Nocturna Models Enchantment [WIP - Base]

Painting cobblestones, for some reason, has always been on my bucket list of painting must-do's. The chance to tick this item off my list finally came in the form of the 70 mm Nocturna Models Akelarre Enchantment figurine's base. Details on the base is excellent as the shapes of the individual pieces of cobblestone are random enough to prevent it from looking like just another cookie cutter design.  

Akelarre Enchantment (as a proxy for Daenerys Targaryen) work-in-progress, cobblestone base

Daenerys as she looks now with a lot more hours pending on her head, eyes, lips, hair and accessories

One key consideration when painting the cobblestone base was to keep things as simple as possible. In other words, the steps involved in completing the base had to be minimal and easy to carry out. To kick things off, I applied a black wash (Citadel Badab Black/Nuln Oil) on the base which not only filled out all the crevices but also helped define individual cobblestones for easier painting.  

Step 0: Base primed with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer

Add black wash to the base ...

Step 1: Base after a few layers of black wash

To prevent the base from taking centre stage, as it were, I kept the colour scheme dark and fairly dull with grey being the dominant colour. Even some of the blues had hints of grey while others had a greenish tint to tie in with the light turquoise colours on her dress. To further dull (and dirty up) the colour scheme, another layer of black wash was applied after the cobblestones were painted.

Colour scheme for cobblestones comprised primarily of greenish- and greyish-blues as well as greys

Step 2: Base after individual tiles are randomly painted with the above colour scheme

As a finishing touch, I glued on tufts of grass in the crevices at strategic points on the cobblestone base. This I did because the base looked a bit bare as it is. Dead grass as opposed to fresh green grass was chosen with the overall dull colour scheme in mind. Moreover, having healthy bright green grass growing in the crevices of a cobblestone street didn't make sense if realism was the target.

Glue on some winter/static grass on the cracks between the cobblestones

Step 3: Base after finishing touch of the glued-on grass

Based on the second photo from top, it kinda looks like there doesn't seem much left to do for the Nocturna Models miniature. But nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, I will have to resculpt the two head ribbons (not shown here) to be attached to her headgear so that it looks dynamic i.e. as if the ribbons are waving in the air and paint them. In addition, there is more work to be done on her headgear itself as well as her hair, eyes, lips and the many tiny clothing accessories (e.g. necklace on her neck, tiny metal chain on her right thigh, etc). In short, she is far from finished.