Basing - A short tutorial

Today, I thought I'd do a short walk-through/tutorial on how I do my bases.

A zealous crusader knight charges across the blasted earth.

For a long time, I was never quite happy with how my bases turned out. So I did a lot of experimenting with colours and styles, until I hit on this formula, which I basically use for everything now. I am still refining it though, and adding new things to the technique. An example is the rocks and slabs, which are a recent thing I've picked up on.

So in this post, we'll be going from this:

to this:

Step 1 - Base-ics

Basing is allways the first thing I paint on a miniature. Since drybrushing can be very messy, I prefer to get it out of the way, so I dont have to worry about ruinning a paintjob I've spent hours on.

Whenever I have some greenstuff in excess after filling gaps and other stuff, I tend to use it to sculpt cobblestones and similar detail on unused bases, so that, when I put together a miniature, I have some interesting detailed bases ready for it. This is nothing major, but just making some irregular shapes and blobs at various parts of the base.

I then prime the miniature (black gesso followed by a light, zenithal, spraycoat with grey) and repaint the base black
After that, I glue sand to the base (gathered from outside - My current batch is from a volleyball court that was next to my previous appartment). I try to get a few larger pebbles in there, though I take care that they aren't too large, as those tend to break off.
After the PVA is dry, I coat the entire thing in black gesso again, and set it aside to dry for a bit.

Notice the texture - even, but not too even, with a few larger pebbles.

Step 2 - Painting

First off, I put together a colour swatch:

These are, in order from left to right; Vallejo Model Color (VMC) Chocolate Brown, VMC Flat Earth (GW Bestial Brown equivalent), VMC Yellow Ochre and VMC Pale Sand (GW Bleached Bone equivalent)
For the greys, I am starting with Privateer Press P3 Cryx Bane base, mixing Bane Base with VMC Neutral Grey. Then Neutral Grey on its own. Neutral Grey mixed with VMC Sky Grey, and then Sky Grey on its own.



Thus; I start out with a heavy brush over of the Chocolate Brown. This is not 100% a basecoat, but more of a "wet" brybrush - If a little bit of black shows through, it can sometimes enhance the look, though I try to get the brown to cover most of the base.
(I think this barely needs to be said, but remember to thin your paints - plain water will do)

Chocolate Brown - Notice that its quite dark at this stage.

After this, I just successively drybrush the other colours on, getting lighter and lighter with the application each time.

Flat Earth - This is a very heavy overbrush - The important part is to get decent coverage. Sometimes, two passes might be needed.

Yellow Ochre - This is a regular drybrush

Pale Sand - Again, two drybrushes might be needed. It is important that the grit of the sand is really articulated at this stage. Don't go too heavy though, or the paint might obscure the layers. Notice also that I've basecoated the rocks.

3 - Rocks

After the drybrushing is done, I pick out any larger pebbles and stones with Cryx Bane Base.

I mix Cryx Bane Base about 50/50 with Neutral Grey, and then layer it on, being careful to leave some Cryx Bane Base in the recess. This acts like blacklining, defining the shapes of the stones, and making them stand out better once finished.

Next I layer with Neutral Grey - At this point, I do some minor highlighting, by leaving the previous layer where shadows would fall. This is the main colour of the stones, where the previous layer acts as the shading.

I forgot to take a picture of the previous step: I start highlighting by painting along the edges with the Neutral Grey + Sky Grey mix, and also picking out any raised areas. Then I finish with a highlight of pure Sky Grey, applying it sparsely to only the most raised areas and edges. It is important not to overdo this last part-.

After the final layer, I paint the base edges black (covering up the drybrush-splotches) with the Gesso again - This dries to a very matte black, which I think looks great! I always paint the edges of my bases black, as I simply just think it looks the best. However, depending on the flock, I can imagine that this type of basing could look good with dark green edges (Cryx bane Base in this case), though I reall ydo think black is the best choice. It makes them blend in well on almost any tabletop, especially with some flock.

And thats about it. I usually add flock at this point, but have left it out in this case, as I am considering doing snow-bases on these guys, and I need to buy some new basing materiels for that.

For your viewing pleasure, here's some pictures of the finished miniature, a 3rd Crusade dismounted Knight with Axe from Black Tree Designs. Really excellent miniature.

The eagle is vaguely based on the emblem of my birthplace - though not actually that close. The main part of the design is this hideous eagle, that I've tried to replicate here. I'll have to give it a couple more tries, with proper reference.

Hope you enjoyed this quick little showcase.