Nurgling Experiment

It took me long enough, but a few days ago I finally finished tinkering around with some nurglings and Contrast Paints, which I have never used before.

I spent a lot of time trying some different things with this base and although I’m not completely satisfied with how it all turned out, I learned a few things and look forward to doing the next two bases.

The major thing I learned is that Contrast Paints are basically high pigment stains that I was trying to treat like regular paints. For these little demons, I gave them a coat of Wraithbone and just went to town. For the next base I’m going to do the thing where you create light and shadow by priming black and then dry brushing with gray and white before painting.

I had fun with this little experiment, though I’m glad it is over. I got the miniature done in February, but hopefully this is up in time for it to be included in Dave Stone’s painting challenge.

My next post will be the roundup from my concluded Assembly Challenge. Until then, I have many more demons as well as demon-haunted men awaiting my tender painting ministrations.

18 comments

  1. Good looking Nurglings, Anne! I recommend playing with the contrast paints a lot – especially thinning and mixing with each other – and probably watching Stahly’s videos on them as well since there are several very different “types” of contrast paint with different properties that don’t distinguish themselves at all on the labels – because GW!

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    1. Thank you, John. I didn’t care for them at first but they have grown on me. The next two bases are going to look pretty different. Instead of basing with Wraithbone, I did the zenithal dry brush thing leaving quite a bit of gray and black. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

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    1. Thank you. I thought it would be more interesting than just making them all green, plus I wanted to learn more about using Contrast paints by trying different ones.

      I’m working on the other two bases using a different approach, which so far is resulting in a very different look. I didn’t really care for the first base very much but it has sort of grown on me. I could see painting up some Eldar Scorpions or some marines with that bright green color that resulted when I primed with Wraithbone and used the Green Mantis contrast paint then washed with Seraphim Sepia. I personally find it too cartoonish for Nurgle, but I do like it.

      It has been a good experiment so far, but I fear I’m going to have one base that looks all bright and cheerful amidst a bunch of dark, angrier nurglings. Oh well, in a crowd there’s always that group that tries to be different is there not? 🙂

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      1. Haha, I think in the lore all the Nurglings are meant to be malevolently cheery! If you end up planing to do multiple units for the gaming then you could have one made up of the brighter coloured bases and another of the angry ones.

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    1. Thank you. I had fun painting them and learning more about Contrast paints. I’m doing the other two bases using the dry brush method before using Contrast. They are coming out very different indeed.

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    1. So very true! I do like them. They are awfully cute sculpts, though I think people forget sometimes how cruel and awful they can really be. I watched an episode recently of Hammer & Bolter where some Nurgle sorcerer adopted a pet nurgling and while I found the episode kind of uninspired, I thought they captured the essence of nurglings very well indeed. Dark little fairies that love to laugh, but mainly at your misfortune.

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    1. Yes, you are right. At first I wasn’t impressed but as I continue to work with them, I’m a convert. Definitely another tool for the kit.

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  8. These look very putrescent, which I believe is a compliment in Nurgle terms ! LOL Have experimented with contrast paints, but not in the way they were designed for, but have found them useful ! LOL

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    1. Thank you. I agree, I’m finding them useful as well so far though for me it is early days yet. I’m doing the usual prime in black and dry brush in grey and white for the next two bases as well as a test poxwalker.

      I have 20 I painted up years ago, but I need another 10 to run the Combat Patrol formation with Typhus–I have the miniatures built to run all three formations on the app and I’m currently working on painting the “Gloeming Blades” and “The Shambling Horde” (Typhus) ones.

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