Billington's tower

[Ballardian]

A little while ago I made a piece of SA specific scenery based on the description of Billington's tower from 'The Lurker At The Threshold', but somehow it it never 'sparked' as an interesting piece. Various other things (other projects, life etc...) meant that I never returned to it until now, I like the idea but want to inject a bit of life into it (as amply illustrated by Masons always excellent scenery). I was considering engraving & then painting in some glowing runes into the slabs around the pool, any other suggestions?

[Uncle Mike]

Coooooooooooooooooooooooool! Love that eldritch pool!!!

[styx]

Maybe another brush of a lighter grey for highlights (very light) and add some moss or other lichen to the side of an old tower perhaps even ivey....

I really love the idea and is amazing work!

[jnr]

Nice

[Mason]

 
That is REALLY great piece of scenery, and that pool is absolutely fantastic, Ballardian!

I am seriously impressed!
 

If you want to add a little more to it I would suggest that you add just a little more scenic material to the rock that the tower is built on, just to break up the expanse of grey. It looks great as it is but, if you look at any natural feature, you will find that grasses and weeds etc will always find a nook or cranny to take hold of and seed.

The other you could do would be to vary the colours of the blocks of stone in the tower structure.
Thinned down washes of green and brown would work well here.
Just pick out the odd stone and give it a light wash, maybe one in five or six given a different shade. Mix the shades up a little, adding the green and brown together in different measures.
Pick a small area at a time to do and you should get a good effect.
Dont overdo it, though, as it is easy to create a patchwork effect.
Give the whole structure a light drybrush of the original lightest layer of drybrushing afterwards to bring it all back together again.

Another thing you can do, which is pretty easy, is to add a little growth to the walls.
Add a little scenic underbrush to the walls, particularly on the outside, and you will soon have a very natural look to a ruined structure.

Here is an example of the vine thing, showing how it helps to break down an otherwise plain area and give it a bit of 'life'.

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=30667.165

(Scroll down to the bottom of the page and have a look at the undergrowth growing on the side of the Undertakers).

This growth has been given a light drybrush of an Ivory tone to add extra depth.

Hope that helps.
 

[Black Cavalier]

Mason, the vines on your Undertaker's building look great.  I've been looking for something like that.  Who makes them & do they come already all "viney" or is that something you made yourself?

[necrocannibal]

That already looks awesome! I agree with a light grey highlight in some places (not everywhere) and some vines or something.
The Army Painter's Poison Ivy looks great for something like this or maybe Sliflor/ Mininatur's Ivy.
Maybe some green highlights/ washes in places to add some algea to the stones.
This would break up the monotony.

[Mason]

Mason, the vines on your Undertaker's building look great.  I've been looking for something like that.  Who makes them & do they come already all "viney" or is that something you made yourself?

Black Cavalier: This is the stuff that I use:
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/underbrush

I just paint the area that I intend to cover in PVA/wood glue and press it down into it.

I run a little super glue into it when the pva glue is dry. This helps to hold it all together and also stiffens it to make drybrushing it easier.

[Ballardian]

Many thanks for the tips all! Think I'll go with some ivy/lichen/moss up the walls, altering the colours of some of the stones & the aforementioned glowing runes. Thanks again for re-igniting my interest in this piece & will put up some pics once the tarting-up is complete.

[zobo1942]

Nicely done!!

[aggro84]

I love the piece. 

I think it looks great as is, but; alternating some of the stone colors and added vines would give it more punch.

[einarolafson]

Great work there!! Looking forward to seeing it in a very nice AAR  .