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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: General:: Painting Tutorial: Cave Spiders

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by Sam and Max

Introduction: This painting tutorial is written for boardgamers who want their playing pieces painted fast, don't want to spend much money, and are new to painting. It emphasizes "quick and dirty" techniques, so don't expect display-level results. I also did some experimenting, only sometimes with good results. So don't always follow what I did, and learn from my mistakes. If you read my previous painting tutorials, the mold lines and priming steps are (almost) the same.

Zombie painting tutorial: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1148047/painting-tutorial-zo...
Goblin painting tutorial: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1144852/painting-tutorial-go...
Ettin painting tutorial: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1140289/painting-tutorial-et...
Secret Wash appearance directly on primed figures:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1129305/how-to-select-a-wash...

Colors used:
* Secret Weapon Washes: Brown (brown spiders)
* Secret Weapon Washes: Soft Body Black (black spider)

Un-assembly: Boardgame miniatures typically come "pre-assembled". The miniatures that have been molded in multiple parts are superglued together. However, this sometimes makes removal of mold lines from the miniature difficult, and often makes them hard to paint. The spiders are attached only by the abdomens to the base, and I recommend cutting them off from their bases, especially if you wish to paint the bases a separate color or glue sand to them. I didn't do this in the tutorial, but you should! If you want to save time, you can paint the spider and not use it with the base. Or, if you have some painting experience, you can decorate the base and put the spiders back on them at interesting poses!

Mold Lines: Mold lines are the "lines" of excess plastic on the miniature that should be cut off with a hobby knife, and filed off with small files. An engraving pen (under $10 at some craft stores) is a small handheld battery-operated "drill" with an industrial diamond-tipped head that will remove mold lines *much* faster. After removing mold lines, clean the figures in hot soapy water to remove the mold release agent, an oil. If you find mold lines after priming, you can still remove them. You can either spray white primer again, or use clear gesss (about $8 at craft stores) to paint over the plastic to "prime" the model for painting.

Priming and Pre-Shading: To get the paint to stick to the plastic, spray the miniature with primer. Hardware stores sell spray primer, and make sure to purchase primer that says it will bond to plastic. When spraying primer, first clear the nozzle with a quick burst not aimed towards the miniature, then spray in sweeps starting a few inches to the side of the miniature. With pre-shading, first completely prime the miniature black. Then lightly coat it in grey, then white, inspecting the miniature between sprays. You want the raised surfaces to be white, and recesses to be black. The black will give you a head start with shadows on the miniature, and the white areas will make highlights easier. Search on "zenithal priming" for additional techniques.



Forgot to take a picture of the pre-shaded miniatures, so here's a preview picture of a wash directly applied to the primed miniature.


Next: Pre-washing!

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