Painting my Nomads

FonDip Temmuz 27, 2022

I am not a particularly good painter, sure I can get a passible table top result, but I'm no Angel Geraldez. So I'm hesitant to call this blog post a 'tutorial' as that implies that you might learn something of value. So let me get this out of the way, the idea here is not to produce a master piece of artwork. The idea is simply to get some paint on the model and have it look like you have made the effort when you turn up at your local hobby store for game night.

I'm not going to document the opening steps: open the box, clean the mini and assemble it. I have chosen to document my nomad paint scheme on a box of Geckos that my wife got me for my birthday last month. They also happen to be cool models and fairly beefy making it easy to see what I'm doing.

Note that I build a model completely, including scenic base. I am not one of those people who paints all the individual bits than then has to put the whole model together without destroying the paint work when the superglue splurges where it shouldn't.

Note that I've already covered how I paint the bases so I'll be ignoring that part of the process in this post, and just focusing on the miniatures.

Priming

Priming a model is a key skill when painting a model. It is important to get a clean even coverage. For this step I used GW White Spray Primer. I placed these models in a card box on top of my revolving chair (the one I usually sit in to paint), this allows me to rotate and spray different areas of the model without having to handle it. Even doing this I had to spray the models while they lay in their fronts (wait for the spray to dry), as they lay on their backs (wait for the spray to dry), and finally standing up right (more waiting for the spray to dry). This is key to getting the primer into all those under hangs and crevices where it doesn't naturally want to go.

Geckos Primed

Washing
The next step for me is to wash the model down with a large brush loaded up with GW Nuln Oil Shade. The reason for this is two fold. First it lets you see all the detail on the model. Some times is can be difficult make out the details if you are painting directly on to White Primer. Second it adds a little bit of pre-shading that can be helpful if you use your paints thinly enough. Don't forget to let the wash dry fully before continuing.

Geckos washed with Nuln Oil

Base Colour
Next I'm going to airbrush on the base colour. In this case I'm using Tamiya Flat Red. Take your time with this step, make sure you get the coverage you need. Also don't be afraid to build up several coats to get a nice strong colour. When using an airbrush I would suggest using a pair of disposable latex gloves and hold the model by the base so that you can manoeuvre the airbrush and the model to get coverage. Don't worry about over spray onto other areas of the model at this point we will clean up as we go... but don't do this next to a table load of other minis you don't want coated with the same colour ( I learned the hard way).

Geckos airbrushed Red

Wash Shade

Now that red colour is glorious, but its way to bright and is going to need to be shaded. For this next step I am going to apply three coats of GW Druchi Violet Shade, and yes between each coat the model must be allowed to completely dry. The first coat is applied over the whole model. The second and third coats are applied only to the recesses and under-hangs to build shading.

Geckos shaded with Druchi Violet

Under Armour
Now its time to being picking out the 'non-red' details on the model, the weapons and all the 'under-armour' are painted in a 50/50 mix of GW Adeptus Grey Foundation and GW Chaos Black. Take your time doing this you don't want to destroy all the nice work that you have already done on that read armour. Don't worry about minor transgressions these can always be masked over later with battle damage or covered as we work on the red highlights.

Geckos with under-armour in Dark Grey

Shade the Under-Armour
Now to add a bit of shading to the under-armour. I wash all the grey areas with GW Nuln Oil Shade to deepen the colour and build the shadows. Immediately this makes a difference to the look of the Geckos, sometimes a second coat may be necessary.

Geckos under-armour washed with Nuln Oil

First Under-Armour Highlights
I started to build up the highlights on the grey areas with GW Adeptus Grey Foundation.

Geckos Shaded

Second Under-Armour Highlight
Using thinned Vallejo Game Colour Wolf Grey I did another layer of highlight. I also used it to paint the model names on the bases.

Geckos with Grey Highlight

First Red Highlight

Now its time to start building up the highlights on the red armour. I do this through several incremental coats of GW Blood Red with an addition of Vallejo Ice Yellow.

Geckos starting Red Highlights

Second Red Highlights
Now I begin building up the highlights on the red layer on layer. If I had been working with any other colour other than red I would have done this with the airbrush right after the base coat. But red with a white highlight turns pink, and I didn't want pink nomads. So I'll be building up the highlights with a brush, it takes a bit longer but the result will be worth it. Again I'm using Vallejo Ice Yellow mixed with GW Blood Red, though I had to gab a fresh pot in between coats and it seems that GW have renamed their Blood Red as Evil Sunz Scarlet, but it is the same colour.

Geckos with more Red Highlights

Extreme Red Highlights
This will take my red armour up to almost white. Using a mixture of Vallejo Ice Yellow and Vallejo Skull White. I try to keep the line thin and run them along the hard edges of the armour. On the larger panels I paint star shaped light point. This is going to look a little over kill, but I'll bring it back down again in a later step.

Geckos with Extreme Highlights

Starting OSL

Using ScaleColour Caribbean Blue, with a little Vallejo Skull White I've painted in the eyes and various other details that need a bit of source lighting.

Geckos with OSL

Second OSL
I apply a thin wash of GW Athonian Camoshade to deepen the colour of the source lighting before applying a second coat of my base mix with a little more white added.

Geckos with more OSL

Blending Wash
I'm being a bit critical of some of my blending on the red highlights so I wash over a coat of GW Bloodletter Glaze to help bring the red shades together.