This way of painting will work on many other miniatures too. Basically any army that have many rank and file can benefit from this method. It does work best with “dirty” armies like Skaven, Orcs, Beastmen and so forth, but does work rather nicely with Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum and The Empire too. Here is a finished picture of the recently painted clanrats using these techniques:
It does not make for a “clean” look though and while you can use the techniques described below for Elves for example, it does not save as much time and you will need to finish up with standard layering work if you want a good finish. But, that said, it can work rather well. These High Elf Spearmen were painted this way, even though I finished them off with some blending and detailing to clean them up.
Step by step guide:
1, Prime your miniatures white.Even though I only painted four miniatures for this example, I would urge you to do more while you are on it – 20 or so!
2, Wash them with a black wash like Nuln Oil. Work from the bottom up and really slop it on there, over the whole miniature. Make sure that all crevices and areas where shadows would naturally occur are covered. However, do make it quick, speed is the thing here. This stage is a bit of a speed bump, as this layer needs to be dry before proceeding. Paint something else in between or prime some more miniatures.
Wood: AgraxEarthshade
Flesh: Reikland Flesh
Fur: AgraxEarthshade
Cloth: Carroburg Crimson (you could use any color here, depending on what you like. AthonianCamoshade looks really good if you want a muted green tone)
For this stage, you might need to do more than one layer on some parts to achieve the desired tone.
Also, you DO NOT need to wait for one color to dry before going ahead with another. It does not matter if there is some small overflow here and there. Remember, speed is what we are going for. That said; try to be neat if you can.
5, Metal wash. For this step you will thin down a metal color to a wash consistency. This might seem crazy, and not something you would ordinarily do, but in this case it does work pretty well. Basically, take a metal color and thin it down with medium or water. I find that medium works better for this, but water is ok too. I used Chainmail/Iron Breaker, but a darker metal like Leadbelcher would work too. Make sure that the color is really thin – err on the thin side rather than the thick side!
Apply it across the metal areas. This time, try to be neat, as it will not look good if you spill too much on other areas.
- Paint the eyes red (or yellow)
- Paint the teeth with bone (thinned down ushabti bone for example)
- Weather the metal parts. The method I used was by going the quick route (again – speed!) and using first (watered down) Typhus Corrossion applied over most of the metal and then stippling on a bit of Ryza Rust over this. I recommend stippling (essentially “stabbing”/poking) because drybrushing covers the edges of the metal, which generally stay rust free. I then did a quick edge highlight with Runefang steel.
Done:
- Rhinox Hide base paint
- Drybrush with Bestial brown/Skrag brown
- Drybrush lightly with Ushabti Bone
- Add flock. In this case I used the Middenheim Tufts pack. Quick way do to it and looks pretty nice, although there are cheaper options for sure.
Questions and comments are welcome. If you want to receive updates when the next blog post is up, make sure to follow Jester Painting Studio on Facebook (or Instagram: jesterpainting).
Next post will be a continuation of the guide for painting the fortified manor - next step is doing stone (and possibly roof tiles).