Whilst perusing the bring and buy at UKGE I happened across a sealed Elementals enemy box for Massive Darkness. Bargain I thought, one step closer to completing Massive Darkness. I think at this point all I’m really missing is the Reptisaurians enemy box. In any case, I primed the models grey and got stuck into painting them.

Earth

I started by giving all of him except the chunk of wall he’s holding a couple thin coats of Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. With the airbrush I then added a small amount of Daler-Rowney Sap Green Ink to the recesses, the idea being that they look somewhat like mossy growths on the stone. It would have to do as I currently lack any moss effect paints. The actual moss growths on the model I painted with Vulkan Green. I blended them together by washing the recesses with Athonian Camoshade.

Next, I painted all the wood branches with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth and then gave the whole model a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone. Once that I was dry I then drybrushed the model with Dawnstone. I used a flat brush instead of a rounded one, that way the brush caught the edges and not the flat of the rocks.

The chunk of wall I painted with a couple of thin coats of Vallejo Terracotta. I then washed the wall with Nuln Oil and drybrushed it with Tyrant Skull.

For the base, I started by covering it with Vallejo Thick Brown Mud texture paste. I then washed it with Strong Tone and gave it a light drybrush with Tyrant Skull. Next I dabbed on some PVA glue and sprinkled on some static grass.

Fire

I messed the first time with the Fire elemental. Initially I gave them a solid basecoat of Jokaero Orange. With the airbrush a White Ink zenithal and a Crimson Ink reverse-zenithal. I then went over the white areas with Scale75 Instant Colour Sulphur Yellow. This ended up being a very pastel yellow colour that I attempted to correct with a coat of Gryph-Hound Orange contrast paint. They ended up looking like a big orange cheeto that did not read as fire at all.

So I started again.

This time I gave them an all over basecoat of Archive-X Reefer Yellow. I then washed the whole model with a coat of Iyanden Yellow contrast paint to bring out all the texture. Next I gave the model a drybrush of Jokaero Orange in the areas that the flames are most prominent, mostly the face, back and arms. I finished off the flames by drybrushing the tips with Mephiston Red. This turned out much better and the model now read as a giant flaming monstrosity.

The last detail to paint was also the most time consuming. The fire is contained within a metal cage, much like a brazier. So now I had to painstakingly go over each of the struts with Scale75 Black Metal. I did this in a few sittings otherwise I may have truly lost my marbles.

For the base, I initially wanted to do a cracked earth with lava or fire showing through the cracks. However, I lack a black crackle paint and having just painstakingly painted the metal cage on the model I was in no mood to paint a whole base of paint chips. So I instead spread some Armageddon Dunes over the base and once it had dried I painted it with Army Painter Matt Black. Which I then finished off with a drybrush of Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone.

Water

The water elemental was simultaneously the most simple to paint and the most difficult. Most simple in that there are basically two elements (pun intended) to the model: the water and the armour. Most difficult in that some areas of the model are obscenely hard to reach with a brush. I have painted a fair few models in my time but this is the first one that was actually difficult to get everywhere, the looping spout of water to the weapon makes it hard to get up into their chest.

In any case I struggled on, getting all the water basecoated with a couple of thin coats of Thousand Sons Blue. The armour on the shoulders and arms, and the weapon I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. Lastly for the basecoats, I painted the blade of the weapon with Scale75 Thrash Metal. For the washes, I gave the water an even coat of Athonian Camoshade and the bone parts a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone. To finish the model off I drybrushed the armour with Tyrant Skull and the crests of the water with Ceramite White.

For the base, I first slapped down a layer of Armageddon Dunes texture paint, which I then washed with Seraphim Sepia. Finally I drybrushed the base with Tyrant Skull.

Air

The air elemental stumped me for a while, as primarily a Warhammer painter I do not have a lot of light airy paints. I have more browns than any one man probably should, but that wasn’t much use here.

In the end, I grabbed what paints I could and made a start putting brush to model. The cloud details seemed like the obvious place to start, so I gave them a couple of coats of Ulthuan Grey. The cloak/coat thing they’re wearing I painted with Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue. The clothes such as the trousers and their top, I painted with Vallejo Wolf Grey. Which when first applied looked very similar to Ulthuan Grey. Heedless, I forged on ahead painting the armour and helmet with Scale 75 Thrash Metal and finally the hair with Dawnstone.

To then unify everything together, the whole model got a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade. Once dry I then layered the clothes with Wolf Grey and the clouds with Army Painter Matt White. Combined with the wash, the pure white on the clouds now helped to differentiate them from the clothing. As a quick final touch, I mixed Dawnstone with some Matt White and used that to highlight the braids in the hair.

For the base, I started by covering it with a layer of Stirland Mud. Once that was dry I washed it with Army Painter Strong Tone before giving it a drybrush with Tyrant Skull. Finally, I dabbed on a bit of PVA glue and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains.

Very lastly, I painted the rims of all the bases with Mephiston Red as I do with all the Roaming Monsters from Massive Darkness.