As shown in the Circle of Orboros commissions, here is how I made the forest bases. Before I started painting the figures, they were based using the basic grit shown
here. The bases were painted with the Reaper Master Series Woodstain Brown then left alone until after the figure was painted and sealed!
Remember SEAL Coat the figure first, before continuing on. This will make sure the figure is protected and the base undisturbed until you are done. Dont worry another spray seal coat will be applied when you are all finished with the basing if you wish. On to the tutorial!
STEP 1: Preperation
After following the tutorial in the Basic Dirt you will need the following:
An old paintbrush
PVA Glue
Dirt Flock
Secret Weapon Miniatures:
STEP 2: Get on With it!
So we have our Figure painted and sealed, base is painted up and ready to go. We will start with applying the Secret Weapon Pigments. Pigments can be tricky at first use. you dont need a lot on your brush. Pigments are ment to be dry and "rubbed in" to cover the area.
We start with Dark Earth Pigment.
Spread it over the base, covering most of the previously painted basing. Its ok if you get it one you miniature, it will add to the dirty effect (hence why I left it on the bottom of the cloak and feet).
IF you get some pigment where you dont want it, take a small brush with a BIT, tiny bit of water to wash it off. Make sure the water doesnt spread to the other pigment or it will make it wet and blend it into the paint, ruining the effect.
When finished, dont forget to "knock off" the excess by tapping on the underside of the base while it is upside-down. You can also gently blow on the top to remove excess, just do this facing away your paint area so you dont get it everywhere if you blow to hard.
STEP 3: Terracotta Earth
Next we apply Terracotta Earth Pigment, highlighting the previous pigment colors. This raises up the colors, just like using a drybrush.
Again, when finished dont forget to "knock off" the excess by tapping on the underside of the base while it is upside-down. You can also gently blow on the top to remove excess, just do this facing away your paint area so you dont get it everywhere if you blow to hard.
STEP 4: Exhaust Black
Here we drybrush the Exhaust Black Pigment over everything we just did. This helps to shade down the tones more earthly. Extra Exhaust Black was added under the cloak for deeper shading.
One last time, When finished, dont forget to "knock off" the excess by tapping on the underside of the base while it is upside-down. You can also gently blow on the top to remove excess, just do this facing away your paint area so you dont get it everywhere if you blow to hard.
STEP 5: The Dirty
Using PVA glue overtop of pigments is tricky. If spread around it will mix the pigments making them wet and turning into a thick paint, not really what we want. Just a dab here and there where you want the dirt flock to go, depending on how full you want your greens. Leave some space for the fallen and crushed leaves we will be making in the next step.
Add you favorite dirt flock, or grass flock to the PVA glue. Make sure the flock is a bit darker in color from the leaves you choose for color contrast.
Press in the excess, and "knock off" and/or blow the excess away from your work area.
STEP 6: Crush them Down!
Next up we take the Dark Green Leaf Litter from Secret Weapon Miniatures (as sen in the top of the pic) and crush it! Rub it together grind with a piantbrush end, or however you want to. It should look the bottom of the pic below).
Add PVA glue to the areas you want covered by the crushed leaves. Again you can cover the rest of the base, or leave it as open as you want.
STEP 7: Leafing the Base
For the finishing touches, we turn to Secret Weapon MIniatures Fallen Leaves: Fall Mix. This provides a variety of fall colors for the leaves.
Applying the Leaves is a simple step, take some PVA glue (a small dab) and add it to the the bottom of the leaf and press it into place. Do this for each leaf. Make sure you spread them out, leaves dont usually fall in clumps.
STEP 8: Reap your Enjoyment!
There you have it, forest bases all done! Looks pretty and livens up you painted figure.
If your careful with your figures you can go and play some games, or sit them on the shelf. For extra added protection, you can use a dull spray seal coat to make sure that stuff sticks to the bases, but it should hold as is currently. I didnt use one here, just because of paranoia I recently had with a can of spray sealer.
Here are some colors I used on the bases that were not covered in the tutorial, but are on some of the bases. All paints following are Reaper Master Series. Colors separated by a coma are just a drybrush blend starting at the darkest color, highlighting upwards.
Base Grit: Woodstain Brown
Stones: Stone Shadow, Stone Grey, Weathered Stone
Tree Parts: Blackend Brown, Shield Brown, Driftwood Brown.
