How Not To Paint: TSR Githyanki

Guess who just realised it’s Monday… oops! Anyway, this week we’re taking a walk down memory lane with old school lead… Not my memories… I wasn’t born yet. These guys are part of my latest commission, so lets take a look at how they get painted.

As usual we start with a black undercoat. Then we work in the base colours. The pic is pretty dark but the most important thing to note is that I did the flesh with Khaki and then washed it with Flesh Wash Ink. I also washed the eyes to give them a crazed look when they are finished. As usual I worked on the flesh first, this means I can later work on the armour and the helmet without worrying about having to get in and do the face. The eyes have large cartoonish pupils and a large white area. This gives these models a lot of character. The rest of the flesh was highlighted in Khaki and then in Khaki and White, finally a small amount of Gryphonne Sepia (GW Wash) was added to chosen sections. The chainmail was completely undercoated with Boltgun Metal (dark silver to you and me) the plates were done with Tin Bitz. These were then highlighted with Dwarf Bronze and finally the edges with Burnished Gold.  After that all the armour (chainmail and plates) was washed down with Gryphonne Sepia and left to dry.  Next I set to work on the bandages. On all the Githyanki without Purple armour these were done in pruple (in the exact same way as the armour below). Here they were done with Dheneb Stone and then washed with Gryphonne Sepia and a small amount of Delvan Mud. All of the Cloth areas were darkened with a coat of Burgundy before being highlighted with Deep Red, followed by Orange. This was then washed down with Baal Red (GW wash) and then Delvan Mud was washed into the deepest recesses. The leather components of the armour were highlighted with Khaki and then washed with Flesh Wash Ink before adding Burnished Gold for the studs.  Next I set to work on the helmet. The edges were painted with a light purple mix (ok so it’s pink) and then dots were added to give an alien texture. The horns were later repainted as a more horn-like colour. Then I simply washed it with Violet Ink and that was that. I highlighted the Chainmail with Chainmail. This was done by very carefully painting wavy lines vertically and horizontally because a) I don’t like drybrushing and b) The models are quite old and the texture isn’t really there anymore.Finally the sword (this is not a good example) was painted with Arctic Blue. Then while it was still wet white was added to the tip. This is “Wet Blending” and it’s a lot harder to do on models than it is in a sketch book. However if you keep plugging away you will get there in the end. The trick is to make sure there is enough water in the two colours (otherwise you’ll get streaks like in the picture). The blade handle was finished with gold and three dots of colour give the impression of gems. And that’s it… Tune in next week to see how I intend to base him. I’ll also present some armour variants and a step by step guide to sculpting and painting the bases.