Dark Age Archers WIP

I was hoping to have these painted by the end of the month, but here we are on the last day and they remain a work in progress. I thought I would present the stages gone through so that anyone interested can have a go at this painting style - and to help me in future projects. It's fairly quick and easy, mostly glazing and minimal amounts of highlighting.

Stage 1 : Prime and wash

The first stage is to prime the figures white. I use Halfords white primer, available in the UK - it's a car spray. If you are looking for something similar, make sure it's acrylic. Once that is dry, I wash the figures with a diluted brown. This is just to give a guide and a little lining, it beats working on a glaring white undercoat.

Stage 2 : Leathers base coat

I don't particularly enjoy painting all the leather areas, so I get them out of the way early on. Various browns are thinned and used on all the belts, bags, quivers, etc. If your paint is thin and a little translucent, some of the wash from stage 1 will show through, giving instant shading. Additionally, a khaki or pale colour is used on the leg bindings and a few of the paler garment areas.

Stage 3 : Flesh, base and metal base coats

This was a very brief session, base coat and first wash on the flesh areas. I also washed some earth into the sandy bits, and painted the metal areas. Sometimes you can only squeeze in a short session, but every little helps.

Stage 4 : base coat remaining garments

For this stage I was able to spend quite a bit more time, enough to get the base coats for all the clothing. These were mostly neutral creams and browns, with a little pale blue here and there. I also washed the metal areas with a grey - a mix made from blue and brown paints.

That's all I managed I'm afraid, it's been a busy month in other areas so little time for hobby painting. These are close to completion, just the hair and fur, bows and arrows and a little weathering left to do. Let's hope they do not attract the attention of PETA!