Tutorial: Rock Bases

Crafting a Rock Base
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fter the previously mentioned wash has been applied to the rocks, it's a simple task to work on the base. Once again I used GW Scorched Brown, highlighted with GW Graveyard Earth and then a mix of Graveyard Earth and Bleached Bone.

After the wash.
This image shows the rock base with final highlights of white, done after the green-black wash has dried.
Sometimes a little extra-light drybrushing of the highest stone colours (white, light grey) is required after a wash. Though this one uses the green-black based wash previously mentioned, you can achieve different effects with red-black or orange-black washes.

All that remains are the final touches like static grass. You have plenty of choices here. If you opt to use the Games Workshop brand, note that it's considerably more expensive than other brands such as Woodland Scenics. However, it has mixed fibers of varying colours and therefore doesn't require much if any highlighting. The Woodland Scenics varieties come in 32oz shakers and cost about twice as much as the Games Workshop brand, but you end up with ten times as much. If you only intend to do a few miniatures, Games Workshop is the most cost effective, but if you intend to do an entire army (or, like me, a collection consisting of literally thousands of miniatures) mixing your own static grass from various Woodland Scenics colours might be a better choice.
The finished base, ready for a figure.
The finished bark base, with mushroom. Notice the lichen effect on the rocks. This was achieved by dappling various shades of green. A very simple effect, but one which adds an extra nice touch and keeps the grey from being too monotonous.
The finished base, ready for a figure.
This flying base (a miniature will be mounted to the top of the wire) was done without grey, resulting in a much more useful sandstone-like rock.
Overall, it's simplicity itself to paint a rock in suitable slate shades. This neutral grey, as I mentioned, works in a multitude of environments, ranging from tundra to jungle to temperate forest to farmland fields. It doesn't work quite so well in desert environments. This, of course, is due to the fact that most desert rocks are sandstone, which is often a reddish or beige rock. For that, we'll turn to drybrushing again but a different palette.

Alternating between layers of brown and grey does not work quite as well for sandstone or beige-based stone. It does however make for a nice sulphuric looking rock. For sandstone, alternate between yellow-based browns and red-based browns, highlight with beiges and cream tones. Rather than using a green-black wash for the final stages, the effect can be strongly enhanced with a wash of a deep red brown, such as GW Dark Flesh. It is important to keep this thin and applied mostly in the recesses.
Alternates in sulphuric browns.
The colours for sulphuric rock: Vallejo SS Camo Black #822, followed by GW Bestial Brown, GW Codex Grey, GW Snakebite Leather, GW Bleached Bone, and then GW Bleached Bone with white.


 
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