"Small But Mighty" - Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon

We sons of Grungni may have drunk deep

from the bitter waters of misfortune, 

but we yet survive. 

Whilst a single Dwarf draws breath, 

we will fight the evils that assail us, 

and we will never, ever give up.

- Hengist Stonebelly

Welcome longbeards and beardlings to The Art of Caesura!

With our gaze turned back to the Mortal Realms, and last week's look at the million goblins that I'm chipping away at, it seemed like a good opportunity to paint a dwarf to balance out all the goblins!

In an effort to regain some of my sanity after all those gobbos, it was nice to paint ONE highly detailed model. 

I don't actually know where I got this guy from - probably an old ebay purchase - and all I could find out about the model itself is that it was called "Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon". What I do know though, is that it is probably one of my favourite all-time dwarf models!! I know, fightin' words!

Pre-shades.

I just think this model oozes Dwarf character, and basically personifies the race in one miniature! Stoic, grumpy, heavily bearded, and carrying ornate armour and weaponry. To me, his face looks very much like Brian Nelson's work (though I cannot confirm this - please let me know below if you know who the scuptor was). Nelson is one of my favourite all-time sculptors, largely for his work on the old Orcs (the old Orc Shaman and Grimgor Ironhide are still some of my personal favourite miniatures). 

Post-Nuln Oil shade.

Anyway, it was fun to shift gears with this model. Let's get to the recipe. I wanted to have another go at the ruddy skin that I originally attempted with the Slaughterpriest. After listing the colours, I'll go into my technique.

Base coats
Skin: Bugman's Glow
Hair: Steel Legion Drab
Steel: Leadbelcher
Copper: Screaming Bell
Beard ties and belt trim: The Fang

Post-Agrax Earthshade shade.

Shades
Skin: Reikland Fleshshade
Hair: Agrax Earthshade
Steel: Nuln Oil
Copper: Agrax Earthshade
Beard ties and belt trim: Nuln Oil

Highlights
Skin: 1:1 mix Bugman's Glow and Scale 75's Pink Flesh with more and more Pale Flesh added. 
Hair: Steel Legion Drab with more and more Ushabti Bone added. Then White Scar added
Steel: Stormhost Silver
Copper: Hashut Copper
Beard ties and belt trim: The Fang with White Scar Added. 

But lets get a bit more granular. I want to focus on the face, as it is such a focal point for the model. Once I had the skin highlighted up by adding Pale Flesh into my mix of Bugman's and Pink Flesh, I recess-washed his eyes with Druchii Violet. I know I left them very dark, but that was intentional, I think one of cool elements of this model is his shadowy glower, so I tried to emphasize that. 

I wanted to give him a good ruddy complexion, so glazed Scale 75's Indian Shadow over his cheeks and nose. I ended up using 2 or 3 coats of this to build up a good glow. I then knocked it back a little with a bit of my highlight mix on his upper nose, above his nasolabial folds (the creases of skin from nose to mouth), and his ala (those bits of skin making up your nostrils). 

Close-up it may look like he's wearing make-up, but from a bit of a distance I think the effect reads. 

His hair took a while. After building up to pure Ushabti Bone (adding more and more into the Steel Legion Drab) I started adding White Scar to the pure Ushabti Bone until I reached pure White Scar.

The last few details were his ring, which I painted Liberator Gold (washed with Agrax) to make it stand out as special from the other metal; and the gems on the ax head and helmet which I painted as blue gemstones with a gloss varnish. 

I hope you liked this old classic, and if you have any insights about the origins of this model, please let me know!

See you next week on The Art of Caesura!

Reading: Paradise Lost (again) - John Milton

Watching: Ex Machina (again)

Next Week:

Ooogie boogie booooo!!