Undead Army Painting

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice one !

[cra1gwt]

Ta all - I think I'm getting a bit of a better grasp of the photo-posting, as well as pushing on with the army.

thanks, toxicpixie - the zombie unit is indeed a bit of a beast - 12cm by 6cm, as compared to a quarter of that for all the others - and generally possessed of all the tactical subtlety of a brick through the window.  Which is as it should be, as far as I'm concerned!  I like my minions mindless, numerous and expendable.   

[toxicpixie]

Subtlety is overrated

Sometimes you just have to shamble up and bury them under tons of your cold dead flesh!

[cra1gwt]

Boom!  The army is, in just a single sitting, shaded!  I think Ric was right with his idea to base them all up and paint them 'by unit'.  Greatly adds to the speed, which keeps enthusiasm high!


I sprayed them as mentioned previously, and then I basically gave them a quick wash using Windsor & Newton 'Peat Brown' from their range of drawing inks - actually general purpose art supplies, and nothing particularly hobby-specific.  Looks excellent though, and really brings out the detail.  I have started painting the odd detail, too (metal sword-blades, wooden bows, banners, etc.)


Here is an experimental 'finished' base!  I wanted to get a sense of what they'd look like at the end of the day, so here is a base where I dry-brushed a lighter shade over the bones to bring up the edges (bit of a tough one for me, as I've always struggled with dry-brushing highlights for as long as I've been painting.)  I also painted the shields a dark-purple colour, as this shall be the colour 'motif' for the army on all the banners, etc.  I think they look pretty good, relative to my normal standards at any rate, so I hope the photo comes out okay. 
Oh, and the base is just painted green for now.  I've never liked that 'Games Workshop'-ish version where the undead are in an Ancient Egypt-style desert, so I'm definitely avoiding that.  I'll be gluing on a little sand plus using 'steppe grass' which has a good mix of brown grass among the green, which should give me a rather forlorn, 'blasted heath'  moorland sort of look. 

[Techno]

Very tasty, that man.
Can't wait to see the bases finished off.....They'll look cracking !
Cheers - Phil

[Ric]

Looking awesome mate!

[toxicpixie]

Cracking, the base coat > wash > detail > drybrush is really rewarding!

Like the idea of them shambling from some blasted moor land up t'north. Ahhh, fracking, what have you awoken?!

[cra1gwt]

No pictures this post, but I have managed to spend part of the evening doing the dry-brushed highlights on the entire skeletal part of the army.  I had initially thought plain white would do for a skeletal finish, although Ric had advised me to do a mix of white and the light brown base-coat. 
Turns out he was right, in the end!  I tried plain white, but it looks too sharp wherever you dry-brush - as if the skeleton has been scuffed.  I quickly gave in and tried the brown-white mix, which blends in far better.  No harsh lines wherever you apply it, and it just generally gives the raised edges a subtle lift.  Good advice, Ric!

Next up is the shields & banners for the army, which I have done on my experimental base (pictured above) as a red/blue mis with a little bit of brown, to create a dark purple.  Over the raised timber surface of the shields I later dry-brushed over a lightened version of the same mix, but although it looks nice when you look up-close at the base, how often will you do that?  Viewing an army on the tabletop (as well as in the photos, now I look at them) the detail doesn't stand out, so it could well look like an army carrying dark purplish-brown shields.  I'll need to have a think on how to do a stronger highlight, to make them appear far lighter

Nearly the weekend, too - I'm hoping for a major push on the Saturday, with a bit of luck! 

[Norm]

very nice. I am really interested to see how your painting goes for all the bases with the figures fixed to the base.  I have tried twice and felt is was harder rather than easier to paint in that way. I think the next time I try, I will undercoat everything in black and drybrush in off white before gluing, so that any missed bits are taken care of.

[Techno]

No pictures this post,

Tease. 
Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice though.

[cra1gwt]

Hi all,

Sorry about the total lack of photography - hopefully before long! 

My planned weekend binge was all lost to me, sadly due to other things in 'real life' - isn't is always the way?
I have however managed to snatch the odd moment here and there to get stuff underway.  All the bases are base-painted green now (dull, but necessary drudge-work!) and all skeletal troops are highlighted.  Apart from the shields and banners, they are basically set for some sand & grass on the bases!

Leaders are still to be done, but I plan to 'save' them until last as a reward for myself.  In the meantime, I have to wrestle my way through the tedious business of painting up all the zombie hordes!  Bit of a problem, in that once you do all the 'dead flesh' colours and the decayed rags they wear, the overall effect tends to be rather drab - browns, greys, etc.  I'm wracking my brains for some way to 'colour them up' and add a bit of life to them (irony not intended!) 

So, there's that still to do.  I'm planning to do the shields and banners in one go, to keep the colour-scheme 'uniform' for the bases.  I'm planning on a purple background, with some light purple (or electric blue) highlights to make them brighter, and generally add a splash of colour to the bone-white hordes!

Photos to follow shortly, as soon as I get a chance!  :-)

[fred.]

In the meantime, I have to wrestle my way through the tedious business of painting up all the zombie hordes!  Bit of a problem, in that once you do all the 'dead flesh' colours and the decayed rags they wear, the overall effect tends to be rather drab - browns, greys, etc.  I'm wracking my brains for some way to 'colour them up' and add a bit of life to them (irony not intended!) 

Good to hear progress is being made!

I would maybe add some blood to the zombies to brighten things up a bit?

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Zombies will be dull, if you have any spare other races to add to the bases as victims or corpses, or build mini dioramas that always helps.

[Ric]

Yeah Craig,  I was thinking about your grubby zombies earlier, and a nice bright base with loads of little details will help set them off, but like Fred said you could add blood on their hands and mouths (but not too much) and you could even use a teeny, tiny dash of gloss varnish on the blood splatters to give a slightly lighter effect..