Skaven Warp-Skryre Tower Painting Journal, Part 1

My friend Ron Kruzie (@i_ron_painter on Instagram– Check out his gorgeous work!) and I entered into a friendly challenge to complete our scenery projects. He's working on a batch of post-apocalyptic terrain that he wants to get finished in two weeks, and I decided to see if I can finish painting my Skaven Warp-Skryre Tower in the same amount of time.

 

 

The challenge runs from Saturday June 8th to Sunday June 23rd. The tower has been sitting around waiting for me to paint it. The great thing about this challenge is that it will finally motivate me to work on it, and even if I don't finish it in time, I'm sure I'll have gotten more work done on it than I would have otherwise. (It's already June, and I was seriously starting to wonder if I would even get to it this year, or if I would keep putting it off in favor of working on my Tomb Kings!)

I'm documenting my progress day by day, and posting #HobbyStreak updates on my socials, and I'm posting frequent updates here where I can go into a little more depth. Here we go!

 

 

Saturday, June 8th, Day 1–

I already blew it. I had hoped to start painting today, but I spent so much time finishing up Tomb Prince Selketta, I didn't really have time to work on the tower. I did, however, put together a full-blown painting plan and calendar in the evening, and I got my workstation set up.

 

I've recently gotten out of the habit of doing this, but project calendars are immensely helpful for budgeting my time, especially when there is a strict deadline. Taking a few hours to write out all the steps helps me visualize my process, and make sure I can actually fit everything that needs to be done in the allotted time.

The steps have been organized in the order that they need to occur so that I can assemble the tower as I go, starting with the base and main structural bits, and finishing up with the smaller parts that need to be tacked on at the end.

I anticipated an entire day to paint the rocks and dirt, a day to paint and weather the wooden platforms and supports, and a day just to paint all the metal plates, rivets, and chains on the wooden structure. I expect those to be the most time consuming elements (so many rivets!) so it's good that I'll be addressing them early before I'm struggling with burnout. I don't really expect that each of those steps will take all day, but having only one thing to worry about will keep me from getting distracted or overwhelmed, and leaves time to do other things.

I have also added a few "catch-up" days with nothing on the schedule so I can shift things around if I fall behind, or get caught up with personal stuff. I also have a checklist of the remaining parts that I need to prime, and I'll tackle those little by little during the first week as weather allows.

 

Sunday, June 9th, Day 2–

Today was the rock spire– Lots of drybrushing and washes. I got the base grey of the rocks finished, and then washed some brown into the recesses and areas of dirt and rubble. 

 

 

While waiting for the washes to dry, I took some of the bits outside to prime. I did all the white and green pieces. (I'm going to try to paint a glow effect on the collector swirl.)

 

 

I finished up the rocks with some green washes to get a nice, mossy appearance, and drybrushed all the ground.

 

 

Monday, June 10th, Day 3–

I managed to stay on track with the wood, but it did eat up a good chunk of the day. I basecoated it with Formula P3 Bastion Grey (giving it just a heavy drybrush on the larger platforms that I had already sprayed brown). Then, I washed everything with GW Agrax Earthshade, and drybrushed it back up with Bastion Grey and GW Ushabti Bone.

 

 

I was attempting to keep the wood pretty grey so it would looked old and weathered, but in the end it was too similar to the stone.

 

 

A simple wash of Skeleton Horde Contrast paint browned it up a little without taking it too far from the grey.

 

 

Tuesday, June 11th, Day 4–

Today was set aside for painting and rusting up all the metal bits on the base and the wooden platforms. My process for this was to carefully basecoat all the metal with Army Painter Gun Metal, and then wash it with a mix of Formula P3 Bloodstone, orange, and Liquitex Transparent Burnt Umber Acrylic Ink (aka: brown ink). I was able to get through most of it, finishing all the small platform components and about half of the base. 

 

 

I also got the collector and its mechanical base primed. I covered the white swirl with masking tape to protect it while spraying the exterior black.

 

 

Wednesday, June 12th, Day 5–

All the wrappings, ropes, and details like the skulls, rats, and bells were scheduled for today, but I first needed to catch up on the metal. It took me more time to finish up the metal than it did to paint the wrappings and everything. 

 

 

So, all the painting is completed on the main base, and these wooden components:

 

 

But, I left the large walkway untouched. It's got the mounts for the orrery and telescope and some machinery underneath. A lot to paint, but it's only one piece and easy to handle (unlike all the scaffolding and fencing on the base). Thursday is my catch up day, so hopefully I can finish this piece and get back on track. I guess you'll know when I post my #HobbyStreak update Thursday night!

 

 

'Til next time!