A Dwarfs Tale: From King to Clansman - A painting guide

Another step in the growing of my dwarf army, I have decided to do a tutorial on how I paint my dwarfs.  Click below to continue....

Working...

Just a quick update. 

I am still working on my warrior unit, the first five are complete (barring bases) and I have just undercoated the next five.  The missus has gone to Amsterdam with some friends for the weekend, so I figured to get some painting done (was playing Red Dead Redemption most of last weekend).  I am homing to have these five done by Sunday/Monday.

Along with painting, I have decided to do a step-by-step painting guide for my Dwarfs.  As well as a tutorial on beards/hair.  These will go on the Trading Post as well, as part of The Workshop series I am running on there.

Tutorial - Making flagstone bases using green stuff stamps

This tutorial is for the making of flagstone style bases by using a green stuff stamp.  This is a simple, but can be a slightly lengthy method of doing this.  However, once the stamp(s) are made the ability to make bases is quite swift.  You just follow the last two or three steps.

Stage 1

The first stage is to mix up enough green stuff to cover a base.  You make to make sure it is the right height and covers the base well.  And leave to cure for about 10-20 minutes

Stage 2
This stage we mark on the design you want.  At this point you don't want to drag the green stuff too much, it is possible that you will cause it to stretch and will warp your design.  Once you are happy leave it to dry over night.

Stage 3
This is where the etching begins.  Use a tool (I used a couple of my sculpting tools) to deepen the markings you made previously.  They don't actually have to be that deep, just enough that the next stage will be effective.

Stage 4
Once you have etched in your design to the base, you then need to use something to make sure the mold will come free with minimal fuss.  I used the below, Vaseline.  Spread it over your base, making sure you get it into the gaps you have made.

Stage 5
Now, put another ball of green stuff onto your newly greased base.  Push down to make sure it goes into the gaps, which is the important part.  Push this down firmly, and leave to dry for about 10-15 minutes.  I found it handy to make sure there is an edge on the stamp, it makes it easier to line it up in the following sections. 

Once you remove the stamp, this is what you should have (but with your own design).  Then leave to dry over night.
 

Stage 6
This stage is where once you've made the stamp you can just repeat to make multiple bases.  I used milliput myself, but you can used green stuff just as well.  Make a small amount of your material up and apply it to the base, much like the first step.

 

 

Stage 7
Take your stamp and push into the milliput firmly (first picture).  Leave this for about 30 seconds or so, then carefully remove.  Be careful not to drag or pull the stamp too much, this might cause the gaps it leaves to warp.  (second picture)  Then leave to dry over night.  Once dry it will be available to paint. 

 

In the end the bases should turn out something like this:

Blonde Hair

Being a dwarf player, blonde is often a colour I want interspersing my units and characters but it can be hard to paint a convincing blonde. I have come up with a method that works rather well.

You will need
Mini
Brushes
Paints; Calthan Brown, Snakebite Leather, Golden Yellow, Kommando Khaki, Dheneb Stone, Skull White and Gryphonne Sepia


Each layer should be quite thin, as not to obscure the hair strands. Also multiple layers will most likely be required for each step. Bear that in mind.

For this tutorial I have used a random dwarf body and painted only the beard. I am not being careful of the other parts of the mini as this is just for practice, on the actual mini you will want to be careful of other parts - especially existing painted parts. I also started with a black undercoat.

Step One



The basecoat is Calthan Brown. Paint it all over the hair (from here on in, the beard) until you have a nice solid colour.

Step Two



The next layer is snakebite leather. Paint this all over the beard, but try to leave the basecoat in the deepest recesses of the beard and next to facial features or body parts.

Step Three



Add a small amount of golden yellow to the snakebite and reapply to the previous layer. This will give it a more yellow tone, something blonde has.

Step Four



Add a small amount of kommando khaki to the snakebite mix. The khaki is a neutral colour and has a way of lightening without it gaining colour - it sort of mutes the colour.

Step Five



Now add some dheneb stone to the mix. This does a similar job to the khaki but is lighter in tone. The more you add the lighter the blonde will be at the end. It is also worthwhile to start picking out individual hair strands at this point.

Step Six



Here I have added some more dheneb stone to highlight the beard more.

Step Seven


Add some skull white to the mix. Again, how much determines how bright it'll turn out. Again picking out individual strands makes the beard stand out and look more than just a flat tone.

Step Eight



Wash the beard with gryphonne sepia. Don't just slap the wash on, try to add thin layers of the wash, allow to dry and repeat until happy.

Step Nine


Reapply the highlight from step seven, again looking at highlighting individual strands.

Step Ten



The final layer is to add more skull white into the mix. This is used to pick out the most prominent strands. Such as the moustache and parts of the central braid.


That is it then done. A nice blonde beard.

Snow Bases

If you're anything like me, you'll hate the GW style "snow flock". Or, white static grass. It never looks like snow, so I use a different method. Its a bit longer winded but works much better in my experience.

What you need
A base
Sand
Paints; Chaos Black, Charadon Granite, Adeptus Battlegrey, Astronomicon Grey
Flock - not needed, but adds to the base
PVA glue
Bicarbonate of Soda
Water


Step One
No pictures here. Basically make your base how you wish and undercoat it. Here I've just done sand and painted it black. Makes for nice contrasts.

Step Two



The first layer is to drybrush Charadon Granite all over the base. Be as heavy as you like.

Step Three



Next layer you drybrush Adeptus Battlegrey

Step Four


A final light drybrush of Astronomicon Grey

Step Five - Optional



You can add flock to the base at this point, or you can leave it off. The choice is yours. I usually leave it off - but only if I'm doing the whole base snowy.

Step Six





Take some PVA glue, and some Bicarbonate of Soda, mix with water until you get something that looks akin to the below;





It should be thick enough that it sticks to the brush, and doesn't run off it. (Note; It be best if you do this stage with an old brush you don't care about, as this stuff could ruin a good brush).

Step Seven



You want to apply the mixture quite heavily. It often shrinks as it dries. Cover as much as the base as you like. Then, again an optional step is to sprinkle pure Bicarbonate over the snow, to resemble fresh snow. Then leave to dry. Base complete.

Blood Tutorial

Firstly you need two things - Paint and a brush. The paint I'll be using is Tamiya Clear Red and VGC Black.



The following thing you require is a brush. I stipple it on, so I have an old brush which I cut the bristles right down.



The first thing you'll want to do is add some black to the red. Be careful here, the black is strong and will overpower the red, making it pretty much black. You want it to be a browny, redy, black mix. This picture it is hard to see, as it looks very black. Also, the clear red is very thick, it'll need quite a bit of watering down.



So mix this up, then get some on your brush. You don't need much, wiping some excess off is a good idea. The plan is to stipple - or to 'stab' the brush onto the surface, rather than stroking it as you normally would. The red mix will be dark and dries quite dark. The first layer looked like so:



Let it dry and continue until it looks dark enough. If you're confident you can stipple or paint some splatter a little bit further away from the source. This, when dry will look like dark, dried blood.



The final layer, if you want to do this, is to stipple on some pure Clear Red. This is strong and will give the look of fresh blood, so apply it to the edge and try to leave some of the darker, dried blood showing.



That, when dry, should give you a nice bloody look. I hope you enjoy this.

Ork Painting Guide

I have not been lacks, instead I have been painting my lootas. I have seven complete, minus the bases, and have managed to get the final six up to the wash stage. I also decided to write a little tutorial of how I do my orks.

The first stage
This stage I don't have an image of, as its the undercoat. They were undercoated black; mainly sprayed but then washed with a mixture of PVA, water and chaos black.

One thing you'll notice is that he has no arms. Being as he's a loota, his arms have a lot of details attached to them, so they have been attached to separate corks for painting. This applies to most of my miniatures, with arms or parts that do not obscure details.

Stage 2



The skin has been painted with Knarloc Green, the paint isn't that clean as you'll see that I have gone over the edges, being a bit sloppy. This gets cleaned up later.

Stage 3



The shirt and gun housing + support frame [not shown] is painted with Hawk Turquoise, again being a bit sloppy, but being careful to avoid the skin.

Stage 4



The teeth, trousers and and rope, bandages, leather etc was painted in leather brown. This time I was being more careful, making sure not to cross any lines.

Stage 5



Here the metals were basecoated with boltgun metal.

Also, not shown in this photo is the use of brass on bullets; tubing and pipes. Dark Flesh was used on cable insulation.

Stage 6







In these images I have washed the entire miniature in a heavy wash of badab black. That is as far as I have gotten today. Tomorrow is highlighting.
OK, I have finished the mob for now; just the bases to go. And to continue the guide...

Stage 7




The first stage highlight is gnarloc green and elf flesh.

Stage 8



Next stage is a mix of hawk turquoise and skull white, applied to all the blue on the mini, including the gun housing and the back pack.

Stage 9



Using leather brown and flat brown. Again, highlighting any brown previously.

Also, in this stage, you'll notice, I have also painted the teeth. First in kommando khaki and then adding bleached bone to the mix.

Stage 10



In the final stage, I used mithril silver to highlight the silver. I once again used brass to highlight the brass.

And here is the finished product.