TEXT: him an elaborate base. I cleaned up and assembled the
  Judge with superglue and then attacked the base.
  THE BASEWORK
  First important thing was to decide on the size of base. I
  felt that 40mm was
  a little too small for
  me to do anything
  especially
  eyecatching so I
  went to a 60mm
  flying base
  (without the
  column of course).
  This was large
  enough without
  overwhelming the
  figure. I went with
  an urban ruins
  style as it seemed
  appropriate for a
  Judge who’d most
  likely be found in a
  hive or something
  similar. I don’t
  want this to
  descend into a
  terrain making
  article so I’ll keep
  this brief before I
  go onto the meat
  of the article: the
  painting of the
  figure. I built the
  girders from sheets
  of plasticard glued
  together. Nice and
  easy really. The
  bricks were also
  cut from sheets of
  plasticard.
  Again, this was easy but pretty time consuming. There’s
  also part of a Space Marine Dreadnought arm embedded in
  the rubble. I just thought it looked like a general piece of
  industrial scrap once it was half buried. There’s part of
  some 40K Imperial ruins, also half buried, and a lot of
  Readers of this magazine’s previous
  incarnation (well, for Inquisitor
  players anyway), Exterminatus,
  may just about recall that I
  wrote a painting article for
  Madam Inquisitor Jena
  Orechiel. Not particularly
  relevant in itself but I had
  also sculpted the figure
  which I felt gave me an
  interesting perspective on
  the subject. I mentioned
  towards the end that I
  wouldn’t mind
  giving this
  another shot at
  some point.
  Well, the
  madmen at
  Specialist
  Games did
  commission me to sculpt another figure
  for Inquisitor. An Arbite Judge. Dutifully, I painted one.
  First up I should make something clear: the Judge figure
  that is out there for sale isn’t quite the same as the one in
  this article. The GW moulding department cast me up a
  Judge before he was complete. He’s not too different but
  you may notice a little less detail on him. The good news is
  that the final model is better, with variant heads to choose
  from and sculpted details to make it easier for painting. I
  was happier with a more blank canvas considering what I
  had planned for the figure. I decided that I wanted to paint
  the figure for the Open contest at the 2003 Golden Demon
  Awards. All those blank areas, like the shoulder and knee
  pads, were opportunities for me to show off my painting
  skills with freehand designs. Always handy for impressing
  the GD Judges.
  I started with my bag of Judge bits. I didn’t have to go
  through the process of selecting a head as he only had the
  one at the time. I also decided not to convert him. A
  conversion seemed a bit pointless considering I sculpted
  him in the first place – if I wanted him different I should
  have sculpted him that way. Still, he needed something
  more than just being a stock miniature as the competition
  in the Open is ferocious. I felt that my best plan was to give
  8
  MASTERCLASS
  MASTERCLASS
  Adeptus Arbites Judge by Steve Buddle
  �������������������������������������
  
  plastic rod masquerading as lengths of
  steel or pipes. There’s also a nicely
  buried hand sticking out from beneath
  the rubble. I spent ages deciding the best
  way to do it as I couldn’t find a suitable
  54mm hand. Then I saw how big the
  hands are on the plastic zombies from
  Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Big enough
  to be mistaken for 54mm hands in fact.
  Useful really, so I modelled the end of a
  sleeve over the wrist and buried it with
  everything else. And there I had myself a
  base worthy of my competition entry.
  Okay, you’re
  probably going to
  be
  shocked at this but I almost always paint
  bases before I paint the rest of a figure.
  Seems crazy but I find base painting a
  messy process compared to most things.
  I find I am more likely to mess up a figure
  by painting the base last than mess up a
  base by painting it first!
  I sprayed the base with Chaos Black
  undercoat and then went about the task.
  All the bricks and sand, were painted
  with a few coats of Graveyard Earth. I
  then painted up the girders, exposed
  sections of the dead arm and pipes in
  Boltgun Metal. Nice and simple so far.
  Next I washed the whole base with my
  special armour wash.
  PAINTING THE BASE
  Once that wash was done I drybrushed
  the sand, first with Graveyard Earth and
  then with Kommando Khaki. The fallen
  Imperial ruin was first drybrushed with
  Graveyard Earth and then with multiple mixes of Graveyard
  Earth and Kommando Khaki, adding more and more
  Kommando Khaki until it was the pure colour. The extra
  levels of drybrushing gave the ruin a more subtle look
  that’d be lost on the sand which is quite coarse.
  I then painted each brick, individually, with Graveyard
  Earth to restore their colour while leaving the shading
  between them. Highlights were added with increasing
  amounts of Kommando Khaki added to the base colour.
  These were painted on rather than
  drybrushed to get away from a rough
  look. You hear me say that and reply “but
  there’s got to be a ton of bricks”. Yep,
  drove me barmy for a while. Got there
  eventually though after four or so levels
  of highlights!
  The girders and metal sections were re-
  highlighted with Boltgun Metal then
  again with Chainmail. I tried not to be
  too neat with that and left much of the
  shading visible to give the metal an old,
  rusted look.
  The severed hand was painted in the
  same way as the Judge’s face (so I’ll get to
  that later). The blood was Scab Red (for a
  dry look) and was stippled onto the
  fingers and
  a
  few spots.
  Don’t go
  overboard with this.
  Finally I painted the housing of the dead
  arm in Regal Blue and the metal plate in
  a mix of Dark Angels Green and Catachan
  Green. Both were highlighted with a few
  layers around the edges by adding
  Bleached Bone to the base colour. I
  painted a few scatches, dents and bullet
  holes using
  Chaos Black
  and then
  highlighted them with Chainmail.
  THE JUDGE
  And then we come to the meat of this
  article. The Judge himself. Like the base,
  he was sprayed with
  Chaos Black
  undercoat.
  9
  ARMOUR WASH
  And, as if by magic, we take a break from our normal
  service. My armour wash is designed to be more
  straightforward to use than a basic ink wash. I wanted a
  wash that would leave surfaces pretty clean but give me
  decent, blended in, shading. It didn’t need to be perfect
  as my aim was a slightly oily quality. What I came up with
  was based around Liquitex Matte Medium. This is kind
  of like clear paint. It behaves like paint rather than water
  and is, therefore, easier to control. I took the Matte
  Medium and added equal quantities of black and brown
  ink. You’ll have to experiment with how much ink to
  add to the medium. It’ll depend on how harsh you want
  the effect. Once I have this mixture I usually water it
  down a little to make it flow better. I’ll now return you
  to our regular programming.
  �������������������������������������
  
  Painting began with his armour which
  was one of the few areas where I decided
  to stick with classical Arbite colours. So,
  black it is then. I started by painting a few
  coats of Chaos Black. I know it seems silly
  over a Chaos Black undercoat but I find
  that this gives a purer, deeper black. It’s
  much nicer for highlighting over. I began
  the highlighting process by adding Regal
  Blue to the Chaos Black and painting the
  edges of the armour and continued
  adding more Regal Blue until the mix was
  about 50:50. Then I started adding Skull
  White instead of the blue. By doing this I got a slightly more
  interesting effect than the dead grey I’d get otherwise. The
  blue in the midtones lifts the figure a bit. I continued
  adding the white until it was almost pure but those final
  highlights were very small and fine. Just on the corners
  really.
  The symbol on the knee and chest plate were both
  basecoated with a mix of Chaos Black, Regal Blue and Skull
  White. I painted them as basic boxes then neatened them
  up by outlining them in Chaos Black.
  Highlights were achieved by adding white to
  the base mix.
  Next up was the coat. Very important for this
  figure as much of his individuality is tied up
  in it. The choice of red was quite a hard one.
  I was going to go for either deep red, deep
  green or brown. In
  the end I decided
  brown 
  was 
  too
  neutral,
  especially
  with the dusty base
  and that green seemed to work
  better as an accent colour than a
  main colour (I thought it wouldn’t
  look so authoritative). So I went
  with the deep red. The basecoat
  was quite a dark mix of Chaos
  Black and Blood Red.
  I could have used Scab Red but I wanted a rich, burnt red
  and Scab Red is quite pinkish. After a few thinned basecoats
  to build up the colour I started adding more Blood Red to
  the mix and highlighting up. I tried to leave quite a contrast
  10
  ��������������������������������������
  
  to give it the look of a heavy leather coat. I
  highlighted all the way up to pure Blood
  Red. Once this was done I really felt that the
  coat had the right look.
  I’m
  glad
  I
  persevered as I thought the coat looked
  awful until the last highlight went on. It
  needed that rich, pure, red to make it pop.
  In my haste to really see if my
  colour selection was working I
  tackled the boots, gloves, and
  Book of the Law next. I picked up
  on that choice of green that was
  dismissed for the coat as it would
  contrast the red. The basecoat
  was 
  Dark
  Angels 
  Green.
  Highlights were
  by adding
  increasing amounts of Snot
  Green. Once I’d built to pure
  Snot Green I added a few
  subtle highlights by adding a
  little Bleached Bone to the
  Snot Green.
  The pages in the book were
  painted Graveyard Earth and
  highlighted up to Kommando
  Khaki.
  At this point I was able to sit back and take a good look at
  the Judge. This is always a good plan when painting figures
  (or sculpting them come to that). It gives you a chance to
  change direction if needs be. My only major decision at this
  point was to change my plans for his belt and holster.
  These were planned to be a dark brown but I immediately
  saw that the darkness at this point was losing the figure its
  definition so I needed to go lighter. I decided to tackle this
  next.
  The basecoat for the belt and holster were Bestial Brown.
  Highlights were added by using Kommando
  Khaki mixed into the base tone. I took it all
  the way up to pure Kommando Khaki for
  some fine highlights. Stepping back again I
  was much happier. With hindsight, I think
  the choice of brown for the belt and holster was the make
  or break for this figure. That may seem silly but the figure
  really did look wrong before this was done.
  Now the time had come for the face. I know most painters
  tackle the face first of all. I prefer to tackle it later on when
  I can match the skin tone to the rest of the colours. The
  exception to this is when I paint a figure that has a lot of
  exposed flesh.
  The basecoat is a mixture of Dwarf Flesh,
  Bestial Brown and Scorched Brown. The
  Scorched Brown is in there to give the
  shading a slightly pinkish quality. On a large
  figure like this I don’t like shading to look too
  rich preferring a more muted approach.
  Highlights were by adding Dwarf Flesh to
  the base mix. I highlighted all the way up to
  pure Dwarf Flesh. The pure
  Dwarf
  Flesh
  highlight was
  applied two or three times just
  to build up the colour. A few sharp highlights
  were added using a mix of Dwarf Flesh and
  Skull White.
  I painted the eyeballs with a coat
  of Chaos Black. Then I painted
  them Skull White leaving a fine line of black around the
  edge to define them. Finally, I dotted in the pupils with
  Chaos Black. Make sure that you paint the pupil quite large
  as, otherwise, the figure will look startled.
  The
  hair was basecoated
  in
  Chaos Black. Highlights were
  drybrushed on just around the
  edges using the same highlight mixes as the armour (Regal
  Blue then Skull White). This time I stopped highlighting
  way before I hit pure Skull White though. The
  blue in the hair not only picks up the armour
  tones (for an aesthetically pleasing quality)
  but also makes him look slightly younger than if his hair
  had been too grey. Of course you may want him to have
  grey hair.
  Next up for painting were the weapons and other metal
  areas.
  11
  ��������������������������������������
  
  Everything that needed to
  end up as steel was given
  a basecoat of Chainmail.
  Then I gave each piece a wash with my
  armour wash (return to the interlude for
  reference). I then re-highlighted the
  metal with Chainmail and added a few highlights with
  Mithril Silver. The shoulder pads are worth a little extra
  comment. As they are
  a large, flat surface
  the 
  wash
  pooled
  slightly 
  giving
  a
  vaguely mottled feel. I decided that I like
  this as it gave the pads a battered look.
  Instead of neatly redoing the Chainmail,
  I painted around the shapes formed by
  the wash and I think it gave them a very
  cool look.
  The black sections of the weapons were painted in the
  same way as the armour. I added a few scatches and scrapes
  as described earlier in the base painting section.
  I decided not to add much in
  the way of gold/brass to the
  figure as I preferred a grittier
  look. That said, I felt that it
  would look quite appropriate
  if the coat had some brass buttons.
  These were basecoated with Brazen Brass, then highlighted
  with Shining Gold and finally with a mix of Shining Gold
  and Mithril Silver.
  With that done the figure was essentially
  complete. I refer to this as the minimum
  stopping point. Everything is painted and you
  can then decide if any embellishments are
  needed. I may have stopped if this wasn’t a
  competition entry. But it was, and for the Open
  no less, so I soldiered on a little more.
  First up was to address the planned iconography for his
  shoulders. I decided against it in the
  end. I was so pleased with my battered
  metal that I didn’t want to hide it.
  Instead I did some fine detail painting
  12
  ��������������������������������������
  
  on the side of the gun. A winged skull seemed appropriate.
  This was basecoated in Bestial Brown. I built up the shapes
  by adding Bleached Bone, then Skull White to the base
  colour until I was painting with just pure Skull White.
  That’s the easy way to describe the process but painting
  freehand like this requires a bit more than just “highlight
  using this colour”. For me, the trick is extremely thinned
  paint and to have very little of it on the brush. Basically you
  are practically drybrushing the highlights on using very
  watery paint. You want the bare minimum amount of paint
  on the brush as this gives you a great deal of control. The
  process of painting the symbol was slow and painstaking. It
  actually got a sitting of its own. I got myself psyched up
  first, did the painting then left the figure for another day.
  I’m not generally known for my fine detail and freehand
  painting so I tend to do this. It comes much easier to some
  others.
  Next up I decided that the figure needed defining more. It
  just didn’t feel quite as sharp as it could be. I thinned down
  some Chaos Black and blacklined nearly the whole figure.
  This can be quite daunting over a near-finished fig and I
  recommend treating it in a similar way to the freehand
  above. Thinned paint and not much on your brush. Keep
  the level of control high. The black lining made a colossal
  difference to the look of the figure. It looked neater, more
  dynamic and leapt out more.
  The final touch was to get him a
  bit dirty. I don’t like figures to be
  messy but he needed to be a bit
  dusty at least. I’d recently been
  experimenting 
  with
  a
  new
  technique for just this sort of
  thing using washes rather than
  the traditional drybrushing. It
  had worked well on one of my
  other Golden Demon entires
  (and that one went on to win a
  Bronze Demon) so I employed it
  on this figure too. I heavily
  thinned down some Graveyard
  Earth to the level where it was
  basically dirty water. Then I
  started washing this over the
  areas that needed to be dirty. These were the base of his
  coat, his boots and the plate and Dreadnought arm on the
  base. I didn’t flood the areas, instead I just painted the
  wash on. It was practically invisible, but I applied many
  coats. Something like 30 coats and the dust slowly built up.
  It gives quite a pleasing effect that is a lot more subtle and
  attractive (to my eyes) than a drybrushed effect.
  So that was about it. I glued the figure to his base and gave
  him a coat of varnish to protect him on his trip to Golden
  Demon. I also mounted him on a display plinth to show
  him off better.
  He didn’t win a trophy at the ‘Demons’ that year but, from
  what I understand, he wasn’t far off. And there was a lot of
  great stuff in the category that year. I wonder what I’ll get
  up to for this year’s contest. Hmm…
  13
  Steve
  Buddle
  is a
  professional
  sculptor and
  a
  Golden
  Demon
  standard painter.
  We owe Steve an apology, in issue
  one of Fanatic we creditied his work
  on 
  the
  Slaaneshi
  Daemon
  Warmaster figures to Colin Grayson
  when they were in fact Steve’s work.
  The Judge and all models from the Inquisitor range
  can be purchased from GW Direct Sales. See the
  ‘How to Order’ section on page 94. A Licensed
  Bounty Hunter is the next model due for release.
  Go to page 6 for the Adeptus Arbites rules.
  www.Exterminatus.com
  Author
  Further
  Information
  More Inq
  Website
  ��������������������������������������
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Warhammer/40k/Inquisitor Skirmish/SG_site_files/masterclass.pdf