Sunday 15 September 2019

CCXXXIII. Untamed Beasts Painting Guide


The Heart-eater, final mini of the Untamed Beasts warband. As with the Iron Golems, I documented the painting process. Here's a step-by-step for you:



 UNTAMED BEASTS, START TO FINISH




1 - Zenithal priming: white over black. The recesses remain dark from the black spray, which gives me automatic shading in those hard to reach areas. The white provides a bright underlying surface for the glazes.


2 - Glaze of watered-down Rakarth Flesh (Citadel) over the enitre figure.


3 - Glaze of watered-down Zandri Dust (Citadel) over the enitre figure.


4 - Glaze of watered-down Russ Grey (Citadel) on the skin areas.


5 - Glaze of watered-down Dubai Brown (Scale75) on clothing, fur, weapon grips, helmet. Everything that's not skin or bone/horn.


6 - Glaze of watered-down Flat Black (Scale75) on the fur and helmet (not the helmet horns, though). I deliberately used the extra matt black for this.


7 - Glaze of watered-down Burnt Umber (Pebeo) on the leather belts and straps. I put the same glaze on the cape and loincloth, in uneven blotches.


8 - Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil washes (Citadel), slightly watered-down, on everything but the skin. More brown on lighter areas, more black on darker ones. Repeat where necessary.



9 - Highlight of sligthly thinned Rakarth Flesh on all bone and horn areas.


10 - Highlight of sligthly thinned Celestra Grey on all skin areas. Picking out the muscles, fingers and facial details.


11 - Another highlight on the skin, this time Celestra Grey (Citadel) mixed with a bit of Matt White (Pebeo).


12 - Highlight of Zandri Dust (Citadel) on select areas that were so far glazed with brown.
13 - Highlight of sligthly thinned Rakarth Flesh (Citadel) + Matt White (Pebeo) on bone and horn.


14 - The leather straps are a more reddish brown, so they were edge highlighted with a mix of Burnt Umber and Matt White (Pebeo).
15 - Watered-down Mephiston Red (Citadel) was added on certain areas as spot colour.
16 - The nipples were painted.
17 - The entire figure got a blacklining treatment. Slightly thinned Matt Black (Pebeo), applied with a precise brush where different parts/materials of the miniature meet. This step makes the mini clearer to read from a distance.
18 - The eyes were painted as white dots, for a particularly sinister look.
19 - The helmet and bit of chainmail on the loincloth were highlighted with Celestra Grey (Citadel) + Matt Black (Pebeo), and then Celestra Grey (Citadel).

The red spot colour was applied to the gaps between the weapons' teeth as a subtle wash. 



20 - Black and off-white splatter over the entire model. I do this because it adds so much to the atmosphere of a paintjob. I use an old #10 brush with stiff bristles for the task, flicking paint from it onto the mini. Depending on how thin the paint is, how loaded the brush and how far it is from the mini, the droplets will change in size, opacity and number. It's best you try for yourself to get a feel for it. Always check on a spare piece of paper before you go splatter the mini! If you make a mistake, you can still save it, but you only have seconds to wipe it off.

21 - The tattoos were done in freehand, using a #0 sable brush. The paint I used was a mix of Flat Black (Scale75) and Verdigris Blue (Secret Weapon). They're both rich in pigment, and will leave a neat line even when watered- down and made slightly transparent. The paint needs to be of such consistency to slide of the brush easily, but without running when it touches the mini. The brush needs to have a fine tip, but also enough body to hold a sufficient amount of paint to draw a few uninterrupted lines. I went with spiral patterns and dots, same designs I used on the entire warband. 

The final step was to base and spray-varnish the mini. My warband is now finished and ready to travel to its new home across the Atlantic.

4 comments:

  1. Okay, I admit it. The result might be better than basecoat and dip.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's great whenever I get to see a mini slowly coming together step-by-step.

    ReplyDelete

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