MechaBriZilla Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I want to make winter themed bases for my Deathrattle army. Do any of you know, if I base in Agrellan Earth, can I then paint over it with white/blue tones to make it look more like cracked ice? Also, have any of you done winter bases in the past? Any advice? I'd like to not just cover the whole thing in glue on snow... Also, how does the mourn mountain snow work out? It doesn't come out as fluffy as traditional snow, but can it be made to look better than a layer of bumpy white cement? Saw it on a guys base one, and wasn't really impressed by the effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysandestolpe Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Hi, Winter-bases are always fun, but there are many different versions that may be done. My pet peeve with snow bases are that many go directly with snow instead of thinking more naturalistic. Here is why I think its wrong and why it is important to spend the time doing it right. Whether you are in an ice world or not, the snow lays on top of a surface. That surface needs to be the foundation of your base. Skipping this step makes it look like there is just snow. Unless you have a lord of the rings elf idea whereas your models have no weight, the snow would be shallow enough for this foundation to peek through. The best snowbases I have seen and imitated myself for my commissions have been to do a base with a dark/brown/grey-ish tone and a light drybrush to imitate frost. on top of this put a layer of thin all-purpose glue and sprinkle snow over the base to make it look blown and thinned out or I put snow in piles around, making it look like the snow has melted and frozen again over time creating a form of icy snow. You can also use the citadel texture snow paint. I found it working quite well and it was quick to adhere to the base if you had a foundation of gravel and sand on the base to lift the paint off the brush. Another way is carefully sand the bases a little more smooth and paint them with a blue-tone white feeling to reflect a ice foundation. Make sure the blue is not too deep but not completely white. The second is to do the same as described above. Piles or sprinkles. All and all, if you have citadels snow paint already in mind I would go with that. But do sand the base, paint it dark brown, drybrush it with a lighter brown and then put the snow however you'd like it to look. It will look better and elevate your models more professionally. Good luck and please post some pictures of your results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I'm looking to do something similar, i.e. clumps of snow on top of dark, bare earth. I've only done a quick test so far using: - Agrellan Earth on the parts that will stay bare - Thicker clumps of army painter snow mixed with 'Ardcoat on the rest Nice and simple, but I'm fairly happy with the results. The Agrellan Earth needs a drybrush, but the snow is looking pretty good - the 'Ardcoat both holds it in place and makes it sparkle just a little. Btw, I've heard some PVA glues can turn yellow over time which is why I avoided them altogether, so watch out for that! Also, I picked up one of the Citadel texture spreaders as I was finding the texture paints tricky to apply using a paintbrush, and I have to say it works unexpectedly well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mount Franklin Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I just finished a model with this method today! I'll post pictures in the morning I'll attach the guide I used for my ice (over the agrellan earth). I use agrellan earth for all sorts of things, though I'd recommend priming over it to give it some strength! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossMHoward Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I think cracked eggshells would be a good option for broken ice if you're thinking along those lines? The base and cracks would be blue and then the ice atop it would be blue and stippled with varying shades of white to make it look porous. To make it look as though the ice has cracked and refrozen you could paint a few thing layers of 'Ardcoat, vallejo water effects or another clear resin on top of this and add to that a tiny amount of white paint. So you have a subtle effect of Ice set above the cracks. Then you could cover the rest of the base in a snow flock or to keep it cheap, a combination of PVA and Bicarbonate of Soda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechaBriZilla Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 Wow! Thank you guys! Looks like I need to line up some test bases to see what I'm going to like the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flogger Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 You could always just buy a white or blue Crackle Paint, or even a clear one. It's not difficult to find and not everything needs to be GW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowspite Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 2 hours ago, Flogger said: You could always just buy a white or blue Crackle Paint, or even a clear one. It's not difficult to find and not everything needs to be GW Yeah, if you don't want the specific colour of Agrellan Earth, there are far cheaper crackle paints out there. Here's a tutorial for the best ice bases I've ever seen: LINK. Basically, if you want your ice to actually look like ice, use clear crackle paint over a light blue basecoat and then lightly drybrush with white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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