Painting a Dwarf

I found a dwarf who I thought would make a good member of Balin's company.

 Funny enough, he was bought, based and ready for painting with the previous army of Dain. However, he was not needed and skipped the process. Now that Balin is off to Moria, he is ready to join the ranks.

 I was surprised to find that he was a resin figure when he arrived from eBay. However, I loved the old school veteran look he had and so signed him up for the journey. 

I had also added a green stuff snap sack on his back. This was done when I was working through Dain's army, as they were going into battle straight from the march. In Balin's force this travelling vibe is still good.

 Going forward when I have more time, I might add some bed rolls etc to the Nick Lund figures to help with this campaign look. For these first couple of bases, I just wanted to get them done so I skipped the green stuff process. I do plan to have a couple of bases of pack ponies though for this expedition.
 This will be something a bit different for the dwarves.

There's not much new about my painting process so I won't write too much, I just thought people might be interested in how I go about things.

The first step is to dry brush silver over the black undercoat, picking out the chain mail and axe.

My next step is to block out all the other equipment in their basic colours. These are straight from the pots to save time.

The nice thing about these figures is that they are 90% armour, so dry brushing does almost the whole job. Especially the mail clad Nick Lund figures.

The flesh is then added,  GW's Bug man's Glow is the classic first layer as always with dwarves. This is then highlighted with a lighter paint tone. Cadian flesh tone I think is the name.

I also add the details on the equipment such as patches etc. I tend to add my highlights before I do any washes, I just find it easier that way. If the wash is thin enough, the highlights will still be seen and will feel more blended in.

These effect paints are great for adding a little extra something to armour and weapons. I used a bit of the green on the axe.

The model is given a shading wash of light brown. This is great for the snap sack and pouches.

I also give the armour a wash of Nuln oil. I think all armour looks better after a wash with this stuff, it just helps to define the details.

Here is is looking as grumpy as ever. I dotted some blue into his eyes, nothing too crazy, just to give him a bit more character.

The Nuln oil went over the snap sack too helping to define it. Chrome paint was run along the edge of the blade to give it a razor sharp look.

I used a bit of this shifters effect paint to give the axe a blue hue. Looking at the picture, I see I've missed a bit off his boot, I'll have to fix this.

Off he goes with his friends to have some fun, all done.

Here is an idea for Balin's standard. The orcish looking sword isn't great for the standard bearer, so I might source one from the plastic Oathmark box. One that's a little more dwarfish in it's appearance. A hammer springs to mind.

It's always good to take pictures and review your painting. At the time I couldn't think of anything else to do with Balin, but on looking at the pictures I can see lots.  A mithril border on his golden mail would be a nice touch.

UPDATE: well after looking through these shots I went straight back to the Painting table and tweaked some stuff.

Balin now has a few extra red highlights on his coat. This will get an ultra Matt varnish to flatten everything out when dry.

King Balin now has some expensive mithril trim on his mail corset. Also a subtle bit of burgundy on his red leather armour too. While I was using the chrome paint, I realised his axe hadn't got it's edge, this was easily fixed. Now it really does look like Durin's axe which Balin's company uncovered in Moria.

" Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!" 

This was a tricky one, I decided to just cut the blade off rather than the whole hand and replace it with a dwarfish one. I used the hilt to provide more surface area for the glue. I'll have to place it back away from any edges on the base so it doesn't get knocked. Hopefully, it should be okay tucked away back there.

It's just a tad too small to pin, but I'm going to risk it.