Next is painting of the diorama. First, it was a primer coat of black gesso, followed by a basecoat of black. Then build up layers of brown to get a more natural look on the dirt and stones. This was just a straight build from darker brown to lighter and lighter shades of brown, with each lighter shade covering less area. (We have left the sponge with just the black basecoat at this point, and will start painting that next.)
The sponge is built up with a base of dark green covering everything, then additional coats of lighter green. Each lighter shade of green covers a bit less of the total sponge. The highest points of sponge get a final yellow highlight. The sponge is really forgiving to paint, and makes the highlighting easy.
The figures have been painted at this point, and the turf on their bases is painted to match the colors of the diorama base. The figures themselves have also been painted at this point.