Painting the Ssú

It's been a while since the release of the Ssú models and I thought it about time to post my method of painting the Ssú. 

Here are some excerpts about the Ssú from the Miniatures for Tékumel painting guide:

The Ssú Body

• The greyish skin of the Ssú peels off much like the skin of an onion. The outer layers seem to rot, tear, and fall away, but more "skin" grows concentrically from within its body all the time. This gives them a shrouded, tattered appearance. The skin ranges from light to dark mottled grey. 
• The body shades to black underneath, at the backs of his legs, and on the feet. 
• His greyish skin is difficult to show. since it must be tattered and peeling, rather looking like a handful of torn and soggy wet newspaper from a distance.
• His eyes are a pupilless, milky white, the mouth is a black hole.
• No ears or nostrils show through the peeling, rotting skin. 

Equipment

• He wears a black leather belt with copper studs. with the dagger and pouches hanging at his "waist."
• He wears a baldric of the same black leather
  

Weapons

• The sword is again steel, with a silver, copper, etc. hilt. He may also carry the shield...
• [H]e has a small dagger slung to this in front and a pouch at the side. These are black hilted and black leather.
• ...with a great sword of steel in a clip slung on his back.
• He carries a black-shafted steel or copper halberd.
  

Shield

• His shield is of a curious shape, black wood fronted with raised metal discs, highly embossed.

• The shield is black, and the discs are copper. 

So, this gives us a good idea of what the Ssú warrior should look like. Here is my step-by-step process for painting a Ssú unit. 

I started out priming with Citadel Grey Seer primer. Any light grey primer should do.

I taped the Ssú to my priming board. I've learned this is necessary with resin minis and spray primer, else the force of the spray will knock the minis about. And if you hold the can far enough back to avoid this, then you get a rough finish, as the primer drys in the air. 

My first coat is with Citadel Contrast Basilicanum Grey. I did not try to be neat, but for future units, I want avoid getting so much splash over on the base. 

Next, a dry-brush coat of Warpaints uniform Grey. This brings out some depth.

Then another dry-brush coat of Warpaints Company Grey for even more depth. 

Then I painted the black belts and shields.

Then copper for the weapon hilts, studs on the belts, and the raised circles on the shields. I used a black marker pen to add details to the shields. Lots of lines, dots, and whorls.

Then silver for the sword blades. Mentions of Ssú weapons are almost exclusively steel. You could also do gun metal, if you want a more iron look.

Finally, the eyes. Just simple white dots.

Now for the final touches. I gave the bases a coat of Citadel Contrast Fireslayer Flesh. 

Then I did a dry-brush of the base with a light cream color to add depth.

The last thing is to add some foliage. I use a bright green static grass, which I adhere with Yellow-Green paint, applying the grass while the paint is still wet. I then applied various shrubs and grasses.

I could have gone with a Food of the Ssú motif on the bases, but I decided these fellows would be fighting against humans and their allies most of the time, so battles would happen in the green lands, rather than in the Ssú territories.

If you are painting for RPG minis, you might consider an underworld basing theme. 

And at last, here is a unit of 12 unarmored Ssú mounted in a movement tray. 

I hope this inspires you to paint some of your own Ssú, or any of the other denizens of Tékumel. 

I'm happy to answer any questions and also invite you to share links to your models here!