Testing Citadel, Vallejo and Liquitex Inks and Shades for Dryad Bark Skin

I’m starting to build a small force of Sylvaneth, and decided to continue my exploration by fiddling around with some inks, shades and contrast paints. I figured that some of you might be interested in some of the different options for tree bark, so here’s some of my experiments.

I’m starting out with a quick drybrush of khaki over black primer.. On hindsight I should have just drybrushed with white; it would have been better information for you guys. That being said, the khaki didn’t change the colour much.

I then shaded with, from left to right:

Liquitex Ink (Raw Umber), Liquitex Ink (Burnt umber), Vallejo Game Ink (Brown), Citadel Shade (Agrax Earthshade), Citadel Contrast Paint (Gore Grunta Fur) and Citadel Shade (Athonian Camoshade).

The last one doesn’t have any inks or shades over. Instead, I decided to drybrush with grey and white.

The inks/shades are also shown behind the respective models.

I think the brown ink and contrast paints (gore grunta) are way too strong. Liquitex inks are an interesting choice, because they give you a whole lot more than model paint companies, and their range of inks are much wider. That being said, they do dry a little bit glossy. I’m okay with that though, since I’m going to be putting over a coat of matt varnish anyway.

Below you can see the miniatures in close-up, after I finished up with the detail.

Athonian Camoshade is also quite an interesting option, if you’re interested in green, living bark. The non-inked version also works if you’re looking more of a ‘silver birch’ version.

In the end, I decided to go with the Liquitex Burnt Umber Ink. It gives a nice and rich brown without being too over powering. That being said, Agrax Earthshade is an acceptable option if you don’t want to try Liquitex Inks.

At first, I wanted to go with an autumnal colour, because I wanted the option of red and orange leaves as a contrast to the turquoise eyes and runes. However, I want to base the minis with flowers and grass tufts, which wouldn’t make sense with autumn leaves. So in the end, I might go with the green/yellow of spring and summer instead.