Painting the Blue Ardua

Painting

The Bird Men are pieces of their time. Sculpting and casting have progressed enormously in the last 15 years, as have painting techniques. The latest fashionable Non-Metallic-Metals and forced-lighting only really work on figures sculpted in today's style. Layer upon layer of subtle shading works on a Kev White or Rackham figure, but not on one of these Bird Men.

The approach I went for was the Foundry/Kevin Dallimore style. This technique is wonderful for getting crisp, bright colours, and really helps out when the detail on a model isn't that sharp. It all works by starting with a black undercoat, and then layering up three tones—the shade, the basic colour, and then the highlight. I used a mix of Coat D'arms and Vallejo paints to do this (though Foundry do sell paints specially designed for painting this way).

The first thing I did was to paint all the figures Vallejo Model Colour German Camo Black Brown, making sure I left the lower part of the wings white. This paint is a very dark brown—almost black, but not quite. It does the same as a black undercoat in a way—leaving bits helps define areas and it helps with the shading, but it's not as harsh as a true black base. I left the lower halves of the wings white, so to make the brighter colours clearer and brighter.

Then I painted the bases Miniature Paints Earth Brown.

The Blue Ones

The Bird Men are called the Ardua, and the bigger ones are Blue Ardua. Time for my favourite blues to come out and play. All the flesh and top-feathers are done with Coat D'arms.

First, everything was painted Dark Blue, then highlights were done with High Elf Blue, then final highlights were done with Light Blue. Remember that the lighter the colour, the thinner the brush strokes should be. After the light blue highlights were done, I painted "between" the layers with High Elf — this is a little transparent, and smoothes the transition between the mid and highlight layers.

To create a unified-looking force, I painted their weapons and equipment in the same colours.

Boots

Shade:

Vallejo Model Colour German Camouflage Black Brown

Basic:

Coat D'arms British Khaki

Highlight:

Coat D'arms British Khaki + white

Laces:

Coat D'arms Linen

Belt, Quiver & Pouch

Shade:

Coat D'arms Horsetone Brown

Basic:

Coat D'arms Rat Brown

Highlight:

Coat D'arms Barbarian Leather

Armour and Weapon Hilts

Shade:

Liquitex Artist's Acrylic Copper

Basic:

Vallejo Model Colour Old Gold

Highlight:

Vallejo Model Colour Gold

Weapon Blades

Shade:

Vallejo Model Colour Oily Steel, with a layer of Smoke at the bottom of the blade

Basic:

Vallejo Game Colour Chainmail

Highlight:

Vallejo Model Colour Silver

Claws

Shade:

Vallejo Model Colour Black

Basic:

Vallejo Model Colour German Grey

Highlight:

Vallejo Model Colour German Grey + white

Loincloth

Shade:

Coat D'arms Lupin Grey or Linen

Basic:

Coat D'arms Lupin Grey + white or Linen + white

Highlight:

Coat D'arms White