Painting Tutorial: Breeding pool

Hello hobbyist. First of all I want to say that I have written the tutorial in a way that if you want to get the pool quick on your gaming table you can stop after step 11.

Additionally you can reduce the number of shadings. If you want to spend some more time into the finish just continue.

The Breeding pool is cast in hard stone plaster. Thats a wonderful material for painting. It soaks paint which makes for example washing very easy and there is no need to basecoat the material.

On the other hand hard stone plaster is very hard but unflexible so it can break.

If you want to use the for wargaming or if you want to transport them a lot its a good idea to glue it on cardboard or thin plasticcard.

 

Step 1: The stones

I like the Foundation paints a lot because the range has so many realistic, natural colours.

Firstly I use Tausept Ochre (Vallejo Heavy Ochre or Ochre Brown) as a basecoat for the stones. Dilute it with water with water at the ratio 1:1.

 

Step 2: The stones

Wash the stones heavily with Devlin Mud (Vallejo Umber Shade Wash).

 

Step 3: The stones

Drybrush the stones intensively with Tausept Ochre (Vallejo Heavy Ochre or Ochre Brown).

Thats a important step. If you drybrush it too little the overall effect will be too dark and the contrast with the following step will be too big.

So take the time to give it 3 or 4 rounds of drybrushing.

 

Step 4: The stones

Drybrush with Bleached Bone (Vallejo Bone White or Pale Sand).

Again thats a important step because at this point you define the overall looking of the pool.

 

Step 5: The base

Mix Scorched Brown (Vallejo Charred Brown or German Black Brown) + Devlin Mud (Vallejo Umber Shade Wash) at a ratio of 1:1 and basecoat the base.

It doesn’t have to be a uniform result.

 

Step 6: The base

Now lets finish the base. I wanted that it has darker and lighter areas.

To achieve that I gave some areas a heavier drybrushing and others a lighter.

I starteds with Tausept Ochre (Vallejo Heavy Ochre or Ochre Brown).

After that I used Khemri Brown (Vallejo US Field Drab).

… and finally Bleached Bone (Vallejo Bone White or Pale Sand).

 

Step 7: Moss, roots and little stones

I used Dark Angel Green (Vallejo Dark Green or Deep Green) as basecolour for the moss and drybrushed it afterword with Goblin Green (Vallejo Goblin Green or Light Green) and finally with Bleached Bone (Vallejo Bone White or Pale Sand).

For the roots and little stones I used Chaos Black (Vallejo Chaos Black or Black) as the basecolour. After that I drybrushed the roots with Dheneb Stone (Vallejo Heavy Warm Grey) and the little stones with Astronomican Grey (Vallejo Heavy Bluegrey or Pale Bluegrey).

 

Step 8: Water

I used Charadon Granite (Vallejo Heavy Charcoal or German Grey) as the basecolour.

Then I took a large Drybrush like the old Tank Brush from GW and drybrushed different areas of the water with Knarloc Green (Vallejo Heavy Green or Luftwaffe Ca Green). The Brush has to be very dry. Try to make little circles when you drybrush.

Next I do the some but even dryer and on smaller areas with a mix of Knarloc Green and Bleached Bone at a ratio of 1:1.

 

Step 9: Snake, Frog and water lilies

I think this steps takes some time because you have to paint the all details like the snake and the frog but take the time because the result will be very rewarding.

The hunter and hunted story between the snake and the frog is the focus of the whole terrain piece. For that reason I chose a signal red for the snake:

Snake:

I started with Blood Red (Vallejo Bloody Red or Orange Red)

Next comes a wash with Devlan Mud (Vallejo Umber Shade Wash) and then again drybrushed Blood Red (Vallejo Bloody Red or Orange Red)

The little arrows were painted with Iyanden Darksun (Vallejo Heavy Gold Brown or Goldbrown) and highlighted with Bleached Bone (Vallejo Bone White or Pale Sand).

Finally I used Skull White (Valeyo Dead White or White) for the eyes and a small dot Chaos Black (Vallejo Chaos Black or Black) for the pupils.

Water lilies:

Mix of Dark Angel Green (Vallejo Dark Green or Deep Green) and Goblin Green (Vallejo Goblin Green or Light Green) 1:1 as basecolour.

Wash with Devlin Mud (Vallejo Umber Shade Wash).

Highlights using Goblin Green (Vallejo Goblin Green or Light Green) and finally Bleached Bone (Vallejo Bone White or Pale Sand). I painted thin lines like strokes in a Wheel.

For the bloom I used a mix Mechrite Red (Vallejo Heavy Red or Red) and Skull White (Vallejo Dead White or White)

Then I added more and more Skull White and pure Skull White in the end for the highlights

Finally I painted the little bloom in the middle with Golden Yellow (Vallejo Gold Yellow or Flat Yellow) followed by a highlight of Bleached Bone (Vallejo Bone White or Pale White).

Frog:

It’s a good idea to search with Google some pictures of frogs to get a feeling how they look like.

Dark Angel Green (Vallejo Dark Green or Deep Green) as basecolour.

Wash with Devlin Mud (Yes I like that paint) (Vallejo Umber Shade Wash).

Next I mixed more and more Bleached Bone (Vallejo Bone White or Pale White) to the Dark Angel Green diluted the mix with some water and applied several shades. The brightest area is the one in the middle of the back.

I now added small dots with Chaos Black (Valleyo Chaos Black or Black) here and there and highlighted them with Fortress Grey (Vallejo Stone Wall Grey or Light Grey).

The belly and the eyes were painted with Skull White (Vallejo Dead White or White). The belly received a Wash with Devlin Mud (Vallejo Umber Shade Wash) and the pupils a dot with Chaos Black (Vallejo Chaos Black or Black).

 

Step 10: The symbols

We are nearly there.

For the symbols I used Charadon Granite (Vallejo Heavy Charcoal or German Grey) as the basecolour.

After that I applied a wash with Badab Black (Vallejo Black Wash) on the symbols.

 

Step 11: The symbols

Now I painted some highlights on the edges using diluted Hawk Turquise (Vallejo Falcon Turquoise or Turquoise).

Finally I used pure Bleaced Bone (Valleyo Bone White or Pale White) diluted with water for some last highlights here and there

 

Step 12: Weathering

Using Weathering powder like the one from Noch makes the overall look of terrain pieces much more realistic because the look old and weathered.

Working with pigment powder is quite easy. Just take a medium sized drybrush and apply some powder here and there. Blow away spare powder

I used the beige powder to colour single stones

Then I carefully use some black powder to shade cracks, broken off parts and the stones of the inner side of the pool.

I think the greenish powder is the most importand and useful powder of the set and so I used a lot of it.

Using pigment powder doesn’t take much time and after some trials you gain experience fast.

I love working with them.

 

Step 13: Planting

Finally I added several grass tufts Autumn from Noch using PVA-Glue. They come in two different shades.

Birch seeds are used as leeves. I take a tweezer catch a single seed dip it into some PVA-Glue and place it. If you like you can paint them afterwards.

The spiky thing is a piece of a chesnut hull.

 

Step 14: Water effect

I used Watereffect from Noch. Its just a fluid that you have to apply.

Don’t use too much. I placed it at the open areas of the pool and dispersed it using an old brush. I even covered the snake a little bit.

Finally I scattert some green flock as common duckweed in the water.

 

 

Thats it.

Its some effort to paint the Breeding pool and do the planting but I think the result is very rewarding and you can try out different technics so its never becomes boring.

Mirco