Tutorial: How to paint Beorn in man form

In this detailed tutorial I explain how I painted Beorn in man form for my Hobbit collection. More after the jump. 

This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of how to paint. For the beginners, I will explain the techniques as I go along. Each picture below shows four chronological steps. Underneath each picture are the corresponding instructions. Each step shows the paint I used during that step.

Paints you will need for this tutorial:

Black Undercoat

Cadian Fleshtone (layer)

Bugman’s Glow (base)

Kislev Flesh (layer)

Rhinox Hide (base)

Gorthor Brown (layer)

Baneblade Brown (layer)

Carroburg Crimson (shade)

Stormvermin Fur (layer)

Agrax Earthshade (shade)

Administratum Grey (layer)

Dawnstone (layer)

Leadbelcher (base)

Abaddon Black (base)

Runefang Steel (layer)

White Scar (layer)

Stirland Mud (texture)

XV88 (base)

In case you need to expand your paint collection, head over to Wayland Games or Slave to Painting, which both stock a huge selection of paints at competitive prices. 

1. Undercoat the model black. I use Vallejo Surface Primer. Because the model is so small I paint it on by hand. 

2. Basecoat the the flesh with Cadian Fleshtone. 

3. Create a glaze of Bugman’s glow by mixing a healthy amount of Lahmian Medium with it on to a palette. Then apply it all over the flesh of the model. 

4. Highlight the muscles with Kislev Flesh. 

5. Paint the trousers with Rhinox Hide. Then water down Rhinox Hide so it flows from a fine detail brush really smoothly. Apply thin lines to represent forearm and chest hair. Use this thin, translucent paint to also add stubble around the mouth. 

6. Highlight the trousers with Gorthor Brown. Use a fine detail brush to paint cross hatch lines to represent textured fabric. 

7. Highlight the trousers further with thinner lines.

8. Wash all over the trousers with Carroburg Crimson. This will give the trousers a nice subtle red shade. 

9. Basecoat the hair with Stormvermin Fur. Highlight the the boots with thin lines of Stormvermin Fur. 

10. Highlight the boots and hair with thinner lines of Dawnstone. 

11. Wash the hair all over with Agrax Earthshade.

12. Using a fine detail brush paint thin lines of Administratum Grey to highlight the hair. 

13. Paint the shaft of the axe with Baneblade Brown. Add some very thin highlights of Baneblade to the boots. 

14. Add a lot of water to Rhinox hide on a mixing palette and using your smallest brush carefully paint lines on the shaft of the axe to represent wood grain. 

15. Paint the Axe head and the bracelet with Leadbelcher.

16. Create a glaze of Abaddon Black by mixing in 50:50 Lahmian Medium. Shade the metal areas by carefully building up thin layers of black using this translucent mix. Ensure each layer is dry before adding the next. 

17. Highlight the edges of the Axe with Runefang Steel. Thinner the better for the edge highlights. 

18. Dot the eyes with White Scar. 

Finally base the model in a way which fits in with your collection. I used Stirland Mud texture paint highlighted with Karak Stone and the base edge was painted with XV-88. Static grass and scrub were glued on in small clumps.

Tale of Painters has a whole host of Hobbit tutorials for you to check out.

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