Vast Painting Guide Ep. 2: The Sorcerer

Steps

1. 1 Prime the miniature black, then spray white primer from above to guide where the highlights will go.
2. 2 Base coat the skin with Sharpnel Red, the coat and upper clothes with Mephiston Red, and the dress and darker clothing with Bloodfest Crimson mixed with Mephiston Red.
3. 3 Base coat the sleeves, trim, and buttons with Flat Flesh, and the hair with Black Grey.
4. 4 Base coat Amarth Blue onto the fingertips and tassel edges, overlapping the red slightly so the two colors can be blended later; base coat the eyes with Pink Horror and the earrings with Arbuckles Brown, and pick out a pink streak in the hair with Orcish Dermis and a white streak with Sky Grey.
5. 5 Wet-blend the red and blue transitions on the tassels and fingertips: mix the two colors for a purple mid-tone, then apply thinned layers of each pure color out from the middle to smooth the gradient.
6. 6 Shade all the red areas with Carroburg Crimson straight from the pot, avoiding the blue and yellow trim.
7. 7 Highlight the hair with Black Grey mixed toward more Sky Grey, picking out individual strands and brightest on top.
8. 8 Highlight the skin with Sharpnel Red mixed with increasing Orcish Dermis on the face and hands, and highlight the darker clothing with the same Orcish Dermis mixed into the red/crimson mix, focusing on raised folds, boots, shoulder ridges, and tassel edges.
9. 9 Highlight the pure red areas starting with Mephiston Red itself, then mixing in Evil Sunz Scarlet, then Wild Rider Red for the brightest spots.
10. 10 Highlight the blue by mixing Huldra Blue into the Amarth Blue base, focused on the edges.
11. 11 Shade the hair with Nuln Oil, and shade the earrings/gems and the skin (hands, mouth, around the eyes) with Agrax Earthshade.
12. 12 Build gold non-metallic metal on the earrings: mix Flat Yellow with Ivory over the Arbuckles Brown base at three light points, glaze back in some Arbuckles Brown to smooth the transition, then finish with pure Ivory spot highlights.
13. 13 Highlight the arms and yellow trim with Flat Flesh mixed toward Ivory, and brighten the face highlights and knuckles further with more Ivory mixed in.
14. 14 Glaze thinned Sharpnel Red (cut with Vallejo Glaze Medium) from the skin highlights down into the shadows for a subtle transition.
15. 15 Dark-line every fabric and skin/clothing transition with a mix of Black Ink and Arbuckles Brown, then reinforce the brightest highlights with pure Evil Sunz Scarlet and add an Ivory glint dot to the eyes and belt gems.
16. 16 Paint the base with Evil Sunz Scarlet to match the game piece, the rim with pure Black, and dark-line around the feet with the Black Ink and Arbuckles Brown mix.

Paints used

• Agrax Earthshade (Citadel)

  Shade for the earrings/gems and for the skin (hands, mouth, around the eyes)

• Amarth Blue (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for the fingertips and tassel edges, highlighted with Huldra Blue

• Arbuckles Brown (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for the earrings, the starting shade in the gold NMM; also mixed into the dark-lining wash

• Black (Vallejo Model Color)

  Rim of the base, painted last

• Black Grey (Vallejo Model Color)

  Base coat for the hair, highlighted with more Sky Grey mixed in

• Black Ink (Vallejo Game Ink)

  Mixed with Arbuckles Brown and water for the dark-lining wash

• Bloodfest Crimson (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for the dress, tassels, and boots, mixed with Mephiston Red since it read too purple alone

• Carroburg Crimson (Citadel)

  Shade applied straight from the pot to all the red areas

• Evil Sunz Scarlet (Citadel)

  Mixed into Mephiston Red to build the pure-red highlights; pure highlight reinforcement on the cape trim; base coat for the base

• Flat Flesh (Vallejo Model Color)

  Base coat for the sleeves, trim, and buttons, highlighted with Ivory

• Flat Yellow (Vallejo Model Color)

  Mixed with Ivory over Arbuckles Brown for the gold NMM highlight

• Huldra Blue (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Mixed into Amarth Blue to highlight the blue areas

• Ivory (Vallejo Model Color)

  Skin and Flat Flesh highlight mix; brightest spots in the gold NMM; specular glint dot on the eyes and belt gems

• Mephiston Red (Citadel)

  Base coat for the coat, upper clothes, cape trim, and wrists; mixed into Bloodfest Crimson; starting highlight tone for the pure-red areas

• Nuln Oil (Citadel)

  Shade over the hair

• Orcish Dermis (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Pink streak in the hair; mixed into Sharpnel Red to highlight the skin; mixed into the red/crimson mix to highlight the darker clothing

• Pink Horror (Citadel)

  Base coat for the eyes

• Sharpnel Red (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for the skin; glazed thinly with Vallejo Glaze Medium to soften highlight-to-shadow transitions

• Sky Grey (Vallejo Model Color)

  White streak in the hair; mixed into Black Grey for the brightest hair highlights

• Wild Rider Red (Citadel)

  Brightest highlight mixed into the pure-red areas