How Not To Paint: Otherworld Gnolls

Well, this is a long time coming huh? Sorry about that but work is running me ragged at the moment. Good news (for you guys at least) is that it’ll stop again for most of November, so expect more Descent stuff soon.

Ok, so I started by undercoating the model with Black Primer. Then all the flesh, fur and leg wrappings were done with Calthan Brown. The hands, feet and muzzle with Dark Grey, the skirt with Chestnut Brown, the weapons and armour with Chainmail, the inside of the cloak with Fenris Grey, the front of the shield with Orkhide Shade and the gold bits with Shining Gold. Next I washed all the metals with Devlan Mud, rehighted the armour with Mithril Silver and then attached the arm. The arm was attached using a small ball of Procrete pressed into the socket followed by Gale Force 9 Superglue (highly recommended). The procrete method does two things, it forms a stronger bond than just superglue and it allows me to attack prepainted parts together without worrying about them being attached to each other only by the paint. Next I added a black slit to the eye, using Battlefield Brown to edge the eyes in and make them the right size. I also added White to the teeth, originally basecoated in Moldy Ochre. Finally I mixed up a batch of colour for the flesh. This was Khemri Brown and Moldy Ochre mixed until the colour was reasonably yellow. Then I added some Sand to the mix and added highlights to all the raised areas. Then, working quickly, I added Sand to all the raised areas on the fur on the cloak. The reason I was working quickly on the cloak was the fact that I needed to use the flesh highlight as a wash for the cloak, so I needed it to still be wet when I finished the sand highlights. I know at this stage it looks like I just did all that highlight work for no reason, but trust me, it’ll all work out later. Next I did the wood grain for the shield. This is simple, just paint reasonably thin straight lines in Sand. Followed by Pale Flesh. The same was done to the bindings on the legs, Sand and Pale Flesh. Finally I added Blue Grey highlights to the hair, it doesn’t really matter what colour you use here as long as it is a lighter colour than the base, however Greys do work well with washes. I also added spots to the sides on the head, eyebrows, forehead, hair and arms. Now it’s time for the wash. I added Ogryn Flesh to all the flesh and fur, the Skirt and the leg bindings. (Told you it would work)

I also made sure to get the teeth and eyes, although I wipe most of the wash out of the eyes to stop it obliterating the detail. After that I let the wash dry before doing anything more. The next job is to pick out the teeth and nails in White. Then I highlighted the muzzle, hands and feet with a mix of White and Dark Grey. Next I set to work on the Skirt. I rehighlighted it with Chestnut Brown, followed by a mix of Chestnut Brown and White, this time only highlighting the leading edge. For the belt I simply rehighlighted with Shining Gold, making sure to get some paint in the gaps, but not to lose all the shading that was already there. Then I added a second highlight in Burnished Gold to the edge of the belt and the top of the buttons. The wood and straps were highlighted with Bloodtracker Brown. Mithril Silver was added once again to the Armour, along with the chain and studs on the nunchuck (Don’t argue, they are nunchaku). Finally I added Dark Green, followed by Dark Green and Golden Yellow to the shield.

That just left a large number of washes to finish off the model. First I added Badab Black to the inside of the cloak. Then Black Ink (Vallejo) to the Muzzle, Hands and Feet. A mix of Brown Ink and Yellow Ink (Vallejo) was added to the inside of the shield, the wood of the Nunchuck and the Hair. Ogryn Flesh was washed over the Belt. Thraka Green was added to the front of the shield. And finally more Devlan Mud was added to the armour and the chain to give the weapons a grimy feel.

After a quick touch up this was the result. The basing was done with Gale Force 9 Earth, Javis Rocks and GF9 Spring Undergrowth. Overall I’m very happy with the way these guys turned out. Simple and quick but very effective. And here’s a few of his buddies. A gruesome lot, no?To really finish the models I will spray them down with Purity Seal which will take the shine off the inks and give them more of a matt feel.

I hope to be back on Monday with another How Not To Paint, but I make no promises. If I am, it will be the Gnoll Chieftain. Until then, have fun gaming!