
PAINTING THE LORD OF THE RINGS
We couldn't resist asking the 'Eavy Metal team how they approached the task of painting the Dark Lord and his rivals, Elendil and Isildur.
SAURON
ASSEMBLING THE MODEL
First of all, the model was cleaned, assembled and any gaps were filled with Green Stuff. Then it was sprayed with an undercoat of Chaos Black spray. Any areas missed by the spray were covered with watered-down Chaos Black paint.
PAINTING THE MODEL
Sauron's armour is the most prominent part of the model,
so that was painted first. An equal parts mix of Tin
Bitz and Beaten
Copper was made up to give the entire armour its basecoat.
The first highlight was done by mixing equal amounts of Boltgun Metal to the first mixture and painting it onto the raised areas of the armour. The second highlight was done in much the same way, but adding a further 25% Mithril Silver to the mixture.
The armour plates were then given more definition by shading the recesses using a mixture of Black Ink and Brown Ink.
Another highlight of pure Mithril Silver was then applied to the edges of the armour plates to heighten the contrast in the armour.

Next, a mixture of equal parts Chestnut
Ink and Magenta
Ink was watered down to about half strength and used as a glaze over
the shoulders and groin plate. Once this had dried, a second glaze of very
watered-down Flesh
Wash was applied to the armour as a whole.
The edges of the armour plates were then given a final highlight with Mithril Silver to sharpen them up and show off the glazes. Finally, a glaze of very diluted Scorched Brown was applied to the entire model.
The cloak was highlighted by mixing a little Vomit Brown with Chaos Black, and then adding more for each successive highlight, until the mixture was 50/50. A final highlight of one quarter Chaos Black, one quarter Vomit Brown and half Codex Grey was painted onto the edges of the cloak, which was then glazed with watered-down Black Ink.

The chainmail on the model was drybrushed with a mixture of Boltgun Metal
and Chaos Black, followed by a highlight using the same mixture with some added
Skull
White. A glaze of Black Ink was then painted over the chainmail.
The mace was basecoated with Tin Bitz. This was then mixed with increasing amounts of Boltgun Metal to provide the first series of highlights. The Boltgun Metal was then gradually lightened by adding Mithril Silver for the final highlight stages, finishing off with a glaze made up of equal parts Flesh Wash and Black Ink.
FINISHING TOUCHES
Over a Chaos Black basecoat, the Ring was first painted with a mix made up
of Scab
Red, Codex Grey and Chaos Black. Blazing
Orange was then added and used to paint runes onto the ring, which were
then highlighted with Skull White. A Yellow
Ink glaze was then applied to it, followed by one final highlight of Skull
White for the runes.
ELENDIL AND ISILDUR
These two were first cleaned up and undercoated with Chaos Black in the same way as Sauron.
The main parts of these models were painted using the same colours as follows.
Elendil's and Isildur's robes were first painted with an equal parts mix of Scab Red and Chaos Black as a basecoat.
This was then highlighted by adding more Scab Red, then gradually adding Red Gore to the mix until it was 50/50 of each red. The decorative trim on the robes was painted with Leprous Brown, which was then highlighted using an equal parts mix of Leprous Brown and Skull White.
The chainmail on both models was drybrushed first with Boltgun Metal, followed
by another drybrush of Chainmail as
a highlight.
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The gold edging on the armour and the decorative pieces on the chests were
first painted in Scorched Brown. This was then painted over with Shining
Gold, making sure to leave a thin line of the brown showing to help define
the edges and provide shading. Further small highlights were then made using
Burnished
Gold.
The models' faces were first painted with an equal parts mix of Dwarf Flesh and Bestial Brown. These were then highlighted with Dwarf Flesh, then with a mix of Dwarf Flesh and Elf Flesh, followed by a final highlight of Elf Flesh on the cheeks and the eyebrows.
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The outside of the cloak was first painted Chaos Black, then slowly blended with Codex Grey to a final highlight of three parts Codex Grey to two parts Chaos Black.
The lining of the cloak was painted with a mix made up of Bleached
Bone, Codex Grey and a small amount of Chaos Black. More Bleached Bone
was added to the mix for each highlight up to an almost pure Bleached Bone
highlight.
For Isildur's hair Bestial Brown, with a touch of Chaos Black, was used as a basecoat, which was then highlighted with Bestial Brown. A further highlight of three-quarters Bestial Brown and one quarter Vomit Brown was applied, followed by a light wash of equal parts Black Ink and Brown Ink.
Elendil's hair was painted with a mix of three quarters Scorched Brown and one quarter Chaos Black, and highlighted with Scorched Brown. An equal amount of Bleached Bone was then added for the last highlight, before the hair was glazed with the same Black Ink and Brown Ink mix.
BASING
Sand was glued onto the bases with PVA and then, once dry, given a Brown Ink
wash. This was drybrushed with a mix of Snakebite
Leather and Fortress
Grey, and was finally flocked with Static Grass.
Related Articles:
Painting Mordor Orcs |
Painting Ringwraiths
Modelling and Painting Mordor Trolls | Making Orcs in
Scavenged Armour
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