Hello again and welcome to another quick tutorial, this time on stippling. Stippling is a great technique for transitioning colours with a brush, in a similar way to an airbrush and also allows you to convey rougher textures to your minis.

In this example I’m painting a crypt horror. The transition from the sculpted hair to the skin at the back of the leg is quite abrupt and looks unnatural if painted straight.

Green cheeks

I used Citadel Rhinox Hide for the brown of the fur and will continue to use it for the stippling.

Next I made my brush. Stippling brushes have very short stiff bristles. Games Workshop do sell their own but I’ve not managed any good results as the brushes are a little too stiff to transfer the paint. I  made my own using a standard base coating brush and cut the bristles close to the hilt, hey presto:

Home made stippling brush

Now to move on to the process of actually stippling. I continued to use Rhinox Hide, the benefit of base paints is that the stronger opacity means even a small layer will show up nicely. I wiped the paint off the brush in a similar manner to dry brushing. I’m aiming to get a very fine coverage of paint on a surface when I tap the brush onto it in a similar coverage to that achieved on the right side of my hand below.

When I get the right coverage I apply the paint to the model by tapping the brush onto the desired area. Initially it will seem no paint is transferring But keep at it and the layers will slowly build up.

Stippled skin to create a hair effect (hairy butt – ed)

And here is the finished model:

Crypt Horror

So that’s a quick run through of stippling and you can use it for a variety of things from weathering cloaks to adding stumble to faces. Have a try with it and see how you get on. As always thanks for reading.

If you want more form me, check out my guide on painting corroded metal!

John