TUTORIAL: Feculent Gnarlmaw

No Maggotkin of Nurgle army is complete without a Feculent Gnarlmaw or two. This little scenery piece turned out to be a surprising amount of fun to paint, and was mostly done with washes and dry brushing. With one down, I'm already powering through my second two, so today I take a look at how I painted this tree of Nurgle.

This tutorial will be a little different than what you may be used to from me, both on here and on the Mind of Mengel articles on the Warhammer Community site. Normally I take step by step pictures, so you can see how each step I'm doing looks. This takes a bit more time, and slows down my painting a bit. Usually I plan for this from the start, but sometimes I paint a model fully, then afterwards decide I would like to put a tutorial together. Now, I am painting two more of these, but unfortunately I am on a bit of a painting deadline to get this army done for Adepticon in a few weeks, so I couldn't bring myself to slow down the process at all. Instead, I only have pictures of the finished model, but I am still going to break down each color step by step. This reminds me a little bit of the old 'Eavy Metal Masterclass articles from White Dwarf, which is actually how I mostly taught myself to paint. Don't worry, the step by step pictures will still be the norm for my tutorials, but every now and then, for Mengel Miniatures, I may put a quicker tutorial like this together, so I can still get you guys the painting info you want, even when I'm short on time. So please, let me know in the comments if this was helpful to you still, or if I should just stick to the more detailed step by steps.

I managed to paint this model in about three days worth of time, so it was fairly quick. I expect the second two to go faster since I've now worked out exactly what colors I'm using and how to use them.

I more or less stuck to the colors from the box art, but with a few tweaks to bring it more inline with my army. This mostly meant using colors that were a little more drab.

The Bark

This is the bulk of the model, and luckily, mostly just involves dry brushing!

• Step 1: I primed the whole model using the Rhinox Hide spray from GW.

• Step 2: The bark was then heavily dry brushed with Stormvermin Fur.

• Step 3: This was followed with a lighter dry brush of Longbeard Grey.

• Step 4: Once this was done I went in with Athonian Camoshade and painted some random splotches onto the bark. I focused around the pustules and cuts in the wood, but also did some on other areas as well. Try and stay random with this so it looks organic.

• Step 5: I then picked out all of the pustules with Krieg Khaki. This may take two coats for some of the larger ones.

• Step 6: The pustules all then got two washes of Seraphim Sepia. Wait for the first wash to dry completely before doing the second one.

• Step 7: Lastly, I dry brushed the pustules, some of the surrounding bark, and other random patches of the bark with Krieg Khaki. Again, try and keep this random, with the patches that you dry brush varying in size so that it looks organic.

• Note: When I painted my second two, I apparently went a little heavier on the dry brushing, which makes them a little lighter. Adjust the strength of your dry brushing to the tone you want for the tree.

The Ground

• Step 1: With the ground already Rhinox Hide from the spray, I tidied it up a bit with Rhinox Hide from the pot to clean up any messy dry brushing from the bark.

• Step 2: I then dry brushed it with Gorthor Brown.

• Step 3: This was finished off with a second, lighter dry brush of a Gorthor Brown/Ushabti Bone mix.

• Step 4: The rocks were base coated with Dawnstone Grey.

• Step 5: There were then washed with Agrax Earthshade.

• Step 6: This was followed by a dry brush of Dawnstone.

• Step 7: A final dry brush of Longbeard Grey was applied. On a few larger rocks I went back later with Administratum Grey to do a little bit of edge highlighting on prominent areas to make them pop a bit more.

The Tentacles

• Step 1: These were base coated with Bugman's Glow. I also painted the "gums" around the teeth in this same manner.

• Step 2: I then washed them with a Druchii Violet/Lahmian Medium mix. On my second two I did straight Druchii Violet on some of them, which made the overall effect a little darker in the end. Go with whichever you like the look of best.

• Step 3: This was followed by a dry brush of Bugman's Glow, focusing on the upper two-thirds of the tentacles. This left the bottom a little more purple.

• Step 4: I then did a second dry brush of Kreig Khaki, mixed with a little bit of Bugman's Glow, focusing on the upper third as well as the little ring around the middle.

• Step 5: At this point you can stop if you want, but I went back with Krieg Khaki and did some line highlighting. I focused on the edges, the rings around the middle, the little holes, as well as some ribbing texture you can see on the larger tentacles on top of the tree.

• Step 6: Finally, I went back with Druchii Violet and redefined the shadows around the rings and in the holes.

The Nurgle Hive

• Step 1: The three hives were base coated with Zandri Dust.

• Step 2: This was then dry brushed with Ogryn Camo.

• Step 3: I followed this with an all over wash of Seraphim Sepia.

• Step 4: I then dry brushed them with Ushabit Bone.

• Step 5: Lastly, they were lightly dry brushed with Krieg Khaki.

The Metallics

• Step 1: The bells and rings around the hives were base coated with Balthasar Gold. I painted the bells separate from the tree.

• Step 2: These were then washed with Nuln Oil.

• Step 3: The chains were base coated with Leadbelcher.

• Step 4: They were then washed with Agrax Earthshade.

• Step 5: Everything metallic then got a dry brush of Stormhost Silver.

• Step 6: The chains were weathered with some watered down Skragg Brown for rust.

• Step 7: The brass areas were then weathered with Nihilahk Oxide. Use this sparingly.

The Bone

• Step 1: All of the bone areas, so the horns, teeth, and skulls on the base, were base coated with Rakarth Flesh.

• Step 2: The skulls were washed around the eyes and mouth with Agrax Earthshade, while the horns had some growth lines carefully painted on with the same color. I also darkened down the base of the horns a bit with some Agrax mixed with Lahmian Medium.

• Step 3: The skulls and horns were then neatened up a bit with Rakarth Flesh.

• Step 4: Finally, they were highlighted with Pallid Wych Flesh.

Other Details

• The Flies: The flies had their wings painted Pallid Wych Flesh, and their bodies Abaddon Black. I then put a little bit of Agrax where the wings meet the bodies, and highlighted the black with Administratum Grey.

• The Maggots: The maggots were base coated with Rakarth flesh, then washed with Athonian Camoshade. These were then dry brushed with Pallid Wych Flesh, and given a coat of Nurgle's Rot after I had sealed the model with matte varnish.

• The Ground Glow: To get the slight glow of infection that surrounds the tree on the gorund I used Nihlahk Oxide. I first painted a somewhat thick band of this around the tree. I then went back with an Oxide/Medium mix, and did a slightly wider band, so that it blended into the ground more. Lastly, I went back with Gorthor Brown and lightly dry brushed the outer edges of the glow to help the blend into the dirt.

That's all! I did paint the tree separate from the base and glued it together afterwards so I could get to the inside easier. So, get out there and get planting Papa Nurgle's garden!

Until next time,

Tyler M.