2 - Basic Colors for Miners

Step 1: Clean and Prime

I cleaned off the flash from the models...there wasn't much, mostly just a little hanging from the axes. The figures are of a high quality. I am no 15mm expert, but I have found Demonworld to always be exceptional in their quality and detail!

Then I gave them a black undercoat. I have always felt that a white undercoat made figures turn out brighter...but these were dirty miners so black was fine with me. Pretty basic stuff.

I brushed on the primer. For black paint, I use the big 8 oz craft paints you can get at the craft store and Wal-Mart. Since everyone goes through a lot of black, there is no sense in using little GW bottles.

Step 2: The Base Colors

I didn't want Dwarven Miners wearing their Sunday best, so I went with browns and grays. I used colors like Reaper's Ash Gray and Aged Red Brick, and GW's Bubonic Brown and Snakebite Leather.

I've left some larger areas of black for a beard or a shirt that will be a black color (and then highlighted later). Also, some black is left to separate the colors...this is known as blacklining. If I basecoat a model white, then I blackline the figure before putting the base colors on - I call it reverse blacklining. If I basecoat the model black, then I paint the base colors, leaving black areas so I don't have to go through and blackline the model again.

I did the colors pretty randomly - like, this guy gets brown pants, red shirt, and this guy gets a brown vest and gray pants...and so on. This way they all had similar colors, but with a randomness that I would expect from folks who stay underground and only come up for the battle. "Lets hurry up and kill these pansy elves so we can get back to diggin..."

I used a mix of Dwarven Flesh with a little Vermin Brown thrown in for the skin - 3 parts Dwarven Flesh, 1 part Vermin Brown. I didn't bother doing the lips, I'll do that as a final detail with the eyes.

Coming Next: Shading/Highlights