Aku-chan and the Nineteen Dwarfs

[MonkeySloth]

Paint white down from the top highlight then reclaim where needed. Best way to paint it. Same with blacks.

Edited June 2, 2013 by MonkeySloth

[aku-chan]

Damn this Cleric and his fancy clothes!

 

 

I couldn't quite figure out how to do his beard from the highlights down, but I did manage to paint something that looks okay.

His beard is now a basecoat of Vallejo Warmgrey, a wash of Brenonne Blue, reapplied the Warmgrey and then a highlight of 1:1 Warmgrey/Linen White.

 

I then started on his inner robe with a basecoat of Vallejo Sick Green, the little diamonds on his coat were painted the same colour.

I started to get pretty fed up with working on him at this point, so I've decided to put this guy aside for now.

 

That brings us to the next Dwarf in the queue, the Miner:-

 

[aku-chan]

Back to Dwarfs! I still can't face finishing the Cleric, so I'm starting on the Miner:-

 

 

Just basecoated so far.

Colourwise I've used: Shirt - Ravage Red, Trousers - a mix of Brenonne Blue and Ashen Blue (can't remember the ratio, I kept fiddling with it until it resesembled jeans), Glove, boots and leather bits - Oiled Leather, Metal bits - Blackened Brown for steel, Ruddy Leather for Brass, Skin - 2:1 mix of Vallejo Dwarf Flesh/Ruddy Leather, Beard - 2:1 mix of Ruddy Leather/Vallejo Orange Red.

[Suden]

The young lady next to the miner is the oddest looking dwarf. The miner was one of my favorites to paint because googles meant no eyes to mess up.

[aku-chan]

The young lady next to the miner is the oddest looking dwarf. The miner was one of my favorites to paint because googles meant no eyes to mess up.

 

Ugh. Don't remind me of her, my worst paintjob in ages.

 

At least the Miner is turning out better:-

 

 

At this point I've basecoated and washed the metallics like usual, his shirt has been shaded with a 1:1 mix of Ravage Red/Ruddy Leather and highlighted with 1:1 Ravage Red/Vallejo Orange Red. His trousers were shaded with 1:1 Brenonne Blue/Ruddy Leather and highlighted with 1:1:1 Brenonne Blue/Ashen Blue/Linen White.

 

Still not entirely sure I'm doing this layering thing right, I couldn't find many places to highlight, but he's looking good.

 

 

And here he is with his face and beard done.

 

His skin was highlighted with pure Vallejo Dwarf Flesh and a little dab of 1:1 Dwarf Flesh/Linen White on the end of his nose. I left the little bit of visible arm skin unhighlighted.

The beard was tricky, it was too small to drybrush but also too small for me to layer. I tried shading it with 1:1 Darkened Brown/Ruddy Leather and highlighting with 2:1 Orange Red/Ruddy Leather to varying degrees of success.

I also dotted the goggles with Vallejo Andrea Blue, and his hat lamp is Sun Yellow with a dot of Linen White in the middle.

 

Since I didn't want to waste too much paint I didn't thin down my Blue,Yellow and White and it was terrible to use! So sticky and unresponsive! I can't believe just a few months ago I painted whole minis that way.

[aku-chan]

Did the last little bits to the Miner:-

 

 

I shaded the leather bits with 1:1 Oiled Leather/Ruddy Leather and highlighted with 1:1 Oiled Leather/Linen White. I also discovered his boots have no soles.

 

I edge-highlighted the metals with either Honed Steel or Vallejo Brassy Brass, I wanted them to remain mostly dark and grimy looking.

 

Once the varnish dries, I'll do the base and he'll be off to the finished thread.

 

While I was in a Dwarf tackling mood, thought I'd try and finish this guy:-

 

 

It's the return of the Cleric, I only got as far as finishing his basecoat though, I'll do some more tomorrow.

[ShadowRaven]

well if the Miners boots are souless then the cleric is the right dwarf for the job no?

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Really nice work. Especially like the Miner.

Finally remembered to catch up on this at home; I can't see your pictures at work, unfortunately.

[aku-chan]

Finally got the Cleric all painted up:-

 

 

His green shirt was bascoated in Vallejo Sick Green and shaded with 1:1 Sick Green/Brenonne Blue (which made a lovely colour I'm going to have to use for a robe or cape one day), his trousers were basecoated in 1:1 Vallejo Andrea Blue/Brenonne Blue and shaded with pure Brenonne Blue.

Couldn't find anywhere to highlight either of these parts, can highlighting be an optional step?

 

His boots (which were sole-less too by the way), were basecoated in 2:1 Ruddy Leather/Ravage Red, shaded with Darkened Brown and highlighted with 2:1 Oiled Leather/Ravage Red.

 

Then came the part I've been dreading, the gems!

And, as expected, it didn't go too well.

They were basecoated in Vallejo Hexed Lichen and then I tried to do that bottom highlight thing in Vallejo Warlord Purple but it did not want to go on, especially on the smaller gems where it simply wanted to flood everywhere. After several attempts I just dotted on the white shine spots and called it a day.

Next time I try gems I'll pick an easier colour.

 

And so he's finished, there's a few rough spots that could use a bit more work, but I've reached the point where I just want him off my painting desk.

 

I'm going to concentrate on other things for a little while, but this WIP will return with the Knight (male) and the Deathknight.

[redambrosia]

For little gems I just do a dab of my lighter colour over the dark and top it with a spot of white. They're too small to worry about more. Your cleric looks good

[aku-chan]

For little gems I just do a dab of my lighter colour over the dark and top it with a spot of white. They're too small to worry about more. Your cleric looks good

 

Yeah I'd already massively simplified the tutorial I was following, I was not even going to attempt to paint 8 layers on to such a small area.

 

I think it was just a bad colour choice, I always have trouble getting my Warlord Purple to cover anything.

[Corporea]

looking good! One thing I like to do to help me highlight is to hold the mini up to a very bright light source- I can usually see at least a few areas I want the light to fall, and I hit those with my highlights. An alternative would be if you want the light coming directly from above (which I think is easiest to paint, because it looks the most natural) you can look directly down on the mini and anything you can see well from the top probably deserves a highlight. I think the gems look good!

[aku-chan]

looking good! One thing I like to do to help me highlight is to hold the mini up to a very bright light source- I can usually see at least a few areas I want the light to fall, and I hit those with my highlights. An alternative would be if you want the light coming directly from above (which I think is easiest to paint, because it looks the most natural) you can look directly down on the mini and anything you can see well from the top probably deserves a highlight. I think the gems look good!

 

That's where I'm getting into difficulties, the last two Dwarfs have had rather baggy tops on, so when I look down on them I can't see their legs!

They haven't looked too bad with unhighlighted trousers though.

 

I'm actually happy with my gems now. Working on the Clerics base today, I've noticed they have a very subtle inner light.

Still don't think they look very jewel-like, they're more like softly glowing magic stones, which I found rather cool.

 

I do need to pick up some proper glossy varnish, Reapers Brush-on Sealer doesn't dry as shiny as I wanted.

[aku-chan]

Looks like I've been neglecting this thread.

 

Made a start on the DeathKnight:-

 

 

She's rather blue at the moment.

 

So far she's just basecoated. There's Ultramarine Shadow (hair and armor), Gory Red (skirt thingy), Sapphire Blue (sword blade), Vampiric Shadow (face), Fair Skin (hands and ears) and Ruddy Leather everywhere else.

 

I didn't realize how much of her trousers and shirt were visible so I need to think of colours for them.

[Foxfire]

She has trousers and a shirt?!

 

Man I just went full plate mail with that red cloth in front.

 

I'm interested to see how you do with her - she's my favourite sculpt of the dorfs (aside from the little fox) and so far, the only one I've managed to get around to paint ;p She was fun though, lots of character for a simplish model.