What is an old man doing running around a creepy old mansion? Don’t underestimate the Prof! This week brings a tutorial on painting Harvey Walters, an investigator in the Mansions of Madness game.

Harvey’s use in the game is to solve puzzles and has a relatively high sanity – ideal for when the monsters start to show up. He offsets his frailty with a magic staff that allows him to reduce any damage down to one, yup even a Shaggoth can’t swallow the old man whole.

Painting wise, I wanted to give Professor Walters a classic suite, but with a hit of color. A white shirt, royal purple vest, and a black jacket it is. And to set off the vest, a bright yellow hanky.

Color List

As with the rest of the set, I’ve stuck to mostly the Vallejo range as I like their dropper bottles. All the Model Colors used are from the Painting Skin Set.

Skintones:

• Model Color Light Brown
• Model Color Medium Fleshtone
• Model Color Basic Skintone
• Model Color Light Flesh
• Games Workshop Gryphonne Sepia Wash
• Game Color Wolf Grey (hair)

Clothes:

• Game Color Wolf Grey
• Game Color Hexed Purple
• Game Color Electric Blue
• Model Air Cold Grey
• Game Color Black
• Model Color Burnt Umber
• Model Color Mahogany
• Game Color Sun Yellow

Step 1: Primer and Skin Base

After cleaning up mold lines, and filling in a bunch of gaps (real common on this set), I primed Harvey white and painted his skin Light Brown.

It’s helpful on a layered model like this to start from the inside and work outwards.

Step 2: Base Colors

In this fashion, I painted his shirt Wolf Grey, vest Hexed Purple, then his jacket 1:1 Cold Grey & Black, and the pants 1:1 Cold Grey & Wolf Grey. The handkerchief, tie, and shoes were also based.  I then touched up any misplaced paint.

I seemed to have missed a picture along the way as the image also shows that I highlighted the skin with Medium Fleshtone.

Step 3: Black Wash

To color in the hair and provide some contrast with his face, I added a wash of Black. This still keeps his hair looking aged, but now has a right amount of shadow.

Step 4: Painting the Skintones

Next up, I added two layers to his skin: Basic Skintone and Light Flesh. Because the model is relatively flat, some of the highlights were meant to add wrinkles to his face.

The Light Flesh layer left him looking a little pale and lifeless. I fix this in the next step.

Step 5: Face Wash and Blue Vest

Another two-in-one picture. But to fix the too-pale skin, I added a wash of Gryphonne Sepia. This added some earth and shade without being as dark as a brown or flesh wash. I still wanted him to look like an old man.

I also highlighted his vest with Electric Blue. I didn’t bother with the shirt as so little of it shows through anyway.

Step 6: Jacket Highlights

Now onto the outer layers. Harvey is a classy dude, and sharply dressed. This is why I used a sharper contrast with the Wolf Grey. The tight folds of his jacket would cause brighter edges.

On a piece that was to be more display than gaming, I would probably do a mid-tone first, or at least shaded with a black wash.

Step 7: Pants Highlights

Wolf Grey was also used on his pants. It’s not as sharp of contrast, but it keeps the colors uniform.

Step 8: Brown Highlights

Last up is the highlights for the brown. So the book, shoes, and staff all received highlights of Mahogany Brown.

The staff also received a few scuffs of Wolf Grey added to the brown to make it looked more used.

Painting Harvey Walters Showcase

And there he is. A painted Harvey Walters from the Mansions of Madness, ready to solve any riddle.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s painting Harvey Walters tutorial. Coming soon is a tutorial on using his ski recipe (and a few others) to do a light skin version of my dark skin tutorial.