Youre a better painter than I am, but the gap isnt so great as it is with those, and perhaps more importantly, youre still figuring this particular technique out yourself, which brings your tutorial to a level where I can actually get a handle on it. You can apply multiple layers of the paint if you want more color. You dont need opaque paint for this step. It helps us deliver to you the stuff you enjoy. Vary your line thickness. After a few failed attempts, I finally stumbled into something I liked the look of. So, this tutorial will use Obryn, who unfortunately has the worst base for showing off the marble effect. Its a nice big flat piece begging for some added interest. For most marbling effects, I often stop at this point and call this done. So, if you prefer video format, heres the tutorial I shot of painting the marble effect. But, the steps below is the easiest and fastest way to paint a compelling marble effect that strikes a balance between difficulty and overall impact. Thanks for the tutorial I plan to watch the video when time permits. Just a tiny bit of color will go a long way. Real marble isnt simply two colors! I totally meant to, but as I got painting I just kept going. A wet palette will make this process easier, allowing shades to be mixed without drying out. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account. It will take longer, and will require a few adjustments, but the effect will be the same. Now, I did do a video of this process,which is of questionable quality. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Ill have to give this a try, as it seems much more manageable than the other methods for marble Ive seen over the years. Use a low airbrush pressure to avoid blowing your stencil off the surface. It will help you achieve the marbleized effect later when you move to the next steps. Yeah, those bases are great already, so subtle would certainly work well there. Community Spotlight: Wargame Rankings and the Warhammer 40k Top-20 Players, Hammer of Math: Nephilim Secondary Data 8/1/2022, Tau Empire (Hunter Cadre) Kill Team Tactics, Blood Bowl Pearly Kings and Queens XVI Tournament Report, Warcry Heart of Ghur Review: Core Rules & Models, Song of Ice and Fire: House Lannister Updated. ), My Top Gift Ideas for Miniature Painters & Hobbyists + Gifts to Avoid, The Year That Was 2020 and Where Ive Been, How to Paint NMM (Non Metallic Metal) the Quick & Easy Way, Learning to Paint Freehand on Miniatures is Easy (Tutorial), Guide to Sealing/Varnishing Your Miniatures (Recommended Buys), How to Paint Miniatures: The Ultimate Guide You Need, 23 Miniature Painting Tips to Become a Better Painter. I personally use a glaze brush instead of a standard wash brush to ensure my shade doesnt spill over outside of the recesses on to the flat areas. Key things to remember for painting marble effects: You can find a video that summarizes this post at the bottom of the article. Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. So, I decided I wanted to paint marble effect on the bases of my Steelhearts Champions warband for Shadespire. Dont work from memory unless youve had a lot of practice painting marble or freehanding marble-like designs. I use an airbrush to apply 1-2 layers of a brown color. Keeping your paint thing will also help you avoid the splotchy effect that would make your marble look fake. Remember to keep the strokes tapered if you can. Lightly pull the brush across the surface and add little squiggles. The great thing about painting marble is that the random patterning is often easy to replicate if you take a organic approach. Yeah the kind of marble you want to create certainly affects what you can do with paint . Its encouraging to see that theres an easy way to get tabletop quality marble results for my Custodes army. Marvel at the pattern youve created. Ive also got an article on ways to become a better painter you may enjoy as well. Step 8: Apply glaze lines of 50/50 Mechanicus Standard Grey and Lahmian Medium. In my case, a quick glance at the reference image suggests other bit of veining happening across the surface. Step 3: Apply a coat of Ulthuan Grey. Yeah, I think thats part of whats put me off trying it in the past: All the examples and tutorials Id seen were by people who had mastered it, and were way beyond what Im capable of right now. Just a quick note on the process and fixing things you dont like. The most common ways that marble will be affected by weather and outdoor conditions are cracking and erosion from acid rain. Free newsletter with monthly updates (no spam). Go slowly with your liner. Keep your veins traveling in the same overall direction as the original stenciled veins underneath (in this case the veins are dark). What I think Italian Marble can be best when it comes to marble furniture they are shiny and beautiful more importantly they sustain their shine for a longer time. I figure Ill use this as a basis going forward for other marble stuff I do, and then just enhance it as needed and see what happens. Again, Steelheart (center), has the best one in my opinion. So, the paint Im using to create the pattern is my basecoat color (Pallid Wych Flesh) with some Eshin Grey (GW) mixed in. You dont need to spend much money or time for creating stencils. Please take a second to rate this. Marble is processed from raw stone, shaped, and finished by people. I wouldnt say this is necessary, but a solid grey or white prime would be good. When youre done with the varnish step, take a step back and admire your handy work! The veins threading through marble are the result of time and immense pressure. You can apply the varnish over the dried painted marble surface with an airbrush or a regular brush. Painting a Glow Effect/OSL on Miniatures Is Surprisingly Easy! These lines should be roughly 1mm in width and very translucent, with some looking slightly thicker than others. Ironically, I should have documented that experiment since that base came out the best. How do you paint marble effects on your miniatures? To sell the effect, you dont need much glaze at all. This is mostly by feel at this point, and to match the tone of the rest of the coach. When we see marble, we are witness to a process that took history to make. Nobody likes boring looking marble. If they have a particular pattern, stick with it throughout your painting. Here I came back with a mix of grey and white. Thanks tangibleday, it was a nice article. The ratios of paint I use here are rough estimates, and my process is largely done by feel. For reference. Pulling the paper fibers apart provides me with a pattern of holes that seem to mimic the marble pattern I want to make. Once you have an image you like, simply save it somewhere you can quickly glance at it as youre painting. I apologize a lot in the video, and Ill do it again here, the setup wasnt ideal for shooting. Much of the focus was on making the dark veins thinner and lighter. As always, if you have any questions of feedback, feel free to drop us a comment in the comments section below. This one shows more clearly what Im doing. Prime and then base coat your surface with the vein color, 3. Sweep the spray so you evenly coat the surface with the primary marble color. Note: You dont need an airbrush to paint marble. I use Dragonforge Design Studio bases, Sanctuary Line, which are perfect for players looking to paint the new Sisters of Battle. So, even if you prefer written format for painting tutorials, do check that video out briefly to catch the technique. This creates something that looks random, which is key to making this look real. The comment submission is a bit slow. And, the addition of the secondary color adds a bit more organic realism to the stone effect. The same thing again, but this time I take the pattern paint and dont thin it very much, just as much as I would for normal layer painting. I ensure that the pattern Im freehanding follows the general flow of the stenciled veining underneath. New Edition of Warmachine Announcement: Goonhammer Reacts! Surprisingly Easy Way to Paint Marble for Miniatures (How To), Miniature Marble Effect Painting Tutorial, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), The Easy Way to Paint Rust on Miniatures (How To), Learn How to Paint Lightning Bolts on Your Miniatures (Tutorial). You can think of marble as a multi-layered cake made of different types of rock baked together with huge amounts of heat and pressure. Blood Bowl OgreEnergy/Magical SwordFlames (Freehand)Gold in 7 StepsHive Fleet KrakenKonrad CurzeLava (Beginner & Advanced), Lightning (All Levels)Nighthaunts (Hexwraith Flame)Power Sword (40K)Marble in 4 StepsRealistic RustSkulls & Bones (4 Styles)Worn Leather. Of course, there are a few key elements you need to know for creating compelling, realistic looking marble. You can either make your own stencil, or buy them. You can of course paint your stones any color you want, but I figured Id tell you how I did mine in case you liked them. Recreating the marble appearance, of course, shouldnt take too long. To push the effect further, I do suggest adding a secondary color as a highlight over the first marble color. The camera hates whiteish colors. Using that mixed pattern paint, I apply it in a thin layer randomly. Step 6: Apply glaze lines of 50/50 Administratum Grey and Lahmian Medium moving in roughly the same direction across the surface of the base. During this time, the calcite (rock-forming material made of calcium rather than silicates) that forms the limestone recrystallizes into a denser rock. Marble could have dark veins in a bright surface, or vice versa. Or, perhaps, the original stenciled veins are traveling below the new veins youre freehanding. It is created from the mixing and layering of different minerals and other rock types. I figured if Im rusting up their armor then it makes sense he doesnt get to shave every day ;). For long stretchy lines, I like using a fine-liner paint brush with long bristles. You can use the same principle techniques outlined here with a regular brush. This created little pockets of white that is a common feature of marble. This is a very light grey and once again you will want to apply a minimum of three layers. For this step I came back with a shade slightly darker than the base layer and lighter than the veins. If you dont have one check out this guide to easily build a wet palette. I just dont have a proper camera, or general painting setup, for shooting good videos; its why you havent seen any for painting tutorials. In this case, I simply type marble in the Google search bar and scan the library of images that appear. Is the marble old, sitting out in the open under the weather? Hes the first model Ive done that 5 oclock shadow on ironically. An important use of the reference image is to make sure you stick to a single motif as you paint. When youre done, simply remove your stencil, carefully. Honestly, this whole tutorial process didnt go as planned. Learn how your comment data is processed. I took some advice and tips, but many of the tutorials were very lengthy. Credit: Joelle Icard, Getty Images. This created a thinned, transparent film of paint that I could apply over the surface of the painted marble. Dont worry about getting stuff perfect the first time. Do they look like bubbles, clouds, or sharp cracks? I just got the new set of AoS Objective markers, and a couple of them would look great in a marble effect. You may want to use a bit of painters tape to hold your stencil in place. Lightyears ahead of what I did, but they all took significant time and skill. For DIY stencils for marble painting, you can use steel wool marble effects or use generic baby wipes. If you need to batch paint a bunch of models with marbling, then something like this would work out pretty well. These other elements have colors that may accent the main tones and hues. In this article, were exploring how to paint marble surfaces. Ultimately though, for painting the marble effect, I didnt follow a tutorial. All we need is to know that marble is a cake with layers. To finish the marble texture a mix of 3:1 stonewall to black + a bit of medium was used to redefined parts of the vein structure and tie some of them together. I stay inside the middle of the pattern Ive created to add a more solid-looking line. I had tried using black to mix it in, but the contrast was too much for my liking. These should only be at the center of the thickest lines you have created so far. In this article, I show you how to paint the marble effect on any surface using simple techniques. When deciding what color glazes to use, or whether to use a glaze at all, it helps to think about where the marble exists in the imaginary space. In the natural world, marble may exist with other minerals embedded in the surface. I personally use an army painter grey, but honestly anything will do. One final step would be to use a gloss spray to give the marble a nice polished look to it. I have worked over most of the surface with stonewall grey mixed with a bit of matt medium, at least a 1:1 ratio. Prototypical marble isnt a natural product. Check out these other tutorials covering specific techniques. I do not want a shiny finish. I tended to focus more of the paint towards the top right corner of the shapes. The reason being that I forgot to cut from the video and take shots of the model at each stage. The marble is raw unfinished, honed. Keep the nozzle a fair distance away and lightly coat the model with the paint. Other times a layer might go on too dark. Still, I shot it, so I may as well show it, right? Youll be starting with two general colors: a dark and bright tone. The pictures arent great either. I used another model for this than the video. Keep your hand light and the paint thin. Using this green paint, I create a glaze by mixing in a bit of water and glazing medium on a palette (about 1:2 paint to thinner). However, what can you do? Prime your miniature surface with a suitable primer (here are my primer recommendations for miniatures). And, similarly, all you need for painting marble (or any miniature) is also time and pressure. Youll be painting over your stencils. Each has a unique motif of color, form, and pattern. Cant just go to the top in one leap. The body of the coach already has already been painted a lighter marble, so I want to tone down the dark lines and create some larger white areas. The best way to do this is to have a reference image available. If the marble is inside, maybe as part of the festoons of a well-kept temple or sanctuary (e.g., a fancy bathroom), then maybe a pristine glossy marble will serve you better. Marble statue of George Washington. There are many ways to paint marble on small surfaces, but this has been the quickest way for to achieve a realistic looking stone marble effect on models. It was used to open up and lighten some of the white areas. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. Give it a few seconds to post. The example Im using here is the top of the original Vampire Counts black coach. You dont want paint to pool on the surface of your miniature. I ordered hexagon marble for a small bathroom floor and it came in white rather than the breathe of gray color that was displayed in the showroom. We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website. In this case, remember your reference image. Thats just sloppy and will rob you of a good marble painting effect. Painting the marble effect on a miniature doesnt require a lot of fancy techniques or freehand drawing skill (though it helps!). You can use the marbleizing technique to paint miniature bases, stylize stone effects, and even create elaborate terrain pieces. I decided to paint the veins generally going from bottom left to top right. Maybe, its a bit of moss tinting the surface? Here are some cool stencils you can use for other airbrushing and painting effects on your miniatures. The basecoat on the stones is Pallid Wych Flesh (GW). Materials: Rafael 8404 brush (size 1), Wet Palette, Visual Reference (GIS) Matt medium is simply paint binder without pigment, added to paint it increases transparency without reducing body. Competitive Innovations in 9th: From Warp and Tomb, SRMs Ongoing Imperium Review: Week 15.5: Premium Issue 1, Necromunday How to Paint Everything: Ambull, Announcing the Goonhammer Open Maryland 2022, Goonhammer, 40kstats, and the ITC Battles App. However, I had three models to paint, and while I wanted something nice, I didnt need showpieces either. At first I was a bit disappointed with my marble. Its water soluble and usually washed away, but protected areas like those under overhangs will develop a black crust over time. What Im teaching here is the technique of painting marble, however, for full disclosure let me explain the color Im painting on. If so, then certainly a bit of weathering will help sell the effect. Another nice thing about making your own stencils for texture effects is that you can experiment. The main idea with DIY stencils for painting marble is to use something that has a thickness to it that will keep its shape when wet. Hopefully these approaches have inspired you to conduct your own research and work out your own method for painting marble, or theyve given you what you need to achieve the visual effects you were going for. Step 5: Apply a heavy dryrbush of Praxeti White. The thicker veins can be made thinner now, and in some spots I just added a small dot or streak of lighter grey to break up the thicker dark grey parts. For fun and styling your mable, you can use this idea as justification to add other colors to your marble surface. Play. If you want to get all scientific about it, a geologist will say that marble is a metamorphic rock that forms as a result of other existing rocks mixing together (i.e., metamorphism) with heat and pressure. Credit: Spencer Platt. The idea is to use a paint brush with long bristles that you can drag and twist along the surface to pull paint in a serpentine line. How to Paint Flames on Miniatures the Quick & Easy Way, Steelhearts Champions are Painted (Warhammer Underworlds), Creative Twilights Future and My Thoughts (Feedback Welcomed! Next I mixed a tone lighter than the base coat, the exact mix isnt too important at this point. The commission earned helps maintain this site. The Earth is a giant oven and deep below the surface magical things happen where minerals, chemicals, and rocks come together to form geological pastries. This avoids paint from blurring the edges of the veins. If you like the rusted armor then check out my tutorial for that. As you can see the effect is very subtle and I am by no means a master at it, but it is something you can perform quickly on a large number of bases. Brown dirt, green lichen, perhaps, could help the viewer see the marble as part of an outdoor, weathered object. Although crushed marble is used to build everything from roads to railroad beds, the material is prized for its beauty and used in architecture and sculpture around the world. I recommend a minimum of three keeping the layers thin so you dont lose any detail. In this case, my reference image suggests I use an ivory color. A mix of grey and black leaning towards black. If I was painting one showpiece model then Id gladly follow along with a tutorial that took 2 hours. Just make sure to avoid streaks. Its hard to pick up the whiteish marble and marbling on camera very well. In this case, I base coat the surface using a dark brown color. You can fix anything. Or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Feel free to look at pictures of actual marble for inspiration, but there should be an element of randomness to it. To do this, I chose a green paint. Using my airbrush, I apply 1-2 layers over the entire surface. Something like a 2:1 ratio. These programs are designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to these affiliated sites. You can of course use any brush you have, but ideally it will be a smaller brush youd use for detail work. A tip with this second highlight color is to spray it in a random pattern over the surface. In reality, natural marble is merely a type of rock with multiple elements and colorations mixed into it in layers. Make sure to allow each layer to dry completely before applying the next. That being said this method is also rather simple, and easy to learn with a bit of practice. I'm a huge fan of Blood Bowl and I have an endless collection of teams for it. Using marble effects can add significant interest to a model. I took to Twitter, asked fellow painters for tutorials and resources, and I was not disappointed. Of course, there are ways to push your marble effects further to give it a unique look and style. Marble is particularly susceptible to acid rain and weathering, and wears down over time. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. Different colors makeup the appearance of marble. Often what we see in our head is skewed from reality. Marble that has been cut into blocks and polished will typically have the trademark veined texture that people associate with marble, though marble can come in many colors and variations. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings. These once again need to be a thin glaze, but also thin in the sense that they fit within the previous Administratum grey lines. Marble is a type of rock formed when limestone is exposed to high temperatures and pressures.