Star Wars Shatterpoint Paint Guide: Asajj Ventress
Let’s round out the first squad with one of my absolute favourite characters from Clone Wars - Asajj Ventress! I had a lot of fun playing around with her, as I’ve never really tried a grey skin tone before.
Primer: Mechanicus Standard Grey (Citadel)
Base Coats: Kantor Blue, AK Amethyst Blue, AK Pale Sand
Wash: Druchii Violet
Starting out on the largest areas of single colour - the skirt, wraps and shirt. I went back and forth deciding on colours for Ventress, as she goes through a number of different variations, but eventually used the Black Series action figure as my source (a decision that carries through the rest of the set).
As always, it’s a good idea to give a quick coat of the primer colour out of the pot, for consistency as there will be slight variance if you need to tidy bits up later.
Highlights: Genestealer Purple, Thunderhawk Blue
Wash: Agrax Earthshade
Work on getting the cloth shaded. A bit of back and forth, mixing the base tone with the highlight to gradually build up tones - I deliberately went fairly loose and sketch-like with these, to try and make it feel like worn, textured cloth rather than a smooth, rigid surface.
Base Coat: Dawnstone, Screamer Pink, XV-88, Incubi Darkness
Wash: Reikland Fleshshade, Seraphim Sepia
Highlights: Dawnstone, Administratum Grey
Face Markings: AK Amethyst Blue
I could probably have split this out into multiple steps, really. The skin gets a base coat of Dawnstone, followed by a wash of Reikland Fleshshade to ensure there’s some warmth to it. Then re-establish the base colour with Dawnstone again, avoiding the recesses, followed by highlights of Administratum Grey.
The sash was simply two base coats and a wash of Seraphim Sepia. The shoes got a quick coat of Incubi Darkness just to differentiate them.
AK Amethyst Blue for the face markings, and a little Screamer Pink on the lips.
Eyes: Rhinox Hide, Corax White, Corvus Black
Lightsaber Handle: Monument Hobbies Dark Silver, Nuln Oil, Reaper Filigree Silver
Lightsaber Blade: Mephiston Red, Wild Rider Red, 50:50 Pale Sand/Wild Rider Red, Filigree Silver, Carroburg Crimson
The eyes get a simple recipe - Rhinox Hide for a base, Corax White avoiding the edges and then a dot of Corvus Black.
The lightsaber handle was straightforward - Dark Silver (my favourite true metal paint) for a base, Nuln Oil wash and Reaper’s Filigree Silver to highlight.
I changed up how I do lightsabers later on, but to remain consistent with the image: In increasingly small areas, it goes through the red paints listed above, with a thin line of silver in the center, followed by Carroburg Crimson to blend it all together.
The important thing with the saber is to think about the mini’s Golden Angle - the angle at which it looks best - and aim to have the lighter parts of the blade match that, as it’s not possible to get the “colour on edge fading to bright in the middle” lightsaber look from all angles on a round object.
