How Not To Paint: Otherworld Shambling Mound

This may well be one of the most complicated models I’ve tried to do a painting guide for, so bare with me.

The current Otherworld monthly challenge is “If you go down to the Woods” in which we are all attempting to paint a model from the Otherworld Wilderness range, I chose the Shambler.

I started with a Black undercoat and then I used Knarloc Green over the entire model. Once that was dry I used Thraka Green. This made for a nice basecoat but it also helped me to see more clearly what was going on where as there is a lot of detail on this mini.

With that done I began blocking out the basic colours. First I used Stone Green on the hands and nose and eyes. I used Knarloc Green on the leaves, Bestial Brown on the branches, Desert Yellow on the mushrooms and parsnips, Royal Purple on the radishes, Khemri Brown on the potatoes, Mechrite Red on the cherries and Macharius Solar Orange on the carrots.

I then washed the hands with Devlan Mud and set to work on the detail beneath the branches. Using Stone Green I painted all the areas beneath the branches trying just to catch the upper layer of detail, this is difficult because the space is very tight. Luckily wash can help correct the mistakes.

Next I washed all of that with Thraka Green and added a layer of Knarloc Green and Golden Yellow to the edges of the leaves, creating a “V” on each leaf.

The next stage is long, like, really long. Using Desert Yellow I added a woodgrain-esque effect to all the branches. This took me a solid hour to do across the entire model, but the effect looks good in the end. I simply painted dozens of lines on each branch, generally trying to follow the natural shape of the branch, until it looked like this.

Next I mixed up some Dark Green and Golden Yellow and added another highlight to all the leaves, including the broad leaves on the back of the model. I also used this mix to highlight the nose.

As you can see in the picture above I’ve also added a layer of Rust to the tops of all the mushrooms. Next I washed the mushrooms with Devlan Mud and, along with the potatoes and parsnips. Then I set about highlighting all the veg. Mushrooms were highlighted using Rust on the top and Bleached Bone on the bottom. I also added a speckled effect using browns and yellows with my pointed clay shaper.

I highlighted the Carrots using Elf Flesh, the parsnips using Bleached Bone, the Radishes using Royal Purple and White and the Potatoes using Khemri Brown. The Cherries were darkened using Battlefield Earth in the recesses and then Scab Red all over. They were then highlighted using Bright Red followed by a dash of white. 

Meanwhile the nose and the hands both got a highlight of Stone Green.

Using Bestial Brown and Moldy Ochre I highlighted the fingers and the branches that stick up out of his shoulder. These were then rehighlighted with Bleached Bone, then Moldy Ochre was painted onto the areas where the heart of the wood is showing. I also used Moldy Ochre for the eyes too.

Next all the wood was give a wash of Brown Ink mixed with Gryphonne Sepia (which helps reduce the shine of the ink). The nose was washed with a mix of Thraka Green and Deep Turquoise. The hands were also give another coat of Devlan Mud.

 

Around the back I washed the radishes with Leviathan Purple and the carrots with a mix of Orange and Baal Red. The Parsnips and the underside of the mushrooms were given a wash of Desert Yellow and Gryphonne Sepia.

Finally I added a touch of Baal Red to the eyes, highlighted the inner sections of the finger and shoulder branches with Moldy Ochre and I highlighted the edges of each segment of the nose with Deep Turquoise and White. And there you have it, one completed shambler.

Gloss Varnish was added to all the broad leaves and the vegetables to give them a nice healthy shine.

And that’s it for this week, I’m not quite sure what next will hold in store so stay tuned, but in the meantime, have fun gaming!