56590212 Skull Taker Painting Master Class

8/6/2019 56590212 Skull Taker Painting Master Class

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Skulltaker, Bloodletter and chosenchampion of Khorne, isa name fearedacrossthe corpse-strewn battlefieldsof the Warhammer world and the blastedwarzones of the 41st Millennium.Wherever the red-skinned Daemontreads, death and destruction surely follow,as Skulltaker seeks to add another polishedskull to his master's Skull Throne; a task towhich he is more than suited.This fearsome new model was sculptedby the talented Mark Harrison, depictingSkulltaker on foot, swathed in the skulls

from which he takes his name, andbrandishing the newly harvested skull of adefeated foe at his enemies.For this issue's 'Eavy Metal Masterclass,we gave the job of bringing Khorne'sHerald to life to joe Tomasewski. This isjoe's first Masterclass, and we're sure you'llagree he was more than equal to the task!The first step for joe was to clean upthe miniature, removing any flash or mouldlines with a hobby knife and files. Next, hehad to assemble the figure and undercoat itwith Chaos Black.

UYouWill NeedAll of these paints are available from the CitadelColour, Foundation and Wash ranges. Chaos Black Spray Codex Grey 0Mithril Silver0'Ard Coat Devlan Mud Red Gore Blazing Orange Dwarf Bronze Scab Red0Bleached Bone 0Fortress Grey Scorched Brown Blood Red Graveyard Earth 0Skull White Boltgun Metal Hormagaunt Purple 0Sunburst Yellowo Chainmail 0 Iyanden Darksun Vermin Brown Charadon Granite Liche Purple 0Vomit Brown


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Painting the Flesh

Throughout the painting process, Joekept Skulltskers head separate fromthe rest of the body, mounting it ona flying stand for ease of painting.

Joe painted Skulltaker in two separate parts, painting thehead and body separately so as to be able to paint thedetail on the chest and the back of the head properly. Hestarted by painting Skulltaker from the inside out, startingwith the red skin. The basecoat for the skin was made up ofa series of thin layers of Scab Red, applied directly over the

This close-up of Skulttsker's handshows the superb 'Eavy Melill-standard blending techniques thatJoe used to paint the skin.

Chaos Black undercoat, followed by successively brightershades. Throughout the painting process, Joe's techniqueinvolved using lots of thin layers of paint, building them upto blocks of solid colour. This allows for a smooth effectbetween the highlights, creating a subtle gradation ofcolour across the whole surface.

Painting the red skin

Step 1. Lots of thin layers of Scab Red werepainted over the Chaos Black undercoat, to formthe basecoat. The thin coats built up to form asolid colour, producing a very smooth effect.

Step 2. The next step was to paint a mix of 1:1Blood Red and Red Gore over the basecoat,once again using lots of thin layers to build up asubtle highlight.

Step 3. The next layer was a highlight of 1:1Blood Red and Blazing Orange, applied to theraised areas of the skin and blended into theprevious coat.

Step 4. Joe applied a 1:1 mix of Chaos Black andScorched Brown to the recesses of the skin as ashade. Finally, he applied a 1:1 mix of BlazingOrange and Iyanden Darksun as a highlight tothe uppermost areas of the skin.

Eyes and TeethJoe painted the eyes andteeth early on in thepainting process, at thesame time as the skin. Theeyes were painted BlazingOrange and thenhighlighted with SunburstYellow and Skull White.The teeth were paintedCharadon Granite andwere highlighted withBleached Bone.

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Painting the Cloak

After the skin, Joe focused his attention on Skulltaker'sflowing cloak, lavishing particular attention to the ornatesymbol of Khorne emblazened on its lining. The cloak waspainted in such a way that the material resembled shinyblack leather, no doubt made from the flayed hides ofprevious victims.

Cloak FabricJoe painted the material ofthe cloak to look asthough it is made fromleather. He painted a 1:1basecoat of Chaos Blackand Codex Grey over thecloak, leaving Chaos Blackin the recesses. Successivehighlights of Codex Grey,and Fortress Grey werethen painted to the raisedareas. Finally a fine line ofSkull White was paintedalong the uppermost areasof the cloak, giving it thatshiny, leather effect.

The leather effect was kept deliberately subtle, toemphasise the most eye-catching area of the cloak - thelarge symbol of Khorne. Joe painted the cloak using a "non-metallic metal" effect to make it look like it was still a partof the fabric of the cloak, but still presented in a distinctiveKhornate brass colour.

Step 4. Finally, a pure Skull White highlight wasapplied to the extreme edges of the symbol, tomake it look shiny.

Painting the Cloak Detail

Step 1. The detail of the Khorne symbol and theborder of the cloak was painted with a basecoatof Scorched Brown, directly over the ChaosBlack undercoat.

Step 2. The next layer was a highlight of VerminBrown, applied to the raised areas of the symboland border as well as to the edges, creating astrongly defined outline.

Step 3. A highlight of 1:1 mix of Vermin Brownand Skull White was then painted on the edgesand uppermost areas of the detail.

96 W HITE DW ARF 'EAVY M ETAL M ASTERCLASS


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P ainting the Sk ulls

At the same time as painting theskulls on Skulltaker's cloak, joepainted the two that adorn hishorns, as described below.

One of the defining features of Skul ltaker are,unsurprisingly, the huge amount of skulls he keeps abouthis person. From the dozens of skul ls hanging from hiscloak to those adorning his horns, he is practically coveredin them, so it would have been remiss of Joe not to lavishparticular attention onto them!

There is barely a part of Skulltakernot covered in skulls, including thebase of the miniature.

The skulls have been painted with a basecoat ofCharadon Granite, then highlighted up with increasinglyl ighter mixes of Bleached Bone and Skull White. Joe usedCharadon Granite for the basecoat so as to give the skulls adirty-grey look, making them appear old and weathered.Once again, Joe applied the colour in many thin layers.

P ain tin g th e sk ulls . . . ;2 . _ . . . . 1n. . . ,j . . . ' \., ,. . r-, . " , fit i.l ~.~ '-j 1 .1 # .;

. . . t1Step 1. A pure coat of Charadon Granite wasapplied as the basecoat, directly over theundercoat, leaving the Chaos Black showing inthe recesses, especially in the eye sockets.

Step 2. The first highlight applied to the skullswas a 1:1 mix of Charadon Granite andBleached Bone, applied to most of the surfaceof the skulls.

Step 3. The next step was to apply a highlight ofpure Bleached Bone to the edges and uppersurfaces of the skulls. Note thatjoe has left thegrey coat showing on part of the skulls , givingthem a weathered, dirty look.

Step 4. The final highlight of pure Skull Whitewas applied to the extreme edges and raisedsurfaces of the skulls, giving the bones a slightlychalky appearance, lending to the aged look joewas going for.



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Painting the Metal Areas

A top-down view of Skulltaker'shorned head, showing the brassskulls that decorate his helmet.

For the final stage, Joe painted all of the metallic areas onSkulltaker, such as the iron armour, the bronze details andsymbols adorning the armour, the carved bronze skulls onhis helmet, and the countless brass hooks on his cloak.Unlike the symbols painted on his cloak, Joe used metallicpaints to get the metal effect.

The skulls that make up Skulltaker'scloak, showing the multitude ofbrass hooks on which they hang. joepainted the skulls first, before goingback to add in the metal detail.

Joe started by painting the iron areas, as they underlaidall of the bronze details, so Joe could paint them withoutrisk of getting paint on the bronze. Both the iron and thebronze were painted in a similar way, with a metallic andChaos Black mix for the basecoat, highlighted up to puremetal and then dulled down with Devlan Mud wash.

Painting Iron

Step 1. joe painted the iron areasof Skulltaker first, basecoatingthem with a 1:1 mix of ChaosBlack and Boltgun Metal.

Step 2. The raised areas of the ironwere then highlighted with a coatof pure Chainmail, leaving thebasecoat showing in the recesses.

Step 3. The effect of the iron was alittle too bright and shiny, so joeused the new Devlan Mud wash todull it down, giving it a matt finish.

Step 3. After the wash, a finalhighlight of Mithril Silver wasdrybrushed lightly over the top,giving the iron a subtle brightness.

Painting Bronze

Step 1. joe left the metal detailscoated in Chaos Black. After theiron had been painted, the bronzewas painted with a basecoat of 1:1Dwarf Bronze and Chaos Black.

Step 2. The metal details were thenhighlighted with a coat of DwarfBronze, leaving the basecoatshowing towards the very edges ofthe symbol.

Step 3. As with the iron areas, thebronze effect was a little bright atthis stage. joe dulled the bronzedown a little with a wash ofDevlanMud.

Step 3. For the final stage, theedges and raised surfaces of thebronze were painted with a 1:1mix of Dwarf Bronze and MithrilSilver, giving it a subtle shine.

98 WHITE DWARF 'E AVY METAL MASTERCLAS S


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F in ishing Touches

A close-up showing the detail joehas painted on the tongue, using a1:1 mix of Hormagaunt Purple andLiche Purple, highlighted all theway up to FortressGrey at the edgesof the tongue.

The claws were painted in the sameway as the blade of the sword, withlighter strokes of Codex Grey andSkull White painted on to representgrowth lines.

To finish up, Joe added some fine detailing to the model.He applied finishing touches to Skulltaker's tongue,obsidian blade and his claws. The final detail was the firewreathed-skull in Skulltaker's hand. Painting realistic-looking fire calls for the reverse of conventional shadingand highlighting, starting with the lightest colour

joe painted the sword to resembleobsidian, using a basecoat of ChaosBlack and highlighting with CodexGrey. The sharpest edges of theblade were painted with a thin lineof Skull White to look like lightreflecting off the sharpest points.

The finished sword, showing theobsidian blade and the brass detailsof the ornate cross-guard.

- Skull White - in the recesses, and ending up with thedarkest, Chaos Black, at the tips, to represent the hottest,brightest area at the heart of the fire.After finishing, Joe glued the head to the body andbased the miniature with sand, painting it with Devlan Mudbefore drybrushing it Vomit Brown and Bleached Bone.

P ain tin g F ire

Step 1. Unusually, joe workedbackwards from Skull White whenpainting the fire, working up to"lowlights" of increasingly darkercolours towards the edges.

Step 2. The first step was SunburstYellow painted on all of the raisedareas, leaving Skull White showingin the recesses to represent thehottest parts of the fire.

Step 3. The next step was BlazingOrange, painted on the flameedges. Itis harder to blend darkercolours on top of lighter, sojoeused even more layers than usual.

Step 3. The final layer was ScabRed with a highlight of ChaosBlack on the flame tips. SkullWhite specks were painted ontothe flames to represent hot cinders.


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56590212 Skull Taker Painting Master Class