Creating a colour scheme. Part 2 of 3.

In Part One I wrote about colour theory, first taking a look at the values, or characteristics, of Hue, Saturation, Tone and Temperature. An understanding of this is key to building a successful colour scheme using colour contrast.

This time I’m taking a look at colour schemes and colour palettes and how, from my point of view, they differ from each other. Then I will describe the different roles colour can play within a palette.

What is a colour scheme?

When I talk about a colour scheme I’m referring to the overall visual impression created by the colours on a model. There is no limit to how many, or how few, colours can feature in a scheme; but you should be able to understand a colour scheme at a glance. An effective colour scheme can be described in fairly simple terms.

If a colour scheme is complex you should still be able to understand its overall nature at a glance with the nuances becoming apparent when you study it more closely.

Let’s look at some examples.

My Abyssal Warlord has a desaturated blue and yellow colour scheme.

Although not directly opposite one another on the colour wheel, blue and yellow are hues with a strong degree of contrast. I have lessened that contrast by desaturating the hues. I further adjusted the nuances by using a relatively cool yellow as it has a slight green tint. Similarly, where I’ve used a more saturated blue it has a greener hue and a darker tone.

By adjusting the characteristics of Hue, Saturation, Tone and Temperature, I’ve controlled the colour contrast between the blue and yellow and balanced my colour scheme.

Gutrot Spume has a saturated green and red colour scheme.

This is a bold complementary colour scheme. As I showed in Part 1, I’ve adjusted the saturation and temperature of my colours to bring balance.

Another vital element of my scheme are the neutral colours. These help by providing a low contrast backdrop for the reds and greens.

My Isharan Tidecaster has a scheme of dark, saturated blue/green with contrasting yellow details.

The (analogous) blue and green are the main or primary colours of this scheme. The dark, desaturated, yellow is a secondary colour.

My Sloppity Bile Piper has a yellow and purple colour scheme.

Yellow and purple are complementary colours. Again, by making adjustments to their characteristics, I’ve controlled the nature of their contrast. In addition, yellow is clearly the primary colour in this scheme. Creating a hierarchy of primary, secondary and (sometimes) tertiary colours is another way to bring balance to a scheme.

In all the examples above you can clearly see that I’ve used additional colours to those I’ve mentioned but, although they all have a part to play, they are not dominant colours in the scheme, and they are less apparent in the overall visual impression.

Colour hierarchy.

In Part 1 I described how having hues of equal saturation and tone will create a clashing effect. Similarly having equal quantities of different colours in a scheme may make it visually confusing.

By creating a hierarchy of colours that features a main, or primary colour, in contrast with secondary and tertiary colours, you will create a visually clearer scheme.

Your choice of these colours will greatly affect the nature of your scheme. Colour contrast is dependent on context, so the same primary colour may look very different against different combinations of secondary and tertiary colours. Understanding the characteristics of a colour will greatly help in your choice and use of it.

Deciding how the colours in a scheme fall in the hierarchy will also alter the final result. In the following illustrations I’ve used the same red, blue and green colour scheme but, in each example, I’ve switched their positions in the hierarchy.

Used in equal quantities the three colours are rather garish and clashing.

Red (primary) with blue (secondary) and green (tertiary)

Blue (primary) with green (secondary) and red (tertiary)

Green (primary) with red (secondary) and blue (tertiary)

Although it wasn’t my intention, taken together, the three illustrations feature schemes that could be used for Khorne, Tzeentch and Nurgle themed models, even though they all use the same three colours! This shows just how much colour hierarchy can change the overall appearance of a model.

What is a colour palette?

When I talk about a colour palette I’m referring to the actual colour of the paints I use on a model. The colour palette for a model will be closely related to its colour scheme but they are not the same thing! A colour palette is the physical medium I use to create a colour scheme.

A palette usually contains more colours than a scheme many of which may not be apparent at a glance. This is because the colours in a palette often have a specific role and may be hidden in the mix of colours or, in the case of a base coat, underneath other colours. Even though they are not always immediately obvious, the colours in a palette should all contribute to the final look in one way or another.

Building a colour palette.

The combination of roles within your palette can vary from model to model, but the examples below are those I use most often in my own work:

• Base colour,
• Shade,
• Highlight,
• Mid-tones,
• Spot colours,
• Nuance colours,
• Metallic colours,
• Neutrals.

There are no rules about how many, or how few, colours you can have in a palette, however, it’s easier to create a clearer and more cohesive colour scheme if you try to limit the number of colours. To achieve this, it’s helpful to remember that many of the colours in a palette will be suitable for more than one role.

Once again I’m using Gutrot Spume as an example! Although the colour scheme is a simple red/green contrast, the palette is one of the most varied I’ve ever used. There are many colours on Gutrot that add extra nuance and visual interest to the model without altering the overall scheme.

In truth another reason for the huge range of colors is that I was using Scalecolour paints for the first time and was experimenting with unfamiliar colours. Some of the colours above were picked out but hardly used. There was one additional colour that played a major role that isn’t shown, but I will come to that later.

In the picture above you can see the palette of colours I used to paint my Rockgut Troggoth. Like Gutrot’s, this palette may seem quite large but it includes all the colours used on the Troggoth, the base and the Goblin.

The top row shows the colours used for the Trogoth’s flesh tones. The second row shows additional colours used for the rock and dark cloth. The third row is for the metallic colours and washes used on the Goblin’s sickle. The final row shows the colours used for the Goblin’s flesh tones and some of the greenery on the base.

That’s the palette but I would describe the scheme as a red/brown and blue/grey scheme with a green spot colour, featuring an overall warm/cool colour contrast.

Choosing a base colour.

A base colour is quite literally the foundation of your paint job and your choice of base colour will have a massive impact on the final result. If your model features light and/or saturated colours, a lighter base colour may be the best option. If you want a dark moody feel then a dark base colour will help. You approach to painting is also a factor, for example, do you prefer to paint from dark to light of vice versa? Or maybe you prefer to start with a mid-tone and work out to the shadows and highlights at the same time.

I used a light base colour for my frog from Squarg the Frog Rider. I painted the flesh with a series of glazes and the base colour reflects light through these translucent layers. The base is a warm neutral colour (Rakarth Flesh from Games Workshop) which is in harmony with the overall naturalistic colour scheme.

My Farseer has a dark, almost pure black, base colour. I decided to paint the majority of the Farseer by going from dark to light and, in addition, the dark base created a helpful deep shadow in the hard to reach recesses. When I paint a dark base I usually use the same colour as my shadow colour.

The base colour for my Troggoth is a mid-tone but, equally important, it is a warm pink hue. This warmth underlies all the flesh tones and adds greatly to the finished look. I’ve also used the base colour in the mid-tones.

If your model features areas of strong colour contrast you may want to use a different base colour for each area.

Using global highlight and shade colours.

This refers to using one colour for all of your shadows and another for all of your highlights. This doesn’t mean that all the shadows on a model need to be exactly the same colour. Instead it means that they will all have your shade colour in the mix, to a greater or lesser degree. The same principle applies to the highlights.

Using global highlight and shade colours unifies a colour scheme and helps to create a feeling of the wider environment your model is situated in. The model, and all of the colours on it, will be lit by the same light, so all of your shadows and highlights should relate to this. Consider two important points: is your character inside or outside and is the overall lighting warm or cool?

The temperature of your global highlight and shade colours is the main factor to consider. Different combinations of warm and cool will create very different atmospheres.

A common example is a character situated outside with warm highlights from the sunlight and cool shadows reflected from the blue sky.

My earlier models (below) were painted without any global highlight and shade colours. All the reds are shaded with dark red. All the greens are shaded with dark green. And so on. This is a very ‘old school’ approach and can create a less realistic, graphic or even a cartoon-like style. Not that there is anything wrong with that but, if you are going to paint in that style, it should be a conscious choice.

Mid-tones.

There are no rules about how many colours you can use for your mid-tones and, if you so wish, you could pick a totally different paint colour for each of them.

My own preference is to try and use less paint colours in my palette and mix them to create intermediate tones and hues. I also like to incorporate my highlight, shade and base colours into the mid-tones to unify the overall colour scheme. But be careful to avoid over-mixing because this may result in a dull desaturated colour scheme.

Once I’ve established the overall tonal range on a model I often go back to my mid-tones to restore any saturation that may have be lost during the painting process.

Spot and nuance colours.

A spot colour can be used to add extra drama and contrast by drawing attention the details on a model. In the overall hierarchy, spot colours are tertiary colours as there will be much less of them than the primary and secondary colours.

Nuance colours also add drama and contrast to a palette but are far less obvious than spot colours. I often apply nuance colours as a glaze, or thin layer of paint, giving an extra pop of colour to a shadow or a flesh tone. Very often these nuance colours are in a complimentary hue to the area they are painted on to. I often use them to represent a colour reflected from a nearby surface but, sometimes, they have no obvious source and are simply there to add ‘nuance’ to the scheme!

In the examples above you can see how I’ve added red and blue/grey nuances to my flesh tones. Adding nuances to flesh tones can enhance the illusion of life in them.

I’ve added nuances of purple and green to the Tidecaster’s clothing while there is a little blue on the gold armour. The Scourge’s armour and equipment have nuances of orange and blue.

Metallics.

Always consider metallics in the context of your overall scheme. The characteristics of Hue, Saturation, Tone and Temperature apply to metallics as much as to any other colours.

Neutrals.

Strictly speaking, in the context of colour schemes, neutral means “lacking or being without colour” or, in other words, unsaturated with colour. But the characteristics of Hue, Saturation, Tone and Temperature can still be applied to neutral colours. Therefore a better description would be something like “a hue that appears to be without colour.”

The neutral colours are black, white and grey. However, there are quite literally many shades (and hues) of grey, and even black and white are more complex than they may at first seem. In reality the term neutral can include a wide range of desaturated colours such as beige, ivory and taupe.

The tone of a neutral colour is the easiest characteristic to see as it applies to how light or dark a neutral colour is. On the other hand, hue and temperature are sometimes quite hard to tell apart because they can be very subtle.

Broadly speaking the more saturated colours are the less neutral they become. However, as is always the case, context is everything and a colour that acts as a neutral within one scheme may not do so in another.

When choosing neutrals for a colour palette make sure that their characteristics of Hue, Saturation, Tone and Temperature relate to your overall colour scheme in exactly the way you want them to. Used successfully neutrals are a great foil for other colours and colour contrasts.

The neutral colours on Gutrot Spume provide a backdrop to the saturated complementary colours.

The black on my Farseer has a cool desaturated blue/green hue that sets off the more saturated colours. The light grey outer robe adds a strong tonal contrast to the scheme without adding to the hues. However, I’ve used a subtle combination of warm and cool grays on the robe to give it more interest than one type of grey alone.

Build your knowledge.

Over time you’ll discover colours that become your favorite ‘go to’ options and that’s no bad thing. Becoming familiar with a colour and understanding it’s characteristics will enable you to use it to good effect.

However, it’s very easy to always use the same familiar colours and get stuck in a creative rut! I think it’s important to experiment and try out new colours in your palettes. Use them alongside your trusted favorites and gradually expand you range of options.

Coming next …

In the final part of this trilogy, I will look at how and why I picked the colour scheme for my Kastelan Robot.

Golden Demon 2019. My thoughts, feelings and a (slightly) shameful confession!

Warhammer Fest and Golden Demon felt bigger this year, a lot bigger! It’s the first time I’ve had to queue outside the Ricoh Arena to get in and the queue was long. Thankfully it was also pretty fast moving. Once inside there were more queues first to register for Golden Demon, which is usual, and then to get the minis into the cabinets. That’s something I’ve not seen before on such a scale and it was a clear indicator of just how busy the competition was this year.

At this point I really wasn’t sure that I was going to enjoy the day. That was partly due to competition nerves but mostly the crowds! I’m deaf in my left ear, and while that’s a minor inconvenience most of the time, I don’t cope very well in situations with a lot of background noise. All sounds come at me through my right ear and I’ve no way of telling where they come from. On top of that, if there is a lot of background noise, I can be totally oblivious of anyone speaking to me on my left side if I’m not looking right at them. I can get a bit stressful and does no good for my anxiety!

But happily things quickly improved and I was able to adjust to the situation. Once again the best part of the day, by far, was getting to meet and chat with so many fellow painters. Meeting old friends and making new ones is one of the best reasons for attending an event like this. I’m always delighted, and more than a little surprised, to meet people who follow my blog and enjoy the content I create for it. Nicest of all was the number of people who asked after Mark and I’d like to say “thank you” on his behalf to all the well wishers!

As usual my main focus for the day was Golden Demon but it was obvious that Games Workshop have continued to develop Warhammer Fest. My overall impression was that all the space was being used and to better effect than previous years. The Studio area now filled all the available space and felt much slicker and more professional as did the main hall on the ground floor, and I felt it was a good development

The middle floor was pretty much given over to the launch of the new Citadel Colour Contrast paints. Marketed as a fast way to get minis ‘battle ready’ in one thick coat they certainly performed as advertised. But I think they may well prove to be a useful addition to any painter’s palette. They’re a range of thick washes that tend to stay where you put them while drying. The colour range is great and for the most part features some lovely saturated hues. I had a quick trial with them and can already see myself using them in my own painting process.

This year’s Golden Demon was the biggest and busiest one I’ve seen. There was a buzz to it that reminded me of the early years and especially Derby 1990 when the comp first really began to grow. The only draw back was the difficulty in getting close enough to the cabinets to see all the entries. But from what I could see it was very clear that the number of entries and the standard of painting had gone through the roof! My first impression was that there were far too many well painted minis for all of them to be winning trophies. Some years there are clear winners but this year I think it was almost impossible to predict the outcome. It was all very exciting in a nerve wracking way!

I think both of my entries involved different elements of risk. I felt my Sloppity Bilepiper was the stronger of my two minis but he had already won a Gold at Salute. In my own mind this meant that the best I could do was equal the achievement with another Gold and anything else would be a bit of a let down. This is not the best attitude to have and it’s the main reason that I don’t usually enter a mini again in another comp if it has already won a gold. I adopt a philosophy of quit while you are winning and move on to something new. However I decided to risk potential disappointment as I was very pleased with how Sloppity turned out and felt he was good enough to have a chance at a Demon trophy.

My Tidecaster is another matter altogether. For one thing I felt I was taking a risk of sorts with all the water effects I’d added to her. While she was not converted I had, in a way, added to her. But I was pleased with my painting and I’ve always looked on ‘special effects’ as an extension of my painting. I just wasn’t sure how the judges would regard it. Secondly I’d reworked parts of the Tidecaster and in doing so I had come very close to ruining her. I’ll now confess that I had to repaint the face three times before I was satisfied. I found the repainting to be a traumatic experience and I really hadn’t had time to reflect on the changes. I was left with some doubts about how well I’d done them.

When the time came to see which minis had made it to the finals I found both my entries on the top shelf! I had two trophies but what would they be? First to be announced was Age of Sigmar single mini and I’ll admit to feeling a twinge of disappointment when Sloppity won Silver. This is the shameful bit because that’s not a sentiment I’m proud of! I think it’s one of the dangers of having a lot of success. It’s very important to be able to reflect upon and enjoy what you’ve achieved, rather than what you think you didn’t!

Luckily when I went to collect my minis I ended up next to Yohan Leduc and he was kind enough to let me take a long, close look at his Gold winning Plaguebearer. Any lingering disappointment at winning Silver evaporated pretty much instantly. Yohan’s Plaguebearer is a beautiful piece of work and totally inspirational! Without a doubt the Gold standard is getting higher and I’m proud to get Silver amongst such tough competition!

Of course I still had my Tidecaster in the ‘Eavy Metal Paint Masters category but I was alongside Angelo Di Chello and Patric Sand in the top three. So it was a ‘hold your breath’ and wait to see moment. I’m so proud that my Tidecaster took the Gold. My gamble with repainting her had paid off and it’s a lesson learned (once again) about holding my nerve and trusting to my instincts.

I’ve come away from this year’s Golden Demon feeling incredibly energized and inspired. It’s clear to me that if I want to keep painting minis to the Gold standard I have to up my game. I’m not going to win anything by resting on my laurels and aiming to win is a great way to push my painting and improve my skills. There’s an ebb and flow to painting competitions but at the moment the Golden Demons appear to be going from strength to strength. It makes for an exciting challenge and long may it continue!

The end of the 2019 Golden Demons marks the start of what I consider to be the 30th anniversary year of my first Slayer Sword. The challenge I’m facing, if I want continued competition success, feels exactly the same as the one I faced after the 1989 Golden Demons. That’s not something I’d anticipated but I know what I have to do so now I’ve got to pull my finger out and try to do it!

Turning the Tide(caster)

I finished painting my Tidecaster back in July just as Mark began to feel unwell. I didn’t know it at the time but this was the start of the infection that would land him in hospital for a month. Naturally enough I put the Tidecaster away and got on with life. But she has always felt like a little bit of unfinished business. I never had the opportunity to give the mini that final finesse that can often make all the difference. I definitely had the feeling that something was missing from the overall paint scheme but I didn’t have the time to give it my full attention. When Mark came home and I returned to painting I wanted a fresh new project, so I broke out the Sloppity Bilepiper.

But now I have the time, and a very good reason, to take another look at my Tidecaster. When I started painting her it was simply because I liked the mini and that’s always the best reason to paint. But, in the time since I started, the Tidecaster was announced as the chosen miniature for the ‘Eavy Metal Paint Masters category in the 2019 Golden Demon. At that time I didn’t expect to be going to Golden Demon so I was a little disgruntled. However due to Mark’s improving health I am now able to attend and my Tidecaster will be coming with me!

I certainly wasn’t unhappy with what I’d achieved but I had that all too familiar nagging feeling that I could do a bit more. After careful consideration, and the advice of a few fellow painters, I decided to do the following:

• Rework the Tidecaster’s face;
• Add texture to the coral;
• Tweak some of the highlights;
• Add water effects to the fish.

The face

This was the single biggest issue and the trickiest change to make. I painted the face first and, as the overall scheme and contrast developed, it became clear that the face was too dark. It just didn’t stand out enough. In addition I felt my painting could be softer and smoother. My initial painting of the face felt a little harsh and I wanted something that would look both more passive and feminine. The Tidecaster is notable for having a very calm face counterpointing an active stance. She even has her eyes closed. I felt that her face should, quite literally be the calm focus at the center of the storm.

I had to go in with some very subtle glazes and soften out the transitions on her face. This was especially fiddly because I was also lightening her face to the point of having almost pure white highlights. In addition I worked a little blue into her jaw line and the space above her eyes. I had to take a couple of passes at all of this but I’m glad I stuck it out. I’m now much happier with my Tidecaster’s face and feel it’s appropriate to the nature of the character, as I perceive it.

The coral

This had the opposite problem to the face. My initial painting of the coral was too smooth to the point that it looked bland and unfinished. The solution was to add some texture. Rather than just stippling the coral I decided to paint some striated bands. This had the double benefit of adding a texture and increasing contrast. The final effect is quite subtle but I think it somehow brings the coral to life.

The highlights

This was the subtlest of the changes I made and although it probably makes no great difference I at least know that I’ve refined everything to the best of my ability. I smoothed out some of the highlights on her cloak and sharpened some of the highlights on her armour. Never forget to adjust your painting to reflect the type of material you are trying to represent. Material contrasts are just as important as hue, tone, and saturation! I also added a touch more saturation to the highlights in the gold trim on her cloak.

The fish

This was definitely the least subtle of the changes I made! I based the paint scheme for the fish on a striped marlin and, although I liked the colour and pattern, I felt it looked somehow a bit unfinished. Even worse, to my eye, the fish didn’t quite belong with the rest of the mini. The solution I came up with was to make my fish look wet. I’ve had issues with painting aquatic and semi-aquatic animals before and I wasn’t going to be called out for having a dry fish!

Three coats of high gloss varnish have transformed my fish to something that now looks wet and sleek as it glides through the air. I’ve enhanced this with the addition of a few droplets and streamers of water trailing from the tail and fins. These emphasize the movement in the fish but also add a visual link to the base and tie the fish into the same environment as the Tidecaster.

Overall none of the changes I’ve made to my Tidecaster are that major but they do all make a difference. I now feel I’ve done the best job I can on this mini and she’s as ready as she can be for the Golden Demons!

Hobby Update ... What Sproket did next.

Not so very long ago I’d resigned myself to a quiet low-key sort of year for my hobby. I’d had to cancel a couple of workshops while my partner Mark was recovering from his illness and it didn’t look very likely that I would be making it to any painting competitions either. I was OK with this; after all you need to get your priorities in order. The unanticipated benefit was that I became totally free to paint for the love of painting again and, as I gradually get back up to speed, I’m finding that extremely rewarding.

But now I suddenly find myself with lots to talk about because over the last few weeks the pace of life has really picked up! I’m planning to revisit some of these topics in more detail in subsequent posts. But for the time being this is a round up of sorts, to get this blog up-to-date, before things move on any further.

Artis Opus Series D

I’ve been associated with Artis Opus for about a year now as one of their ‘signature’ artists. This means that I’m among a group of well-known painters who have been using their brushes and have agreed to lend their names and reputation to promoting them. I do that because I really do use Artis Opus brushes and I think they are excellent.

A few weeks ago Byron from Artis Opus contacted me with a very interesting proposition. He’s been working on a new range of brushes (series D) designed specifically for dry brushing. Byron wondered if I’d be willing to try the brushes out ‘on camera’ as part of the promotion for the new kickstarter campaign. Now I’ve always been a ‘fan’ of dry brushing and feel it’s much maligned in some circles. So I agreed to go up to Stockport for a day of filming.

I had a bit of an ulterior motive, as this would give Mark and myself the opportunity to have a little break. Since Mark left hospital we’ve been restricted in how far we could travel or how long we could stay out. But we felt the time was now right to be a bit more adventurous. If you can really call Stockport adventurous!

The weekend was a great success on all accounts! Mark coped well with the travel and unaccustomed activity and I had a great time painting and filming. Not least because I was filming alongside Bohun an artist I’ve long admired. I’d anticipated a day of dry brushing but what I actually got was the chance to see Bohun’s individual take on the technique and have my mind opened to it’s potential which goes well beyond my own rather pedestrian notions!

I will definitely be posting more about dry brushing and series D in the near future.

You can find the kickstarter here.

Salute 2019

As the trip to Stockport went well we decided we could venture out again and the most obvious thing was a trip to Salute 2019. Unfortunately when the day came I had a bit of a cold and really wasn’t operating at 100% but we’ve done Salute enough times now that it has the ease of familiarity. We both found the day extremely tiring but were glad we went. It was so good to see old friends and acquaintances and in many ways the day felt like a return to ‘business as usual’ after a long interruption.

Of course one of the main reasons for going to Salute was the painting comp. My choice of entries was limited to two. My Isharan Tidecaster and my Sloppity Bilepiper. I was well aware that this might be my only painting comp this year so my choice was an important one. I’m very pleased with both minis but unfortunately they were eligible for the same category so I had to choose.

In the end that was fairly simple as I think the Slopity Bilepiper is the stronger of the two. It’s the model I painted to get back into my hobby and I lavished a lot of time and attention on it. As a result I’d been able to finesse the details to a high standard and it was the mini I was most confident about. This isn’t to say I’m not pleased with the Tidecaster but I think she will benefit from a few tweaks. But that’s for another day and, maybe, another painting comp.

As I said I wasn’t quite feeling 100% and I managed to miss the start of the awards ceremony for the comp. That definitely wasn’t very cool because my Sloppity Bilepiper won Gold in Fantasy Single Figure and I missed the announcement! In spite of that I’m very happy with the result and glad I chose the right mini on the day!

Sproket does Troggoths.

Now it’s time to look ahead and to something I’m eagerly anticipating! On Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd June I will be returning to Element Games to run a painting workshop. I had several ideas for a subject model but the new Rockgut Trogoths from Games workshop are ideal. There will, of course, be the chance to explore the painting of textures and ‘lifelike’ flesh tones but these models also offer the chance to get to grips with painting volumes and forms in a way that many smaller minis don’t. I’ve been busily preparing for the workshop and my own take on a Rockgut Trogoth is coming along rather nicely.

Booking details will be available from Element Games very soon and I’ll publish them as soon as they are confirmed.

Sloppity Bilepiper Part 1

After all the upset and upheaval that happened over the summer it feels very good to be painting minis again! I’ve not been able to establish a regular routine for my painting as yet but that’s to be expected. With Mark at home recovering (and not yet fully able to enjoy his retirement) life is still a bit topsy-turvy for us both.

Bearing this in mind I decided to start a ‘fun’ project that would not require too much concentration and time. Horticulus Slimux and Mulch most certainly will and I’ll need to be fully back up-to-speed before I return to them. As it happens I already had a Sloppity Bilepiper assembled and base coated because I’d intended to paint him before the Isharan Tidecaster grabbed my attention. The Sloppity Bilepiper is the perfect mini for my current needs.

As well as being a fun miniature it hads the advantage of providing me with some familiar Nurgley subject matter. That meant that I could just dive right in and get painting. I’ve used the same techniques on the Bilepiper’s flesh tones as I used on all my other Plaguebearers. The only real difference is in the colour palette I’ve used. Instead of featuring green as the dominant colour I’ve experimented with a yellow flesh tone. Yellow can be used as a happy cheerful colour and it somehow seemed appropriate for a creature infected with the comedic fever of the Chortling Murrain!

In practice the colours used vary little from the combination of red/pink, blue and yellow over a Rakarth Flesh base that I’ve used before for my ‘human’ flesh tones (see below). The difference is in the proportions of those colours. I’ve built up a series of glazes going from yellow (Games Workshop Iyanden Darksun) through red (Scale Colour Antares Red) to a dark brown (Scale Colour Black Leather). This gave me my global shadows and colours. I then built up the highlights over the glazes using a combination of Iyanden Darksun and Flayed One Flesh (Games Workshop). In addition to the highlights this stage is where I build up the textures.

With the bulk of the highlights and shading done I then went back to fine tune everything with further glazes and highlighting. At this point I’ve use a little of the red from the Scale Colour Inktense range to increase the saturation in some of the shadows and mid-tones.

Fingers crossed this project will help ease me back into a more regular painting routine and serve as a stepping stone to my bigger projects.

The finished Isharann Tidecaster

Apologies for my absence! If you’ve been following me on Facebook you may have read that my partner Mark has been very unwell and in hospital for the past month. Obviously Mark is my top priority and I was effectively ‘offline’ for the duration.

Thankfully Mark is now much recovered and back home where he belongs. My hobby time is still limited but it’s time to start the ball rolling again. So without further ado here is my long delayed, but finally finished, Isharann Tidecaster!