The Robes

I kept the base colour for the robes quite light, both because I wanted the colour to stay quite bright and lively, and also so that there would be plenty of room to add darker shadows and various colour nuances. The base coat was a mixture of RMS (Reaper Master Series) Spring Green, P3 Necrotite Green, and a touch of P3 Menoth White Highlight.

After the base coat, the first stage of the painting was to begin to add some shading, and define the shapes of the folds in the fabric. Using very dilute paint (I only use water to dilute), I gently painted thin glazes over the areas that would fall in shadows, according to an imagined zenithal source of light. I mixed a little dark orange-brown (like GW Bestial Brown) and dark grey-green (like P3 Cryx Bane Base) with the base colour for the first shading.

Next, after looking at the colour and the way it was developing with the rest of the scheme, I decided that the colour was looking a bit too yellow, and I wanted to make the green a bit stronger. To do this, I mixed a very dilute, but quite saturated green (like P3 Necrotite Green), and painted some glazes over the whole surface, tinting the colour.

Once I was satisfied with the colour modification, it was time to continue with the shading, and add some of the first highlights as well. For the shading, I mixed more dark brown and dark grey-green with the base colours, to make darker tones than the initial colour I used for the firs shading. I tried to use a little more of the brown in the lower parts of the robes, and more of the green-grey in the upper parts, to create some variation – this effect will become more apparent later. For the highlights, I mixed P3 Menoth White Highlight with the base colour, and also a touch of P3 rucksack tan to make the colour slightly more yellow (warmer).

Next, after examining the overall colour, I again decided that I needed to turn up the volume a bit on the colour, by increasing the saturation a little. So I mixed up some stronger colour – a strong green, and an orange-brown, and applied some glazes over the surface of the robes. For a bit of variation, and continuing the effect I mentioned earlier, I concentrated with the green glazes on the upper parts of the cloth, and more with the orange-brown on the lower parts. This was mainly just to make it a little more interesting, rather than maintaining the same colour all over the robes. Also, the lower parts of the robes stick out more, and therefore catch more light, so it makes some sense that they would also be a little warmer – but of course, I have greatly exaggerated this, as a ‘fantasy’ effect.

Then I went back and added more highlights, and emphasised the shadows even more. For the shading, I introduced some dark red-brown (something like GW Dark Flesh with a touch of black), and for the highlights, more P3 Menoth White Highlight – pure for the lightest parts.

To finish, I added some little touches for the final highlights with P3 Menoth White Highlight mixed with white. And then I added some dirt and ‘weathering’ around the bottom parts of the robes. To do this, I mixed a variety of brown colours, and then used a combination of stippling and random strokes with the brush (with diluted paint) to create the dirt effect.