I just began trying to paint an Onyx Contact Force army. But I realized I have no idea what to do with the fleshy parts of the models, for example the tentacle heads of the Unidrons, the Umbra Legate's and the Fractaa's midriff, or huge parts of the bodies of all the TAGs. I feel these fleshy parts represents biomechanic parts and armor, rather than for example the actual midriff of the Umbra. Do you think I'm right? I began doing the flesh with a basecoat of a 50/50 mix of pale red and dark brown, to create a fleshy feel, and then highlight it with lighter earth tones. The result looks fine on the Unidrons, but might look very drab and uninspired when it's time to paint TAGs or the armor of the Umbra Legate. So I was hoping you could give me some ideas. How have you painted these parts of the Combined Army? Whatever I chose, it ought to go well with metallic paint like classical "boltgun metal", as that's what I'm hoping to paint a lot of the models' armor in.
I think it probably matters less for CA than any other army, TBH. As for myself, I've decided to go with something a bit more purple than this violet from Jolly Roger Studios, but the armor will be similar. To answer your midriff question, I do not believe it is unarmored. It seems more like a form-fitting second skin to me.
I'd say that no mid is bared on Onyx, aside from Dr Worm's! XD On a serious note, I used green for my Unidrons, then a brown/yellowish wash, then black ink for definition. For my Xeodrons I decided to go for something more official, so I tried 2 options: first was to use red as base, the other was orange; then I applied a darker red wash, and considered the flesh done. I will try to snap some photos this afternoon.
I finally got around and took the photos (I even did it at 5MP instead of 13 so I could hang them here!). The xeodrones have different "base color" for the skin, and the Unidrons are broken in 2 batches, one is made of the ones in the starter box, and the other is from the SWC box, something that gets noticed because of the different skin tones and the stones at the base (also a different color). The base for the Unidrons and Ikadrons is the old Citadel's silver, and the Undiron's vambraces inner side is a pure red covered by diluted silver (a wash of silver and water, essentially), and all have a final wash of water + black ink.
