Marble-ous!
Marble is a metamorphic rock that has recrystallized, the swirls in it are the result of various mineral impurities that were originally present as grains or layers in the limestone before it recrystallized. All that said, it's a very cool effect to use in your painting, if only you could capture that look.

The real deal.

Well, Max has come through again, with a simple tutorial on how to achieve a marble look in your miniature painting, so read on and enjoy...

The marble look, without the
marble price.

Painting the sides of the base is a great way to attract attention to your model, and this is a good technique to really set them apart.

Begin, as with most painting, by painting the whole surface evenly with a primer. If you don't prime, the rest of your paint might stick unevenly to the surface, resulting in a less-than-smooth finish or even flaking off entirely in spots. Definitely not what we want with marble! Note that this tutorial is for a dark marble, so you should use a dark primer.

After priming it, we want to get that swirled effect we see in real marble. We will do that by stippling with Codex Grey. Stippling is similar to a dry-brush technique, but instead of moving across the surface, you poke gently straight at the surface. This will leave fuzzy little "clouds" of color. Poke randomly around the surface, leaving space between the clouds. Note that stippling, like dry-brushing, is very, very hard on brushes. If you are using an old brush that you also use for drybrushing and similar tasks, it's not really a problem, just treat it as you normally would. If you are using a brush you intend to keep in good condition and paint details with at some future date, you'll need to be much more careful. Every few trips to the paint pot, rinse the brush thoroughly and wipe it along a paper towel (or use your lips) to re-shape the bristles of the brush. Remember, if you treat your brushes well, they'll return the favor. There's nothing worse than trying to paint little details with a brush that has a splayed tip.

When you have finished with the Codex Grey "clouds," then do more using the lighter Fortress Grey. Again, leave space between the clouds.

In addition to the swirling effect, marble also has veins. You will paint these on using Skull White. Basically, you are painting little forked lines that should look a bit like lightning. Think of painting a series of jagged, short lines that each branch off in slightly different directions. In general, I think it looks best if the lines don't continue to the edge of the surface. I also think that horizontal lines look better than vertical ones, and if you are painting a surface that is narrow, let the lines follow the long axis. (For example, on the side of a base, I'll use horizontal lines, not vertical ones. An upright column, on the other hand, would get vertical lines.) You can have more than one vein originate from a single point, but I wouldn't do more than 2-3 from one point. While I'm on the subject, if you look at the example picture of real and faux marble, you'll see that there aren't a lot of lines. Don't be afraid to go sparingly on the lines. Too many lines will obscure your stippling and ruin your effect.

Now is the time to choose the color of your marble. I chose green marble, so I went with Dark Green Ink. Inks and washes vary greatly in how thick they are. I would recommend thinning your ink or wash down a little bit. Especially with the darker colors, it's all too easy for a strong wash to completely drown out all of the stippling and veining that you've done. If the first wash doesn't make it as dark as you want, it's easy enough to do a second layer.

Real marble in decorative use gets a lot of shine and polish to really show off the swirling and veining. If the ink or wash you used doesn't look glossy enough to you, you'll want to use gloss varnish. (You might anyway, a clear coat of varnish goes a long way to prevent chipping the paint or even scratching the model.) Be warned, however, varnish has a tendency to dissolve many inks and washes. The best choice for this application would be a spray varnish. If you don't want to or cannot use a spray varnish, then apply it very gently, just touching the brush to the surface. If you drag the bristles across the surface, it may take the ink with it. Below are some pictures of bases done using this technique. Note that some craft and painting stores have kits that are designed to give a marble effect. I have not tried one of these. My main concern would be that they are designed to give life-size objects a marble effect and that it might be too big to look right on a miniature. If you want to experiment, feel free and let me know how it turns out. If it lets you adjust the size of the veins, it might just work alright.

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