Tutorials
Published on August 9, 2016
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Painting the Mi-gos from Mansions of Madness

written by Joe B

Back to another monster from Mansions of Madness. This week I have the Mi-Go models – odd looking fly/bat/mosquito creatures that like to eat brains. I went for an other-worldly look with pink and purple skin and blue carapace, and of course, blood.

Painting guide for the Mi-Go from Mansions of Madness

I used two main techniques on the Mi-Go: drybrush and wash. This allowed them to be done relatively quickly while still pulling out the details.

Step 1: Base Colors

After a white primer, I painted all the base colors to get a sense of where each would go. This has been particularly hard for the Mi-Go as they were going to be pinks and blues – which can get a bit garish if not balanced well.

Painting the base colors of the Mi-Go

Step 2: Dry Brush Electric Blue

The first layer was doing the carapace. I chose to do dry brush from this model for two reasons: it would be quick, and it has lots of textures that work well with dry brushing. So grabbing my small dry brush, I applied a layer of Electric Blue over all the blue areas. If I got it on the skin, I re-applied some Warlord Purple to clean it up.

Applying some blue to the Mi-Go carapace

Step 3: Dry Brush Pink

Now moving back to the skin, I dry brushed it with Squid Pink. This was the base color of the fleshy wings which helps bring them together rather than looking disjointed.

Here I had to start being careful with the dry brush so it wouldn’t get on the blue. But I wasn’t as concerned with keeping it smooth as the washes would fix many of the errors.

Painting the Mi-Go with Squid pink

Step 4: More Pink, well Flesh

Next was to bring all the highlights together by dry brushing the whole model with Pale Flesh. This seems a bit odd on the blue, but by sharing a highlight it makes the model look more natural (well as natural as an otherworldly being could be).

The dry brush does start to look a bit dusty at this stage but will soon be rectified with the washes.

Dry Brush the Mi-Go with pale flesh

Step 5: Red Wash

Now for the fun parts: adding some washes. I love washes as it does two things: it adds shadows instantly and softens color transitions. This is extra helpful with dry brushing as all the later, dusty looking layers get softened a bit to look more like layers.

I started with a straight red wash, in this case, Baal Red (yeah still using some GW colors :-).

Adding Baal Red wash to the Mi-Go

Step 6: Blue Wash

And then we get crazy. The pink was too much for me, more candy-like and not monster-like enough. So I added a bit of Prussian Blue (very dark shade) to the Baal Red wash to create a dark purple. It ended up being more of a glaze, being a bit thicker than the wash which worked out well. The pinks turned to more of a magenta-purple, and it added a nice cool shade to the veiny wings.

Painting the Mi-Go with a purple wash

Step 7: Blood

And to give them even more monster scary powers (and highlight their snack), I added blood effects. This was the same formula for the Cultists and Maniacs. A base layer of dark red was splotch around with a brighter red layered inside.

I focused the effects on the brain, claws, and mouth/tentacle things. It helps to bring the focus back to the head since most of the model is now purple/blue.

Painting blood on the Mi-Go

Paint List

  • Skin: Game Color Warlord Purple, Squid Pink, Model Color Pale Flesh
  • Carapace: Game Color Hexed Purple, Game Color Electic Blue
  • Wings: Game Color Squid Pink, Model Color Pale Flesh
  • Head: one was done with Model Color Mahogany Brown and the other with Basic Skintone, Pale Flesh
  • Brain: Squid Pink then dry brushed with Game Color Stonewall Gray
  • Wash: Baal Red, Baal Red + Model Color Prussian Blue (~4:1)
  • Blood: Model Color Red, Game Color Bloody Red, Gloss Medium

Mi-Go Showcase

Painted Mi-Go from Mansions of Madness

I know some of you are getting tired of the Mansions of Madness models, but fear not! I am nearing the end of the set and getting ready to build some more 40k models. Or, more likely, I will be mixing it up more.