Painting
those hairy Germans
By Vince
Salvato
With the release of the Foundry ancient Germans range, I have rediscovered the joy of painting Barbarians. When compared to painting such uniform and organized armies like Romans, the Ancient Germans are a breath of fresh air to your paintbrush. No standard uniforms to paint, no armor (well for the grunts anyhow) and no fancy standards – a pig on a stick is something to fight for in the minds of these guys. Additionally, the figures are easy to paint!
So you may be asking now, "What do you mean by easy to paint?" Here goes, these figures are sculpted in a way that exaggerates their physique, in other words they all look like Arnold Schwarzenegger clones. This, to me, makes them easy to paint.
Bear in mind that this isn’t the quickest method out there, but it works for me. I can crank out about ten painted models a week (about 10 hours). I have about 30-40 miniatures going at once, about 10 each in different stages. Normally, I clean and spray a white undercoat first on all the miniatures I plan on painting. So step 1 is completed on all 30-40 of my models before I go to step 2.
Okay here is how I do it:
| Step 1:Clean and Prime model (White). I always, always prime with white, unless the model is a fully armored knight of something. White keeps your colors bright and clean. If you find the colors are too bright it is easier to dull them with a wash, than to continue applying coat after coat of a color. |
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VERY IMPORTANT At this point, file & prepare the hands that are holding javelins or spears, etc…
Basically, make sure things like spears, shields and javelins fit!
You don’t want to do this after the model is all painted. I’ve ruined many paint jobs by filing and drilling a nicely painted model.
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Step 2: Paint figure with a light coat
of white. There are always spots you miss with the spray, under the arms, between the legs and around the feet sometimes. Go back over with white and get these spots. Also reinforce and solidify the white areas with this coat of white paint. You can do better than the spray can. Let the figure dry over night. |
| Step 4: Paint the flesh. Use a very
light coat of flesh paint. I find the darker shades of
flesh do a better job. Thin the paint to an almost milk
like consistency. Before it dries I usually take a
lighter shade of the flesh tone and hit the parts I want
to highlight it. After it dries you may want to give the
figure a flesh wash to unify the paint job. Let it dry. |
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Step 5: Now go back over with white to
clean up all the spots you got flesh paint on by being so
darn sloppy. Keeping the beard and hair as white as
possible. Color the base. Let the model dry. |
Step 6: Paint the pants, belt, weapons hanging on the belt, etc… Do the eyeballs at this point too. If you aren’t into eyeballs, just shade the eye socket area with a dark brown. Again, keep the paint thin and you’ll see great results. |
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| Step 7: If your figure is carrying a
spear, glue it on at this stage. I attach plastic spears
to the model’s hand, then paint the spear. This
makes a stronger bond. Remember you fitted the spear in
step 1, so you should only have to file away some paint
off the hand. Paint the hair and shoes. You won’t be touching them much from now on. Oh yes, keep the paint thin! |
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| Step 8: Now paint the weapon. Metallic
paints don’t need to be kept thin, so slop it on. Some people like to undercoat the sword black before painting it silver. I don’t find this necessary. After the paint dries, flock the base, attach the shield and highlight the metal bits. I use a chain-mail color for the base metal color, then highlight with a brighter silver color. |
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The shield should be given the same
treatment (white paint) we gave the figure. I paint the
back of the shield with a wooden plank look. The way most
of these figures hold their shields you see the
shield’s back a lot, so make them look sharp. Let dry over night, then spray protective coatings. |
Hope that helps! Good luck!
