Suggestions for painting "graveyardey" color tones?

[Patyrn]

I experimented last night with some bases for my mordheim undead force. I don't feel like I nailed the graveyard feel on the darker base, and am not very good at figuring out colors.

I am trying to paint up these miniatures and bases in a really poppy and colorful style, and I don't know what colors to use besides grey to make it "dark" without making it bland.

View attachment 13486

Can someone suggest a good color mix for colder toned wood that still pops a bit?

 

[freakinacage]

Well I like the left hand one

 

[Einion]

I experimented last night with some bases for my mordheim undead force. I don't feel like I nailed the graveyard feel on the darker base, and am not very good at figuring out colors.

Few people are good at this without practice and experience, you're doing the right thing by experimenting and seeing firsthand how things turn out :good: This kind of experimentation will teach you loads more than following some guide.

I am trying to paint up these miniatures and bases in a really poppy and colorful style, and I don't know what colors to use besides grey to make it "dark" without making it bland.

Well grey is sort of the definition of bland, but it is what I'd base the colour scheme on.

"Dark" is obviously subjective, but taking the one on the left as a starting point first thing I thought of was washing it selectively with one or two browns to break up the monotony, possibly a bit of green too. And maybe a little drybrushing in colours similar to the right example, just on a few broken edges.

The one on the right I do like, but to me it says something more like western or desert, definitely not graveyard.

Einion

 

[Patyrn]

Few people are good at this without practice and experience, you're doing the right thing by experimenting and seeing firsthand how things turn out :good: This kind of experimentation will teach you loads more than following some guide.

Definitely got to experiment, but a better starting point can mean less bases to strip.

"Dark" is obviously subjective, but taking the one on the left as a starting point first thing I thought of was washing it selectively with one or two browns to break up the monotony, possibly a bit of green too. And maybe a little drybrushing in colours similar to the right example, just on a few broken edges.

I'll give that a try to see what I can pull off.

I tried a couple other things last night. The blue one was my attempt to get that cold blue shading I've seen around, but it ended up just cartoonishly blue. I think it looks nice, it just doesn't look like wood. I'll see if tinting the first one blue-er gets more of the feel I was trying for. The green one is somewhat promising, but is again, perhaps too much actual green, and less green shaded. Should I perhaps start off with actual wood colors, and then shade it with blue or green, rather than start out with blue and green hues?

View attachment 13492

 

[Dragonsreach]

OK in the real world wood exposed to the elements eventually goes a silvery grey with tones of brown/orange brown around nails, green algae patches and any broken splinter areas showing the original paler brown colour.

Wood buried at length in the ground goes darkbrown in wet conditions and breaks down. (Try and find Trench Detectives on Sky or You Tube for good examples)

 

[Garshnak]

Idea: if you want a little more colour than simply grey, and kind of continuing on the blue one. Because that certainly is interesting. What about cyan/turquoise hues in the recesses. (if you're airbrushing them, you could mask them after making them blue-green and roughly wipe it off before drying, leaving the masking in the recesses) And grey tones for the most part? Simulating mosses, perhaps giving more of that creepy vibe.
I think subtlety is key here, you don't want your bases to attract too much attention. You could also just try adding some midtone (luminosity) grey/brown to the blue one.
Or paint them greybrown and wash them with green-blue, whatever floats your boat.

Some desaturated orange on the nails and you've got some contrast going as well.