No this is not a tutorial on getting ready for halloween, but rather responding to a request to provide a blog tutorial about how I paint the zombies that have been appearing in recent blogs. Very flattering for what is a pretty quick and nasty job, but here it is.
Remember this is to achieve a quick but effective “tabletop” finish and is not a good way to achieve a “showcase” standard. It is purely designed to get large numbers of figures out and on the table in the quickest amount of time.
This works for me as I generally paint figures to game with and not to look at on the shelf.
Step 1: I undercoat most models with Tamiya TS3 spray paint. Models with lots of armour or chainmail are an exception as I find that undercoating in matt black saves a step in the painting process.
Step 2: Paint the zombie flesh. I use Citadel Rakarth Flesh but Ionrach skin works equally well.
Step 3: Add what I call the primary colour to 75% of the figures alternating between different pieces of clothing. This is not important for zombies but is for miniatures in uniform, where you want to make them look in campaign dress rather than on a parade ground. For example the primary colour for British Napoleonic troops would be the red coat. In this case you would paint 75% of the coats red, leaving 25% to paint in other colours.
You will also note that I have added gravel to the base. It is important to decide early on how you are going to paint your base, because you want to save time by painting it when you are using that colour on the rest of the figures.
This photo shows how I base my “post apocalyptic figures. It is a four step process – supa glue the black gravel (as above), paint base black, dry brush with Citadel Skrag brown, and highlight white. So, for instance, when I am painting black hair I will paint the base black at the same time, and when I am painting hair brown I will use the Skrag brown to paint the base.
The trick here is to not double up on colours. If you are going to use brown on the figure use the same brown you are going to use on the base. This saves heaps of time.
Don’t worry you will get use to the palette you normally use and this becomes automatic over time.
Step 4: Paint your secondary colour on 50% of the models. As indicated above I would not normally do this when painting “irregular” figures like zombies but it helps when painting figures in uniform. Using the example above the secondary colour for a British Napoleonic infantryman would be the grey trousers. You would then paint grey on about 50% of the figures leaving the rest to be painted in different colours.
You will also note that the recent photos do not include the abomination model. This is because as a “special” figure this will be painted individually and will only be part of the batch painting for those steps that are appropriate. As a result the abomination figure will only be painted when I am using a colour that I want to use in its palette. This may mean that you are painting 100 figures or so in the first few steps and less as you go on. Again with zombies you are probably going to paint the same 100 throughout.
The more figures you paint in each step the quicker the overall time will be. When painting large numbers of irregular types forget the primary and secondary colours and paint one figure with a red hat, another with red trousers, another with red jacket and so on. This will add to the irregular look on the table.
Step 5: You will note on these figures I had seven bits of clothing remaining to be painted. I used seven different colours to get that “irregular” look. Remember I am only using four figures for this tutorial and this would be more time efficient the more figures you are painting as you would paint more figures with the same colour. When adding these additional colours make sure that you are mixing them up. In other words don’t put blue on all of the same figures you have painted red, but rather swap them around.
A couple of things to note. The abomination has now reappeared because I wanted to paint his trousers in the same green I was using on one of the others. This is important because if you have two or three different painting projects going at once you save time on them all by painting all three projects when you have that colour out.
These other Zombie projects were painted at the same time, and had reached this stage by the end. So not only had I finished the project I was working on but had part completed others.
You will also note that I have painted the hair on one of the models when I was using the Citadel Zamesi Desert on the trousers of another. This will come up as a straw blonde when finished. Lastly I have deliberately used very bright colours for the tutorial to demonstrate how these will be toned down by the time we get to the end of the process.
At this stage their may be some over painting. Unless it is really bad just leave it. You will not notice it unless the figure is examined really closely. I will touch up the flesh near the end but that is all. Generally when mass painting I do not paint trouser belts. I just leave them the colour of the trousers. Eyes, teeth eye brows etc are also not painted. No one notices because they are so “into” the game so what’s the point. Remember this is a minimalist approach to painting and not one for the purists.
Step 6: Two pairs of shoes and one lot of hair have been painted Citadel mournfang brown and one lot of hair, the other two pair of shoes and the bases black. The other lot of hair will be painted in the next stage.
Step 7: The base is dry brushed with Skrag brown as is the last lot of hair.
Step 8: Over paint on the skin and the red collar on one model are touched up.
Step 9: Would normally be the “fiddly bits” like weapons etc., but as there are none, the figures have been liberally painted with Citadel Agrax Earthshade Wash. Don’t worry if this washes over the base as this will add to the basing effect.
Step 10: When the wash has thoroughly dried I now “Zombie them” up a bit by dabbing the flesh with splotches of Waywatcher Green Glaze (any green wash will do) and some of my very old Citadel Red Wash to represent the rotting and bloody flesh.
Step 11: These models have large fangs so I painted them with Citadel Ushanti Bone and then dry brushed the base and figure with Montmarte Titanium White Satin tube paint. The models, complete with basing are now finished. The longest parts of this process are waiting for the black on the base and the two lots of washes to dry.
Step 12. Lastly spray with Tamiya TS-80 clear Matt Varnish
There you have it, four weight challenged (fatties) Berserker zombies completely finished in a quarter of the time it has taken to write this blog.
Their lady friends were painted at the same time.
It also helps when painting if you have become afflicted with the disease yourself as I did at Easter!!!!
As you can see another alternative is to paint your zombies with chocolate sauce – the grandkids loved crazy grandpa! Maybe it was just the Easter eggs.