Thursday, April 7, 2016

Bones II: Barden Barrelstrap and Thain Grimthorn, Dwarf Clerics

   This week I finished up two of the Bones II dwarf cleric figures: Barden Barrelstrap from the Dragons Don't Share set, and Thain Grimthorn from the Original Core set.   I paired them up as being ideal to fill the roles of a Thaumaturge wizard and his Apprentice for my Frostgrave collection.  And, since I wanted them to be dressed similarly, I figured I would paint them both at the same time.
     I had the idea that they would be followers of the twin gods of metal: Argent and Aur.  So, I decided to paint them in yellow and white as the symbolic colors of their gods.
     I prepped the figures in the usual way; soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued each figure to a white-primed 1" fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued the washers to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue each.
       I began by painting all the parts I planned to paint as armor with Black.  When the Black was dry, I drybrushed these areas with Amricana "Zinc", and the drybrushed them with Folk Art Metallics "Gunmetal Grey".
     Next, I painted their faces, and the hands of the left one, with GW "Dwarf Flesh". I then painted their clothing with either Accent "Golden Harvest", or Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey".  I then picked out the parts I wanted to eventually paint gold, and pre-painted them with Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna".
     Then I painted the beard of the left one with the "Zinc", and the beard of the right one with Accent "Real Umber".  I painted the staff of the first one and the hammer of the one on the right with Americana "Neutral Grey".   Next, I painted the belt and pouches on the left one and the gloves of the righthand one with Nicole's "Brown"
     After the paint had a little while to dry, I went back and applied a wash, using GW Agrax Earthshade" wash applied with a wet brush,  to their faces, hands, the parts I had painted "Brown, the parts I had painted "Raw Sienna", and the beard of the righthand dwarf.     When the wash was dry, I highlighted the beard on the left dwarf using first "Folk Art "RockGrey", and then Folk Art "Platinum Grey".   I then highlighted the right dwarf's beard using Apple Barrel "Burnt Sienna" .  Afterwards, I painted their eyes, and then highlighted their skin with the base "Dwarf Flesh".
   Next, I worked on highlighting their clothes.  The parts I had painted with the "Golden Harvest", I highlighted with Crafter's Acrylic "Bright Yellow" first, and then added finer highlights with Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow".    The parts I had painted "Storm Cloud Grey" I highlighted by first mixing "Storm Cloud Grey" with White, and then just using plain White to do finer highlights.   I then highlighted the belt, pouches, and gloves with Americana "Sable Brown".
     I then moved to the metals.  I first painted all the parts I had originally painted with the "Raw Sienna", this time using Ceramcoat "Bronze".  I followed up by adding highlights with Ceramcoat 14K Gold".  I then painted the parts I had originally painted "Neutral Grey", this time using Folk Art Metallics "Silver Sterling".   After that I added highlights to the boots with a mix of Ceramcoat "Denim Blue" and Black.   Lastly, I painted the figures' bases White.
           When the base was dry I glued on a section of sprue cut to look like a stone block on the first dwarf's base, and some course sand on both bases.   When the glue was dry, I painted the block and sand Black, then drybrushed the sand with the "Neutral Grey", followed with Folk Art "Platinum Grey". When everything had overnight to dry, I gave the figure a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish" early the next morning.  Midday, I flocked the white areas with Woodland Scenics "Snow" flock and late that afternoon I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote.
      I'm really pleased with how these two came out.   I think they make a good pair, even though they originally came in separate sets.  The yellow and white were a bit of a challenge but I think they came out looking okay.

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Jay!
      I have to admit, I like the little guys a lot myself. :)

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  2. Replies
    1. Not sure what it means, but I'll take it as a compliment; so thanks!

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