Let me just say, I’ve never been a big fan of blood and gore on miniatures. Usually what I saw looked forced and out of place on what would otherwise be a well painted piece. In my limited painting experience I don’t remember ever painting blood on a miniature. That was until I painted my McMourning crew for Malifaux. A coroner and his cohorts, dressed in gloves and aprons, sporting nasty bits of cutlery including a bone saw. Really, I had no choice.
But how to go about it? I wanted some natural looking splatter about their apparel to go along with the stains. I didn’t wanted to brush it on since, while possible, I don’t think I could pull it off at my level. I also didn’t want to use the age old toothbrush flick method. It’s good for creating a random pattern, but there is little to no control and you can wind up with paint where you don’t want it. I decided to use a method called stippling, at least I think that’s what it’s called. Basically you take a sponge dip it in paint and dab it on, creating a random pattern. In miniature painting I’ve seen it used to create the illusion of chipped paint, rust, and other forms of wear and tear. It turns out it works really well for making natural looking blood (or other fluid) splatter. You get both a random pattern that looks natural but with the ability to put it exactly where you want.
It was such an effective technique that when my brother wanted some blood splatter on the arms of his Mr. Graves. he asked me to show him how it’s done. Great, I can make a tutorial out of it.
First off, you need some sponge or foam. If you’re a miniature gamer, you’ve probably come across some bits of foam at some point or another, either from miniature packaging or from storage cases. Now if you hoard everything like me you’ll have some around. If not, you should probably go buy some more miniatures. Go ahead we’ll wait.
I’m using a bit of foam from a pluck-n-pull storage tray. I looked for foam that was a little stiff with larger bubbles. I feel that usually a denser foam will soak up more paint and will just leave solid blob when dabbed and I want my paint to be broken up. Feel free to experiment with different pieces of sponge and foam for a variety of effects.
After I’ve picked out my foam, I pick little pieces out to form sort of a point. This will help break up the paint pattern and also allow you work smaller areas. For Mr. Graves we’re only working on his fists and arms and don’t want paint getting onto other areas. Now that the foam is ready, we prepare the paint. Your blood color is probably a matter of preference and what your painting. I find bright reds to be distracting unless you really want it to be the focus. I usually add a little brown or even black to the red to make it deeper. It also depends if your going for fresh (brighter) blood or old (darker) dried blood. Experiment with your color. You should have in you head where you want the splatter to be. Why is it there and where did it come from. Was flung of a chainsaw, a quick shot of arterial spray, dripping down the front of zombie’s shirts from his gaping jaws? For Mr. Graves, he has just given someone the beating of their life leaving his fist bloodied, forearms spattered, and a some will have gotten on his crisp white shirt which will most surely not come out in the wash.
Begin by dabbing the foam in your paint which should be a little thin. You just want to get paint on the foam, not soak up paint into the foam. Now dab the foam on a piece of paper or something to remove the excess. I start on the area of the mini I feel should have the heaviest splatter and work out. By having more paint on the foam and pressing harder you can creating large splotches, while having a little paint and barely touching the miniature you can created small droplets. Rotate the foam between dabs to keep the pattern varied.
Do this until you are happy with the results. It doesn’t take much, in fact I usually cut myself short before I get carried away. Done properly, you easily create a very subtle and dramatic effect without making it look hokey or over the top.
