3 - Dressing Caesar for Battle

Lee Olson of Pewter Illusions writes:

Alright, so last time we tackled Octavian's head and face, which is arguably the most important aspect of any miniature. This time, we're going to get him dressed for battle.

I started off with his ornate chest armor, which I decided to do in silver - with the eagle/bird thing painted bronze - to match the pre-selected color scheme. The silver was shaded with thinned pearlescent black, and highlighted with thinned pearlescent white. The bronze I shaded with a dark brown and highlighted with a color called Antique Gold, which is a gold (duh) but is a darker gold than one might normally see.

Next, I basecoated his sleeves with Ral Partha's Dragontongue Purple, which - as you can see - is a reddish purple color (#1 below). I shaded the folds and wrinkles with a mix of D.P. and black, thinned down (#2). Then I highlighted with (predictably) a thinned mix of D.P. and white (#3).

When I finished highlighting the sleeves, I decided that the highlight color I had mixed up was just a smidge too light, so I went back and used thinned D.P. as a glaze to tone that highlight color down and help it to blend in a bit better. The same was done for his leggings, which are the same color.

Excellent! Next up are the shoulder pads, and the trim along the pads and his collar. The shoulder pads were done with silver to match his chest armor. Wanting to stick with the color scheme already laid out, I basecoated them with Ral Partha's Dun, which is a dull yellow color (#1 below). Shading was done with a mix of Dun and brown (#2), and highlighting was done with a mix of Dun and white (#3).

Finally, using the same colors that were used for the trim, I painted in his kilt and the trim near the end of his sleeves. The belt was painted straight black, highlighted with a dark gray. No shading here, as you can't get any darker than black. The belt buckle is bronze, shaded and highlighted the same as the eagle.

Now that Caesar Octavian is no longer complaining of a draft, we'll stop here. Next Time - our little monkey man will continue accessorizing his outfit, and we'll take care of his boots, scabbard, and that pesky cloak.