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I use the following abbreviations for these paint lines:
- VMC:
- Vallejo Model Color
- GW:
- The current range of Games Workshop colors.
- C:
- The original range of Citadel paints, since taken over by Cote d'Arms. While the names are the same as the new GW range, the colors can vary. These old paints tend to be more transparent, which is partly why I like certain of these paints so much. For the same reason, that's why I use other paints as well.
Palette
In some of my recent work I've been painting with vibrant colors. This is actually a bit of a departure for me. My inclination is toward more naturalistic palettes. My goal is have a versatile style that can fit with anywhere on the spectrum. For these Elves, I knew I wanted an earthy palette of woodland colors.
I've been experimenting lately with non-metal metallic (NMM) schemes that begin with a basecoat of dark forest green, made by mixing GW Dark Angel's Green and Black. I knew that would be the foundation for these Elves' leaf armor. I build this up to a greenish-bronze finish. My second color choice was VMC Blue Grey, and I decided this would be good for the pants. When I put the brush to the figure, I was still undecided about the cape. I could go green, or I could stick with the gray for the cloak as well as the pants. For the flesh, I decided a somber brown-gray would be a good foundation. Overall, I knew I wanted an elegant, minimal scheme.
Basecoats
I like to block out any colors I've decided ahead of time first, and then decide the remaining colors by what would harmonize best. That's the approach I took with this figure. In the pic below, you can see the figure after I blocked out some basecoats.
As I mentioned, the base of the armor was a mix of black and GW Dark Angel's Green. The pants are a mix of VMC Dark Grey and VMC Leather Brown. The flesh is that same mix, only this time with more Leather Brown than gray. I've painted the hair and armor black.
White areas remain undecided for now.
A Note About Continuity in the Pictures
When painting these figures, I didn't paint each area in isolation, completing one then moving to the next. Sometimes I moved on before an area was complete, and came back later. However, I've arranged the article by area for ease of comprehension. So the pictures are not strictly chronological. This overlap in timing is visible in the pics.
Flesh
As these Elves have a traditional aesthetic, I planned to follow that tradition and make them fair-skinned... but I started with the gray-brown because I also wanted a sorrowful feel to them. I decided shadowed, desaturated flesh tones would help accomplish this.
- 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.
At a certain point, I had used too much Bleached Bone and made him look like ivory. The face didn't look real. To fix this, I added more thin layers of Basic Flesh, and I painted some VMC Flat Brown under the cheeks and on the lips. This straightened things out to my liking.
I painted the eyes black, then once dry, I painted the sockets VMC Light Gray. When dry, tiny dots of black again for pupils. With the size of the eyes as they are, this wasn't an exact science. A little back and forth with the gray and black until they looked right.
I realize the final three pictures look more or less the same. I did the bulk of the work between the first and second pic with blending. In the final pics, I'm correcting the face looking too much like ivory.