Archers (II)

After painting the Sisters of the Thorn I decided to tackle the only big block of Infantry that I have, that is, the Glade Guard!

It is interesting to mention that the very first model that I painted as a test was a Glade Guard. And after doing that I only painted cavalry models for quite a while so this was a very welcomed change.

I have two units of 11 including a full command group. Here I show the first block. I have to admit that these took quite a shameful amount of paint despite the mediocre results. I blame it to my inability to paint bright shiny things. Still, getting better elf after elf!

Updated painting recipe

Since I painted the first test model I have improved a little bit my painting recipe to make it faster. At the beginning it took me easily almost 4h for every model because (1) I am a slow painter and (2) not used to paint bright colours so I needed to redo many of them with multiple layers. I like to think I got a bit better at it so now it takes me on average 2h per model, slightly longer for champions, always below 3h even for cavalry - which is good for me!

The colours and steps are almost the same as the ones show in the test model, but slightly updated.

skin

greens

leather, wood and golds

I almost forgot about these two

used for metals

I usually paint it in the same order, base colors, clean it up, shadows, highlights, details and lastly glazes.

Base colors

1. skin goes first: thin layer of Beige red
2. paint base color of hair: dark brown, dark yellow, orange, grey
3. cover all areas of darker green with flat green (!! this is a change, it looks much better with flat green than with goblin green as I used before)
4. cover all areas of lighter green with fall green from Scalecolor (SC-48)
5. paint boots and wood with charred brown
6. paint leather with flat brown
7. if lots of leather / wood and so on in the same miniature, change a bit using chocolate brown as well 
8. paint all golden areas with Bloodstone from P3
9. paint all metals with either German Grey or Night Blue (depending on the shade I want, black/grey or blue)
10. if there are rocks use german grey as base
11. if there are animals on the base use enchanted blue as base

Clean all of this up - make sure all base colors are clean as some areas will remain "as is" at the end

Shadows

1. glaze Charred Brown on top of the skin focusing on face and chest, these are elves, not dwarves, so no need to have very strong deep shadows
2. glaze prussian blue on every light green area, focusing on deepest areas
3. glaze hexed lichen on every dark green area, focusing on deepest areas
4. if the miniature has a lot of foliage (like the Scouts) use a thinned down version of Coelia Greenshade to cover all foliage and make sure the areas in between leaves are dark green
5. add a thin line of pure charred brown for darkest shadows on the golden areas

Highlights

1. for the skin
1. paint most of it with beige red
2. paint the eyes with ivory and a dot of black
3. highlights go with pale flesh (the skin is now done!)
2. highlight the hair with a lighter version of the base colour (avoid drybrush if possible)
3. for the leather
1. highlight the leather with charred brown + beige red and then for final light a bit of ivory or bone white to the mix
2. in general, highlight all leather by mixing a bit of beige brown then bone white to the base colour
4. for the wood
1. highlight wood with charred brown + beige brown and bone white for final light.
2. wash all wood with a thinned down version of flat green to give it a green tint
5. for the goldens
1. mix Bloodstone with Parasite brown and cover most of it leaving the shadow and another layer of the previous colour
2. then use pure Parasite brown and do the same
3. then add ice yellow to the mix and do the same
4. lastly, use pure ivory for a few dots of light
6. for the dark greens
1. use flat green for most of it leaving the deepest areas with the lila tint
2. use lime green for highlights
3. use ice yellow for drawing patterns and some extreme lights (this last light is only for characters)
7. for the light greens
1. use fall green SC-48 and cover most of it
2. mix SC-48 with bone white for some highlights
8. for the metals
1. use neutral grey for first light
2. then cover everything except a thin layer with wolf grey
3. repeat with ivory (optional, depending on side of blade)
4. last lights with pure arctic white
5. if the metal is blue, do the same but with night blue and adding more and more ivory
9. for the rocks, if any
1. use neutral grey for highlights
2. use wolf grey for final highlights
3. wash the lower part of it with flat green to give a green tint
10. if animals or decoration (e.g. standard) done with enchanted blue
1. mix a bit of ivory for a couple of highlights
2. the eyes can go with ice yellow or ivory

Glazes

1. Glaze metals with flat green if needed

And now, finally, the painted models of today!