Having won multiple Slayer Swords,* it’s fair to say that Andy Wardle knows a thing or two about painting. So much so that we asked him to review our Contrast Paints leading up to the range’s launch back in 2019. Today, Andy’s returned to show us how he used the cover art from the first edition of Battletome: Lumineth Realm-lords as inspiration for his army’s colour palette. Follow these steps to replicate his techniques on your own Lumineth models.
Andy: I’m a huge fan of the Lumineth Realm-lords, and the Vanari Lord Regent has to be one of my favourites from the range. I really enjoyed painting the miniature, so wanted to share with you how I went about it. More specifically, I’ll demonstrate the unusual processes I used on the white armour and the painted-on fur effect on the Lord Regent’s lightcourser steed.
I was very inspired by the artwork on the original battletome. I found both the subtle lilac colouring in the shadows of the white armour and the strong sunlight on the highlights interesting. This is what I wanted to emulate across my army.
Preparation
I built the miniature so that the rider could be separated from the mount, but primed them at the same time using Rhinox Hide. I then sprayed the fur with Mournfang Brown – I used my airbrush, but you can get the same result with a paintbrush.
White Armour
Step 1
The basecoat was painted with Warpfiend Grey. It has just the right amount of purple in it, a subtle hue that isn’t too bright. I quickly sprayed the armour with White Scar beforehand to get faster coverage. Warpfiend Grey will go over the brown – if you go this route, take your time and do multiple thin coats to ensure you get a smooth foundation.
Step 2
To highlight, I used Ulthuan Grey – this blue tint contrasts subtly with the purple base. To bridge the gap between the tones, you could make a 50/50 mix of Warpfiend Grey and Ulthuan Grey for the first layer. This highlight should take up the majority of the panel, depending on its shape. I also left a little of the base coat showing in each case.
Step 3
The final highlight was the most interesting. I wanted to use a subtle, bright orange colour, to make the model look as if it was in strong sun. I took some White Scar and added a tiny bit of Lugganath Orange – this created a wonderfully bright orange with lots of power, which was perfect for the task. I left a blob of pure white on my palette to use as a comparison, to help me judge if I’d added the correct amount. It’s a balance of not going too obvious with the orange, while giving the required impact. I will admit, it only comes across slightly in the photos, but if you try it yourself, you’ll see the impact it has with the naked eye.
To finish, I smoothed and blended any areas using glazes of the previous tones. I also highlighted the edges and sharpened the recesses with Warpfiend Grey and Rhinox Hide.
On the finished model, you can see that the orange highlights and purple shadows make a far more interesting white, and you can make this as strong or faint as you like. I used the same contrast of purple and orange for the gems, but used more saturated colours. This worked nicely as they were much smaller elements.
Fur
Step 1
A basecoat of Mournfang Brown was perfect to begin the fur. I wanted an orange tone, but this couldn’t be a vibrant orange. I found that Skrag Brown was a great option here, as it’s a relatively desaturated orange and appears more natural.
Creating the fur effect required painting small lines in many rows. I tried not to make them perfectly straight and used little flicks of the brush at the end of each line to help to create movement. The art is in getting the density right, leaving a small gap between each strand of hair. I also left spaces for the partings, where the hairs go in different directions on the legs. I painted this fur on the entire model.
Steps 2 and 3
I layered Screaming Skull on the previous colour. Adding more into the mixture with each layer lightened the overall colour and continues to desaturate the tones. This was to try and simulate light hitting the fur in certain areas, so a brighter orange hue wouldn’t look as realistic.
Next up, I repeated the previous steps of painting the strand of hair but concentrated them on the upper areas where I thought the light would hit them. As I was using lines to layer, it was easier than traditional blending methods to create colour transitions. I made as many incremental tones as I deemed necessary and kept adding Screaming Skull to the mix until I had the correct contrast. I used dark colours to cover any mistakes – the process is quite forgiving, as it’s just building up layers of texture.
The fur effect might seem time-consuming, but I love how it looks on the model, and it contrasts the other elements so nicely. I think for a centrepiece model like this, it’s totally worth it. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.
Thanks, Andy! If you’d like to try and take your painting to the next level using Andy’s techniques, grab yourself a Vanari Lord Regent today and give it a go.
* The winner of the ‘Best in Show’ award at our globally renowned Golden Demon painting competitions earns a replica of the legendary Slayer Sword. Cool, huh?