WIP: Chaos aspiring champion scenic base.

 As I've kept the model very standard I thought I would go all out on the base for my competition entry.  I've kept it quite dark and monochrome so as not to distract from the model.  Read on for more pictures and details of how I painted it...



The base is a dreadnought sized base with a broken pillar from the 'arcane ruins' WHFB scenery set.  I used some pebbles salvaged from my guttering for the boulders and sand to fill in the gaps.  Here are some photos taken after spraying it black.

You might just notice the details that I included to tie the model thematically to the base.  As I chose the Crimson Slaughter for my paint scheme I've put some space marine 'left overs' on the base which I will paint up as Dark Angels to match the fluff.
I've never really painted scenery before so I thought I would do some research into how to get an interesting stone colour.  If you just paint it grey and wash with nuln oil you get a very flat unnatural effect. Luckily for me James Wappel over at James Wappel Miniature Painting has just done a series of How To's on his shaded basecoat technique, so I thought I would give it a go.

First you work fast and loose covering the base in the colours you want.  I wanted to contrast with the warm red and gold in the model so I went for cold blue and grey.

It looks kind of weird at this stage but bare with it.  Then I used three washes to darken it down, firstly agrax earthshade, then camoshade, both applied very liberally and finally drakenhof nightshade in the recesses only.  This gives it a really complex colour some areas are browny, some greeny some very dark blue. Just like real stone with moss and dirt all over it.  When the washes had eventually dried I drybrushed with a mix of a mid grey and steal legion drab and then again with just a mid grey.  With the stone finished I went back and painted the helmet and bolter but keeping them deliberately dark so as not to draw attention away from the miniature.

I just have to put the model on before tomorrow... The model has to be in the shop by 12 and voting is from 12 till 2 so I'll try and let everyone know how it goes asap.

As always any comments or questions are very welcome.