Hobby Lab: Winterdale Watchtower 8, Exterior Woodwork
July 5, 2019 by johnlyons
The woodwork of the exterior of the tower should look weathered, yet cared for. We see similar effects in the real world, and the one we will try to imitate is the highly preserved wooden railway sleepers. They are treated with oil and tar, over time, turning them a vary dark colour. So to begin with, we basecoat the wooden areas with Vallejo Flat Brown.
Once all the details are basecoated and dried. We can give them a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone. This is a black shade that, when applied heavily, we give us a very dark finish in the recesses, while keeping a hint of the base colour visible.
We can see how dark the wood has become with the wash. Now we can add a drybrush to pick out the woodgrain details in a lighter tone that compliments the base colour and the wash, Army Painter Leather Brown.
We can afford to be a little heavy handed with this step, but remember to be careful when trying to drybrush the wood that's on the upper areas of the tower.
Moving to the upper area, a happy coincidence occured. The Leather Brown drybrush interacts nicely with the Matt White of the rendered part of the wall, adding a level of staining to the areas which adds another level of interest and works to break the clean, brightness of the White.
Now we can take a look at the tower as a whole again, and see how the colour scheme is coming together.
What we have ended up with so far, looks and feels, rustic and believable. Even if the design is a "Fantasy" style, it still has realistic features and colours. In this way, it makes more sense to the eye and will sit more comfortably on any regular gaming table.
