A self-healing cutting mat will help protect your work surface from spills and whatnot.
Heresy & Heroes
Posted by johnnya10 on 29/11/2021
Posted in: Tutorials, Uncategorized. Tagged: stormcast eternals. 1 Comment
Games Workshop were kind enough to send me some of the brand new Stormdrake Guard recently and I have added them to the ranks of my Stormhost – the Ashen Stars. I showed the first one I painted off to the folks on twitter and asked if people would like any tutorials based on the model and I got an emphatically positive response. So, here we are – that’s exactly what you’re getting today. I will show you how to paint black dragons and rusty old armour and I promise you that these are very simple schemes to work on. I painted my Stormdrakes like this because I have very little time to dedicate to this army, but I still want it to look good, so I went with a down and dirty set of methods that do the job. Will these techniques help win you any awards? No. But can they help to create something effective and striking on the tabletop? I hope so, yes.
How To Paint A Black Dragon
First off, we’re going to tackle the dragon skin and we’re going to be using the age old technique of drybrushing. While some people look down on drybrushing, it’s a great way for a painter to achieve organic transitions and cut down time when painting a big mini like this. You can get a very nice effect and as long as you remove most of the paint from your brush before putting it to the mini, it’s very hard to make it go wrong. Just keep a very light touch and use the right sort of brush, I use something like this:
Well, for the larger areas anyway. Stiff bristles with a broad tip, this brush is perfect for this sort of work. And now that we have our brush, we need to meet our paints that I think of as the ‘Drab Four’ (a slight nod to Type O Negative there too). As we’re working on a black base, we’re going to use Abaddon Black, Eshin Grey, Dawnstone and Administratum Grey (you can of course use similar paints from other ranges – this is just what I have). All of our drybrushing is going to be done using these paints in various combinations. But before we get there, we have to get our base colours down. It’s also worth knowing that we’ll be thinking of our light-source being overhead. To that end, after giving the whole model a nice even spray of Chaos Black, we’re going to coat the underside of the model in Adaddon black because it is a little darker.
Because we’re now treating this as a miniature of two halves, we are going to drybrush the underside and the top side with different shades using our ‘Drab Four’. Now, I was going to show you eight different photos of a black dragon becoming slightly less black but that just looked stupid so instead, we have what every fun blog post needs; a diagram:
So the Underside will never get lighter than Eshin Grey, while the top side will go all the way up to Administratum Grey. You start with the darkest shades and cover the whole area you’re working on (top side or underside) and by the time you’re using the lightest shades, you should only be hitting the most prominent parts. It looks very subtle on the underside, but subtle is good on organic things:
Then, above the wings, it can look a lot more vibrant even when using these greys:
Next up, you want to take a smaller brush and apply that last high light of Administratum Grey to the highest points and also paint the ribs in the wings – the bits that lead to each of the individual talons (Eshin Grey Underneath, Admin Grey on top). You’ll also want to paint the hair, using Dawnstone as a base, and Administratum Grey as a highlight colour.
Almost done. One last step and our dragon scale is complete. All that’s left is to cover this in an even coat of, well, it’s up to you. Using the Citadel paint range as a guide, Shade paints will give you a subtle tone, but if you want something more vibrant, a slightly thinned Contrast Paint will do the job too. For this dragon though, I used Coelia Greenshade to get a nice, dark look – perfect for a black dragon.
Like I said, you could use other paints (I think Druchi Violet or Carroburg Crimson would look amazing as alternatives), but I’m very happy with this. I suppose technically this means it’s only “Battle Ready” but I’m ok with that.
Anyway, now that the bulk of it is done, we don’t want to linger too long on the rest of the details. Next up, I’m going to give this dragon shiny black talons, and I’m going to let actual light give them some very smooth highlights. I went around all the talons (on the feet and the wings) and blocked them in with Abaddon Black. After this, I gave each a coat of ‘Ardcoat. Done. Why highlight these naturally shiny parts when the light bouncing off them can do all the work for you?
I also blacked out the horns on its head at some point though I didn’t add ‘Ardcoat to those – I just wanted to set them apart a little bit.
Next up it’s time to do the glowing red eyes. Take Mephiston Red and put some of this on the actual eyeball. Next, thin that Mephiston Red down plenty and paint it into the the recess that the eye sits in, always drawing the paint back to the eye itself – this is our glow. Do the same two steps next with Evil Sunz Scarlet but don’t go so far away from the eye with this paint, and again, draw it back to the source of the glow. Now add some White Scar to some Evil Sunz Scarlet and just hit the eye with this. Give it a second highlight if you like with a bit more white in the mix for a spot highlight.
The last thing I did was the fangs. A little Ushabti Bone, then a wash of Seraphim Sepia, before bringing it back up with Ushabti Bone and a Spot Highlight of Screaming Skull.
There you go. Dragon is done. Quick, easy and it doesn’t look too bad either. Like I said, you won’t win awards with this, but it does end up looking quite striking on the tabletop.
How To Paint Rusted Armour
Now I’ve been painting up this rusted armour in this way for 4 years now and it serves me well enough. I mentioned in another post not too long ago that it’s sometimes hard to get back into the habit of painting metallics like this after my personal preferences have changed quite a bit over that time, but it’s a nice, easy way to do things and it holds up just fine if you don’t glare at it too closely. Also, if you’re going to be quick, remember that weathering hides a multitude of sins.
First off, we’re going to put down three base colours as seen above. We have Ushabti Bone, Leadbelcher, and Rhinox Hide for the leather areas. A couple of coats should do. Be as neat as you can, but we have ways of fixing things later so don’t worry if you miss a spot, but try and stay as clear as you can from the dragon skin – much harder to touch up.
I got the leathers out of the way next. Edge highlight with XV88 and then coat with Seraphim Sepia. Done. This is a very simplified and quick version of the same technique I use for most of my leathers and it works just fine here in this very basic form.
Then the bone and silver areas get a nice coating of Liquid Talent (Agrax Earthshade) before leaving it to dry. Don’t let it pool too badly though – we’re going for quick not (figuratively and literally) sloppy.
Next we’re bringing the Silvers back up. Focussing on the higher areas (that might catch the light source from above) we use Leadbelcher again, before applying a spot highlight and fine edge highlight of Ironbreaker at those high points. Make sure you hit those rivets with Ironbreaker too.
Now we’re going to use a Contrast Paint to make some areas a nice brassy/gold colour. I used a mixture of Contrast Medium and Nazdreg Yellow (about 3:1). Seriously, since Contrasts came out, I have painted nearly all my metallics with this method and it just makes everything so much easier.
Then we’re going to do something similar with the bone colour that we did with the silvers. Bring it back up with Ushabti Bone, leaving only the recesses with a sign of Agrax, and then use Screaming Skull on the higher areas and areas that would catch the light.
Now, I can’t not freehand something on a miniature ever, and this army does have its black star motif. It’s a good time to practice your freehand here as you’re going to be able to scuff up any areas you’re not happy with. I really messed up the one on the tilting shield, but hey, that’s what weathering is for, and you can see in the second image above that I just used some undiluted Screaming Skull to make it look like its been scratched. Now, let’s have some fun with weathering…
First off, we’re going to want a bit of sponge. This is some pick and pluck foam which I like to hold in a crocodile clip as it’s easier than smooshing my fat fingers against the model and it allows me to get into more crevices with the paint. Tweezers work too, but the good thing about a crocodile clip is that its resting position is closed and so you’re not squeezing it all the time.
And this is what we get. Hit all the different areas with Rhinx Hide (make sure you only have very little on the sponge and wipe off the excess) but there’s no need to go overboard – less is often more with this sort of thing.
Now, take a knackered old brush you don’t care about but that’s still got some stiffness in its bristles and splodge a few areas of metal with Typhus Corrosion. Try to keep the edges of these areas rough and once they’re dry, get a little Ryza Rust on your brush and smoosh that into those areas, and dry brush it around a little bit. This is also a great stage to cover up any areas you’re not happy with. Again, less is more with this step, but you can still have plenty of fun.
Pretty much the last thing to do on the armour, if you want to, is to add some drips. More Agrax Earthshade is applied in a downward motion, and then a little of the drip is lifted off at the top to help thin the original streams. And that’s us done. After these steps I painted up the sword…
…and did the base to match the army…
…and I’m calling this dragon and its rider all done! I really hope you found this tutorial useful and that you learned a couple of fun, simple and easy-to-do techniques from it. If nothing else, I hope it makes painting dragons a lot less scary in the future. These were great miniatures to work on, but just be warned that those talons like grabbing hold of anything and everything nearby – the wing from this dragon got snapped off at the beginning of painting because the little sod caught the sleeve of my shirt and jumped from my painting desk. I’m so close to being done with this army – fingers crossed I can have it all finished soon. Onwards!
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Charlie Hall is Polygon’s tabletop editor. In 10-plus years as a journalist & photographer, he has covered simulation, strategy, and spacefaring games, as well as public policy.
Charlie Hall is a journalist, photographer, and miniature painter with 10 years’ experience working at Polygon. After spending time as a writer and reporter, he became Polygon’s tabletop editor in 2021. He’s served as a judge for GAMA’s Origins Awards. In 2023, Games Workshop included his work in a roundup of the hobby’s top painters. Read his photo essay from the Golden Demon awards.
Painting miniatures is an incredibly relaxing and rewarding hobby, one that can bring a bit of meditative joy to your free time while also adding beautiful bits to your favorite board games and role-playing games. But it can be daunting to build up the skills and tools you need to get started.
In this guide, my goal is to demystify those first few steps beginning painters need to take. Below you’ll find my personal recommendations, not just of the paints and other tools you’ll want to buy, but a handful of carefully curated teachers and artists I’ve come to trust over the last seven years of exploring. Let’s dive in.
Which miniatures should I buy?
There are so many different kinds of miniatures on the market that just narrowing things down to a handful of choices can be difficult work. My recommendation is to start with one of your favorite games or subjects. Maybe you’re really into dungeon-crawling board games like HeroQuest, Zombicide, Gloomhaven, or Descent: Legends of the Dark. Maybe you’re more into strategy games, like Scythe or Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition. Or maybe you’re curious about more freeform miniatures skirmish games, like Star Wars: Legion, Marvel Crisis Protocol, Necromunda, or Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team. Wherever your interests lie, start with a game or a universe you really enjoy and that bit of passion you feel in your gut will help to get you across the finish line with your first batch of painted minis. But don’t start off by plopping down hundreds or thousands of dollars on a big army for Warhammer 40,000, or any other large-scale miniatures wargame for that matter. Piling up too much plastic on your desk before you even have the basics under your belt is a surefire way to get discouraged. Just a handful of minis is enough to get you where you’re going, so start small and build from there.
How to assemble your miniatures
No assembly required
While choosing your first small passion project, consider if you’d like to spend any time at all assembling those miniatures before you paint them — because you don’t actually need to. Plenty of miniatures are sold preassembled these days — especially ones that come with hobby board games. Other options include The Witcher and the Cyberpunk Red lines from Monster Fight Club, as well as the huge new range of plastic miniatures for Catalyst Game Labs’ BattleTech. WizKids also offers a huge selection of preassembled miniatures, including a wide variety of miniatures custom-made for D&D. Some even come primed and ready to paint right out of the box. Note that even if you aren’t assembling your miniatures, you’ll still need a simple self-healing cutting mat to protect your work surface.
Preparing for assembly
When selecting miniatures that you do need to put together, I’d recommend avoiding metal and resin miniatures out of the gate. Both of these materials require different tools to assemble, which won’t be covered at all in this guide. Stick with plastic miniatures your first time out. Plastic minis will likely come on a sprue — the plastic frame that holds them safely inside the box for shipment. To do that, you’ll need a pair of cutting pliers called sprue nippers. Sprue nippers look a bit like scissors, but with one flat side and one angled side. Unlike scissors, the edges of these blades should never overlap — if they do, you’re simply squeezing them too hard. To use sprue nippers correctly, carefully place the nippers with the flat edge touching the surface of the miniature you’d like to clip from the sprue. Then, gently pull the two halves together until the piece comes free. Repeat for every point of connection between the model and the sprue to free the piece entirely. Never twist pieces free from the sprue, as you can severely damage them. Once you have all the pieces needed to assemble a given miniature trimmed from the sprue, you need to clean those pieces off. The goal is to remove whatever remnants of the sprue are still attached, which you can easily do with a hobby knife and a flexible sanding pad — sort of like an emory board, but for plastic models. You’ll also want to remove something called “mold lines” — which you’ll nearly always find somewhere on a plastic miniature, even if it comes pre-assembled.
To make a plastic miniature, two halves of a metal mold are brought together and hot plastic is pressed in between them. Sometimes the plastic seeps out where the two halves of the mold meet, creating unsightly ribbons of plastic called mold lines, and several different tools can be used to remove them. A hobby knife is the most common tool used to remove mold lines, as they are incredibly sharp. But they can lead to damaging your miniatures. A better tool for beginners is the Citadel Mouldline Remover. You can use its firm, sharp edges to scrape off the mold lines rather than cut them. You’ll also want a small, soft brush — like a toothbrush — to clean those areas when you’re done.
Assembly
Now that you’ve got all the bits of your miniature trimmed out and cleaned, it’s time to glue them together. Always check with the manufacturer of your plastic models to be sure, but more often than not you won’t be using super glue — you’ll be using plastic cement. Plastic cement is a solvent that literally melts the plastic that your miniature is made of, creating a permanent bond that will weld its various pieces together. Considering this, you will want to be very precise and delicate with how you apply it. I recommend Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. The brush applicator makes it easy to use just the right amount of glue, while the low-viscosity formula allows you to easily flow the glue into gaps and then gently sand or cut away the excess when it dries.
Sunset Lake Painting Tutorial
1. Brush a thin layer of water onto the canvas. This will help with blending!
2. Brush on two lines of blue on the top and bottom. Yellow in the middle. And red in between.
3. With a clean, damp brush, blend the colours together using a side to side motion. Clean your brush in between colours.
4. Mix red and blue to make a dark purple. Paint a purple hill near the top.
5. Using black, paint a bigger hill and curves near the bottom. Add a smaller hill behind it.
6. With the tip of a small round brush, paint thin lines for tree trunks. The less pressure you apply, the thinner the line will be. Add dots for rocks.
7. Again with the round brush tip and applying light pressure, make small short lines for the branches and foliage.
8. Continue making trees until you are happy with your painting! Paint in trees in the water for reflections.
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