The Wood Elf Treeman was one of the stand-out Warhammer releases from 2014 and offers painters a fantastic model with tons of potential.

In this installment of Lessons from the Chief Slave the Chief takes us step by step through how to paint a Summer Treeman, including a detailed guide to using glazes for OSL and more.

Paints Used:

• Black Primer
• Matt Varnish
• Gloss Varnish
• Thinner
• Glaze Medium
• VMA Mud Brown
• VMA Sand
• VMA Tank Brown
• VGC Squid Pink
• VGC Scrofulous Brown
• VGC Filthy Brown
• VGC Bloody Red
• VGC Dark Fleshtone
• VGC Hexed Lichen Purple
• Citadel Biel Tan Green
• Citadel Agrax Earthshade
• Citadel Moot Green
• Citadel Loren Green
• Citadel Death World Forest
• Citadel Caliban Green
• Citadel Waywatcher Green
• Citadel Yriel Yellow
• Citadel White Scar
• Citadel Praxeti White
• Citadel Underhive Ash

Step 1: Basing the bark

Start out by priming the whole take with Vallejo Black Primer. Then base entirely with VMA Tank Brown. Now base up zenithal highlights using VMA Mud Brown and VMA Sand. When basing up with VMA Sand I emphasised the tops of the branches, the chest and face.

It is important to make sure you make the branches really bright with VMA Sand as this will form the basis for glazing the summer growth through to the branches.

Now mix up a glaze of Citadel Death World Forest and Glaze Medium in a 1:1 mix and apply this gradually across the ‘new growth’ areas on the branches, gradually build this up until the transitions represent the right degree of ‘summer’.

After you are happy you now need to highlight the green areas with a 1:1 mix of Citadel Loren Forest and Thinner. Thinning the paint helps to create more translucency in the paint, but acts differently to an actual glaze. As you build up the highlights use quick light passes to let the effect naturally build. Finally apply glaze of Waywatcher Green to restore some vibrancy and offset the glow of runes that will be completed later.

Step 2: Flowers and Runes basing

As I am aiming for a summer theme I decided to go with blossom tree look. As I know that the runes are going to be a very bright glowing green, I opted for a light pink to complement this colour. So quickly working around the miniature I apply VGC Squid Pink to all of the leaves and then move over the edges with a quick highlight of Citadel White Scar. Note that I tried to vary the white highlight patterns and depth to ensure that it was a more natural look. Originally I did them all the same and it just looked wrong.

At this stage I also carefully based the runes with Citadel Caliban Green. I thinned this 1:1 with water to assist with spreading into the runes. Make sure this colour does not flow on the bark in any areas.

Step 3: Runes

This part was probably the most time consuming of the miniature taking almost 2 hours alone. The best advice I can give is to work fast and set aside the time to do in one go as attempting in multiple sittings will lead to different effects.

The current trend in OSL (Object Sourced Lighting) is simply to bang it out fast using an airbrush. Generally this is a good bet for a strong centralised light source. However with the runes they are glowing from within the Treeman and therefore need to be developed more subtlety to ensure that the details are not washed out by heavy white highlights.

So to achieve this effect using a brush I setup Moot Green and White Scar on my wet palette mixing 1:3 with water (so very thin).

I also created a blend between the two. I then passed over each rune with Moot Green leaving only a faint amount of the base Caliban Green showing. I did three coats in all slowly progressing to White Scar in the centre of the runes where the glow would be the strongest.

I then lightly glazed the area around the rune with Waywatcher Green to balance the overall effect. The overall goal was to create crackling/glowing magical effect.

Step 4: Fungus, Flowers and Tabard

This stage was quick and easy. The goal was to clean up the fungus and the flower on the staff. For the fungus I went for red and white toadstools to complement the greens of the miniature. The toadstools were based with VGC Bloody Red and while still wet the edges were darkened with VGC Dark Fleshtone. After drying white dots were applied.

The flower on the staff is intended to look alive and sprouting with magical energy. So I based with VGC Hexed Lichen Purple and then edge highlighted with Praxeti White. I then applied a thin glaze of Waywatcher Green to create a growth/spring effect. I purposely kept the green tones more subdued than the runes to create an organic growth feel more so than a magical glow.

The Bark Tabard was now shaded with Scrofulous Brown and Filthy Brown. These colours were used as they have natural warmth from their orange bases, to contrast the hardened feel of the main body bark.

Step 5: Final Details

To complete the miniature a few final details are needed. First the green area recesses were toned with Biel Tan Green and the bark areas with Agrax Earthshade. This was applied to recesses only and not washed over the miniature.

A dry brush of Underhive Ash was then applied across the entire miniature. This was done very carefully to ensure that a chalky/dusty effect wasn't created. Application is best using the edge of brush to ensure clean line highlights.

Sprites were painted separately and then applied afterwards. These were based in White Scar with the edges glazed with Yriel Yellow. This glaze was then applied to the base and Treeman where the sprites would sit.