What’s this, two posts in one day! I’m grabbing the chance whilst I can, who knows when I’ll have the computer snatched away from me again, with the words, ‘But I’ve got revision to do,’ echoing in my ears!
These Thralls were from the Beyond the Threshold expansion and so were a better-quality miniature than those in the core set. Still, they lacked detail, especially in the face, but their deformed arm did offer some interest. For the most part, I again resorted to inks over a zenithal prime – it produces reasonable results in super quick time – and added a little detail here or there, but let’s talk about that arm…
I wanted to compare two different techniques to see what the difference would be when painting something quickly. For the first Thrall, the one in the green dress, I applied three colours, a basecoat of Tan to provide the shade, followed by highlights in Elfic Flesh, I then added mid-tones in with a mix of Tan and Pale Flesh.
For the next Thrall, blue dress girl, I used drybrushing… sort of. I say sort off, because I didn’t remove most of the paint from the brush as you normally would, I just gave it a quick rub across some paper towel, removing a bit of the moisture but leaving a lot of the paint. I then applied this just as I would drybrushing. Again, I applied the same three paints, but of course using the mix before the highlight.
When done I added a little Pale Blue mixed with Pale Flesh to paint in the veins on both figures and washed over with Baal Red (yes, ye old GW wash!). Here’s what they look like.
As you can see, there’s a lot more colour variation on the arm of green dress girl, the one that was layered, whilst the other, blue dress girl, lacks the contrast. The thing is, though, blue dress girl took me about 2-minutes, much quicker than applying the colours where they needed to go on green dress girl. So, in this situation, where I just wanted to get the job done, the ‘not quite drybrushing’ was the way to go and I finished the other two with the same technique.
Not removing all the paint from the brush when drybrushing has its advantages and disadvantages, but it’s something I’ve used quite a lot. It doesn’t give such a ‘chalky’ finish and can be used on areas of little detail or even totally flat – I like using it where there are lots of large, raised areas, such as these Thralls – by adjusting the pressure applied to the brush you can get some interesting results. However, it’s easy to apply too much paint and wipe out the details, so I avoid things like fur and mail armour.
Back to the Thralls… I had a go at painting different flesh tones, a darker flesh, which I find difficult, and a very pale flesh (red dress girl). I was just experimenting, finding what colours worked together, as I wasn’t too worried if I mucked it up on something like this.
Anyway, that’s another four Mansions monsters down and I learnt a few things along the way, so I’d call that a result. Next up, The Warlocks!
The Solo Meeple 
Nice use of Wetbrushing Justin, can be a very handy tool in the box. I find on the higher layers I tend to go back to drybrushing so as to give more contrast between the layers, like the dark skintone you’ve achieved as well.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Ah! Wetbrushing! I knew someone would be familiar with it and give it its correct name. I thought about referring to it as mildly-moist-brushing, but it took too long to keep typing in 😁
Every tool’s a useful tool, sometimes you just have to find the right job for it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wetbrushing? Oh hell, I always called it overbrushing! Guess I learned something new today.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Lol, though I thought overbrushing was using the side of the brush to highlight raised features… who knows!🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
A grisly bunch nicely done! 🙂 Two posts in one day and still no pictures of Gneisenau and Scharnhorst! Pull yourself together Justin! 😉
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you John…
I haven’t been posting about the ships because their not painted with any real degree of detail – being 1/3000 they don’t have much as it is! I’ve just done them to look reasonable in game, however, just to please you I’ll pop some pics on my ‘Geek’ at the end of the month.
Other than that, I just need to finish all the dusty work I’m doing in the garage and then I can get them to the table… watch this space😶
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some pics of them would be nice, but I can wait! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
They all look good, and layering works so much better than drybrushing on those arms. Overbrushing is a really good technique for minis like this.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks Matt. I’ve been using the MoM minis to experiment with things like this and I’ve learned quite a bit – hopefully it will pay off when painting better quality miniatures!🤔
LikeLiked by 2 people
These were my favorite MoM minis to paint. Those giant arms are ridiculous and cool-looking! Its cool to see how brightly you painted these. For darker colored skin, I’ve had good luck using warm browns which means Rhinox Hide and Mournfang brown mixed in for highlights. Its a great challenge trying to paint different skin colors and its something I should try again soon now that you’ve mentioned it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
These have grown on me. I didn’t like them at all when I first got the expansion, but after painting them I’ve kinda took to them, especially the way the arm morphs from the face.
Yes, it’s a challenge trying to paint different skin tones. I’ve always been more of a ‘it looks like it looks when done,’ type of person but I’m trying to set a definite aim now before I start.
LikeLiked by 2 people