In the last post on this Underworld project I alluded to a change in direction for the project. Some of the models in this project are among the favourite I have ever kitbashed, but when it came to painting, I went with a drab orange and dark blue scheme and my at the time typical style and on reflection, it’s really not doing them any justice. I think I can pinpoint the point at which I started to paint the models as the point when the project stalled and got shelved. I mentioned in the intro that the “schtick” for this project would be magnetised models, but I think that was probably not enough – I need a painting style as well.
One of the painting styles I’ve become aware of in the last few years is the “comic book style” perfected (and quite possibly originated) by (Patreon link), whose Orks you may well have seen (see the below example, a still from the Thunderbrush YouTube channel).
To cut a long story short, I decided to learn it. Not only is this a unique style and challenge forany painter, but I also feel it fits perfectly the off the wall nature of Blood Bowl and the artwork GW produce for the game. I started with a spare Dark Elf lineman, which didn’t go well, and was abandoned half way…
Then I moved on to a spare Skaven lineman, which I think on the whole did go pretty well.
Here’s what I learned while trying to pick up the style…
- Get expert help. I started trying to learn the style only from following my instinct and looking at models and watching a YouTube video or two. I didn’t appreciate a lot of what goes into the style and it only really clicked once I subscribed to the Thunderbrush Studios Patreon and got access to all their PDF guides plus the ability to chat directly with the person who has already perfected the style. If you want to mimic this style, I can’t recommend enough that you do the same.
- Outlining absolutely everything is absolutely necessary… but possible. I thought it would be okay to skip outlining some tiny details, but I was wrong. When I realised this, my first reaction was that the level of detail on the models I was painting was prohibitive, but I persevered and found it really is possible for me to more or less outline the tiniest details.
- Trust the process is an important mantra. This is true of many paint styles, and most approaches to painting miniatures have a point where the model looks bad. But oh boy, comic book models look like utter garbage for a long time. In fact, it’s such a particular style that I wasn’t really fully sold on my test model until I’d finished the base it stands on.
- Forget almost everything you know about miniature painting. Counterintuitive is the name of the game here. No smooth blending. Black lining where you’d normally edge highlight. And almost the more vibrant and clashing the colours, the better.
- It’s slow, but meditative. Single figures take hours to do, the antithesis of everything else I’ve been painting recently where I’ve been working more with zenithal undercoats, contrast paints and a couple of quick and dirty tricks to churn out models in a fraction of the time. But despite this I’m not put off using this style on a whole team and found it quite a pleasing almost “automatic” style, especially once you reach the black lining stage.
I actually learned a load more than this but I am purposefully not going into the detail of how to actually paint this style as that would be unfair on the creator who published the guides I learned from.
So with the test model done I am ready and excited to paint the rest of the team. This new painting style is the first part of the change of direction. The second part is the expansion of the team to one that can also be used as a College of Shadow team for Dungeon Bowl, a hilarious and even more zany version of the game that mixes the usual races up. Shadow teams basically merge Skaven and Goblins (i.e. Underworld) with Dark Elves (and that explains why I randomly had a spare Dark Elf to use in my aborted first try).