I started by airbrushing the models with Molotow black, followed by a Molotow white zenithal highlight.
Thinking of colors to use on the models, I have this picture in my inspiration bucket from an old Games Workshop publication (late 80's if I remember correctly), and decided go for something like this on the beastmen.
Here the rejected first attempt at a puny beastman came in handy as a test object. I started by a dark red as a zenithal shadow from below, then worked my way around the model until I hit it with yellow as a zenithal highlight. All colours by Molotow and applied by airbrush.
As next step I plan to use a sponge to get the mottled effect of Jon Blanche's miniature, and then a dark reddish or brown oilwash to dirty down everything. The most logical way would have been to test the whole process on this model, but who has time for that…
So, being happy with this first stage, I treated the actual beastmen the same way.
