Painting HeroQuest: Episode 9 - OSL featuring Sir Ragnar!

Steps

1. 1 Spray the zenithal prime from the direction of the torch instead of straight overhead, so the whole miniature is primed with the light source already in mind.
2. 2 Base coat the skin as a shadow/highlight gradient: a desaturated mix of Bugman's Glow with Despair Green anywhere out of torch light, and Cadian Fleshtone mixed with Flat Yellow anywhere the torch light hits directly, both cut with glaze medium and feathered together while wet.
3. 3 Base coat the pants with Steel Legion Drab, using the same Despair Green shadow / yellow highlight scheme with glaze medium, later boosting the highlight side with Ivory and more yellow.
4. 4 Base coat the torch itself in flat yellow as a lighting reference, then base coat all of the hair with Mechanicus Standard Grey.
5. 5 Base coat the whole tunic with Rakarth Flesh, then darken the shadow side (mainly the right of the figure, under the arms, and between the legs) with Despair Green and a touch of Mechanicus Standard Grey, while mixing Ivory and yellow into the torch-facing side for an off-white highlight.
6. 6 Push the contrast further by mixing Black into both the tunic and pants shadow mixes for the darkest recesses, while continuing to boost the highlight mixes with more Ivory and yellow, working thin layers back and forth across the model.
7. 7 Paint the eye whites with Ivory, then glaze thinned Rakarth Flesh over the tunic to smooth the light-to-shadow transitions.
8. 8 Paint the tunic's dragon emblem with Mephiston Red, highlight the torch-facing side with Vallejo Bloody Red boosted with a touch of yellow at the edge, and shade the far side by mixing Despair Green into the red.
9. 9 Mix Army Painter Broadsword Silver with Payne's Grey ink for a dark, bluish metal, and use it on the waist restraint, its hanging chains, the broken bracelets on his wrists, and the torch's metal handle.
10. 10 Highlight the hair with several layers of Ulthuan Grey mixed into the Mechanicus Standard Grey base, focusing on upward-facing and torch-side areas with short strokes, then push the brightest layers with a little yellow mixed in.
11. 11 Deepen the hair's recesses - where it meets the beard and face, and between the larger sculpted strands - with Despair Green, then feather in a final Ivory-and-yellow highlight on the brightest torch-facing strands.
12. 12 Thin black with Despair Green to an ink-like consistency and use it to draw dark separation lines between fabric, skin, and hair, including between the toes and fingers.
13. 13 Paint the base with Hull Red, matching the color used for the other hero miniatures.
14. 14 Highlight the metal accents by mixing the shadow mix and a little black into Silver for the shaded areas (chain links, belt rivets), and mixing yellow into Silver for the areas catching direct torch light, especially the nearest bracelet and the torch handle.
15. 15 Weather the escaped prisoner with thinned Arbuckles Brown, alternating with a black-and-Despair-Green mix, stippled onto the feet, knees, elbows, hair, and metal to suggest dirt and rust.
16. 16 Wick off excess Lamenters Yellow and glaze it over the torch and grip, then glaze it again over the skin, hair, and tunic wherever the torch light should be picked up, to build the OSL effect.
17. 17 Paint the flame itself: thin Tiamat Orange up from a yellow base, add a thin red pass at the very tip, then finish the tip in black where the flame turns to smoke, and finally boost the skin highlights nearest the torch with a mix of Cadian Fleshtone, yellow, and Titanium White.

Paints used

• Arbuckles Brown (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Thinned and stippled onto the feet, knees, elbows, hair, and metal to weather the escaped prisoner with dirt and rust

• Bloody Red (Vallejo, Game Color)

  Highlight mixed into the tunic emblem's torch-facing side, over the Mephiston Red base

• Broadsword Silver (Army Painter, Speedpaint 2.0)

  Mixed with Payne's Grey ink for a dark, bluish metal on the waist restraint, its chains, the wrist bracelets, and the torch handle

• Bugman's Glow (Citadel)

  Desaturated with Despair Green to build the skin's shadow-side base color

• Black (Vallejo, Model Color)

  Mixed into the tunic and pants shadow mixes for the darkest recesses; thinned with Despair Green for ink-like separation lines between fabric, skin, and hair; mixed into Silver to shade metal in shadow; painted at the very tip of the torch flame where it turns to smoke

• Cadian Fleshtone (Citadel)

  Mixed with Flat Yellow to build the skin's torch-lit highlight color, and mixed with yellow and Titanium White for a final skin highlight boost near the torch

• Despair Green (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Desaturates the skin, pants, and tunic shadow mixes throughout, and deepens the hair's recesses

• Flat Yellow (Vallejo, Model Color)

  Base coat for the torch as an early lighting reference (later covered in Titanium White); mixed into the skin, pants, tunic, and hair highlight colors throughout to simulate torch light, and left showing at the base of the flame

• Hull Red (Vallejo, Model Color)

  Base color for the round base, matching the other hero miniatures

• Ivory (Vallejo, Model Color)

  Whites of the eyes; mixed into the pants and tunic highlight colors, and mixed with yellow for the brightest hair highlights

• Lamenters Yellow (Citadel)

  Wicked-off glaze over the torch and grip, and glazed over the skin, hair, and tunic wherever torch light should be picked up, to build the OSL effect

• Mechanicus Standard Grey (Citadel)

  Base coat for all of the hair

• Mephiston Red (Citadel)

  Base coat for the tunic's dragon emblem; also thinned for a red pass near the tip of the torch flame

• Payne's Grey (Daler-Rowney, FW Acrylic Ink)

  Mixed with Army Painter Broadsword Silver for the dark, bluish metal on the restraint, chains, bracelets, and torch handle

• Rakarth Flesh (Citadel)

  Base coat for the entire tunic, later glazed thin to smooth the light-to-shadow transitions

• Silver (Vallejo, Model Color)

  Mixed with the shadow color and black, or with yellow, to highlight the metal restraint, chains, bracelets, and torch handle depending on how much torch light hits them

• Steel Legion Drab (Citadel)

  Base coat for the pants

• Tiamat Orange (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Thinned and painted up from a yellow base for the body of the torch's flame

• Titanium White (Liquitex)

  Base coat for the torch itself before painting the flame, and mixed into a final skin highlight boost near the torch

• Ulthuan Grey (Citadel)

  Layered into the Mechanicus Standard Grey base to highlight the hair, focused on upward-facing and torch-side strands