Necron Army Work in Progress pics: Titanicus Terrain Painting Tutorial

So I've been painting Titanicus terrain! The first time I've painted terrain. I've seen some other tutorials floating around, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

Also, to document the recipe so I can revisit it in the future, as new terrain kits come out.

I will list what I used at the end, however, it is very easy to substitute your own paints in. I'll explain why I did the things I did so you can make smart decisions and tweak the recipe as you see fit.

The overall idea was to have the "clean" parts of the building tinted cold, and "dirty" tinted warm. That would keep it interesting and intensify weathering effects without making them overbearing on the tabletop, and everything would be nice and neutral on average.

Putting down colors

We start with white primer. I used old school GW white spray, however, I think a smoother (satin/glossy) primer would work much better with contrast paint.

Then I apply contrast paint. I used a 50/50 mix of Contrast Basilicanum Grey and Contrast Space Wolves Grey. One is a dark warm grey, the other a light cold grey; they even out to something just right. I strongly suggest you get a dropper bottle for this mix; not only will you waste less paint that way, but also, it'll let you apply the paint out of the dropper bottle straight onto the model.

Contrast paint, in general, doesn't work well on flat surfaces. That's good here though; we need to keep flat panels interesting, and at this scale, stains will look realistic. But do apply it thin and controlled, it should never be pooling. I strongly suggest painting a few panels at the time to keep the paint from pooling.

Floor tiles are painted with contrast too, however, as it's drying, stipple the middle of the floor tile with a wet brush. That will remove some of the paint from the tile and create an overall lighter value and a nice gradient towards the edge of the tile.

Once contrast is dry, it'll look something like this. It's not great but it's a good start. Then I use a very large makeup brush to drybrush Citadel Layer Greystone.

I focus on areas where tidemarks are too strong, or on the surface of the model. Don't clean them up completely, just subdue them a bit. Once that's done, using the same brush, I drybrush Vallejo Game Air Wolf Grey on all higher parts of the model. The effect should be very light, just a cold tint.

Then I make a pass and color in detail. Do as much or as little here as you feel like doing, using any paints you want. I recommend staying neutral generally.

Because I'll forget in the future, I'll spell out what I did:

Warplock bronze on pipes and fans on the tops of the building. Fans were then drybrushed Scale75 Thrash Metal.
Windows are super thin glaze of Daler Rowney FW Indigo.
Citadel Brass Scorpion on all small door frames and vents. I tapped some Nihilanh oxide on top of those sometimes, I think I've overdone it though.
Scale75 Negro Gold on those little wings above medium and large doors. Nihilanh oxide it too, because this is space gold that oxidizes into a cold color. Obviously.
Scale75 Thrash Metal on those large floor-tile vents that take up most of the tile
Citadel Runelord Brass for vertical lines in medium and large doors.
Roofs are Brass Scorpion and Nihilanh Oxide applied in an many layers as it takes until it starts looking interesting. Drybrushing one on top of another, glazing while leaving brush lines, stippling.

Here's the result:

Now we're ready for...

Weathering

I used enamel paints for weathering. These paints smell really bad, so keep your room ventilated. Also, it might be a good idea to varnish the model before proceeding; I didn't and I believe I started stripping paint in some areas. But it was fine.

This one's rather simple. A heavy application of AK Streaking Grime at the bottom, all corners of terrace/roof tiles, then feathered with white spirits.

I have two bottles of white spirits, one brand new and pristine, the other murky brown from being used so many times. I used the filthy bottle here, both to keep the other bottle clean and to add a yellow tint to the walls. Then I used the clean bottle of white spirits to clean up the very tops.

On tall walls I also streaked some AK Interactive Rust Steaks. These are a strong red, and after cleaning up with white spriits, it blended down a little. It have the whole thing a bit more interest. Unlike grime, I applied rust streaks randomly on all heights, not just at the bottom. I didn't really look for excuses why rust would be here or there; it's just there to add some variety to the walls. It's blended down to almost nothing after white spirits did their work.

Then I applied AK Interactive Light Dust Deposits on all ledges, at the bottom and the top. I applied a lot, and again, removed any excess with white spirits.

Once that was done, I made one more light drybrush of Wolf Grey on tops just to make edges a bit stronger, and that's it!