TUTORIAL: The Great Green Elrik's Hobbies Marble Adventure

[gattz]

The following is an excerpt of a blog article.  Read Full Article

Greetings oh ye painters of tiny things! I've a fun project, nay, adventure, for those daring enough to deal with messy wet paints and those with patience to let layers dry! Indeed, a fun way of emulating marble that anybody can do with but a few simple strokes of a brush. It's also a great way to demonstrate and practice glazing. Perhaps some of you have heard of Elrik's Hobbies... They are a seller of all sorts of scenic resin bases and supplies for hobbyists. They have an impressive selection on their website, (https://elriks-hobbies.myshopify.com/) and have been present at many of ...

[Michael S.]

Hi,
This is a great article. Thanks for sharing.
Michael

[Eilif]

Excellent work Chistopher.

For the squiggles step, do you think a similar effect could be achieved using fine tipped paint markers or regular markers (for a softer application)?

[gattz]

Thanks guys,

Karl, I believe pens should work fine since you'll be adding glazing layers over them, unifying the look.
I find it very easy to do with a quality fine tipped paint brush though, and as you're varying the pressure as you pull the brush bristles along, it gives even more subtle variations in the color, something a pen may have difficulty with.
I think your suggestion may be worth trying though! Most of the fun, for me, is with experimenting on this stuff.

[Eilif]

Now you've got me thinking. I wonder kind of effect you'd get doing it with paint pens and then hitting it with a light alcohol wash that would both tint and slightly disolve and soften the marker lines.

[timlillig]

This is a really interesting technique. I think if I tried something similar I would probably get a bit stuck on techniques I learned for painting life sized faux marble with a feather and sponge. I don't know if that would work at this scale, maybe I'll try it some time.

[gattz]

Interesting! I did use a small piece of foam as a sponging tool in one of the steps for some added randomness.
I do know that on a larger piece of terrain, you can do a lot of interesting marble effects through layering, and feathering the edges with a larger brush while the paint is still wet. For small square base tiles like these, that technique might have been too subtle.