of The Miniature
This is a Reaper mini from their Dark Heaven Legends line, Boris Mingla (DHL 02386). It's a fun mini to paint, and I decided to paint him up as an evil/Undead fighter guy.
Materials
I used a variety of paints on this model to get just the right colors.
Paints:
Brushes:
- Winsor & Newton Series 7 Miniature — sizes 0 and 1
- Winsor & Newton Series 7 — sizes 0, 1 and 2
Palettes:
- Two flower palettes from Dick Blick Art Supply
Basing:
- Elmer's White Glue
- Pumice Paste
- Static Grass (can find at any local game store or online)
Miscellaneous:
- Top to a primer can
- Silly Putty (to affix the mini to the primer can top, so you don't handle the mini during painting)
- X-acto knife
- Flat golden taklon brush
- superglue
- toothbrush
- dish soap
Prep Work
There wasn't much in the way of prepwork to do on this mini. He had a couple of mold lines that I filed off. When I was done filing the mini down, I soaked him in some soapy water and scrubbed him clean with a toothbrush. I let him dry overnight, and then glued him to his base.
I then applied a layer of pumice paste to the base, and let the mini dry overnight. Pumice paste dries slowly, so allow it to dry for at least 3 hours; overnight if it's a thick layer. Once he was dry, I sprayed him with Tamiya White Primer. And now we're ready to go!
Methods to the Madness!
As I said above, I was inspired to make him look evil/Undead-ish. I decided to use a dark, dingy color for the skin that would look sickly and unhealthy. Since he's heavily armored, I decided to alternate gold and silver metallics for the armor just to give him some color. (If I had done all of his armor in silver, he would have looked a little too drab.)
Techniques
I used layering on this mini for the most part. Once I had the basecoat colors on the model, I worked on highlighting them by layering. I did not drybrush any area on the model. Layering is executed to create shadows and highlights to create depth to the miniature itself. In order to layer colors, you need to allow your basecoat to dry well - about a half an hour. Then take your highlight colors and thin them down with a few drops of water. You want the color to be thick enough to leave a noticeable mark on the basecoat color, but you don't want it to be a stark, thick contrast. You will probably have to add multiple layers to get highlights and shadows just right.
Paint Recipes
Skin
- Basecoat:
- RMS Bone Shadow
- Highlight 1:
- RMS Aged Bone
- Highlight 2:
- RMS Polished Bone
Silver Metallics
- Basecoat:
- RMS Shadowed Steel
- Highlight 1:
- RMS Honed Steel
- Highlight 2:
- RMS Polished Silver
Gold Metallics
Renaissance Ink Gold; glazed in RMS brown liner for some shadows.
Hair
- Basecoat:
- RMS Stone Grey
- Highlight:
- RMS Pure White; thinned out and applied several layers to different areas to concentrate the white pigments where the highest highlight should be (around the crown and any hair that is upraised).
Axe Handle
- Basecoat:
- RMS Muddy Brown
- Highlight 1:
- 2 RMS Muddy Brown + 1 RMS Buckskin Pale
- Highlight 2:
- RMS Muddy Brown + RMS Buckskin Pale
Chain
RMS Adamantium Black
Skulls
- Basecoat:
- RMS Stained Ivory
- Highlight 1:
- RMS Yellowed Bone
- Highlight 2:
- RMS Creamy Ivory
Severed Head
- Basecoat:
- RMS Tanned Shadow
- Highlight 1:
- RMS Tanned Skin
- Highlight 2:
- RMS Tanned Highlight
- Blood:
- RMS Bloody Red
Basing
After painting the mini, I started on the base. I painted the pumice paste with RPP Volcano Brown, and let it dry before adding flecks of RPP Bright Gold to it. I then glued on some static grass and leaves with Elmer's Glue. As a finishing touch, I painted on some "puddles" of blood from the severed head.
