"Computer Says 'No'" - Negavolt Cultists

Negavolt Cultists express their devotion 

to the Ruinous Powers by despoiling machinery, 

corrupting the function of technologies 

through daemonic invocations and rituals.

- Lexicanum

Welcome friends to another Friday on The Art of Caesura!

We are deep in the depths of the Blackstone Fortress. Last week we took a good look at my favourite character - Janus Draik. If you haven't already, head back and check 'em out.

But today we're looking at some of the enemies that the likes of Draik are facing in the depths of the Fortress: the Negavolt Cultists. 

My thought process going in to these four guys was that because they worship a (corrupted) machine god (or they want to corrupt the machine god...or something involving machines) I wanted to paint their skin unnaturally pale. This was to show that they NEVER go outside and that they've wired up what organic bits they have left with electro-bobbins - rendering them super pallid. 

To contrast their pale skin, I painted their metal very dark. 

The only other sources of colour are their rags and their electricity bits. I decided to do both red; A) because black, white and red is a killer colour combo and makes them look evil, and B) because I felt that using such a limited palette made them look more uniform and culty. 

So, how did I go about realizing my vision? I started with their skin, painting it Corax White. 

For their metal bits I used a new metallic paint that I just bought recently. It is Vallejo Metal Colour Gunmetal Grey. My Citadel metalics are running low, so I took it as an opportunity to buy a different line of metals rather than just replacing the ones I had. 

I didn't have a huge issue with Citadel metals: I like Leadbelcher, I don't love Runefang Steel or Stormhost Silver because they tend to separate on me, I like Retributor Armour, I really like Hashut Copper and I LOVE Screaming Bell (it is a rich red copper and likely my favourite metalic paint in the world). But the internet (via the man, the myth, the legend Vince Venturella and also various forums) were always saying how crappy Citadel metals are compared to Vallejo Metal Colour. 

I'm not going to lie...I wasn't a fan. BUT, I think it's because I bought the "airbrush" version. I found it so bloody thin that it went all over the place, it really behaved like an ink. That being said, it did coat really well, and I suppose if you get used to the viscosity they might be good. I will persevere and keep trying to corral them. 

The red bits all started as Mephiston Red. 

When it came to shading, I shaded the skin with an extremely thin mix of Nuln Oil + Drakenhoff Nightshade. Conveniently, the metals were so dark that I just coated them with the same mix. 

I shaded all of the red with Carroburg Crimson. 

Now came the time to start building back up the highlights. I used S75 Pale Skin mixed with Corax White for a nice pallid, unhealthy look to the skin. 

I highlighted the metal by stippling chips of Vallejo Game Colour's Silver on the edges and I painted the copper bits Vallejo Game Colour Bright Bronze.

The red bits were a bit tricky. I wanted to keep them quite a similar hue to keep the colour palette really tight, but I didn't want them to look like the same material.  

To add some diversity, I edge highlighted the electro-coils through Evil Sunz Scarlet to orange tones by adding Yriel Yellow. 

For their red rags, I added in Cadian Fleshtone for the highlights, and stippled these on. 

At this point, I felt the electrical bits were too orange, so I glazed them with thinned Contrast Fleshtearers Red, to bring them back into the red realm. 

Here're all the lads together.

And there they be, my creepy techno-barbarian, Negavolt Cultists! 

Tune in for more next week on The Art of Caesura!

Watching: Warhammer Plus

Reading: The rule book for Descent: Legends of the Dark

Next Week:

Flanking the big bad...