This post is a placeholder to explain how I make lava bases. This is the first time I've done it, and I did it here for Devils. I think I did pretty well, so I want to document this to be able to do it again in the future.
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I started by making my bases as usual, the kind I normally make that look a bit like mud. It's a mixture of filler paste with gravel and glue that I put on the base. Originally I hadn't planned to make lava bases, I had planned to make normal bases, so I started like that.
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I'm working with Real Colors Markers from AK brand. I have two colors: a yellow one (reference RCM004) and a very dark gray, almost black anthracite one (reference RCM001).
With the yellow marker, I started tracing where I think there's lava. I generally follow the contours of the central island where my character is, then I make lines going to the edge. I try to make sure the character isn't sitting on an island in the middle. While I mostly follow the relief, I sometimes add small islands of earth even when there's no particular relief, just to get that lava effect.
So I do all of that in pure yellow, and then everything else that's supposed to be stone, I do with the black marker.
The cool thing is that from a distance, the lava effect already worked really well even before the first dry brush or adding orange. Just the yellow lines and brown contours were enough. Then it was just about adding more detail progressively.
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Next step: I took Wolf Grey from Vallejo and did a fairly light dry brushing on all the stone parts, which gives a slightly ashy appearance that works really well. I applied that to absolutely all the stone areas.
Then I grabbed some Game Color Carne Marron, which is a kind of slightly reddish brown that looks a bit like reddish mud. The important thing is that it leans a little more towards brown than red (I tried with a deeper red initially, and the drybrush just turned pink). With that, I did a dry brushing from the bottom of the islands towards the top, starting from where the lava is and going upward. This gives a nice effect as if the slightly glowing lava was illuminating the stone blocks.
I also applied it on all the areas with flat stone surfaces. I did a very quick brushing from the outside towards the inside on the edges, which means that on the large stone blocks, the center just stays with the grey dry brushing.
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So at that point I started using some less orthodox techniques. I grabbed a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen Brush in Scarlet Red (it's kind of orange) and followed all the outlines of the stone islands on the yellow parts.
I pushed the orange a bit more towards the center because from what I've noticed about lava, there are rarely large expanses of yellow. The yellow seems to really only be in the super hot center, so I preferred to have the orange advance a little further in. For this part I didn't do a straight line along the edges, but rather a lot of small lines perpendicular to the edge, to make it more natural.
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For the next phase, I took another marker, a STAEDTLER from their Lumo Color Permanent range. I went with red this time.
I used it to retrace the outline exactly where the stone and lava meet. This adds a really nice red edge right at the point where the two surfaces touch.
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Then I covered all the lava with Zealot Yellow speedpaint. It gives it a slightly orange tint but you can still see through it. The Zealot Yellow Speed Paint helps unify everything and softens the rough layers nicely.
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Final phase here: since the Zealot Yellow tones down the yellow areas a bit, I grab my AK Marker yellow again. In the spots where there are large lava expanses with yellow inside that got toned down, I make tiny little pencil strokes to create small dots in the center.
It's a bit rough, not perfect, but a few seconds later, working base by base, I take a brush and just wet it (no ink, no paint at all). Then I spread out what I did with the Marker so those visible splotches get softened. This really helps bring out the yellow in the center of the lava and gives it that molten look.
The trickiest part is that you have to work super fast. Sometimes I don't even do a whole base at once, just small bits at a time. Right after applying each bit, I spread it with a wet brush because the marker dries incredibly fast and the effect doesn't work as well if you wait.
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Finally finished painting the contours of the bases in black. Pretty happy with how these lava bases turned out, especially since it's my first time trying this technique!
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The key is thinking about it like this: the closer to the center of the lava areas, the more yellow. The closer to the stone edges, the more red. The strong contrast between the black stone and the lava makes it work really well.
What's really nice is that most of the painting work is done with AK markers. That means I can work on it bit by bit without having to pull out all my painting gear. My work desk is also my hobby painting workspace, so when I'm on calls with colleagues, I can make progress on the parts that can be done with a marker. It really doesn't require any focus from me, so I can do it while discussing work stuff on our regular calls. I don't need to set up any equipment, I just cap the marker when I'm done, put the miniature aside, and that's it. About 90% of the project can be done this way.