shoulders, elbows using Pallid Wych flesh. You can go drybrushing or layering based on what you like best.

    Dark Parts

   Mix in your airbrush cup a 50/50 solution of Black and Burnt Umber and spray: arms (from the elbows to the hands), legs (from knees to feet) and back. Be careful in this stage to not cover the light parts, but don't worry if while spraying you create some dirt-effects on them, it's perfectly fitting in my opinion.

   Make two coats of it just to be sure of the contrast.

   Add Reikland Flesh-shade Gloss on the dark parts.

   Finish with applying washes when you need to diversify details. Nuln oil on mouths and eyes for example, and Reikland Flesh-shade on bones.

   Basing

   Apply Vallejo Dark Earth on the bases, wash them in Nuln Oil and briefly highlight with White scars. A dark base is perfectly fitting and adds more colour contrast to the unit.

   Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more about them!