How I Paint - Terrain - White Marble

How I Paint - White Marble

I’ve returned to my painting guides for terrain with a look at how to paint white marble. I use this technique when painting statues so they stand out from the darker stone I normally use for ruins and buildings. I imagine that the people of the Mortal Realms would carve their gods and heroes from a shining white stone rather than a dark, brooding material.

More of my How to paint... articles can be found here.

Paints Required:

• Grey Seer Spray
• Chaos Black spray
• Athonian Camoshade
• Ulthuan Grey
• White Scar
• Lahmian Medium
• Administratum Grey
• Sybarite Green
• Kabalite Green
• Balthasar Gold
• Mechanicum Standard Grey
• Dawnstone
• Agrax Earthshade
• Nihilakh Oxide
• Hashut Copper
• Runefang Steel (or Stormhost Silver)
• 'Ardcoat
• Elysian Green
• Zandri Dust
• Morghast Bone
• Skeleton Horde
• Seraphim Sepia
• Karak Stone
• Screaming Skull
• Pallid Wych Flesh

I began by sub-assembling the statue of Sigmar. The plinth was kept separate from the main body, and I also kept the halo and the hand holding the orb separate.

I undercoated the halo and the plinth with Chaos Black Spray. The statue body and the hand were undercoated with Grey Seer Spray.

When you look at statues in the real world, you’ll notice grime, dust, and algae accumulating in cracks and crevices. To simulate this, paint Athonian Camoshade into all of the recesses of the miniature. Do not apply the wash over the entire model.

Next, heavily drybrush the entire statue with Ulthuan Grey. I used a medium-sized make-up brush for this. Drybrush in a circular motion to catch all the raised areas. Then repeat the process with White Scar, focusing more on areas that would catch the light.

At this stage, the white stone already looks good, and you could skip steps 4–6 if you prefer.

The next steps are about adding veins of colour to the marble. I’ve tried this process several times, and it’s important to thin your paint well with Lahmian Medium. If the paint is too thick, the colours will appear too stark and the effect won’t work.

Paint thin lines using a 1:1 mix of Administratum Grey and Lahmian Medium. These lines shouldn’t be too straight and can be slightly broken. Use reference images if needed.

Keep these lines subtle—it’s tempting to make them darker, but use only a single coat. You can always add more later.

Using a fine detail brush, paint a 1:1 mix of Sybarite Green and Lahmian Medium. Apply this as a line alongside one side of the grey veins. Again, keep the line slightly broken.

Next, apply a 1:1 mix of Kabalite Green and Lahmian Medium. Paint this as a very broken line over the previous green line. As before, less is more—you can always build it up later.

The metal on the halo and orb was painted with Balthasar Gold.

The plinth was drybrushed with Mechanicum Standard Grey, then Dawnstone (following my How I paint stonework method).

Wash the metal with Agrax Earthshade; be careful not to let it pool.

Wash the plinth with Athonian Camoshade.

Once the Agrax Earthshade is fully dry, apply Nihilakh Oxide to the metal. 

Drybrush the metal with Hashut Copper. You can add a second, lighter drybrush of Sycorax Bronze to further polish the effect. Finish by edge highlighting with Runefang Steel (though I now prefer Stormhost Silver).

I also reapplied some Agrax Earthshade around the rivets.

Once the white stone is complete (including the hand holding the orb), apply a 1:1 mix of ’Ardcoat and clean water over the entire miniature. The water helps prevent visible brushstrokes. Apply multiple coats to achieve a polished marble finish.

Once the plinth wash is dry, drybrush with Dawnstone using a circular motion and a round-ended brush. Follow this with Administratum Grey using a flat-ended brush, focusing on the sharp edges.

Optional step: Lightly drybrush Elysian Green onto the plinth in vertical, downward strokes to simulate algae. Be careful not to overdo this.

The final step was to paint the skulls and bones.

Basecoat the bones with a 1:1 mix of Zandri Dust and Morghast Bone. Wash with a 2:1:1 mix of Agrax Earthshade, Seraphim Sepia, and Skeleton Horde.

Once dry, drybrush with Karak Stone, then Screaming Skull, and finally Pallid Wych Flesh.

Finish with a glaze of 1:1 Agrax Earthshade and Lahmian Medium to unify the layers. 

Once all components are fully dry, assemble the miniature.

I’d love to hear if you try this method, especially if you experiment with different marbling colours. Let me know in the comments—happy hobbying!

Alternative Marbling Colours

When adding the marbling effect, always keep the first step (Administratum Grey + Lahmian Medium). The coloured veins can then be swapped:

• Deathclaw Brown → Skrag Brown
• Lothern Blue → Alaitoc Guard Blue
• Genestealer Purple → Xereus Purple

How did you find the method? Have you any questions? Let me know in the comments. Happy Hobbying.

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