Assassin's Creed Brotherhood of Venice

Continuing to explore the Army Painter Speed Paints (APSP), I decided to paint the fast travel stations next.

After a discussion with a friend I decided to do an experiment to see what effects could be achieved with different techniques.

I began by doing a black white zenithal highlight to the the fast travel stations.

The first one I painted with APSP as follows

Stonework – Pallid Bone

Roof – Plasmatic Bolt

Archway and gate – Grim Black

I was unhappy with the verdigris colour on the roof as I felt it was too washed out so I applied a second coat of Plasmatic bolt with just a hint of Camo Cloak. This colour I felt was too green. There is no pleasing me, I guess. :~]

My friend had suggested undershading before applying contrast as he had found the brickwork was poorly defined when he painted his set with standard acrylic paints and washes. So from the zenithal I applied Citadel Nuln Oil over the whole model and when this was dry applied a drybrush of Vallejo Model Color (VMC) White to bring back up the highlights.

This second model was then painted as the first except I applied a second coat of Plasmatic Bolt to the roof with no green. This, coupled with the darker tone of the Nuln Oil, intensified the verdigris colour to a colour I was happy with.

I think the second approach produced a better result. The colour tones were better and the contrast was better. The uneven and mottled look the the wash gave also made the stonework look more ‘weathered’ I feel. The Speed Paint alone looked too even and ‘clean’.

With this in mind I painted the third station like the second.

In an attempt to ‘rescue’ the first miniature and unify the set I decided to retrspectively add Nuln Oil over the Speed Paints. As I expected this did lead to reactivation and I had to work quickly and carefully to not pass over areas too frequently. Applying a varnish step first would have been a smart move although this could, potentially, have changed the behaviour of the wash leading to this model looking out of place against it’s companions.

I did have to go back in with Pallid Bone and Plasmatic Bolt to clean up areas where the Speed Paint had rubbed off leaving almost white areas on the miniature, but I think this rescue step worked to a degree and the three models looked much more unified.

As a final touch I applied VMC Oily Steel to the gate and the finial atop each roof before varnishing.