Every once in a while as a miniature painter, a project comes along which takes you on a journey. For me, the latest of these is the drider from Epic Encounters: Lair of the Drider. I’ve blogged about how highly I rate the Epic Encounters range before, and in a field of fantastic sculpts, this one manages to stand out as particularly exceptional. I mean, it’s the absolute stuff of nightmares, but in a good way. On some of the earlier sets, I’ve found mould lines to be an issue but they are minimal on this one, and even though this thing has all the legs, it’s not too tricky to get a brush wherever you need one. I’m yet to play through the encounter so this post is just about the painting.

I’d taken some inspiration from some Tyranids I’d seen on Pinterest which were sporting some mind blowing glow effects. Since driders are creatures of the Underdark, I figured that OSL (Object Source Lighting) was the way to go. I’d intended to use some 3D printed mushrooms as light sources until I noticed the cracks in the sarcophagus on the base and thought there could be some pretty tasty magic blasting out of that thing.

So, this became an OSL painting challenge. I’ve edge highlighted a thousand space marines, but natural textures are still very much a learning area for me, and I’d never tried painting based on a light source before.

The Process and the Recipe

This sat on my shelf covered in black primer for weeks while I figured out how to tackle it. Eventually I settled on purple light and, after a bit more Pinterest inspiration, grabbed a few bottles of fluorescent paint from Vallejo.

Different to my usual technique, there’s almost no shade/wash paints used on this. I did, however, drybrush the living hell out of the thing with using a giant brush. This was my guide for where the light would hit. Highlights started out with more drybrushing using GW Xereus Purple focusing on where the light would be brighter. Since drybrushing (although great) can look a bit chalky, I smoothed it out with a couple of glazes of the previous purples. To get the really bright bits like the cracks and eyes in the sarcophagus, I used a layer of white, covered in Vallejo Fluorescent Violet. This needed a couple of coats because the white was showing through a bit too much. Most of the work was in blending these few colours to get the transitions right and the bright bits where the light was hitting them.

Shadows were tricky. Leaving them black didn’t seem right, then I got some advice from friends at Staffordshire Wargaming Guild who suggested blue was the way to go. I gave it a shot and I’m happy with the results. It’s a few coats of Vallejo Night Blue highlighted with a 70/30 mix of Vallejo Night Blue and GW Teclis Blue. I just built up the layers on the raised parts and edges until it looked like it was highlighted but without being too bright.

One part which turned out particularly well (although the photos don’t do it justice) is the steel armour. That was super easy too. Base coat with Vallejo Natural Steel, then wash all over with GW Druchii Violet, pushing the bulk of it into the recesses. Then the cool bit was highlighting the raised bits with Vallejo Shifter Electric Blue Intense Violet (I got mine from this set). This gave such a great, and subtle, effect on top of the steel.

I used some more of the same Vallejo Shifter paint on the carapace trim. This time over black – results differ depending on what you paint it over which can lead to some interesting possibilities. I’m not completely sold that this was the right call for the project – the violet looks great but the blue shift can be a bit light.

That’s pretty much how it went. Nothing too complicated here, but a lot of blending and constantly going back and thinking where the light would be hitting it. This has turned out to be one of my better paint jobs, probably because I had to turn autopilot off and think about it. I’d definitely advise painting outside your comfort zone once in a while – it really fires the creativity and inspiration.

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