Project Nurgle Part 3

Apologies for the hiatus in posting. You can definitely take this Nurgle thing too far! Having just recovered from a nasty cold I promptly came down with a worse one and experienced a flare up of my asthma. Suffice it to say that painting was further delayed. The post below was written just before I fell ill but I’ve only just gotten to the state where I’m thinking about painting and blogs. Hopefully I will be able to pick up my brushes and make some steady progress from here on. 

There has been a fair bit of positive chatter about the new Scalecolour paints from Scale75 so I’ve decided to give them a try. My main motivation was my increasing disappointment with the shiny finish I’ve been getting from Vallejo paints and I’d heard that Scalecolour dried to a matt finish. It’s still early days for me using these paints but my initial impression is very positive. They most definitely do dry to a matt finish – Hallelujah! 

With highly pigmented colours, a thick consistency and a matt finish, the Scalecolour paints are, to some degree, similar to GW foundation paint. The big differences are that they don’t have the same coverage, however, they dilute far better and with much less separation once diluted. They take a bit more stirring to mix with the water in the first instance, compared to other brands I’ve used, but this is a difference between brands rather than a problem. I will be experimenting with some acrylic thinner to see how this compares to water. The range of colours is excellent with some very interesting shades, and I’m looking forward to exploring their uses. Coverage is good although (not surprisingly) it varies from colour to colour. 

For the most part I’ve been using these paints as washes and glazes building up many layers of translucent colour, and they have performed very well when used this way. When it comes to laying down highlights, I’ve found them a little prone to going chalky but that may be down to the particular colours I’m using and/or the level of dilution. More experimentation and practise is needed. 

It’s taken me a while to settle down and get on with painting Gutrot Spume but, now that I have, I’m really enjoying myself. Having a new range of colours to explore has given the project an extra edge and is keeping me on my toes. The paintjob is still in it’s early stages but the colour palette is coming together with some ‘interesting’ results! 

Nothing in the picture below is finished as I’m working across several areas at the same time but the main colour contrasts I want are there. The turquoise base colour (Caribbean blue) for the armour provides a dramatic foundation that gives me a lot to work with in terms of brightness and contrast. But it needs a lot more work, some nuance and texture. I’m finding black leather to be a really useful colour in the shadows. It’s a dark, desaturated purple/brown colour that is helping to tie the contrasting areas together.