Herald of Nurgle: The Corpse - Painting WIP

Last week I was busy with building frames for the modular gaming table, but I managed to apply all the base color on the second Herald of Nurgle aka The Corpse; the first stage of the skin (base, drybrush, wash, drybrush) was done at the same time when I kicked of the work on the first Herald aka The Carcasse.

On the weekend I started with the detail work, with the focus on all the metal parts. The brass bells and little emblems that are dangling in front of his loin cloth were a straight forward washing and drybrushing job using Warplock Bronze (basecoat), Sycorax Bronze (Drybrush), Balthasar Gold (Drybrush), Agrax Earthshade (Wash) Gehenna's Gold (Drybrush) and Runefang Steel (Edges). The rusty metal parts were a bit more challenging. Once the layer of Typhus Corrosion on the base coat of Leadbelcher it was a constant back and forth of stippling, gently drybrushing and blending Ryza Rust, Typhus Corrision and Leadbelcher until I got the effect I was looking for.

Something I did was  - as I would call - reverse-drybrushing or true dry drybrushing (I have no idea if there is a technical term for it. As rust is normally in the recesses and doesn't make sense to use Ryza Rust for drybrushing. What I did instead was applying the technical color into to recesses like normal paint and then use a dry brush for blending and smoothing it. It had been said before on various sites, but I will say it again: GW's technical colors are marvelous.


Another little useful insight I got by experimenting was the use of varnish to protect already painted parts (yes, there are masking tapes and paints available but what to do when it's late at night). I applied some Army Painter Anti-Shine Matt Varnish on the brass metal pieces with the result that I could swipe of any paint that got there while doing the messy washing/drybrushing work on the rusty metal parts with some water pretty easy.

Overall I am pretty happy with the result, even though I might touch up the brass emblems as they are still a bit too shiny compared to the bells. Next I will paint all the details like bones, horns, leather straps and the loin cloth (which most properly won't be grey) before I will do touch ups and the final highlight pass on the skin. The very last element I will paint is the raven. I have got an idea how it should look like, but it will be a bit of an experiment to see if I actually can achieve it.