Terrain – Some test paints

I decided to do some test painting on some of the scatter terrain before I got to any of the big pieces. I picked up some water-based stain product at Canadian Tire that I hoped would do part of the process for me.

 

I’m not certain about this stuff. Not because it isn’t effective, but because it kind of just looks like brown acrylic paint put into a bottle labelled “stain”. I have “Dark Walnut” and “Cognac” colours, because I wanted a variety to try.

The directions recommend applying with a sponge, then wiping off the excess – as with our paints, they are formulated to dry as-is, so if you don’t wipe off the excess you’ll get chunky bits left over. Here are 4 different test processes:

From left to right:

1. Dark Walnut, then drybrush Snakebite Leather, then drybrush Vomit Brown.
2. Cognac, then wash Seraphim Sepia, then drybrush Zamesi Desert. I had to use my finger to wipe some of the Zamesi off as it was a little moist for drybrushing. Then drybrush Vomit Brown.
3. Dark Walnut, then drybrush Mournfang Brown, then drybrush Tallarn Sand.
4. Cognac, then drybrush Vomit Brown.

So far #4, the far right, is winning in both looks and in ease of process. I sent this photo to some local friends and they preferred the ones done with the Cognac, so I’ve painted my entire scatter set in Cognac and now just have to drybrush the Vomit all over.

When it comes to the bigger buildings, I might try a variety of processes. Also, because these are water-based I may be able to mix with my acrylics anyway – maybe get some greyer wood, or redder wood etc.