Wraith Revisited

In the comments to my post from last Thursday, I was asked by Kiltedyaksman (of Discourse & Dragons) to give some more detail on the method used to paint the Wraith miniature, particularly what paints and inks I used. I don't recall where I first saw a similar method of painting ghosts, and I played around with a couple different things that I wasn't happy with, until things all seemed to come together on this one. Unfortunately, I did not take any notes for this miniature. Fortunately, I do remember the technique I used and many of the paints are standard colors that I use all the time, so recreating the “recipe” isn’t very difficult. So while I can’t swear that this is EXACTLY what I used and how I painted the miniature, it’s a damn close approximation!

As a refresher, here is the miniature in question:

This is the Crypt Wraith from Reaper Miniatures, sculpted by Bob Ridolfi. Or as my wife calls it, the Statue of Liberty Ghost. 


Paints used:
White spray primer (Krylon)
Neutral Gray (Model Master Acryl)
Flat White (Model Master Acryl)
Titanium White (Liquitex)
Green Ink (Games Workshop)-I don’t think this is available any longer from GW
Gloss coat spray lacquer (Testors)
Dull coat spray lacquer (Testors)
acrylic thinner
“Magic Wash” (Future acrylic floor polish & water)

After priming, I put on a base coat of Neutral Gray, then a dry brushing of Flat White, enough to hit all the raised surfaces while leaving gray showing through on the deep parts and the flat surfaces (shield, armor, helmet). Then a very light dry brushing with Titanium White (thinned quite a bit), just touching the highest points. For the inking, I used Green Ink mixed with “Magic Wash”. I believe I first used a mix of 50/50 ink/wash, then a second coat of 70/30 ink/wash to darken the deeper spots. I may have touched up a few spots with an even heavier mix of ink to wash, as it seems there are a few spots that are darker than the rest. 2 coats of gloss coat and 2 coats of dull coat finish the mini, aside from basing.

If you’ve not used or heard of “Magic Wash”, a quick search online will bring up many, many hits with different ratios of floor polish to water. From straight polish to mostly water, everyone has a mix that they like best. Truthfully, I don’t remember exactly the ratio I used last time I mixed a batch up, I think it was 1:4 but it may have been 2:3 (wax:water). I’ve got a good sized bottle of it mixed, so I won’t need to figure it out any time soon.

For the base, the mini was glued to a 1” washer, then coated the washer with crazy glue and dipped in Woodland Scenics Buff Fine Ballast. This was painted dark brown (not sure of the exact color) and dry brushed with 2-3 lighter shades of brown. The final details on the base are from Galeforce Nine. Basing Grit: Rocky (which I believe is actually crushed walnut shells) and Winter/Dead Static Grass (a mix of greys and browns).

I hope that is a satisfactory explanation! I've played around with this a bit on a few other minis, using different color inks and different paint colors, some worked well, some not so well. I hope to have some of those minis posted soon. Give it a try, it's really a simple technique, and I'd love to see what kind of results others have with it, or other similar methods for painting incorporeal undead.