Painting
Just so no-one else makes these mistakes . . . .
1. The initial colour was too dark, I should have used something like a 50:50 mix of pale sand and middlestone.
2. The colour that was sponged on was overdone, should have used less and not tried "smearing" it but this probably because the base was too dark so it was distinctive enough etc . . . .
3. When painting a figure in NMM, do remember to limit the amount of metallic bronze you use on the base !
Stage One:
The base colours. Now ignoring the fact that I forgot I was doing a bse for a NMM figure and used metallics for the inlay, the idea is to use a base colour that is a bit darker than the final marble effect we hope to end up with. Although as mentioned, with 20:20 hindsight, I can quite easilly state that I used too dark a colour, either dark yellow or middlestone, when a even mix with pale sand would probably have been a better choice.
Stage Two:
The idea here is to add some texture and a bit of colour that will show through the later layers. I used some broze green to go with the greenish tones in the base colour and some vermillion to go with the final orange streak effect I wanted. This was applied with the good old weathering sponge technique, except I thought I'd try smearing it about a bit was well as just dabbing bits on.
With a bit more 20:20 hindsight I can come to some conclusions. The darker base colour meant there wasn't really enough contrast between it and these additional colours, which combined with the smearing and general over application (Should probably have done about half as much), very little of the shape and texture ends up in the final result.
Stage Three:
Well this is the result after 2 or 3 layers of Pale Sand. I like this colour, it's got just a hint of yellow and has a nice creamy look. Anyway, this shot is mainly included to show the part way progress to the next image . . .
Stage Four:
Quite a few more layers later, probably somewhere between 6 to 8 all told, some of which were less even than others, but that is actually a benefit ion some ways as the idea isn't to get a perfectly flat tone. There are in fact some quite noticeable lighter splodges near the circular insert.
Stage Five:
Time to put some of that expect marbling effect on. In this case a very dilute orange is used to position some meandering lines across the surface. At some point I remembered that they are meant to be seperate slabs and the lines shouldn't continue straight across the surface from one side of the seams to the other
At this point I also started to pay some attention to the groves between the tiles, darkening them in, adding a few "chips" at the edges and that sort of thing.
Stage Six:
The centres of the lines are picked out in a mixture of vermillion and bright orange with a series of short fine lines. Some more thinned orange is then used to bulk out the general shape some more.
In addition I finally got round to using some ivory to lighten up the areas between the orange seams. In some cases using it to empasise some of the darker shapes showing through the pale sand from the base layers.
Stage Seven:
Bit of a repeat of stage six, some thinned orange was used to emphasise and blend the seams in some more. Ivory was used apply a random mish mash of fine lines and streaks across the surface including the orange seams, as well as being used to pick out some of the form from the base layers and emphasise the grooves between the tiles and the few chips I'd added.
Stage Eight:
Time to re-do the orange seams after the ivory in stage seven. Firstly the vermillion and bright orange mix to re-work the centers of the seams, and then the tninned orange to blen it all in a bit more.
Oh, and a little white to pick out the groves between the tiles and on the weathering chips. Also used a little on the surface where I felt I could bring out some of the shapes from the base layers a bit more.
Stage Nine:
Finished the weathering on the metal insert and went back over most of the edges with white after the previous layers had cured fully.