The basics of the process flow is as follows:
- Prime. Airbrush first with black and then, from above, with grey,
- Base coats. First using the airbrush as much as possible, then with paint brush,
- Gloss varnish,
- Shade. Applied a 50/50 mix of Army Painter Soft Tone and Army Painter Wash Medium,
- Apply details to base,
- Matte varnish.
For the main bark colour I first applied Baneblade Brown and the highlighted up through Ushabti Bone and finally Screaming Skull. The green accents were applied with Caliban Green. The leaves were painted Moot Green and the bark 'robe' was painted Waagh! Flesh. Finally, the blue runes were painted with slightly diluted Baharoth Blue.
For the base, I airbrushed Dryad Bark and then highlighted areas with Gorthor Brown and Baneblade Brown. The wood details were painted with Mournfang Brown whilst the sprites were painted White Scar and glazed with Gulliman Blue and Bloodletter. Other details like the rocks and skulls were painted with the Mechanicus Standard Grey/Zandri Dust and highlighted up with the standard colours detailed in the Citadel Painting System.
After the gloss varnish had been applied I mixed up the 50/50 mix of Soft Tone and Mixing Medium. This is the first time I had used these washes but the wash mix worked perfectly! the wash toned down the colour scheme perfectly and applied a subtly shade with no coffee staining! the wash also completed matted down the models which was nice!
Finally, I turned my attention to the bases. First off I applied tufts of Daffodils to roughly half the models. After that, I applied some vibrant grass flock and finally added some leaves onto the rocks. to seal everything in place I applied a heavily diluted PVA/water mix to the bases. Once that had dried I painted the rim of the bases with Steel Legion Drab and applied a light coat of matte varnish.
In conclusion, I'm super happy with this unit. It's easily the best unit of models I've painted and fills me with great confidence as to how my Sylvaneth force will turn out. I've spent an awful lot of time thinking about my painting technique finding a process which fits my style. I've finally found it and the feeling that the models I'm producing are closer to the standards I set myself is fantastic!
Next up to apply the same process to a Branchwych.