How I Painted Kjaran....

Arrrrrr me' hearties…..... Arrr!
'Tis Kjaran the Pirate, cut-throat of the 7 Galaxies, ready to pillage your Cargo Hold of all your booty… Arrr!
Ahem.........

So I was sent this mini from the kind peeps at Hasslefree Miniatures to paint. It's been a while since I'd had a Kev White sculpt in my hands and it was a nice feeling. Like being reunited with an old friend, you know how it is.

I think the stuff Kev has sculpted while doing the Hasslefree range is his best work yet.

I wanted to do him a little differently from the minis that I'd painted over the last few months and a nice easy way to do this is to do a little something with the base. I went for a rock formation with a water feature at the bottom on this one as something a little different. Plus it’s a very easy look to pull off.



Stage One

1: I used some needle files to take off the mould lines on the miniature first; however it didn’t really take very long, as there weren’t many to dispose of at all. The arms were simply popped into place with a little super glue.

2: I used a little Milliput to make the rock on the base, which was just sculpted into the desired shape with some sculpting tools. The mini was pushed into place while the putty was still soft and it was left to harden over night.

3: When the Milliput had hardened the next morning, I used a sharp knife to chip off small pieces around the edges to give it a little bit more of a realistic look.




Stage Two

For the undercoat, I used some Citadel Skull White spray. A lot of painters like to undercoat their figures by hand, but I’ve never really had a problem using spray. It’s a nice, fast and easy way to undercoat. After the mini was sprayed white, I left it to dry for about 30 minutes before starting the painting. The instructions on the can say to leave it longer than this, but I couldn’t wait to paint it!.......




Stage Three

1: I used some Vallejo Dwarf Skin on the face and hands for the base coat. This was diluted very slightly, and was given two coats for a nice strong colour to work over.

2: For the jacket, I used some Vallejo Field Blue paint from their ‘Model Colour’ range. I use a lot of Historic colours in all the painting I do, Sci-Fi miniatures are no exception. Again this was also watered down a little bit and given two coats.

3: The trousers were block painted with some Citadel Regal Blue, which had also been diluted and given a couple of goings over.

4: Shoulder pads, glove, boots and belt were all painted with some black paint at this stage.

5: The codpiece and the detailing on the jacket arms were done with some Vallejo Iraqui Sand paint.

6: The musket and jacket buckle were block painted with some Vallejo Glorious Gold (which is one of the nicest gold paints you can buy in my opinion).

7: The shirt was just given a diluted coat of Citadel Snakebite Leather and the sword was block painted with some Citadel Boltgun Metal.

8: For the hair, I applied two thin coats of Citadel Scorched Brown paint. This was also used to paint the earring, which would eventually be painted gold.




Stage Four

Stage four was a piece of cake. All washes on this one.

1: On the skin, I watered down some Scorched Brown quite a bit and this was applied over the face and hands trying not to flood the figure with the paint.

2: All the metal areas (gold and silver) were given a wash of Brown and Black inks which had been mixed together with a very small amount of PVA glue and a small drop of water. The glue helps the paint cover the metal a little better in my experience and helps stop the ink drying in little patches.

3: Some diluted Snakebite Leather was used on the groin guard and arm detail for the shading.




Stage Five

1: The skin and hair were left at this stage, as I wanted to black out the eyes before I started on them. This is just to stop any black paint going over your freshly highlighted skin, which can be a nightmare to tidy up later.

2: The shirt, areas on the top of the jackets arms and codpiece (groin guard, what ever you want to call it) were given their first highlights of some Iraqui Sand leaving all the recesses dark brown.

3: On the Jacket, I mixed a very small drop of Vallejo Ghost Grey with my Field Blue and this was used to highlight the raised areas on all the material.

4: Some Citadel Ultramarine Blue was mixed with Regal Blue and this was used to highlight the trousers. I applied the paint near the bottom (going about half way up the leg), as eventually I wanted the trousers to look like they were getting lighter towards the bottom of the legs.

5: The belt buckle and earring were painted with some Glorious Gold and the black areas (glove, boots, shoulder padding on the jacket etc) were given a really subtle highlight of Citadel Shadow Grey mixed with black. The mix was kept very dark (almost black) at this stage as I wanted to work up the highlights on the black gradually.




Stage Six

1: Next, I used a very fine brush (0000) to block out the eyes with some black paint. It’s worth taking your time with this, and can take a little bit of practice to get it right (I still mess eyes up sometimes, not as young as I used to be and my eye sight is fading fast !).

2: I used some Dwarf Skin on the raised areas on the face (nose, cheekbones, forehead etc) and hands.

3: For the hair I mixed a very small amount of Citadel Blazing Orange with Scorched Brown, and this was dry brushed on very gently.

4: The belt was block painted with a little Scorched Brown.

5: I painted the buttons on the jacket with some black paint using a fine brush, before giving the blue on the jacket another highlight of Field Blue and Ghost Grey mixed together. This time I just added more Ghost Grey to lighten the whole thing a little.

6: The gold areas on the pistol, belt buckle etc were all given a highlight of Vallejo Polished Gold (again a really nice gold paint, a little lighter then the Glorious Gold I used earlier).

7: Strap fastenings on the boots were all painted with some Citadel Chainmail paint, and this was also used to highlight the rather impressive sword.

8: Some thinned down Ultramarine Blue was used to highlight the bottom of the trousers again and all the black areas were given another highlight, this time with some thinned down Shadow Grey paint (no black mixed in this time).

9: The shirt, arm detail and groin guard were all blended up with a mix of Iraqui Sand and some Citadel Bleached Bone, and were now starting to come to life a little more.




Stage Seven

1: A small drop of Ghost Grey was mixed into some Shadow Grey paint, and this was used to give the black areas on the boots, glove and shoulder pads their final highlights.

2: I used some Citadel Fiery Orange to dry brush the hair this time, which looks a little harsh, but the plan was to glaze over this with a little brown ink to tone it down a little later.

3: The skin was worked up with a mix of Dwarf Skin and Elf Skintone (about equal amounts of both). More Bleached Bone was added to Iraqui Sand and this was used to blend up the highlights on the shirt, codpiece and arm detail a little more.

4: Again, some more Ghost Grey was added to Field Blue and this was used to work up the raised areas on the jacket. The buttons were then painted with some Polished Gold, leaving a small black line around each one.

5: A small amount of Ghost Grey was added to Ultramarine Blue and this was used to highlight the trousers, again working my way towards the bottom. At this stage I also used a fine brush to paint along the edges of the pleats just to make them stand out a little more.

6: Iraqui Sand paint was mixed with some Scorched Brown and this was used to brighten up the belt a little.

7: I diluted a little black paint and this was applied to the light brown areas on the shoulders in all the recesses.




Stage Eight

1: Some Ghost Grey was used to give the jacket another highlight (it was almost finished at this paint, I’d probably give it one last going over and that would be enough). Elf Skintone was used on the raised areas on the face and hands, which were actually starting to look like skin at last.

2: Some brown ink was watered down very slightly and was washed over the hair to tone down the highlights and make it look a little more natural. When this was dry, I thought it might be nice to add some Blonde streaks in his hair, and these were applied with some Iraqui Sand paint and a fine brush.

3: The shirt, codpiece and arm areas were all given their final highlight of some Bleached Bone, which was diluted a little.

4: The sword and boot fastenings were highlighted with some Citadel Mithril Silver and this was also mixed with Polished Gold, and used to highlight all the gold areas on the musket, belt buckle, buttons on the jacket etc.

5: On the trousers, more Ghost Grey was added to Ultramarine Blue and this was again applied along the edges of all the pleats.

6: Some Vallejo Terracotta paint was added to the recesses of the trousers, and more Iraqui Sand was added to Scorched Brown and this was used to highlight the belt again.




Stage Nine

1: He was almost done (about another 10 minutes painting time and I could make a start on the base).

2: The streaks in the hair were highlighted with a little Bleached Bone paint with a fine brush. Some Blazing Orange was then applied to the tips of the brown hair areas.

3: Next, the eyes were painted in with some white paint, leaving a nice thin black line around the white area to help them stand out (it looks a little like the eye lashes around the eye). When the white was dry I used some Scorched Brown paint and a fine brush (my 0000 again) and gave him some pupils. I actually made him look like he was looking to his left side, which was a little tricky but worth it in the long run as I feel it adds a little life to a mini.

4: The recesses in the trousers were all highlighted with a little Vallejo Bloody Red, which I find is a little watery, so I just used it right from the pot without diluting it.

5: More Iraqui Sand was added to Scorched Brown and this was used to give the belt its final going over.

6: I watered down some Terracotta paint and this was very carefully glazed over the bottom lip.

7: More highlights were applied to the skin, this time a mixture of Elf Skintone and white finished it off beautifully.

Finally, every good pirate needs a beard or some stubble at least.
A lot of peeps have problems with painting stubble, yet it’s quite simple to do if you get the paint thickness right.
I just mixed some black paint with Shadow Grey, a small drop of PVA glue and plenty of water. This was very carefully applied to the jaw area. Try not to flood the face with this, make sure that you only have a small amount of paint on the brush. I sometimes dab the brush on some tissue paper before doing stubble; this helps stop flooding your freshly painted skin.
He was looking pretty cool I thought.




Stage Ten

Time for the base and some little finishing touches.

1: For the blood on the sword, I mixed a little Gloss Acrylic Varnish with red and brown ink and this was just painted on and left to dry.

2: I painted all of the rock with a mix of black and white paint making quite a dark grey for the base coat.

3: To highlight the stone, I mixed more white with this and layered up the highlights until I had quite a light grey colour (almost white in this case). There’s about 6-7 layers on this rock, but I’ve been known to use more in the past.

4: The part that I wanted to be watery, I painted with a little dark green paint and added a little yellow here and there for a little contrast.

5: When this was dry, I started the water effect.

For this I used some Acrylic Gloss Varnish, which was applied in layers with an old paintbrush. This can take a while to do as you have to wait for the previous layer to dry before you add the next (I think it took about 3 hours to do in total). There are about 4-5 layers of varnish on this base.

6: Finally some green ink was watered down and was added around the base of the rock to contrast with the green at the bottom of the water.

On the back of the of the miniatures jacket, I decided to do a little freehand work for that extra pirate feel. I decided to go for a skull, which was painted using some Citadel Snakebite Leather and highlighted by adding Bleached Bone to this and layering it up gradually.

The edges of the base were painted in with some black paint to tidy the whole thing up and make it look a little bit more professional.





Cool, Kjaran the Pirate was finished.

I had a really nice time painting this little fellow, and hope I did him justice. It was also nice to do something a little different with the base, as just flocking and painting it brown can get a little boring after a while. Anyone that’s painted an army will probably back me up on this one, so it’s good to do something different with characters etc. All in all I was very happy with how it came out and hope you like him… Until next time.

Andy…