Bob's Zombie Painting Guide
The Warhammer Forum
"I prime my Zombies black cause that's just easier.
Base coat:
Skin: I paint the skin with P3 Thrall Flesh, though GW Rotting Flesh will work just as well.
Bones: Bones are painted with P3 Rucksack Tan, GW Vomit Brown with a little GW Kommando Khaki will do. The idea is just to create a creamy yellowed base color for our bones. This is the same stuff I do for Skeletons, I paint even down into the cracks between ribs and such.
Muscles: Muscles are painted with GW Elf Flesh.
Clothing: Because my Zombies are going to be marching in a Kislevite army their clothes will be red, so some clothes get GW Foundation Mechrite Red. Love this color for base coating for reds.
The blue they use for Kislevites wasn't doing it for me so I paint pants or other off bits of clothing with P3 Bastion Grey, you could achieve a similar color with Codex Grey and a little Kommando Khaki. It's just a warmer shade of mid-tone grey.
Hair: Because I don't want to mess about with the hair much I just use P3 Trollblood Highlights. GW Fortress Grey with a little Kommando Khaki to warm it up will work just as well.
Leather and Metal: For the small leather and wood bits I paint them GW Foundation Khemri Brown. The metal is GW Boltgun Metal.
Washes and Glazes:
With the base colors down it's time to throw in some shadows and create some depth.
Skin: I make a reddish purple glaze for the skin. 2 parts Tamiya Clear Red, 2 parts GW Purple Ink, 1 part GW Brown Ink, a little Vallejo Glaze Medium, and about equal parts water. With the Tamiya Clear Red it'll be a bit thick and go on nicely. You can use GW Red Ink, but you might add less water. The idea is to lay this on over the skin, it'll turn the skin a light pink, the valleys a lovely purple.
Bones: I slather straight GW Brown Ink on over the bones, it darkens the yellow, and creates brown shadows in the creases between ribs and such.
Muscles: I use a wash, this time 3 parts Tamiya Clear Red, 1 part GW Purple Ink, equal amounts of water, and a little Matte Medium. This will flow more into the cracks and hopefully define the stringy exposed muscles with red.
Clothing: For the red clothing I make a wash about 1 part Mechrite Red to two parts GW Liche Purple, a little Matte Medium and water. This will create some nice dark shadows for the clothes without making them look drab. The grey clothes get two black washes. One creates the shadows, and another to build the shadows out a bit and make the grey clothes look more black.
Hair: I use the same black wash for the hair, but mix in a little more water to bring out the strands without losing the black in the creases.
Leather and Metal: The leather and wood bits get a straight GW Brown Ink wash, this dirties them up and makes them look worn, they're done at this point unless they're more prominent, then I'll highlight the wood grain. The metal gets a glaze, it's equal part Tamiya Smoke and Tamiya Clear Orange, makes a nice brown syrup that I can paint on the model, a clean brush can be used to feather out the edges to smooth the grime glaze out over the metal surface. You could probably get away with a some GW Brown Ink and a little yellow/orange ink, thin it down a bit, or use a vallejo glaze medium.
Skin: I use some GW Brown Ink and thin it down a bit and brush this on over the skin, it makes the zombie skin look a bit dirtier, mellows the purple a bit. I've done a couple generations of Zombies over the years and really liked two different colors glazed/washed over zombie skin. For Zombies with a cooler color scheme I used Turquoise with brown laid over. For a darker batch of Zombies I hit them with a brown/grey glaze and then a green wash into the hollows of the skin to bring back the supernatural feel. Really what I'm saying is that two layers of wash has worked for me, and I recommend folks mess around with their Zombie skintones and try different colors.
Metal: I use some straight GW Brown Ink and paint it into the crevices of my metal bits, rivets, cracks, scratches, it'll darken those spots right up and blend well with the Tamiya Glaze.
Secondary Washes and Glazes:
Skin: I use some GW Brown Ink and thin it down a bit and brush this on over the skin, it makes the zombie skin look a bit dirtier, mellows the purple a bit. I've done a couple generations of Zombies over the years and really liked two different colors glazed/washed over zombie skin. For Zombies with a cooler color scheme I used Turquoise with brown laid over. For a darker batch of Zombies I hit them with a brown/grey glaze and then a green wash into the hollows of the skin to bring back the supernatural feel. Really what I'm saying is that two layers of wash has worked for me, and I recommend folks mess around with their Zombie skintones and try different colors.
Metal: I use some straight GW Brown Ink and paint it into the crevices of my metal bits, rivets, cracks, scratches, it'll darken those spots right up and blend well with the Tamiya Glaze.
Highlights:
Skin: I pull out the Thrall Flesh again (or Rotting Flesh), I paint the Thrall Flesh on over the raised areas and blend it out over the surfaces. Try to soften the pools of purple a bit, so the skin will look bruised and abused without becoming the same color as Thrall Flesh again.
Bones: I use P3 'Jack Bone to highlight the bones, but Kommando Khaki will work just as well. Khaki tends to be a little watery for my tastes, which is why I use the 'Jack Bone. The idea is to bring the white back to the bones, but not to cover up the dirty yellow. We're just pulling the detail of the bones out.
Red Clothes: I use GW Blood Red, dab a little on a raised area where light would hit it, wet the brush on my tongue and use that bit of moisture to blend the red out over the purple shadows. The red will go dull, so a little more red is needed on the peaks again to bring back the red color. Don't make the highlights too large. Just the peaks.
Muscle: The muscles on my zombies are so small that there's actually not much more work to do if the red wash was thin enough. But if not, you just take a thin tipped brush and some Elf Flesh and add the string lines of the muscles back, just in the center mass of the muscle, though, where the light would hit it, not all the way to the edge of the skin, let the blood and shadow take that.
More Highlights:
Skin: I use GW Bleached Bone to put a little highlight onto my skin, pick out some of the tears, the edge of ripped skin, I paint a bit on the face to really bring it out. It's subtle, but we're just bringing out the expression of the face, the ripped skin and gouged flesh.
Bones: More Bleached Bone, this time I highlight where the light would be striking the bones, so maybe just a little dab on the tops of the bones, or in the middle of the partially exposed ribs, or just along the top of the hip bone's ridge.
I put a little black in the eyes and for the dangling eyeball I used Vomit Brown and a little Kommando Khaki.
Final Touches:
Eyes: My eyes are painted with a little Hawk Turquoise mixed with white for a nice icy blue. For the hanging eye I put a little bit of a red/purple wash on the dangling bits to muck it up.
Skin: I mix up a thin glaze of Tamiya Clear Red, a little Purple Ink, and a touch of Brown Ink, Vallejo Glaze Medium, and a good amount of water. This mix is up to the user, the idea is to create a thin mix, maybe a little more red, maybe a little more purple, whatever you want. I paint this on where the skin has split or been torn, around exposed muscle and damaged parts of the body where it would have bled. We just want to take a little of the crispness out of the torn edges and make the Zombie look like he's oozed a bit.
Teeth: I put little dabs of Bleached Bone on the teeth, and put a little thinned down GW Brown Ink along the edges to get the teeth dirty.
And that's mostly it. "
Maybe youll find this as useful as I have.
The Warhammer Forum
"I prime my Zombies black cause that's just easier.
Base coat:
Skin: I paint the skin with P3 Thrall Flesh, though GW Rotting Flesh will work just as well.
Bones: Bones are painted with P3 Rucksack Tan, GW Vomit Brown with a little GW Kommando Khaki will do. The idea is just to create a creamy yellowed base color for our bones. This is the same stuff I do for Skeletons, I paint even down into the cracks between ribs and such.
Muscles: Muscles are painted with GW Elf Flesh.
Clothing: Because my Zombies are going to be marching in a Kislevite army their clothes will be red, so some clothes get GW Foundation Mechrite Red. Love this color for base coating for reds.
The blue they use for Kislevites wasn't doing it for me so I paint pants or other off bits of clothing with P3 Bastion Grey, you could achieve a similar color with Codex Grey and a little Kommando Khaki. It's just a warmer shade of mid-tone grey.
Hair: Because I don't want to mess about with the hair much I just use P3 Trollblood Highlights. GW Fortress Grey with a little Kommando Khaki to warm it up will work just as well.
Leather and Metal: For the small leather and wood bits I paint them GW Foundation Khemri Brown. The metal is GW Boltgun Metal.
Washes and Glazes:
With the base colors down it's time to throw in some shadows and create some depth.
Skin: I make a reddish purple glaze for the skin. 2 parts Tamiya Clear Red, 2 parts GW Purple Ink, 1 part GW Brown Ink, a little Vallejo Glaze Medium, and about equal parts water. With the Tamiya Clear Red it'll be a bit thick and go on nicely. You can use GW Red Ink, but you might add less water. The idea is to lay this on over the skin, it'll turn the skin a light pink, the valleys a lovely purple.
Bones: I slather straight GW Brown Ink on over the bones, it darkens the yellow, and creates brown shadows in the creases between ribs and such.
Muscles: I use a wash, this time 3 parts Tamiya Clear Red, 1 part GW Purple Ink, equal amounts of water, and a little Matte Medium. This will flow more into the cracks and hopefully define the stringy exposed muscles with red.
Clothing: For the red clothing I make a wash about 1 part Mechrite Red to two parts GW Liche Purple, a little Matte Medium and water. This will create some nice dark shadows for the clothes without making them look drab. The grey clothes get two black washes. One creates the shadows, and another to build the shadows out a bit and make the grey clothes look more black.
Hair: I use the same black wash for the hair, but mix in a little more water to bring out the strands without losing the black in the creases.
Leather and Metal: The leather and wood bits get a straight GW Brown Ink wash, this dirties them up and makes them look worn, they're done at this point unless they're more prominent, then I'll highlight the wood grain. The metal gets a glaze, it's equal part Tamiya Smoke and Tamiya Clear Orange, makes a nice brown syrup that I can paint on the model, a clean brush can be used to feather out the edges to smooth the grime glaze out over the metal surface. You could probably get away with a some GW Brown Ink and a little yellow/orange ink, thin it down a bit, or use a vallejo glaze medium.
Skin: I use some GW Brown Ink and thin it down a bit and brush this on over the skin, it makes the zombie skin look a bit dirtier, mellows the purple a bit. I've done a couple generations of Zombies over the years and really liked two different colors glazed/washed over zombie skin. For Zombies with a cooler color scheme I used Turquoise with brown laid over. For a darker batch of Zombies I hit them with a brown/grey glaze and then a green wash into the hollows of the skin to bring back the supernatural feel. Really what I'm saying is that two layers of wash has worked for me, and I recommend folks mess around with their Zombie skintones and try different colors.
Metal: I use some straight GW Brown Ink and paint it into the crevices of my metal bits, rivets, cracks, scratches, it'll darken those spots right up and blend well with the Tamiya Glaze.
Secondary Washes and Glazes:
Skin: I use some GW Brown Ink and thin it down a bit and brush this on over the skin, it makes the zombie skin look a bit dirtier, mellows the purple a bit. I've done a couple generations of Zombies over the years and really liked two different colors glazed/washed over zombie skin. For Zombies with a cooler color scheme I used Turquoise with brown laid over. For a darker batch of Zombies I hit them with a brown/grey glaze and then a green wash into the hollows of the skin to bring back the supernatural feel. Really what I'm saying is that two layers of wash has worked for me, and I recommend folks mess around with their Zombie skintones and try different colors.
Metal: I use some straight GW Brown Ink and paint it into the crevices of my metal bits, rivets, cracks, scratches, it'll darken those spots right up and blend well with the Tamiya Glaze.
Highlights:
Skin: I pull out the Thrall Flesh again (or Rotting Flesh), I paint the Thrall Flesh on over the raised areas and blend it out over the surfaces. Try to soften the pools of purple a bit, so the skin will look bruised and abused without becoming the same color as Thrall Flesh again.
Bones: I use P3 'Jack Bone to highlight the bones, but Kommando Khaki will work just as well. Khaki tends to be a little watery for my tastes, which is why I use the 'Jack Bone. The idea is to bring the white back to the bones, but not to cover up the dirty yellow. We're just pulling the detail of the bones out.
Red Clothes: I use GW Blood Red, dab a little on a raised area where light would hit it, wet the brush on my tongue and use that bit of moisture to blend the red out over the purple shadows. The red will go dull, so a little more red is needed on the peaks again to bring back the red color. Don't make the highlights too large. Just the peaks.
Muscle: The muscles on my zombies are so small that there's actually not much more work to do if the red wash was thin enough. But if not, you just take a thin tipped brush and some Elf Flesh and add the string lines of the muscles back, just in the center mass of the muscle, though, where the light would hit it, not all the way to the edge of the skin, let the blood and shadow take that.
More Highlights:
Skin: I use GW Bleached Bone to put a little highlight onto my skin, pick out some of the tears, the edge of ripped skin, I paint a bit on the face to really bring it out. It's subtle, but we're just bringing out the expression of the face, the ripped skin and gouged flesh.
Bones: More Bleached Bone, this time I highlight where the light would be striking the bones, so maybe just a little dab on the tops of the bones, or in the middle of the partially exposed ribs, or just along the top of the hip bone's ridge.
I put a little black in the eyes and for the dangling eyeball I used Vomit Brown and a little Kommando Khaki.
Final Touches:
Eyes: My eyes are painted with a little Hawk Turquoise mixed with white for a nice icy blue. For the hanging eye I put a little bit of a red/purple wash on the dangling bits to muck it up.
Skin: I mix up a thin glaze of Tamiya Clear Red, a little Purple Ink, and a touch of Brown Ink, Vallejo Glaze Medium, and a good amount of water. This mix is up to the user, the idea is to create a thin mix, maybe a little more red, maybe a little more purple, whatever you want. I paint this on where the skin has split or been torn, around exposed muscle and damaged parts of the body where it would have bled. We just want to take a little of the crispness out of the torn edges and make the Zombie look like he's oozed a bit.
Teeth: I put little dabs of Bleached Bone on the teeth, and put a little thinned down GW Brown Ink along the edges to get the teeth dirty.
And that's mostly it. "
Maybe youll find this as useful as I have.
