Sunday, January 5, 2014

Mice and Mystics: Painting the centipede basics

I got a request for a simple tutorial on how to paint the centipede figure from the Mice and Mystics board game, so here it is:


1: Start by priming your centipede black or brown, or prime it white and then paint a base coat of dark or medium brown over the whole figure. The diagram represents each segment of your centipede. Do each step to all the segments before proceeding to the next step. The unnumbered step in the diagram represents the belly portion of each segment; it uses the same general technique, but with lighter colors.

2. The top of the segment is the part that is pointing toward the head, and is also somewhat tucked under the segment ahead of it. So this part will be in shade, while the back (bottom in the diagram) will be more in the light. Choose a darker brown than your base coat and paint a swatch on the front third of the segment all the way to the next segment. At the back, paint some basic strokes with a brown or tan that are lighter than the base coat. I rushed through this diagram, but you will want to make your strokes long and thin with points tapering toward the middle of the segment.

3. Now choose a lighter tan and do the same thing as in step 2, painting thin strokes over those you've already painted. These strokes should be shorter than the previous strokes. Do the same with either a darker brown or even black at front of the segment, keeping those strokes within the brown swatch painted in step 2.

4. At the back of the segment, repeat step 3 with even lighter-colored and shorter strokes. At the front, paint a black line to separate this segment from the next. You can do this with brush and paint, or with a little black ink wash.

5. Finally, do a fine light -- almost white -- line across the back of the segment. It can be a straight line, or a line of closely packed dots (to help blend in with all the previous strokes.)

That's it! You can use the same technique for the belly segments using lighter colors (or any palette you prefer), as well as for the legs and antennae -- just use longer and thinner strokes. Paint the eyes your preferred color, and that should finish off your centipede. I like a gloss varnish on this figure to give that exoskeleton some sheen.

You can also use this basic technique to paint your roaches. Simple paint each roach as if it's one segment.

10 comments:

  1. Ick, its so nasty and chitinous. And that's a compliment :) Your colour choices are excellent and the execution is convincingly organic.

    At least it's not a human centipede...

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  2. I love these minis. I bought the board game, broke them out and then decided to order 3 more sets of the minis. Everything from the mice to the bugs are very cool little minis. Great tutorial on the paint up by the way!! Thanks!

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  3. Wow! Thanks! Dunno how I missed it! I subscribed to the RSS feed of the blog and was getting updates on your new posts, just waiting for this... and I missed it! Sorry for the whining :) Now on to some fun painty time!

    Thanks again for taking the time to post this.

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  4. What kind of paint do you use? Acrylic, enamel, etc.

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    1. I use acrylic. Vallejo mostly, and some Wargames Foundry as I whittle off the last of my jars.

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  5. I just found your blog - awesome stuff!! I'm currently going through my Mice and Mystics figurines and your paintings were a huge inspiration. I'm not nearly as good as you are, but practice practice practice haha. I hope you keep up the great work!

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    1. LOTS of practice; I've been painting for almost 30 years -- I should be better than I am :)
      Good luck on your Mice and Mystics!

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  6. You made no mention of a wash (other than using to make a black line between segments). Did you do a wash over the entire figure? Just curious.

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    1. I don't use washes (except on armor.) I've never been able to get a clean wash without having to go back over and touch it up. So I skip it.

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  7. I probably could not thank you enough for the super simple painting step-by-step scheme! I wish many more miniature "supposed to be beginner level" instructions came like this! Awesome job, which replaces any video tutorial :)

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