How to paint The Lorax Miniature

Steps

1. 1 After priming the stippled-texture miniature white, airbrush Flat Orange over the whole body for the fur base coat.
2. 2 Airbrush shading and highlights into the fur: Dark Sea Blue mixed into the orange for shadowed areas (under the chin, arms, and belly), Flat Flesh mixed into the orange for the top of the head and belly, then a thin Flat Orange glaze over everything to blend it together.
3. 3 Mask off everything but the mustache with poster tack and airbrush Sun Yellow over the facial hair, then touch up the mask lines and any orange overspray by hand.
4. 4 Freehand the eyes in thinned Black: draw the eyelid lines and half-circle eyelid shapes, fill in the eyeball area, add a mouth circle (leaving a strip of orange for the lower lip), and dot in two nostrils.
5. 5 Paint the whites of the eyes with Titanium White, cutting in cleanly to leave a thin Black outline.
6. 6 Base coat both irises entirely in Black Green, then build the eye color up over several layers by mixing in more Sun Yellow each time, concentrating the brightest highlight at the bottom of the iris.
7. 7 Paint half-oval pupils in pure Black, then add a small Titanium White highlight dot overlapping each pupil and iris.
8. 8 Stipple a highlight of Flat Flesh mixed into the orange over the raised fur areas (head, arms, chest, feet) in several layers, letting the texture show through.
9. 9 Add a little of that flesh-orange highlight to the lip, nose, and eyelids for extra dimension.
10. 10 Highlight the yellow facial hair by mixing Buff into the Sun Yellow over several layers, finishing with an almost-pure Buff highlight on the highest points.
11. 11 Glaze the facial hair with Lamenters Yellow, and glaze the orange fur with Flat Orange cut with Vallejo Glaze Medium, to re-tint both areas without burying the texture.
12. 12 Shade the facial hair undersides with a selectively-applied Casandora Yellow glaze, then shade the orange fur's shadowed areas (under the arms, belly, chin, and base of the skull) with Dark Sea Blue mixed into the orange glaze.
13. 13 Paint the tree-stump base: Buff on the top, Dryad Bark around the bark rim, with freehand vertical lines in Dryad Bark for bark texture.
14. 14 Draw concentric tree-ring circles across the stump top with thinned Khaki, then highlight the bark's top edge and scattered high points with Buff mixed into Dryad Bark.
15. 15 Dark-line around the hands, facial hair, and mouth with thinned Black for separation, and draw long black hair lines above the eyes for Dr. Seuss–style eyebrows.
16. 16 Clean up any overshot dark lines with the base orange and yellow, and finish any remaining dark lining around the mouth.

Paints used

• Black (Vallejo Model Color)

  Freehanded eyelids, eye fill, mouth, and nostrils; pupils; dark lining around hands, facial hair, mouth, and the eyebrow hairs

• Black Green (Vallejo Model Color)

  Base coat for both irises, mixed with Sun Yellow to build up the eye color

• Buff (Vallejo Model Color)

  Mixed with Sun Yellow to highlight the facial hair; base coat for the top of the tree stump; mixed with Dryad Bark to highlight the bark

• Casandora Yellow (Citadel)

  Selectively glazed onto the undersides of the facial hair for shadow

• Dark Sea Blue (Vallejo Model Color)

  Mixed into the orange for airbrushed shading, and into the orange glaze for the final fur shadows

• Dryad Bark (Citadel)

  Base coat for the tree stump's bark rim and texture lines, highlighted with Buff mixed in

• Flat Flesh (Vallejo Model Color)

  Mixed into the orange for airbrushed highlights and for the stippled fur highlight over raised areas

• Flat Orange (Vallejo Model Color)

  Airbrushed base coat for the entire fur; blending glaze over the whole miniature; final glaze mixed with Vallejo Glaze Medium

• Khaki (Vallejo Model Color)

  Thinned to draw the concentric tree-ring circles on the stump top

• Lamenters Yellow (Citadel)

  Glazed over the facial hair to re-tint it after highlighting

• Sun Yellow (Vallejo Game Color)

  Airbrushed base coat for the facial hair; mixed into Black Green to build the iris color, and into Buff for the facial hair highlight

• Titanium White (Liquitex)

  Whites of the eyes, and a small highlight dot in each iris