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army-painter-layering-legolas (2)

Der Armeemaler

It's time again for a new Lord of the Rings hero. In this blog I will paint Legolas from Journeys in Middle-Earth for you. As I do this, I explain the first and perhaps most important technique for painting miniatures: layering , or building up the color in layers. This allows us to simulate the natural light on a miniature, creating a beautiful sense of depth.

I use every color of paint in the Army Painter Warpaints Starter Set in this tutorial. By mixing the colors in this set we can create all kinds of gradations of the colors on the model, but to make it easy for yourself you can also buy a few different pots for each main color, for example dark, medium and light green.

  • Just like last time with Aragorn, I start with a layer of black primer . Before I can start layering, the base has to be in place, so start from the inside out with the skin color again. For this I again use The Army Painter Barbarian Flesh with a tiny bit of The Army Painter Matt White to create a somewhat paler elf skin. I give his hair a base coat of The Army Painter Daemonic Yellow , again with a little Matt White to make the color less intense. Naturally, I apply both colors in a few thin layers.

  • To properly portray the bushy atmosphere of the forest elf Legolas, greenery is of course needed. But painting all his clothes in one shade of green is of course a bit boring. I use pure The Army Painter Greenskin for his tunic. For his pants I add some Matt White to the same Greenskin. I want the coat to be a lot darker and cooler in color, so I add not only a tiny bit of The Army Painter Matt Black but also a nice dose of The Army Painter Ultramarine Blue . If you have a darker shade of blue in your home, you may even be able to leave out the black.

  • You can also mix some beautiful colors for the brown parts of the model using The Army Painter Leather Brown as a base. I dye the leather of his belt, arm protectors and boots with pure Leather Brown. For the wood of his bow and arrows I add some Matt Black. I want to give the quiver a luxurious and warm look, so for this I combine Leather Brown with a little bit of The Army Painter Pure Red plus a little bit of Matt Black. Red pigment can be quite dominant…

  • The final details are the feathers on Legolas' arrows and the metal parts. For the feathers I mix a light shade of gray by combining Matt Black and Matt White. I make this a bit thinner than normal with water so that the paint can flow very well. Turn your brush with some gray paint to a very fine point and try to draw small lines in the direction of the feathers. The thinner the lines, the more beautiful, but don't be afraid if they turn out a bit thicker than you would like. I finished his belt buckle and arrowhead with The Army Painter Plate Mail Metal .

  • Once the paint is completely dry, I cover the entire model once with a coat of The Army Painter Quickshade Strong Tone , after which I am basically done. However, from this moment on I can also go one step further. Now is the time to start layering . As I mentioned above, layering is a technique that allows you to pretend that realistic light is falling on your miniature. We have just built up the shadows with the Quickshade, now come the places where extra light falls. For the sake of practice, we will not tackle the entire model with this technique, but only the aspects that logically attract the most attention: the face plus hair, the cloak and the tunic. However, don't be afraid to use this technique on the rest of your model, as it is very self-explanatory with most colors.

  • I start with the face, for which I mix a color of Barbarian Flesh and Matt White that is just a bit lighter than the color I started with on the face. My goal is to add highlights to the areas that catch the most light, or that I want to stand out the most. By properly diluting the paint with water, the sketch of this light trap that I make may look a bit strange up close, but at the distance at which you look at the mini while playing it will look very natural. I apply the light skin color to the line of the eyebrows, under the eye sockets where the cheekbones are visible, and over the nose to just below the eyebrows. Now that I have it, I also use the paint to give the lines of the fingers some extra definition. When this is dry, you can go back again with a color that is slightly lighter if desired, but always make the area you are painting a little smaller.

  • We do the same trick with the hair by mixing some Daemonic Yellow with Matt White and applying it to the top part of Legolas' hair. To do this, move your brush in the direction of the hair and try to draw nice thin lines. Painting truly realistic hair requires a lot of additional techniques and insights, but this way you can come a long way.

  • For the green colors of the tunic, trousers and coat I have to mix a few more colors. The color for the pants is again a mixture of Matt White and Greenskin, but a little lighter than before. Apply this color to the folds of the fabric that are visible on the model.

  • I do the same with the tunic, but instead of mixing the Greenskin with white I use a little Daemonic Yellow. This does not make the color paler, but warmer and lighter. I also paint the folds with this and I also grab the top of the sleeves and the elbows. The cloak will be the most difficult mixture, for this I use a combination of Greenskin, Ultramarine Blue and Daemonic Yellow until I have achieved a nice full color that is slightly lighter than the cloak. The folds of the coat are a lot larger than those on the tunic and pants, but by thinning the paint properly, this color will blend nicely into the whole. At the end I grab the points of the mantle and the entire edge so that the shape of the mantle is nicely defined.

At this point you can continue with all the colors with the layering technique, but for this tutorial that's it. A layer of varnish on top and your miniature can be used without worries for the most dangerous adventures (or, for example, fall off the table in a heated encounter against dozens of Orcs). I hope you made something beautiful out of it or got some good inspiration. In the next tutorial I will go into more depth and paint the 3rd and smallest miniature of the striking hero trio from Lord of the Rings. Hopefully see you then and have fun painting!

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