96th post - Tutorial: Mordor Captain!

So, after the showcase post, nothing better than the tutorial on this guy, right?

The Mordor Captain corresponds to the Battle Games in Middle Earth issue nr 58.

As I said before, this is a great model, really fun to paint, since it has lots of details to catch. I'm not even that big a fan of metal miniatures, but this might be one of the best model sculptures that I've ever painted.

Materials

Vallejo's

• Game Color Wash, Blue Shade
• Game Color Wash, Sepia Shade
• Game Color Wash, Pale Grey
• Model Color, Iraqui Sand 
• Model Color, Medium Grey
• Model Color, Stone Grey
• Model Color, Deck Tan

The Army Painter's

• Matt White
• Matt Black
• Leather Brown
• Pure Red

Citadel's

• Nuln Oil
• Agrax Earthshade
• XV-88
• Screaming Skull
• Ironbreaker
• Runefang Steel
• Dryad Bark
• Mephiston Red

Tutorial

Skin:

1. Basecoat: Vallejo's Medium Grey
2. Shades: 2/1 mix of Vallejo's Pale Grey + Blue Shade
3. Highlights I: Vallejo's Stone Grey
4. Highlights II: Vallejo's Deck Tan

Leather Parts:

1. Basecoat: Citadel's XV-88
2. Shades: Citadel's Agrax Earthshade
3. Highlights I: 1/1 mix of Vallejo's Iraqui Sand + Citadel's XV-88
4. Highlights II: Vallejo's Iraqui Sand

Fur:

1. Basecoat: Army Painter's Leather Brown
2. Patterns: Vallejo's Iraqui Sand (randomly applied)
3. Shades: Citadel's Agrax Earthshade
4. Drybrush: Citadel's Screaming Skull

Armour and Metallics:

1. Basecoat: Citadel's Ironbreaker
2. Shades: 1/1 mix of Citadel's Nuln Oil + Vallejo's Sepia Shade
3. Highlights: Citadel's Runefang Steel
4. Weathering: Citadel's Agrax Earthshade

Wood (mace):

1. Basecoat: Citadel's Dryad Bark
2. Highlights: Citadel's XV-88

Free Hand Symbols:

1. Structure: Citadel's Mephiston Red
2. Symbol: Army Painter's Pure Red

*     *     *

And that's it!!!
I hope this tutorial turns out useful to someone!
Merry holidays to you all, and happy hobbying!!!!

95th post - Mordor Orc Captain! (showcase)

Hi  friends!

Here I am showing another finished model from the "Battle Games in Middle Earth" miniatures (nr. 58): the Mordor Orc Captain!

I think, now on, I will be making posts separately, i.e, one with showcase purposes and another for the tutorial, believing it's better that way, so I can have "straight to the point" posts, rather than a mix of it all. Also, the blog aesthetics will benefit I suppose. 

My goal with the base was to make it look ashy, a kind of a dead "Mordor style" terrain, made of rocks and nothing else.

This is actually one of my favourite models until now. I think it will look really fierce in the field of battle!

By the way, I love the way that the fur is sculpted in this guy! It's a beauty, and provides a really enjoyable painting session! It's an awesome model :) 

And that's it! Stay tuned for the tutorial on this guy :)

Merry holidays everyone, and happy hobbying!!

94th post - Painting Denethor! (tutorial)

So, here I am presenting another painted miniature, this time is Denethor!

As said in the 92nd post, I was going to try a little different thing with the base, and I can say now that was a success in my opinion.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the painting, tough i didn't got the desired effect on the fur, but well, that's a process that comes with time. 

Compared to other models, this one wasn't that fun to paint due to the boring black/grey/white colour scheme, although the face has a great amount of detail, making it the funniest part to paint.

Tutorial

1- Chain Mail:

Basecoated with Plate Mail Metal (Army Painter); Washed with Nuln Oil (Citadel); Drybrushed with Runefang Steel (Citadel).

2- Sword:
Basecoated with Plate Mail Metal (Army Painter) followed by Old Gold (Vallejo); Highlighted with Auric Armour Gold (Citadel).

3- Fur:
The lower third was basecoated with Dark Grey (Vallejo), the medium third with Stormvermin Fur and the higher third with Administratum Grey (both from Citadel); Washed with Nuln Oil (Citadel); Drybrushed with Matt White (Army Painter).

4- Cloak:
Basecoated with Matt Black (Army Painter); Highlighted with a mix of black + dark blue, followed by Dark Grey (Vallejo); Glazed with a thinned coat of Nuln Oil (Citadel).

5- Face:
After the eyes, the face was basecoated with Cadian Fleshtone (Citadel); Shaded with Fleshtone Shade (Vallejo); Highlighted with Kislev Flesh (Citadel) and a mix of Kislev Flesh + Basic Skintone (Vallejo).

6- Hair:
Basecoated with Stormvermin Fur (Citadel); Drybrushed with Administratum Grey (Citadel) and Matt White (Army Painter).

7- Base:
Rectangular pieces of fine cardboard glued to the base to give texture, painted black and drybrushed grey. Then, I applied a blue wash and drybrushed again with grey and white.


Now some scenic photos:

And that's all, I hope you like it!

Happy hobbying!

93rd post - Painting Gothmog!

So, after the promise made on the 92nd post, here's the post about Gothmog!

As said before, the name Gothmog was given by Tolkien to the lord of the Balrogs of the first age, and, on his works, there's no orc general with that name during the war of the ring. Despite that, I think it's a great character in Peter Jackson's films, since he really brings up the malevolent nature of the orcs of Mordor.

The great thing about him is his pale skin (rare among orcs) and the "meatfull" face, with the left eye covered by that chunk of flesh. He really is an uncomfortable character, and I love that!!!

Tutorial

1- Medium Thinner: 

As always, mainly to thin down the metallic acrylics.

2- The Armour and the Sword: 

Basecoated with Plate Mail Metal (Army Painter); Washed with a mix of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade (Citadel); Drybrushed with Plate Mail Metal (Army Painter); Highlighted with Runefang Steel (Citadel); Weathered with a thinned down Agrax Earthshade (Citadel).

3-  The Skin: 

Basecoated with a mix of Rhinox Hide (Citadel) and Basic Skintone (Vallejo); Washed with Agrax Earthshade (Citadel); Highlighted with Iraqui Sand (Vallejo) and Screaming Skull (Citadel); Finally, with a mix of Red Shade and Blue Shade (Vallejo) I managed to give a purple tint to the pale flesh, to help achieving the strange diabolical orc skin, by applying it in some specific areas/spots. 

4- The Cloth: 

Basecoated with Mephiston Red (Citadel); Shaded with a mix of Red Shade and Sepia Shade (Vallejo); Highlighted with Dragon Red and Pure Red (Army Painter).

5- The Leather:

Basecoated with Rhinox Hide (Citadel); Highlighted with Leather Brown (Army Painter).

6- The Fur and Hair:

Basecoated the top half with Stormvermin Fur (Citadel) and the lower half with Dark Grey (Vallejo); Drybrushed with Administratum Grey (Citadel); Highlighted in some prominent spots with Matt White (Army Painter).

The hair was basecoated with  Stormvermin Fur and Highlighted with Administratum Grey (Citadel).

And here's the final result:

Overall, I'm really, really (really) happy with the result. I think it's just an amazing model that provides a very enjoyable painting session.

Some more photos with scenery:

And that's it!!!

I hope you guys like my Gothmog.

As always, happy hobbying!

92nd post - Gothmog, Denethor and an Orc Captain!

After  a relatively good test on a Uruk-Hai (91st post), my will to paint as been raised a bit.
So, I decided to prepare now my next three minis, and this post is about it!

These are the models that I'm going to paint in the next few days: Gothmog, Denethor and an orc captain.

Gothmog is a Mordor orc general, with pale skin and a disfigured face. It's a product of Peter Jackson's films (not a real character in the books), tough his name comes from an ancient lord of the Balrogs, from the first age of Middle Earth.

Concerning Denethor, he is one of the most hated characters due to the films. He is a high lord of Gondor (he is the steward) who has lost his mind because of the Ring and the Palantir, on which he saw Sauron.

With Denethor I'm going to try something I never did: a non nature base. I'll try to give it a look worthy of Minas Tirith's Hall... Let's see how it goes.

I'm very excited about painting the orc captain. I think it is an amazing model, with all the fur cloth, and the dynamic pose!


Finally, about Gothmog...
The miniature is already painted, but I didn't had time to take numerous pictures, so here's just a small sneak peek on his face.
I've tried to give him lots of shades so he gets those orkish skin tones.

And that's it. I'll surely post photos of the full model tomorrow.
Happy hobbying!!!

91st post - The Uruk-Hai Redemption!

Hello friends.

The Uruk of Isengard is now finished and rescued from the miserable state he was (broken sword, some detail loss... you can see it here).

I must say I'm happier than I thought I would be, tough I've felt some kind of uncertainty in numerous parts when painting.

I think the skin is the aspect that's less well painted, but overall I'm really happy with the miniature, specially with the free hand... I must have been blessed by the Valar there!

I've also decided to try some new things, like the Blood for the Blood God from Citadel, for which I'm really pleased!!

The Materials

1- Medium Thinner: which I always use (mainly to thin down the metallic paints).

2- The Skin: Basecoated with Dark Flesh (old citadel paint); Washed with Agrax Earthshade; Highlighted with a mix of Dark Flesh and Vallejo's Basic Skintone, progressively lighter (3 highlight fases).

3- The Hair: Basecoated with Vallejo's Dark Grey; Washed with Nuln Oil; Drybrushed with Administratum Grey.

4 -The Metallics: Basecoated with Army Painter's Plate Mail Metal; Washed with Nuln Oil; Drybrushed (light) with Plate Mail Metal; Highlighted with Runefang Steel; Glazed with a very thinned down Nuln Oil; Weathered with a very thinned down Agrax Earthshade all over the armour.

5- Details: for the blood I've used Blood for the Blood God; the white hand was made with Army Painter's Matt White and lots of patience.

Showcase

This photography doesn't show the model properly. I just like the ambiental look of it.

And that's all!

Lastly, I'd like to ask you to like my Facebook page (just created it): Middle Earth Minis
As always, happy hobbying!!!!!