A month ago I received my Kickstarter of Mythic Battles: Pantheon. Another game I totally bought into because of the miniatures! And while it is a good game in its own right (I will get back to you on that one!) the miniatures really make it an exceptional one.
So I got to painting the Greek Gods that make up the pantheon. They are hardly miniatures, ranging between 60 and 100mm in height:
So I got to painting the Greek Gods that make up the pantheon. They are hardly miniatures, ranging between 60 and 100mm in height:
Atlas
Athena
Hecate
Helios
Aphrodite
Zeus
Apollo
Artemis
Hermes
Ares
Persephone
Hera
Pan
Hades
Poseidon
Polyphemos
Charybdis
Creepy Siren
And Scylla!
Someone on Facebook asked my about my painting methods for the Poseidon figures. I wrote it all down and it seems a shame to just put it up on FB so here is the bit of text for painting the Poseidon figures as well:
Since I use all kind of paints I had to look up all the colours. I wanted to stay as close as possible to natural sea colours so I chose mainly greens and greys that naturally reinforce each other. It has become a bit of a long read I am afraid.
Let’s start with Poseidon since most of his colour schemes return in the other models.
Poseidons lower body was painted Modelcolour Extra Dark green, his upper body with ModelColour Steel Grey and his ornaments with Vallejo Brass. The trident shaft with Vallejo Dark brown Air (I find the consistency perfect even though it is made for airbrush.)
His loincloth is ModelColour Cavalry Brown and the netting GameColour Bonewhite.
His entire body is then washed with Games Workshop Nuln Oil. The ornaments were washed with strongly watered down and wiped off GameColor Jade Green to get that old bronze effect.
Once dry, the tentacles on the lower body are highlighted with a large brush and GameColour Goblin Green and (very lightly) Vallejo Yellow Green. The sucker pads are then highlighted with GameColour Squid Pink.
The light spots on the four main tentacles were inspired by a Moray Eel and are done with GameColour Ghost Grey. The little black spots are done with a 0.05 Micron pen.
The upper body was highlighted with ModelColour Light Sea Grey and once more (lightly) with ModelColour Ghost Grey. The gills in his ribs with some dark skin colour and washed with Vallejo Flesh Tone wash. His loincloth is highlighted with the same Cavalry Brown and lightly with some Red. The netting is highlighted with Bonewhite.
The glass balls (witch balls as they are called here) are Modelcolour Extra Dark green, ModelColour Jade Green “reflections” and a dot of white for light effect.
The ornaments are lightly highlighted with Vallejo Gold but not too much or the bronze effect will disappear.
All that is left then are the beach (some khaki brown undercolour highlighted with Vallejo Brown Sand and ModelColour Bonewhite) and the little details like the starfish and such. I picked them out in simple bright colours to make them stand out and added a piece of wooden coffeestick (black, highlighted grey and bonewhite) as driftwood.
The other figures are mostly done in the same way. With Scylla’s tentacles I used a lighter green for the top side of the tentacles and BoneWhite for the thorns at the side and the claw at the end but otherwise the same. Her hair is Jade green with Yellow Green highlights.
Where brown washes were used I used GW Agrax Earth Shade, which is called different these days I believe but still available.
The water effects on the Scylla base are the same colours as used for Charybdis: GameColour Imperial Blue undercolour for both. A bright blue colour (I don’t remember the name right now) highlight for Charybdis and smears in the same colour for Scylla’s base. Then lighter and smaller highlights and smears with ModelColour Ice Blue and finally White highlight on Charybdis and foam effects (more smears) on Scylla’s base.
As you can see there isn’t much fancy about my methods: applying undercolour, wash and highlight is basically it. I rarely blend any paints and haven’t done it in these figures as far as I remember. Although now I have written it all down it becomes clear why Poseidon took me so long
Since I use all kind of paints I had to look up all the colours. I wanted to stay as close as possible to natural sea colours so I chose mainly greens and greys that naturally reinforce each other. It has become a bit of a long read I am afraid.
Let’s start with Poseidon since most of his colour schemes return in the other models.
Poseidons lower body was painted Modelcolour Extra Dark green, his upper body with ModelColour Steel Grey and his ornaments with Vallejo Brass. The trident shaft with Vallejo Dark brown Air (I find the consistency perfect even though it is made for airbrush.)
His loincloth is ModelColour Cavalry Brown and the netting GameColour Bonewhite.
His entire body is then washed with Games Workshop Nuln Oil. The ornaments were washed with strongly watered down and wiped off GameColor Jade Green to get that old bronze effect.
Once dry, the tentacles on the lower body are highlighted with a large brush and GameColour Goblin Green and (very lightly) Vallejo Yellow Green. The sucker pads are then highlighted with GameColour Squid Pink.
The light spots on the four main tentacles were inspired by a Moray Eel and are done with GameColour Ghost Grey. The little black spots are done with a 0.05 Micron pen.
The upper body was highlighted with ModelColour Light Sea Grey and once more (lightly) with ModelColour Ghost Grey. The gills in his ribs with some dark skin colour and washed with Vallejo Flesh Tone wash. His loincloth is highlighted with the same Cavalry Brown and lightly with some Red. The netting is highlighted with Bonewhite.
The glass balls (witch balls as they are called here) are Modelcolour Extra Dark green, ModelColour Jade Green “reflections” and a dot of white for light effect.
The ornaments are lightly highlighted with Vallejo Gold but not too much or the bronze effect will disappear.
All that is left then are the beach (some khaki brown undercolour highlighted with Vallejo Brown Sand and ModelColour Bonewhite) and the little details like the starfish and such. I picked them out in simple bright colours to make them stand out and added a piece of wooden coffeestick (black, highlighted grey and bonewhite) as driftwood.
The other figures are mostly done in the same way. With Scylla’s tentacles I used a lighter green for the top side of the tentacles and BoneWhite for the thorns at the side and the claw at the end but otherwise the same. Her hair is Jade green with Yellow Green highlights.
Where brown washes were used I used GW Agrax Earth Shade, which is called different these days I believe but still available.
The water effects on the Scylla base are the same colours as used for Charybdis: GameColour Imperial Blue undercolour for both. A bright blue colour (I don’t remember the name right now) highlight for Charybdis and smears in the same colour for Scylla’s base. Then lighter and smaller highlights and smears with ModelColour Ice Blue and finally White highlight on Charybdis and foam effects (more smears) on Scylla’s base.
As you can see there isn’t much fancy about my methods: applying undercolour, wash and highlight is basically it. I rarely blend any paints and haven’t done it in these figures as far as I remember. Although now I have written it all down it becomes clear why Poseidon took me so long
Wow they look corking!
ReplyDeleteThese look great! I can't wait to start on mine, though I suspect they won't look quite so nice. What did you use for the bowstrings?
ReplyDeleteSimple cotton yarn normally used to sew buttons on.
Delete