The little dwarf that could: Harsk, Iconic Dwarf Ranger

[Slush]

Good evening everyone

Warning long post,

I've been working on this little guy for 2 days and decided to motivate my shortcomings by showing off the few little progress bars that make him special to me. I've attempted a few new techniques to this little guy that are helping me paint better. Which is good because I picked this little guy for his complex looking figure (which only got more complex when I got him out of the blister pack) Besides dragons, this is probably one of my favorite miniatures to date. He is so tiny but has such detail, which, to be frank, I didn't think any material other then metal could do. A testament to the sculptors skill, to bones tech, and soon once he is done, a milestone I'll cherish in my painting hobby.

 

He was basecoated white, then given a white wash to help finish base coating so I could see what I was doing. Then touched up the base coat as I went to work on every line I could find that I missed before painting (I have an extremely hard time seeing any details on bones without paint of some kind on them, it's why up until him I paint, strip then repaint my bones.)

 

techniques I am practicing on him:
Thin coats of color, (I will keep adding coats til they stop chipping, grrr,) after that I will wash, and drybrush highlights, then add final touches as usual.
Eyeballs, it took me an hour to do but I painted eyeballs. I will need to touch them up, the whites are too white, and I could do more with them. The pupils are... either lopsided, or different sizes, idk, I painted them under magnification (and photographed them through my desk magnifier at 2x) so we will see.
photography, it's still no photo box but these are better pictures then the skeleton I posted.

Freehand: feeling confident after the eyes I did decide his teapot will have a pattern superimposed by freehand. we shall see.

 

Things I am fixing:

A few more layers are needed, and I keep finding details I either painted wrong colors or need to paint anyways
some of the chipping, I'm still not sure why it's happening but it is, diluted, undiluted, MSP, P3, makes no difference, 1 or 2 thin layers without varnish (or maybe even with varnish) seems to just fall away. (that was what I was testing on skeleton after I noticed it) I think it's too few layers or maybe too thin. his hair and his right gauntlet are 2 visible examples in the picture. his bedroll on the top left corner is another good example but that's where my concern lay, the bedroll bare spot is 3 thin layers and a wash that chipped, I didn't even touch it. Mini was washed prior to painting (soap, water, brush, air dried completely) base coat (which didnt chip fyi) undiluted MSP pure white

 

Things to expect when done:

I'll finish painting him, touch up the steel some more (there's a leg plate I missed, and a few buttons) the bedroll has 2 leather straps I want to match with the rest, painting all the wood is happening probably before nights end, (including crossbow) the base he is standing on will not only be painted but after varnish I'm going to test a bit of static grass to see how I like using it, (it'll be better then the monstrosity I did with paint and no static grass on a mini I gave to a friend, which I might snap pics of someday since he was a milestone too)

magnifying visors are spoiling me, I can't even see the details of minis without them on after I started painting with them. but it has sped up my learning and really aided my learning.

 

things I am displeased with:
My silly bronze has obscured the nice runes it was supposed to display, I done goofed on that I'll see what I can do to correct it without striping the mini (because that's not happening at this point. any mistakes I can't fix at this point are now permanent, he is my milestone. I am so proud of those derpy little eyes)

 

Enjoy, feel free to ask question or crack the whip. You'll be hearing another rant of this journey when it's moved to show off finished.

 

 

[Glitterwolf]

Nice base colours.

 

As for the runes / bronze thing,

 

They are still visible in the pics, so you could try to pick them out with a different colour.

If not, try obscuring the parts you don't like, with dried or fresh blood.. reddish brown/red.