First off, let me say "Happy New Year!" to all my readers. Secondly, let me apologize for the two week delay in getting anything posted. As I said on the 29th, I had a very busy holiday schedule, and then a stomach bug came along last weekend to squash any attempts to get something posted last Monday. Anyhow, I've been back at the painting table now, and this week I finished up Anirion, the Wood Elf Wizard, from the Elves set.
The completion of this figure puts me on the doorstep of the halfway mark, so be sure to tune in next week for my halfway mark celebration figure. :)
I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking in water with a bit of dish soap added, giving a gentle scrub with an old soft toothbrush, then rinsing and drying. I then glued it to 1" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple small dabs of Elmer's white glue, for ease of handling during painting.
I was still in the mind to do winter themed figures since the completion of my Snow Goblins in December, and I thought this Elf's cloak and robes would make him well suited for a winter paint scheme. So, I began by painting his outfit with Aleene's "Dark Grey". I then drybrushed over this with Duncan "Slate Grey"
I envisioned having his robes/cloak look like a snow storm in motion, so I took a very stiff brush dipped it in white paint, and then ran my thumb across is it to create a spatter pattern of white on the grey outfit. The resulting spatter turned out a little rope-ier than I imagined, and some of the spatter dots came out a little more raised/thick than I had thought they would, but overall I was pleased with the outcome.
Next, I painted the edges of the cloak and sleeves with white. I painted the staff with Folk Art "Barn Wood", and then the face and hands with GW "Elf Flesh". Lastly, I painted the hair with Americana "Moon Yellow."
Next, I painted the fittings on the staff with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter", and the stone on top I painted with Americana "True Blue". After the figure had some time to dry, I then gave a wash to the staff, hands, face and hair with slightly thinned Winsor-Newton "Peat Brown" Ink.
After this wash was dry, I went back and added highlights to the face and hands with the base "Elf Flesh". I highlighted the hair with the base "Moon Yellow", and then did further highlights with Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon". I added highlights to the stone on top the staff with white, and some white mixed with a little of the "True Blue." Lastly, I added highlights to the metal bits with Folk Art "Silver Sterling". My final step was to paint the base and washer with white.
I let the figure sit overnight, and the next morning I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish". Later that afternoon I flocked the base, using Woodland Scenics snow flocking, and added some dry grasses with a bit of unraveled twine. The next day I gave him a coat of Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.
Over all, I'm very pleased with how the figure came out. I think the cloak his the appropriate "swirling snow storm" look about it that I was hoping for.
Figure 132 of 265: Complete
I just discovered your blog and love it - my box of Reaper Bones is dwelling in my basement like an old, neglected spider. I've only painted about 10 of the miniatures, mainly to use in games of Descent. Anyway. I like your elf a lot... he's one of my favourite characters from the Kickstarter.
ReplyDeleteMatthew- Glad to hear you are enjoying the blog! And thanks for the positive remarks on the Elf. Maybe the blog will inspire you to go dust the old spider box off and do some painting. :)
DeleteI like it alot, even if it looks more like a winter camo cape.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you had did heavy highlights of the place where snow would accumulate it would have had the desired effect.
But it remains a nicely done mini.
Thanks! And an interesting idea about painting in accumulating snow on the cloak.
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