How I Paint - Disciples of Tzeentch - Tzaangor
How to Paint Tzaangor
Tzaangor are the beastmen followers of Tzeentch and provide an excellent opportunity to experiment with unnatural skin tones and vibrant colours. Their blue skin, combined with brightly coloured armour, cloth, and feathers, makes them a visually striking unit on the tabletop.
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In this guide, I will take you through a step-by-step method for painting Tzaangor, focusing on building smooth blue flesh, vibrant armour, and contrasting details. The techniques used here are straightforward and rely on layering, glazing, and controlled highlighting to create a clean and dynamic finish.
Paints Required
Priming
Wraithbone Spray
Flesh (Blue Skin)
The Fang
Fenrisian Grey
Gryph-Charger Grey
Russ Grey
Blue Horror
Talassar Blue
Lahmian Medium
Magos Purple
Dechala Lilac
Horns and Beak
Zandri Dust
Agrax Earthshade
Karak Stone
Screaming Skull
Reikland Fleshshade
Cassandora Yellow
Ushabti Bone
Feathers
Screamer Pink
Pink Horror
Fulgrim Pink
Armour and Shield
Thousand Sons Blue
Akelian Green
Ahriman Blue
Temple Guard Blue
Baharroth Blue
White Scar
Coelia Greenshade
Metal (Weapon and Scalemail)
Iron Hands Steel
Druchii Violet
Coelia Greenshade
Ironbreaker
Stormhost Silver
Gold Details
Retributor Armour
Reikland Fleshshade
Liberator Gold
Stormhost Silver
Final Details
Black Templar
Xerus Purple
Screamer Pink
Pink Horror
Corax White
Striking Scorpion Green
Step 1 – Priming the Miniature
Begin by undercoating the miniature with Wraithbone spray. This provides a light, warm base that works particularly well for building up bright colours and smooth skin tones.
Step 2 – Painting the Flesh
The flesh was basecoated with The Fang, followed by two thin coats of Fenrisian Grey to build up a smooth base.
The skin was then painted over with Gryph-Charger Grey, which helps shade the recesses and unify the base layers.
Highlights were built up using Russ Grey, followed by finer highlights of Fenrisian Grey, and finally sparing highlights of Blue Horror on key areas such as the face and knuckles.
Once dry, the skin was glazed with a 1:3 mix of Talassar Blue and Lahmian Medium. While this was still wet, the feet and lower legs were blended into Magos Purple.
Once dry, the lower legs were highlighted with Dechala Lilac, and highlights on the face were re-established with Blue Horror.
Step 3 – Horns, Beak and Feathers
The horns and beak were basecoated with Zandri Dust, while the feathers were painted with Screamer Pink.
The horns were shaded with Agrax Earthshade, then drybrushed with Karak Stone and Screaming Skull. A thin glaze of Screaming Skull was applied to the tips to smooth the transition.
The beak was shaded with Reikland Fleshshade, then highlighted with Zandri Dust, glazed with Cassandora Yellow, and finally highlighted with Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull.
The feathers were highlighted with Pink Horror, then a mix of Pink Horror and Fulgrim Pink, and finally Fulgrim Pink on the tips.
Step 4 – Tzeentch Blue Armour and Shield
The armour panels and shield were first painted with two thin coats of Thousand Sons Blue, providing a smooth and vibrant base colour. Once this was dry, a layer of Akelian Green was applied over the panels to deepen the tone and add richness to the blue.
The highlights were then built up gradually in stages. First, Ahriman Blue was thinned and applied across the upper areas of each panel, leaving the darker tones visible in the lower sections. This was followed by Temple Guard Blue, applied to a slightly smaller area to begin strengthening the contrast.
Next, Baharroth Blue was used more sparingly towards the highest points of each panel. Finally, a small amount of white was added to Baharroth Blue and thinned down before being applied as a fine highlight along the uppermost edges and ridges.
To bring all of these layers together and smooth the transitions, the panels were finished with a glaze of Coelia Greenshade thinned with water.
Step 5 – Enchanted Metal
The sword and scalemail were basecoated with Iron Hands Steel.
The sword was shaded with Druchii Violet on the lower half and Coelia Greenshade on the upper half, then blended together with a damp brush.
The scalemail was washed with Druchii Violet. Both areas were then drybrushed with Ironbreaker, and edges were highlighted with Stormhost Silver.
Step 6 – Gold Details
The gold details were painted with Retributor Armour, washed with Reikland Fleshshade, then highlighted with Liberator Gold and a final highlight of Liberator Gold mixed with Stormhost Silver.
Step 7 – Final Details
The sword handle was painted with Black Templar. The bird skull was painted in the same manner as the horns.
The tongue was basecoated with Xerus Purple and highlighted with a mix of Screamer Pink and Pink Horror. The eyes can be painted as desired, I picked them out with Corax White.
The green details were painted with Corax White and then painted with Striking Scorpion Green thinned with a little Lahmian Medium.
Final Thoughts
Tzaangor are a great opportunity to experiment with colour, particularly when working with blues, purples, and bright highlights. By combining layering and glazing, you can create a vibrant and dynamic finish that stands out on the tabletop.
Related Articles
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Discussion
How do you approach painting Tzaangor?
Do you prefer strong, vibrant colours, or something more muted?
Let me know in the comments.
Happy hobbying!
If you’re enjoying the content, feel free to follow the blog, it really helps and keeps you updated with new tutorials.
Return to my home page.
How to Paint Tzaangor
Tzaangor are the beast men of Tzeentch. They provide the prefect opportunity to experiment with unnatural blue skin tones and bright coloured armour and cloth.
Paints used:
Priming the miniature
Undercoat the miniature with Wight bone Spray
Step 1 - Painting the Flesh
Flesh base coat the Fang
Second basecoat Fenrisian Grey 2 thin coats
Paint over with Gryph Charger Grey
Highlight with Russ Grey
Finer highlights with Fenresian Grey
And then top highlights.on the face and knuckles with Blue Horror.
Once dry, the skin was glazed with a 1:3 mix of Talasar Blue and Lahmian Medium. While this was still wet the feet and lower legs were painted with Magos Purple.
One dry, the feet and lower legs were highlighted with Dechala Lilac. Blue Horror was used to reestablish some of the highlights on the face.
Step 2 - Horns and Beak
The beak and horns were painted with Zandri Dust. The feathers were painted with Screamer Pink.
The horns were shaded with Agrax Earthshade.
Horns were then carefully drybrushed with Karka Stone and then with Screaming Skull. To finish the horns, Screaming Skull was heavily thinned with water and used to glaze the tips of the horns.
The beak initially was washed with Reikland Fleshshade. This was then highlighted with Zandri Dust. The beakwas then painted again with Cassandora Yellow. The beak was then highlighted first with Ushabti Bnne and then with Screaming Skull.
The feathers were highlighted first with Pink |Horror, then with a 1:1 mix of Pink Horror and Fulgrim Pink. and then with fulgrim pink on the tips.
Step 3 -Tzeentch Blue Armour and Shield
The armour panels and shield were painted in with two thin coats of Thousand Sons Blue.
Painted with Akelian Green.
Initial highlight of thinned Ahriman Blue. This was painted over the tops 3/4 of each panel.
Then Temple Guard BLue thinned. This was painted over the top 1/2 of each panel.
The Barharoth Blue thinned. This was painted over the top 1/4 of each panel.
Finally, a little white was added to the Barharoth and again thinned. This was painted as a thin line at the uppermost point on the panel.
To finish the panels were glazed with a Coelia Greenshade thinned with water.
Step 4 - Enchanted Metal
The sword and scalemail were painted with Iron Hands Steel.
The lower half of the sword was washed with Druchii Violet ann the upper half was washed with Coelia Greenshade. The brush was then washed. The damp brush was used to feather the two shade paints together.
The main was washed with Druchii Violet.
THe sword and mail were carefully drybrushed with Ironbreaker.
The edges of the individual scales on the male were then picked out were picked out with Stormhost SIlver.
THe edges of the sword were edge highlighted with Stormhost Silver.
Step 5 - Gold Details
THe gold detailing was picked out with Retributor GOld.
THe gold was then washed with Reikland Fleshshade.
THe gold was highlighted first with Liberator GOld and then with limited highlights of a 1:1 mix of Liberator GOld and Stormhost Silver.
Final Thoughts
Related articles
Kairic Acolytes
Disciples of Tzeentch
Discussion
How do you approach painting Kairic Acolytes?
Do you prefer brighter colour schemes or something darker and more muted?
I would particularly be interested to hear your thoughts on painting Tzeentch models. Let me know in the comments below.
Happy hobbying!
If you’re enjoying the content, feel free to follow the blog, it really helps and keeps you updated with new tutorials.
Return to my home page.
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