Video - Learning to paint: Galadhrim (Beginner)

A couple of days ago I went into my local Games Workshop and bought the Galadhrim command set and a box of 12 warriors. Then I remembered I had no idea how to paint miniatures to a respectable standard and began Google-ing. After a little while of searching I discovered a great tutorial on how to paint Haldir at Helm's Deep and figured I could transfer the same technique to my elves. (I'll link the original tutorial by Alexandra from GirlPainting at the bottom, it's really good so check it out!) So anyway I followed this tutorial with a few changes to the colour scheme to paint my elves. Here's a step by step guide to what I did and how I got on:

NB These are just the basics, I will do a second post to show how I got on with more advanced techniques. If you are a total beginner, or are unhappy with your miniatures, be sure to check out the Top Tips section at the bottom of the page.

If you prefer watching to reading then watch this:

Step 1

Undercoat/prime the miniatures. I used white because it was all I had but Alexandra recommends grey.

Step 2

Paint all of the armour with a thinned down Tin Bitz or dark brown colour like Scorched Brown. Don't worry if it's a bit messy at this point because it's going to get a lot worse!

Step 3

Dry-brushing. (I'll only take one photo of this as it's hard to see the differences between stages on my camera.)

1. Dry-brush all of the armour with a 1:1:1 mix of Tin Bitz, Dwarf Bronze and Burnished Gold.
2. When that's dry dry-brush the armour with pure Burnished Gold.
3. If you're painting a character model then you might want to keep dry-brushing the armour up to almost pure Mithril Silver.

Step 4

Wash the armour with a Sepia tone, I used Gryphonne Sepia. Don't do anything else until the wash is completely dry.

Step 5

Paint the cloak with a slightly darker tone than you want it to be at the end. Because I want my to theme my army to be from Mirkwood (so I could include Legolas!!) I wanted to use a muted greens and browns colour scheme to allow the elves to blend into the woods. I chose to use (rather confusingly) the new Games Workshop paint Death World Forest. I will include a conversion chart at the bottom to allow you to use both old and new colours.

Step 6

Paint areas of linen and cloth with Khemri Brown and any leather with Scorched Brown. I also tend to paint the bows and spears with Scorched Brown but I've read some people prefer Calthan Brown.

Step 7

Paint skin face with Tallarn Flesh and the hair with Bleached Bone (if you want your elves white and blond, if you want them to have any other skin/hair colour then you'll have to Google it.) Finish off any details too such as the buckle on the quiver strap and the fletching on the arrows now too. Now the whole model is painted and if you are a total beginner you may want to stop here (and I probably should) but if you want to go a bit further and give the model a bit more depth then read my second post which I will link to here: (when I have written it).

Top Tips

• Water down your paint on a palette. Not only will this make your paint usage more economical but it also makes the paint flow better and stops fine details being filled in with deposits of thick paint.
• Less is more! I know it sounds cliché but always paint thin, watered down layers of paint. You can always add another layer but it's much harder to take a thick layer off. For example in Step 5  I painted several thin layers of green to get a smooth even coat without losing the detail in the folds of the cloak.
• Another classic cliché, be patient! Always let paint dry before you paint an adjacent area especially if you are watering down your paints. If you don't allow each layer to dry paints will run into each other and mix which is generally bad (unless you're wet on wet blending).
• Third cliché lucky, be an individual! Don't try and paint miniatures exactly how they are on the box because you'll always be disappointed. Games Workshop pay a fortune to have the miniatures on the box professionally painted and then Photoshop them to make them look perfect. I find it's best to chose your own colour scheme and paint them in a way that means your models are incomparable to the ones on the box, that way you can't be disappointed.
• After mixing paint with water, or other paint, be sure to clean your brush with some clean water and a tissue and re-point it. That way you can control how much paint you put on your brush and exactly where it will go. Follow this method when changing from one colour to another too to avoid mixing of tones.
• A good base brings the model to life. I will try to write a post on how I base my miniatures soon.
• Games Workshop Paints Conversion Chart
• Original tutorial on GirlPainting here.