writes:
Flesh
When I first assembled the figures, I used the same head on each. Before painting the mounted figure, I switched the head to the helmetless version in order to show off the versatility of the set. This meant more exposed flesh, and a slightly different focal point for each figure.
- Basecoat:
- VMC Dark Grey and VMC Leather Brown
- Layer:
- Same mix, but with more Leather Brown
- Blend:
- GW Dwarf Flesh. I didn't go all the way to pure Dwarf Flesh. I wanted it desaturated.
- Blending and layering as needed:
- VMC Basic Flesh, GW Bleached Bone, GW Elf Flesh
- Blend, where needed:
- VMC Flat Brown. To places that need color, such as the cheeks, lips.
I blended most of the flesh, so the steps in the pictures are rather large. I've made the pictures rather large to try to show how I placed the highlights. The strongest highlights were placed at the top of the forehead, the eyebrows, the nose, chin, and tops of cheeks.
One tricky spot for me is the shadow in the cheek. I want the shadow there, but if it's too pronounced, the face looks unrealistic. My solution is to spend a little extra time, layering the cheek shadow up towards the highlight color with very translucent layers until it looks just right.
I drew on the eyebrows and eyes with black. The eyes have tiny dabs of grey to give the impression of whites of the eyes. At this scale, pure white would be mistake, and take away the realism.
The deep shadows are the photos, not the paint. There is no change between the last two pics, just a different angle.
Spear
There isn't much to say about the spear. I painted the spearhead in the same way as I did the sword on the foot troop. The haft of the spear is as follows.
- Basecoat:
- VMC Leather Brown + VMC German Field Grey
- Layer:
- The above mix + GW Bleached Bone
- Layer:
- GW Bleached Bone + White
Other Areas
Most of the areas on the mounted figure were painted exactly the same as the foot figure, so rather than write the same instructions twice, I'll just refer you to that first article.