Tales of Elsemorn: How to Paint Stone and Lichen Effects

Here's how to paint a stone or a lichen-covered stone effect.

Get Your Materials Ready

Start by priming your pieces in grey, or prime and apply a grey base layer. You don't need to "Zenithal prime" or do anything fancy because the painting process adds highlights.

I'll be painting some 3D-printed stairs and a wall with a stone effect, and a Reaper bridge with a lichen-covered stone effect. I primed them in grey and also added a grey base layer.

These stairs, a wall, and a bridge were primed in grey and then given a grey base layer.

Painting

The trick to this technique is using a scrumbler brush or rounded makeup brush. Get some paint on it, then push the brush into the palette and move it around. This splays out the bristles while loading them with paint. You're going for a random, speckled look, so the more splayed out your brush's bristles are, the better.

Left: a scrumbler brush. Right: push the brush into the paint, splaying out the bristles.

You'll need 3 or more grey colors for the stone effect. I used Reaper's Stone Colors triad: Shadowed Stone, Stone Grey, and Weathered Stone. If you're applying a lichen effect as well, you'll want 3 or more subdued green colors. I used Reaper's Moss Colors triad: Jungle Moss, Highlands Moss, and Pale Lichen.

Start with your darkest grey paint. Apply paint to your brush, rub the brush on your palette, then dab the brush on your piece. Be random and aim for 25% coverage at most, although try to get more dark grey paint on the lower/bottom parts of the piece. (You may want to apply a dark wash next, but keep reading.)

Move on to a shade lighter paint and repeat, hitting both unpainted and painted parts at random, although try to get more paint on the middle-ish parts of the piece.

Move to the lightest paint, painting as before, but also hitting the higher parts and edges.

That's right, you're painting a stone effect while also adding highlights.

At some point, you'll want to apply a black or dark wash. If your piece is meant to be indoors or underground, I recommend applying the wash before the two lightest grey colors. Those last two colors will be all the highlights you need. If your piece is meant to be outdoors, I recommend applying the wash after the grey (stone) layers are done, before starting the green (lichen) layers.

Top left: after applying the darkest grey paint. Top right: after applying a dark wash on the stairs and wall (only).
Bottom left: after applying the medium grey paint. Bottom right: after applying the lightest grey paint.

When it comes to the lichen-covered stone effect, you'll paint exactly like you did before, proceeding from the darkest green through the lightest green.

Top left: after applying a dark wash on the bridge. Top right: after applying the darkest green paint.
Bottom left: after applying the medium green paint. Bottom right: after applying the lightest green paint.

That means:

Indoor/underground piece: neutral grey base layer > darkest grey > dark wash > medium grey > lightest grey

Outdoor piece: neutral grey base layer > darkest grey > medium grey > lightest grey > dark wash > darkest green > medium green > lightest green

The end result: a stone effect on the stairs and wall and a lichen effect on the bridge.

When you're done, clean up any parts you need to and apply some varnish. Add to a base if necessary.

Closeups on the stairs and bridge.

I'll go through the lichen-covered stone steps a second time with a custom foam monolith. I cut the basic shape out of pink XPS foam (Foamular). I also added some lines and random marks for a runestone-ish look. For added stability, I slide some skewers inside the foam. (Unfortunately, they weren't angled well and ripped some of the foam. It adds some interesting texture so we'll call it a "happy little accident". Thanks, Bob Ross!) Then I applied a layer of Mod Podge and, finally, a layer of grey craft paint. I cut some 1/4-inch MDF into an oval shape and hot-glued the "stone" onto the base—at an angle, because this is an "ancient" runestone that's shifting over time.