Welcome back to another installment of Lessons from the Chief Slave. This time we have an absolute treat for you, as the Chief has produced an immaculate version of the Skaven Verminlord!

Once again this tutorial is focused on achieving an extremely high level of painting with minimal use of an airbrush and easy to follow brush techniques, however this time around the Chief has also incorporated some oil blending & highlights.

So let's turn things over to the man himself…

Planning the Verminlord Project

The Skaven Verminlord is another great plastic kit in The End Times series. This miniature presents some great opportunities to show case a series of techniques for both the beginner and experienced painter. Given the smaller details on this kit and lack of flat areas, this is also a miniature that rewards traditional brush work over the current air brushing trends.

As always with kits of this size I like to start out with a plan. This helps to set the tone and vibe I want the final composition to convey. Having agonised over which build to follow I decided to go with the Warbringer. I really wanted to build a variant with the glaive, plus the punch dagger was just a great opportunity for showing some cleaner armour edges. As the fluff for the Warbringer sets the tone of being ‘a poser’ at the fore front of the Skaven Army, I wanted to keep the tone clean by Skaven standards. I also wanted to convey a warm aggressive tone to the miniature. Therefore reds and warm skin tones would be used.

A big thanks to Mighty Ape Hobbies for supplying the Verminlord kit for this tutorial.

Step 1: Flesh

Painting large areas of flesh and getting musculature to look natural can be a challenge on a miniature of this size. The key is to be patient and build up the flesh tone over successive layers. The initial coat was Zandri Dust applied with an airbrush. This was to speed the process of application and give a smooth base.

A Sepia Wash was then applied, thinned 4:1 with glaze medium. I find when washing flesh thinning with a medium is essential to keep tones soft and to avoid pooling and dark splotches forming. If this happens it really is best to re basecoat and start again.

A layer of Ushabti Bone was then applied with very fine Screaming Skull highlights. Finally the entire miniature was sealed with matte varnish using an air brush and then white oil paint highlights were applied to raised areas of the flesh.

Because oil is very transparent, this allowed the existing acrylic layers to still show through creating a very soft transition. At some stage in the future I will do a detailed oil paint tutorial.

Step 2: Fur

To create a natural look the flesh and fur must be related. Therefore the initial stages (apart from the oil highlight) were followed for the fur. A wash using Vallejo Game Colour Flesh Wash was then applied, without thinning across the fur areas.

This was done to create a red warm tone to the fur. It was then highlighted with successive layers of Bestigor Flesh and Ungor Flesh. More layers were applied to lighten the fur around the miniatures head to draw the viewers’ attention to miniatures face.

Step 3: Armour

The armour is a great opportunity to apply some contrasting techniques to the miniature, against the softness of the skin tone blends. To keep with the warm aggressive look of the miniature you can’t go past red for the armour.

A basecoat of Mephiston Red was applied, a targeted was of Vallejo Game Colour Umber Shade was then applied to the recesses. I did not do a full wash as this can create patchy areas.

A general highlight of Evil Sunz Scarlet was then applied, followed by a very fine highlight of Fire Dragon Bright.

Fine edge highlights of this nature can be much easier if you use a good brush such as a Vallejo Sable brush. The highlights on this mini were achieved using a size 1 brush!

Step 4: Tail

Get ready for pain and torture. The tail on this guy took me 3 hours alone to complete. But it is such an integral part of the miniature as it sweeps down to frame the entire composition. Therefore it is worth taking your time and doing it properly.

If you did want to short cut this process I would advise using an airbrush and doing some quick colour transitions on it and then follow with spot highlights. My approach was to follow the White Dwarf recipe as it perfectly suited the tone I was aiming for.

First base with Bugmans Glow, then apply a Carroburg Crimson Wash. When dry highlight with Bugmans Glow, Cadian Flesh Tone and Kislev Flesh in successive layers always ensuring the highlights fall on the same side of tail segments. Finally highlight the spikes with Screaming Skull and Pallid Wych Flesh.

Step 5: Metal

I saw the metal areas a great opportunity to remind the viewer that the Verminlord is still a Skaven and therefore won't have perfectly polished weapons. I wanted the weapons to look deadly but old and corrupt. Initially I based with a 50:50 Black and Gunmetal mix (I used Vallejo Game Colour for this).

I then layered on Typhus Corrosion and dry brushed on Ryza Rust. Finally edge highlights and chipping was applied with Runefang Steel. These technical paints from GW are particularly good for this effect. I highly recommend trying them out if you haven't already.

Step 6: Quillion

To match with the old and corrupt look of the metal, I decided to go for a verdigris look to the bronze weapon elements. This approach is very quick to implement, again thanks to the technical paints. Base with Warplock Bronze, dry brush Hashut Copper, wash with Nihilakh Oxide and a finally light dry brush with Hashut Copper.

Step 7: Shaft

The shaft of the glaive adds a very important layer of depth to the miniature, moving from the back ground to foreground due to its position. I decided that I want this to be darker in appearance so it wasn't lost against the tones in the background miniature.

A base of Khorne Red was applied, followed by a wash of Vallejo Game Colour Black Wash. Highlights were then applied of Red Gore and finally spot highlights of Bestigor Flesh.

Step 8: Horns

With the horns I wanted to avoid a powdery look to the colour transitions. Therefore I needed to avoid airbrushing and dry brushing. Initial layering of Rhinox Hide, Skrag Brown and Ushabti Bone was applied using wet blending from a wet palette. All of the colours were thinned with drying retarder to assist in this process.

Once dry a set of brown tone oils and white oil was used to smooth the transitions further. Finally a dry brush from Ushabti Bone was applied to pick out the ridges on the horns. Spot highlights of Screaming Skull were then applied to the ridges.

Step 9: Warpstone

I did not take a series of step by step shots on the warp stone. But for interest I based with Vallejo Game Colour Dark Green , followed by a 50:50 mix of Dark Green and Moot Green, followed by pure Moot Green highlights.

Final spot highlights of Yriel Yellow were then applied.

Next Time: Scenic Basing…

Stay tuned for the next installment of Lessons from the Chief Slave, where the Chief will take us through how he based this epic model.

Until next time, Happy Painting!

From the Chief Slave.

Click the thumbnails below to zoom in on the step by step photos