Painting HeroQuest: Episode 17 - Mentor

Steps

1. 1 Paint all the sunken runes across the vestments with Retributor Armour, working the gold well down into the recesses.
2. 2 Dry-brush Mephiston Red over the gold areas, keeping out of the recesses so the sunken gold stays visible.
3. 3 Base-coat the skin — hands and face — with Resurrection Flesh.
4. 4 Base-coat the inner sleeves with Pale Grey Blue and the darker parts of the robe with Night Blue.
5. 5 Base-coat the beard with Basalt Grey.
6. 6 Touch up the vestments' red areas missed by the dry brush or covered by blue — including the fabric bunched at the bottom, the shoulder adornments, and the collar — with Mephiston Red, still avoiding the gold recesses.
7. 7 Paint the spellbook's cover with Mournfang Brown and its pages with Warm Grey.
8. 8 Paint the medallion and chain, the clasp holding the beard braids, and the gold adornments on the spellbook with Retributor Armour.
9. 9 Wash the textured front of the cloak, and the rest of the cloak apart from the red areas, with Nuln Oil.
10. 10 Dot the eyes with Offwhite, then highlight the darker blue cloak areas with a Night Blue and Pale Grey Blue mix, followed by a pure Pale Grey Blue highlight on the lighter inner cloak and a light dry-brush over the textured lower robe.
11. 11 Highlight the red vestments by mixing Bloody Red into Mephiston Red, then push a second, brighter highlight by mixing in Elf Skintone for the uppermost edges.
12. 12 Shape the eyes and pupils with Decay Black, paint the base rim and sketch faint writing and a pentagram inside the spellbook with Hull Red, wash the medallion and chain with Reikland Fleshshade, and paint the eyebrows with Basalt Grey.
13. 13 Build up the beard and hair in short, layered strokes, mixing progressively more Silver Grey into Basalt Grey and finishing with a touch of Offwhite mixed in for the brightest highlight, including the eyebrows.
14. 14 Reestablish the gold on the medallion and chain with Retributor Armour, then highlight it and the book's gold details with Polished Gold mixed in.
15. 15 Clean up the face with Resurrection Flesh to redefine the eyes and eyebrows, then highlight all the skin with Flayed One Flesh mixed into Resurrection Flesh, focusing on the fingers, cheekbones, nose, and forehead.
16. 16 Finish with a sparing wash of Nuln Oil to deepen the shadow in the beard's separation lines and under the cloak's sleeves.

Paints used

• Basalt Grey (AK Interactive)

  Base coat for the beard and eyebrows; mixed with Silver Grey and Offwhite for the beard/hair highlights

• Bloody Red (Vallejo Game Color)

  Mixed into Mephiston Red for the first highlight layer on the red vestments

• Decay Black (Scalecolor)

  Roughing in the shape of the eyes and the pupils, cleaned up afterward

• Elf Skintone (Vallejo Game Color)

  Mixed into the red highlight for the brightest, uppermost edges of the vestments

• Flayed One Flesh (Citadel)

  Mixed into Resurrection Flesh to highlight the skin, especially the fingers, cheekbones, nose, and forehead

• Hull Red (Vallejo Model Color)

  Base rim, and faint writing and a pentagram sketched inside the spellbook

• Mephiston Red (Citadel)

  Dry-brushed over the gold runes and used to touch up the vestments' red areas; mixed with Bloody Red for the first highlight

• Mournfang Brown (Citadel)

  Cover of the spellbook

• Night Blue (Vallejo Game Color)

  Base coat for the darker parts of the robe; mixed with Pale Grey Blue for the first cloak highlight

• Nuln Oil (Citadel)

  Wash over the cloak; applied sparingly at the end for extra shadow in the beard and cloak sleeves

• Offwhite (AK Interactive)

  Eye dots, and mixed into Silver Grey for the brightest hair highlight

• Pale Grey Blue (Vallejo Model Color)

  Base coat for the inner sleeves; mixed with Night Blue and used pure to highlight the cloak

• Polished Gold (Vallejo Game Color)

  Mixed into Retributor Armour to highlight the medallion, chain, and book gold details

• Reikland Fleshshade (Citadel)

  Wash over the medallion and chain; also useful for tidying stray skin paint between the fingers

• Resurrection Flesh (Scalecolor)

  Base coat for all the skin; reapplied to clean up and redefine the eyes and eyebrows

• Retributor Armour (Citadel)

  Base coat for the sunken runes on the vestments and for the medallion, chain, beard clasp, and book gold

• Silver Grey (AK Interactive)

  Mixed progressively into Basalt Grey to build up the beard and hair highlights

• Warm Grey (AK Interactive)

  Pages of the spellbook