how to paint muddy dirty undead ?

[Igormortis]

Dear people,

I am busy with a project. in that I have some nighthaunt chainrasp models coming out of the ground/graves. but I want them to look really muddy and dirty like the ones from Poltergeist. I really have no idea how to do this. I have very little understanding of painting, glazing, washes etc etc imho, just consider me as a noob so to speak. so could someone please explain to me how to do this properly ? like what primer color, which colors to use, which ones as washes, glazes, what techniques to use etc. thanks a ton for thinking along  !

here is what I want the undead to look like color wise. :

and these are the colors I have at my disposal, I also have AK grime effects and oil paints from AK as well

[deynon]

simply vallejo snow and agrax earthhade, or some environmental mud texture from vallejo or GW for the bases.Techcally ghosts don't become dirty cause the evnviroment near them, they are ethereal.

[Fulcanelli]

Yep, a good commitment on the bases is required, but if I understand correctly what you have in mind, you might want to work on a brown/mute palette like John Blanche did!
Check this article: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/06/11/contrast-testimonies-john-blanchegw-homepage-post-3/
I love this stuff.

[Igormortis]

Hello dear people, thanks you for the replies. really appreciate it .

 

the thing is I want them to look like the corpses from that Poltergeist picture, so they are not ghosts. they are for a diorama, they come out from muddy graves so to speak. so they will not be on bases, they will be integrated into a diorama.

 

thank you for that link Fulcanelli, def will check it out, hope there is something good there . cheers  

[Igormortis]

what John Blanche did there comes very close to what I want, it's just a pity that the technique is not explained. 

 

nor what contrast paint was used (besides the mentioning of the snakebite leather one ) and he used contrast paint, the medium and GW shades. but not a clue which one

Edited September 11, 2020 by Igormortis

[Fulcanelli]

17 hours ago, Igormortis said:

Hello dear people, thanks you for the replies. really appreciate it .

 

the thing is I want them to look like the corpses from that Poltergeist picture, so they are not ghosts. they are for a diorama, they come out from muddy graves so to speak. so they will not be on bases, they will be integrated into a diorama.

 

thank you for that link Fulcanelli, def will check it out, hope there is something good there . cheers  

You're welcome. Blanche's job is very impressive, and yes, it's sad the technique isn't explained.

I don't like so much contrast paint, I think that with shade and little drybrush you can achieve a muddy looking. Maybe you can try gloss shade, depending on how "wet" you want to go?

[Kramer]

Blachitsu painting tutorial enough out there. 
Most likely not contrast but it will give you pointers I imagine. 
for example 

 

[Ggom]

Also consider using water miscible oil paints. Burnt sienna and paynes grey are useful for a dirty effect, as is lamp black. The advantage of oils over an acrylic wash is the ability to remove it during its setting time, which also allows you to easily avoid tidemarks. They also have a natural lustre and are extremely wear resistant once dry (varnish optional)

There are many tutorials for applying oils to miniatures out there to check out! My experience is that they are more laid back because you can easily fix mistakes, and you can use alot of relaxed techniques with washes, cotton bud cleanup, streaking, etc.

They are also very cost efficient. A tube of quality oil paint will last for years compared to popular miniature washes.

And finally, they have much higher saturation than most washes you find out there, so you have greater range of color choice.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Ggom

[MitGas]

Blanche definitely mixed the contrast paints on the model rather sloppily and used layers of them. Lots of yellows, oranges, reds and blues in the shadows. Might also be inks, he's known to use them heavily. When I look at the image above, the undead just look like they're in wet mud... if you want them to have a texture, you could just paint them in a muddy color and slap some Vallejo mud texture on them. A bit of gloss on top and it would look quite similar.

Oh and wise Ggom gives the best tip ever: get oil paints if you need to panel line a lot of stuff or want quick shading in batch painting or employ lots of grimy effects. Yes, they come with their own quirks but for shading/blending they are simply amazing. The people liking them are not over-hyping them, they are just great, great stuff.

[Igormortis]

thanks for all the input dear people, greatly appreciated.  I also have oils and enamel effects at the ready.  when I tried the first time, I applied before priming subtle earth and mudeffects from MIG and AK, and vallejo rust to create texture on their shoulders and upper back, and at their waists where they emerge from the ground, then primed it. painted the skin antioch skin, cloth beige ish. and then applied brown washes and enamel effects. but it turned out into a brown blob so to speak, also the texture lost a lot of details because of these steps. it really looked a mess and not in a good way. so that didnt work out. 

 

what I also found out while earth and mudeffects look great when they are used for that and on larger scale models, it did seem to be too big regarding scale for these undead. I thought about doing it with fine sand but mud doesnt look like fine sand in structure, so I am kind of at a loss there, maybe I should skip doing it on the shoulders and upper back, just at the base where they emerge from the ground.

 

I will try it again with the tips you dear people gave me, thank you all

[deynon]

You can try this way also:

https://youtu.be/UiNd53LUs9s