By channelling arcane energy into the most minute sparks of life found within the death and corruption around them, a wizard can summon a swarm of verdant insects amidst the buzzing of thousands of tiny wings.

Miniature Review

I really like the idea of the Emerald Lifeswarm. A huge swarm of bugs in a dynamic shape all flying out of a skull looks great.

The main problem with it though is it just doesn't look great at most viewing angles. It looks very flat, and it's difficult to make out what it is unless it's facing away from you. I think it should have been given a bit more depth and given a more curved flight pattern to make it more viewable from the sides and front.

There's also not a huge amount of varied detail, although each bug is quite small it's unlikely people will look at them individually in much depth. It will make painting them really easy at least!

Painting Techniques

Swarm

I applied the Warp Lightning in a number of thin layers using 50:50 Contrast Medium, then added finer and finer layers of the drybrush to really increase the contrast and show the details of each dragonfly. Warp Lightning can be reapplied into the recesses if you apply too much highlighting to certain areas.

Skull

Base

With the base fully brown and will a bit of texture I then added Patchy Plains to the base. It's a good mix of different sands and flock that gives the base a great look with minimal effort.

Once dried I then added both Army Painter Lowland Shrubs and Army Painter Swamp Tufts to break up the flat areas left by the Patchy Plains.

Roundup

It's great being able to paint with spells with just a couple of colour palettes. In the future I might pick out a few bugs with slightly varying colours just to create a bit more interest, but it looks finished now as it is with minimal effort which is great!