Painting Ruby from Nightshift by Exotic Cancer

 A Quick and Dirty Guide to Painting

First thing to get out of the way is that I consider myself to be the world's most OK miniature painter. I've been doing this for nearly 30 years and, rather than having accumulated skill, I have merely gained knowledge of tips and tricks that professional painters would scoff at and call "cheating". So, if you want good results but don't have a burning desire for your miniatures to look like the Mona Lisa, then buckle in.

Step 1

The first thing I do, after giving the miniature a quick clean in warm soapy water to get rid of any release agents from the manufacturing process, is prime with a matt black spray. I use Colour Forge, but any matt black will do, except Citadel sprays because 1. Citadel don't use matts, they use satin finishes and 2. Citadel products are seriously overpriced because most people in the hobby don't even realise there are cheaper options out there with better quality.

Once the primer is dry, I give the miniature a once-over with a brushed matt black to get the bits the spray missed.

Some people will use a grey or white primer to make the colours "pop" a bit more, but in my experience black is ideal as it does a better job of hiding any mistakes you might make (like forgetting a spot on the miniature) 

Step 2

After priming, apply 2 thin coats of Ruby Skin (a complete coincidence) from the Army Painter to the flesh areas of the model. Don't stress too much if you go "outside the lines" at this stage, as you'll be painting over those bits soon enough.

Thin coats help prevent hiding the details while keeping the layer semi-translucent so that the layer underneath can show through slightly. Two coats will give the colour enough opacity that it looks the colour it should, but don't worry if there's still transparency at this stage, there's going to be more layers going on in a bit.

 

  

Step 3

Once the paint has dried (which shouldn't take long) you want to go over it with a wash of Army Painter Soft Skin Tone (or a skin tone wash of your choice). The idea is to "stain" the current layer while allowing the wash to settle in the recesses, creating shadows and depth.

Washes take a bit to dry (about 45 minutes or so) so go have a cup of tea or something while you wait (n.b. Never drink a beverage while painting, as you run the risk of absent-mindedly drinking your paint water instead)

 Step 4

Once the wash has dried, go back to your Ruby Skin and apply a single thin layer, making sure to keep the colour to the more raised areas as this is a highlight layer.

Because it's a thin layer, it will make the skin brighter while allowing the staining from the previous step to show through slightly as the paint is slightly translucent.

With the face, you really only want to put the highlight layer on the brow, nose, cheekbones, chin and jawline. Essentially, the raised areas that catch the light. 

Don't worry about being super neat with the legs, as we will be applying a glaze at a later stage for the stockings, but we want the legs to be the same colour as the rest of the flesh to ensure the glaze looks right.

 

 

 

Step 5

Pretty simple step. Two thin coats of Vallejo Game Colour Hot Orange on the hair.

 

Step 6

When I did this step at first, I thought I had messed up, but it worked out alright. Just take a little care when trying it yourself.

What you want to do is apply a wash of a dark crimson colour to the hair, I used Carroburg Crimson because I've got a big assed pot of it lying around from years ago, but any dark red wash should do.

Make sure, while applying the wash, that it's not pooling heavily in the parts where the hair folds, and try to make it as even as you can. Like the skin wash from earlier, we want to stain the original colour while deepening the shadows.

Once it's dry (go take the dog for a walk, or something, while waiting) it should have darkened the orange down and deepened the reds.

 Step 7

This is where we do the stockings.

I used two even layers of Citadel Bloodletter glaze. Unfortunately, these pre-mixed glazes are long out of production, but the internet tells me you can make a pretty good approximation by mixing 4 parts Vallejo Game Ink Red with 1 part Vallejo Game Ink Yellow and 10 parts water.

You want to get the glaze on in even layers without it pooling in any one particlar place (like the crook of Ruby's left leg) 

 Step 8

Now we start to do the clothing.

Start with two thin layers of Vallejo Game Colour Bloody Red on the lingerie and shoes, being careful to not paint over previous steps (you won't ruin the mini if you do, because you can just paint over paint, it just takes a little extra time if you have to go back and re-do a bit)

 You could, theoretically, if you want to, just skip ahead to basing at this point as she looks "good enough" for the table. But you want to trick your friends into thinking you have talent, so let's continue.

Step 9

While rubies are red, the artwork is pink, so we want to get it like that.

Having red as a base colour lets us use layers instead of washes to create shading (washes take time to dry and can be messy, something you want to avoid at this stage and with increasingly smaller areas of "canvas" to work with)

What we do here is apply two thin coats of Army Painter Pixie Pink to the lingerie and shoes. Avoid putting the pink in the deepest of recesses with the first layer (which will look more violet than pink when applied) and, with the second layer, you want to apply the paint "inside" the borders of the first layer to create something of a transitional blend (it'll be almost imperceptible, but it does make a difference and looks better) 

Step 10

With that done, we want to go back and do some of the fiddly bits.

Anywhere you accidentally painted over go back to the relevant step(s) and cover it up. You've been using thin layers, so detail isn't going to be obfuscated by paint too badly.

After that get out the Hot Orange and Bloody Red and touch up the lips and eyebrows to give the face a little more form. You can do the eyes if you want, but I (personally) don't have the patients or motor skills for that level of detail and, to be perfectly honest, it's a step that's only really necessary for "display pieces" you want to show off in pictures, and we're just painting for a high tabletop quality here.

 Step 11

For the very final touches, we're going to paint the base up and give her a coat of varnish to keep the paint from rubbing off when you're moving her around the board.

Fairly simple process. I used Vallejo Bone White and Vallejo Stone Grey along with a fine pen (I bought a pack of micron pens from Amazon a while back after somone recommended them for doing lining) to create a checker pattern with black borders (I do, however, absolutely suck at drawing straight lines).

I then painted the rim with the Bloody Red from before and applied a matt varnish via a rattlecan.

 

And there she is!

Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for future painting guides.