Painting the city tiles - tutorial

The response to the last post on the Mordheim/ruined city tiles project was enormously positive - thanks! Some of you have requested a tutorial for painting the tiles and well - here it is.

This is how the board looks like before painting. I wanted to finish the previous spray can, that's were the brown spots are from.

After gluing the pieces together but before the undercoat, I put a fair amount of Vallejo Sand Paste on the tiles. This allows me to mask some of the places were castings don't fit too well or where the lines between them form too regular pattern.

 I use Idea acrylic spray (Burnt Umber) for the basecoat. The whole board is covered in a series of short bursts to keep the paint layer thin and not obscure the details.

That's how a basecoated tile looks like. Still a long way to go.

I decided to use the following Vallejo Model Color paints for my table: German Camo Beige, Dark Sand, Pale Sand and Ivory. Why use the model paints while there is a selection of cheap craft paints available? Simple: the craft paints that I know of rarely (or never) have a selection of tones as wide as VMC - so you have to mix. I want my board to have a consistent look and keeping the mixing proportions right is just a pain in the ass... and you still won't need more than about $8-10 worth of these paints for a 90x90 cm board.

For applying the paint I use a kitchen sponge cut into several small pieces. This prevents the paint from going into the recesses and allows me to add an interesting 'stone' texture which wouldn't be achievable with a brush.

Take a tiny amount of paint on the sponge...

...dab a bit of it away...

...and apply irregularly on the board.
Try to change the side of the sponge you use, change the sponge piece you use from time to time and the strenght with which you press the sponge against the board.
Repeat the process for every tone you have selected.

That's how the board should look like in the middle of the process. If you get 'lines' like the one seen in the picture above, don't panic: just dab some paint around them to form a more irregular shape.

The second board along with the first - everything fits quite nicely.

After the paint dries, I apply tiny blobs of PVA glue and static grass on the board - especially in the places where I need to break up the regularity of the tile patern or where I need to mask the spaces between the castings.

If you applied too much paint in some of the areas, use watered-down GW Devlan Mud wash: it will add a new tone to the board and make the recesses between the tiles visible when you messed them up.

The board is (almost) finished. I still have to paint the basement and finish the buildings - but it's a material for a different post.