How Not To Paint: Otherworld Violet Fungi

So, last week I promised I would do another mushroom with a different colour scheme to show how using the same techniques but different colours will produce different and exciting (?) results.

So I started by undercoating the Violet Fungus white and the stalks/tendrils black. It should be noted that I always paint components separately and then glue them together afterwards to enable me to gets into all the hard to reach places. Painting in this manner allows me to produce more “realistic” models. However, the strongest glue bond is between bare metal and bare metal. This means that when I glue pieces together I often have to break the bond and reattach the piece for a stronger fix.

Once the undercoat dried I ran a Purple Ink (actually its Violet) over the stalk. I followed that with a Royal Purple wash and a coat of Royal Purple on the cap. Next I painted the spots and fringe of the cap in Arctic Blue and then once the wash was dry I painted the raised areas of the stalk in Blue Grey. With that done I ran a wash of undiluted Violet Ink over the cap. I then highlighted all the raised areas on the stalk with Sand and then selectively with White.  At this stage I was looking at a multicoloured mess. But that’s ok. As I said last week, at this stage I’m really only working on a base coat that will add depth to finished version. After this I mixed up a wash of Royal Purple and Chestnut Brown. I knew I wanted to end up with a pinkish feel to the model so I washed it again with just Royal purple. After that I rehighlighted the model with white and attached the stalks. I washed the white with another layer of Royal Purple and then highlighted the model in selective places with White. Next I started work on the stalks. I undercoated them in Chocolate Brown. Then I painted some wood grain onto them in Leather Brown, followed by a Leather Brown and Sand mix.  This was then washed in three parts. The tips were washed with Khaki, the middle with Leather Brown and the bases of the stalks with Chocolate Brown. Then I highlighted the tips with some additional wood grain effects in Sand and lowlit the rest of the stalks with Chocolate Brown wood grain.  Then I washed the top half or so of the stalks with some Khaki to bring the highlights down and to make them blend with the rest of the stalks without losing the detail. Painting several layers of different coloured wood grain with various washes in between helps give a more natural feel to the models (even if the colours you use are not natural). At this stage I decided that the model was not pink enough so I added a wash of Purple and White Mix in patches.  I highlighted those patches again in white. Then I added some more washes. Royal purple was washed over some of the pink, while Chocolate Brown and then Khaki was washed into the base and tip of the stalk. Finally the underneath of the cap and tip of the stalk were given a coat of Violet ink, with a couple of select patches on the stalk. The shelf mushrooms were painted exactly the same as last week. Now just leave to dry and base in whatever way makes you happy. I have gone for a layer of Gale Force 9 earth and some patches of Autumn Mix static grass from Javis. 

All paints are Game Craft and all inks are Vallejo. And so there you have it, three distinct mushrooms that look great on the table!