Get ready for a Paint Recipe by Space Dinosaur Minis, where I go in depth with a paint scheme, covering the paints, materials and techniques that I use to achieve my style. In this post we will cover the bombastic Skaven Warlock Bombardier, whose characterful sculpt has quickly become one of my favorites.
Now first things first, model prep. I painted this fine fellow in sub-assemblies to make my life much easier, and I, for the first time, even left some parts on the sprue to make painting easier. I put together the main body, pipe where rats are running out of, and tail together than glued that to the base. The backpack and rocket I kept separate. The head and tube that attaches the backpack and the rocket launcher I left on the sprue. With everything set up, I primed with Vallejo Grey. From here on out, I will abbreviate the paint manufacturers as follows: Games Workshop (GW), Army Painter (AP), Vallejo (V).
Next up is the thought process for picking my colors. My Skryre leaders usually have some blue on them, so I decided that I would make the armor a flat blue. I also don't like the predominant skin tone that the official GW scheme uses, as I'd like my rats to have some fur. I try to vary the colors of my Skaven, so for this one I decided that grey would look good and not blend in with the wood tones from the rocket launcher, as well as be distinct from the armor. Finally, for some contrasting color, I used a deep red with vibrant red highlights for some pop.
With the prep out of the way, the first thing I tackled was the cloak. Ordinarily, I would start with the skin as I like to "dress" my models by starting with the lowest layer, the skin, then working my to clothes, then armor, then accessories. But, I wanted to see if my red and blue color scheme would work nicely together before committing to the rest of the model.
For the red cloak, I used Chaotic Red (AP) washed with Nuln Oil (GW), then highlighted with a 50/50 mix of Chaotic Red and Dragon Red (AP). I did mix in varying quantities to get a smoother gradient, but I eventually ended up with a pure highlight of Dragon Red (AP).
The armor was based with Crystal Blue (AP) and washed with Blue Tone (AP), then carefully edge highlighted with a Crystal Blue/Electric Blue (AP) mix, finished with a pure Electric Blue (AP) highlight on the finest points. At this point the armor looks nice and clean, which is not a very Skaven look at all. So I took some foam, the type used to store minis, and dabbed it in some Shining Silver (AP), then dabbed most of it off on a paper towel, similar to drybrushing. With the little paint that remained on the sponge, I dabbed the paint on at strategic locations to indicate wear. I did the same for rust using Ryza Rust (GW).
At this point most of the body was done, as well as a lot of the head. I then worked on getting the fur done. The base is Uniform Grey (AP) washed with Nuln Oil (GW), with some highlighting of a 50/50 mix of Uniform Grey (AP)/Ash Grey (AP), then the same mix 25/75, and finally dot highlights using pure Ash Grey (AP).
To finished the head so I could stick it onto the body, I used Tanned Flesh (AP) to basecoat the ears, mouth, and nose, then washed those with Reikland Fleshshade (GW), gave them a Barbarian Flesh (AP) highlight and a final wash of Reikland Fleshshade (GW) to blend the colors together. I also used this for the tail. With that done, I glued the head to the body.
All of the teeth and claws received a simple basecoat of Flayed One Flesh (GW), a wash with Soft Tone (AP), and a final Flayed One Flesh (GW) highlight. With that the rat himself is done and you just have all of his accessories to finish.
The next big things to tackle are all of the metals around the model, mostly on the backpack. To make the tarnished gunmetal, I used a 90/10 mix of Gunmetal (AP) and Warplock Bronze (GW) which I found to be more interesting than pure Gunmetal. This was followed up with a Nuln Oil (GW) wash with a highlight of Gunmetal (AP).
All of the brass was painted the same way. Brass Scorpion (GW) made up the base, with Red Tone (AP) used to wash select areas and give the brass a warmer tone. I went back in with Brass Scorpion (GW) for any places that started looking too red, and once I was satisfied, I finished up with a highlight of Shining Silver (AP).
The gold was very simple, just a Retributor Armor (GW) base with Reikland Fleshshade (GW) washed to get a warmer tone, similar to the brass. With the backpack close to done, I glued it to the body.
The final bit is the warpstone. I used Moot Green (GW) and Green Tone (AP) to start, then I drybrushed a 50/50 mix of Moot Green and Matt White (AP) over the stone. I wasn't careful with this and let some of it get on the surrounding area to simulate a glow.
The final bit of metal is the rusted pipe that the model stand atop. I wanted a very corroded look to this portion, so I dabbed some Typhus Corrosion in a few spots around the pipe, then I painted a thinned Gunmetal (AP) over it to let some of the coloration of the Typhus Corrosion (GW) show through. I then liberally applied Agrax Earthshade (GW) over the pipe, even letting some of it pool in places to look like grime. To finish I drybrushed Shining Silver (AP) and Ryza Rust (GW) until I was happy with the look.
While I was working on the pipe, I took care of the swarm of rats popping out of the end. I used a basecoat of Oak Brown (AP) and a wash of Agrax Earthshade (GW), then highlighted with 50/50 Oak Brown/Leather Brown (AP), then again with a 50/50 mix of Leather Brown/Monster Brown (AP), and one more time with a 50/50 mix of Monster Brown/Flayed One Flesh (GW). The tails and ears are painted the same as the big boy rat. The eyes are just dots of Pure Red (AP). I used this same process for the rat on top of the backpack once I finished painting the smoke.
Speaking of which, the smoke was painted with an Ash Grey (AP) base, with a bit of Green Tone (AP) applied to the recesses. Do not let it pool otherwise it ruins the appearance of smoke and you'll have to go back and smooth it out. Once the green is dry, I try to blend it in and highlight at the same time with another round of Ash Grey (AP). While that coat is still wet, highlight with a 50/50 mix of Ash Grey (AP) and Matt White (AP), wet blending it in for smoothness. This may take you a few tries, I honestly find that sculpted smoke is difficult to get right.
All that's left now is the rocket launcher. The metal is painted with the same gunmetal recipe as the backpack. For the wood I used Leather Brown (AP), highlighted with Monster Brown (AP), then highlighted again with Monster Brown/Flayed One Flesh (GW) in a 50/50 mix, then a 25/75 mix, and finally washed it all with Agrax Earthshade (GW) to bring all of the tones together.
The gold and blues, along with the arm connected to the rocket launcher, were painted using the same techniques I laid out earlier. Once finished, go ahead and glue the launcher on.
The last pieces remaining are the tubes that connect the backpack to the rocket launcher. I kept these simple: a Matt Black (AP) base with Uniform Grey (AP) highlights and Flayed One Flesh (GW) to paint the stitching. Once dry, I dabbed glue on each end the stuck the tubing on using tweezers.
The final little detail is a small leather pouch on the belt. I started with, surprisingly, Leather Brown (AP), washed it with Agrax Earthshade (GW), then highlighed with a 50/50 mix of Leather Brown and Flayed One Flesh (GW).
Now just base your model to match the rest of your army, clean up the rim, and you're finished! At this level of detail, the model took a few days of work to finish, but I'm satisfied with the result. It's good to take a plunge and challenge yourself to paint a model as best as you can, especially on these hero models that stand out from the rest of your army.
Thanks for making it through my tutorial!
-The Space Dinosaur
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