Painting The Leviathan
their own mold lines, so everything should be carefully
examined. After the parts have been smoothed, the figure
should be washed with some soapy water (dishwashing
soap is fine) to remove excess oils and residue from the
molds. This will help glue and primer paint adhere better
to the miniature. Once the miniature is fully cleaned and
dried, the arms can be attached to the torso using a “superglue” otherwise known as cyanoacrylate (CA) glue.
step-by-step painting guide by Eric Louchard
Introduction
Painting metal miniatures is a relaxing hobby that
involves many different artistic techniques. This stepby-step guide to painting one of the miniatures from
Undercoat
the Dark Mariner force, the Leviathan from Cavalcade
Wargames, focuses on how to use thin glazes to create
Now that the figure has been prepared it needs to
subtle changes in color and add depth to shadows and be primed with an undercoat so that the paint will stick
highlights. Practice with these techniques can help to well. Painting on bare metal is not recommended, as the
create a striking model for the ShadowSea battlefield.
paint will rub off easily. Any white enamel spray primer
or brush-on white primer will work well for this purpose
and will create a strong base layer. Completely cover the
figure with primer. Once that is done we can start on the
basic theory used in the painting steps.
Thinning Paint
Miniature Preparation
Miniatures often come in a number of parts that need
preparation and construction. These parts need to be
cleaned of mold lines and flash, the excess metal that is the
result of the casting process. For the Leviathan, the main
mold line runs along the torso, following along around
the entire figure, and needs to be shaved down with a
hobby knife or filed down with a fine-toothed file.
Separate parts, such as the claw and metal base will have
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There are three basic densities of paint that will be
used in this paint guide. The first density is used for base
coats and is essentially the paint straight from the bottle
or tube, mixed with a bit of water so that it has about
80% paint and 20% thinner. Any brand of paint is fine
to use, but pure colors tend to work better for thin layers
and subtle color changes, so the guide will refer to artist
acrylic color names (burnt umber, pthlalo blue, etc.) from
Liquitex and Golden. If the paint comes in a bottle,
make sure to shake well before use to completely mix the
pigment with its medium so that it does not separate on
your palette. Squirt a drop of paint on the palette - any
piece of plastic or aluminum foil works well. If it does
separate, you can mix it together on the palette. When
the base coats are applied it is best to clean the brush after
each color is applied so that residual paint has not dried in
the bristles and will not mix in with the next color.
The second density is used for building up highlights
and shadows on the base coat and is called a “wash”. It is
roughly 50% paint and 50% thinner, so that the color is
still strong but translucent and appears to be like a heavy
cream in how it flows from the brush. The third density is
used for glazes, and is roughly 10% paint to 90% thinner.
The end result is almost like colored water and should
flow easily. You will be able to see the underlying color but
the paint will tint it slightly.
Multiple applications of glazes build up a rich color
gradient and will be explored more during the step-by-
step process of painting the Leviathan. The percentages thinned slightly with water, can be used to give immediate
of paint and thinner are estimations and there are infinite shading without losing color purity. Adding more varnish
variations between these three densities, but in general and water makes is better to get a glaze of color.
these are the thinning levels that will be used most.
Contrasting colors are often used in painting to
increase the depth of the overall composition. Glazes of
green for shadows on reds are often visually appealing,
and can be easily added with thin layers. It is good to try
and experiment with glazing to add character.
Step 1: Base Coats and Glazes
Glaze Theory and Application
With this method, instead of painting dark to light,
as one does when using a black undercoat or dark base
coats, we will paint light to dark, shading down from a
bright base coat. This give one a great deal of control over
the color transitions, as each glaze builds color depth and
smooths out the previous layer.
Inks provide an additional way to add color depth
while glazing. One can substitute inks for paint in any
of the steps, but it is best added with a touch of matte
varnish or some glaze medium so it does not leave streaks
or build up on the surfaces. The varnish acts to keep the
pigment flowing into cracks and crevices so the color flows
naturally. A mixture of equal parts matte varnish and ink,
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The first steps for the Leviathan were to prime in white
and add some base coats and washes. The tentacles were
painted with turquoise+white, mixed with some Liquitex
flow-aid and matte medium.
This was followed up with a few glazes of dark pthalo
blue ink on the bottom of the tentacles where the suckers
are located, and in between all of them. An additional
glaze of dioxazene purple was added to the suckers..
The carapace armor plates were given a single coat
of yellow cream color (white+raw sienna). The gold scale
armor and anklets were given a thin coat of a yellowishbrown (raw sienna+yellow), although any mix of yellow
and brown probably would have worked fine. The idea
is to have something simple to build up on, although the
later glazes will end up changing the colors considerably.
In the end, the base coat is simply what will show through
the later color glazes.
Step 2: Washes
The goal of applying washes in this step is to tint the
carapace and scale armor, adding depth and mid-tones.
The carapace was given a wash of burnt sienna paint,
mixed with water, flow aid and matte medium to give
it some more thickness. This combination of water and
mediums is also called a “wash medium”.
The scale armor skirt was given a wash of a dark bluegreen made with black+yellow+a touch of pthalo blue as
well as the wash medium. More black was added where
the wash was applied in the shadows. A final thin glaze of
yellow-brown was applied as a highlight on the scales near
the center. This was done while the dark green was semiwet so there was a little bit of blending that automatically
occurred.
The glazes take a few hours to be totally set in all of
the cracks and crevices, so it is good to let the figure sit
and take a break while it dries. If there is no time for
breaks, a fan is very useful for drying the washes quickly.
with the wash medium, applying from the bottom up,
meaning that the thickest wash is applied at the bottom,
and is brushed upwards. As the wash is applied further
up, it is thinned a bit with more water so that it is more
transparent at the top of the carapace.
The effect at the top of the carapace is therefore more
like a glaze, as there is not as much liquid as compared
to a wash. Black+purple was painted at the underside of
plates and in the cracks.
The tentacles were give additional blue glazes where
they meet the body, and the base was painted with a layer
of tan, with a touch of green. The scale armor was glazed
with pthalo green+pthalo blue around the beltline.
The golden skirt was done in non-metallic style,
highlighted with yellow+ivory, with some additional
shading with burnt umber and pthalo blue/green inks. To
even out the contrast between light and dark, a glaze of
opaque yellow-ivory was painted on the scales, with more
applied near the center of the skirt. A small dot of white
was added about midway up the gold scales to indicate a
reflection hotspot. This was only done on the brightest
scales in the center of the skirt.
Step 6: Final Touches
Step 5: Clean-up
Step 4: Opaque Highlights
The fourth step was focused on highlighting the
carapace, gold scales and anklets. These highlights were
going to be shaded down with glazes of color later, but for
now they help to show the texture of the miniature.
The main highlight color is ivory or any off-white
opaque
color, painted in thin layers on some sections of
Step 3: Shading Down
the carapace, and at full thickness on the edges. When
The third step involved shading down the main colors using glazes for highlighting, the brush is not loaded to
with washes and glazes. The objective was to have a basic the dripping point with liquid. It is loaded just enough
dark/mid/light transition for the figure, made up of many so that one can paint a fine line on paper, so it is good to
differnet color mixes. The carapace was shaded with a mix have some paper handy to test consistency.
of dark brown (raw umber) and purple (dioxazine purple)
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with thinned white and small lines were applied crosswise
along the length to give some texture.
The carapace was given some glazes of pthalo green
ink around the barnacles to signify a little bit of algal
growth. This will be built up later with green paint. Some
additional glazes of burnt sienna were applied to tone
down then highlights. Spines were given additional white
highlights and eyeballs were painted with golden yellow.
The fifth step is where the figure really started to
take shape and the color were unified a bit more. The
tentacles were cleaned up with titanium white+turquoise
ink, blending up to almost pure while. blending was done
with glazes of mixed colors in successive layers, lightly
brushing with multiple strokes. Transparent colors overlap
and appear to blend together.
Pthalo green ink was applied as a glaze where the
tentacles join with the body. The tips of the tentacles were
also glazed with purple ink. Finally, a very light glaze of
golden yellow was applied to the tops of the tentacles over
the greenish sections joining the body but not over the
purple at the tips. When this dried, small dots of golden
yellow were painted all over the tentacles, stopping before
the purple. The edges of the tentacles were highlighted
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The final steps can often be the hardest, as there
are always mistakes to fix and new ideas that come up.
To finish up the leviathan, all of the overhanging parts,
such as the carapace and tentacles, were given additional
shadows of pthalo blue and dark brown burnt umber. The
bone belt and breathing tubes were done with a mix of tan
and brown, highlighted up with white. Forest green was
applied in thin glazes, and highlighted with green+ivory
to make the algae around the barnacles and tie together
the whole figure. The eyes were done with dark yellow,
highlighted with white. A pupil line, typical of octopi,
was done in black, with a thin line of white painted under
it. The base was washed with dark brown with a touch of
blue and green, and highlights were done with ivory. A
tinge of pink was put in the conch for color. The figure
was put on a plastic base and is now ready for gameplay.
Painted Miniatures by Eric Louchard
www.lonebrushman.net
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