Conclave of Har Hobby Archive - DAN'S TECH BAY: GREENSTUFF PAVING SLABS.

Another tutorial from the archives from Dan Gunn....

When I published a picture of some of my miniatures that I am using in a local club’s Mordheim campaign, interest grew as to how I made the bases look like paving stones, so heres how I achieved this very easy effect.

Firstly the type of base helps. It is not important for it to not have a lip but it’s a good guide for where the greenstuff can go. Warmachine, Malifaux and helldorado use these bases for example. Creating this effect on GW bases isn’t impossible but will require some additional work to smooth up the edges. (see my Drawf Trollslayer in the last picture.

Firstly pack the base with greenstuff so it is a flat surface for you to work with. (this is where smoothing it off to the lip of the base helps.

Doesn’t have to be perfect depending on how rugged you want your paving slabs to be, as mine are based in Mordheim, I was looking for a very rugged look to start with but the smoother you go here the better it will be for neater looking tiles.

Next step is to introduce the miniature. This is done here as the slotta-base tab that the model stands on will sink into the greenstuff, and we don’t want to ruin our lovely grooved greenstuff! Push the model into the greenstuff so its feet are standing on top of the greenstuff and not sinking into it like its quicksand. (tip: some greenstuff may get pushed out through the bottom. You can use this to fill in the greenstuff where the tab has sunk through completing the surface to work with) some people may want to work with the model already on the base and work around the feet. I haven’t tried it as id imagine the model will look sunk into the paving stones as you need some depth to it to create the grooves. But each to their own. It also allows you to work quicker with creating your smooth surface to begin with as you can place a ball in the middle and work it down.

Once the model is in place we get to the more exciting part, the detailing of the greenstuff. As my guys are wandering around mordheim I imagine some of the paving stone to not have a regular pattern. The great thing about greenstuff is that its entirely up to you have you want it. Have them regular, irregular, different sizes etc so go knock yourself out!
I went with irregular. I achieved this by using a rubber tip tool and simply tracing a line into the greenstuff where I wanted the joins of my paving slabs to be. Using Vaseline helps the greenstuff not stick to the tool and allows for a smoother job while working with the greenstuff. Once the basic outline was complete I neatened up the edges and corners of the paving slabs by smoothing them down if required being careful not to flatten them too much and loosing my grooves into the greenstuff.

Once you are happy with what you have made let the greenstuff set (I leave it for at least 24hrs for a full cure).

Next is undercoating and painting. Again this is entirely down to the effect you are trying to create so its up to you how you paint your base but I will show you how I painted mine.

Firstly I gave the miniature a black spray undercoat then based the slabs with Calthan brown (now mournfang brown)

Next stage was to pick out the raised areas of the slabs with Kislev flesh. Followed by Deneb stone. Allow some of the Kislev flesh to still be visible around the edges of the slabs.

To finish off I gave the grooves a wash with Reikland Fleshade just to redefine them. I allowed the wash to go over the edges a little just to bring the colours together a bit more and rounded off the corners of the paving stones.

Finally smarten up the edges then add details accordingly. In my case I added some stony gravel in piles and some small tufts of flock for weeds and random patches of grass to give it that untended aged look. This also helped add some colour to the base and make the paving stones not look quite so cold.