TSR, Grenadier and GW LotR Minis

So, as promised in a previous post, here is the lot of TSR, Grenadier and Games Workshop Lord of the Rings minis that I was working on for an order.  This isn't so much a tutorial about how to paint each of these figures, as that would take forever, in so much as a series of photos with contemplations.  If you really want to know what colors I used, you could always ask and I'll tell you. 

I started by showing you how I painted the Red Dragon in the previous post.  Here's another shot of him:

 But, I also had a few Lord of the Rings characters to do.  At first I didn't know they were part of the same order; Bob must have snuck them in there on me:

The Fellowship of the Ring box set, plus Bilbo.

Merry, Frodo, Bilbo

Pippin, Sam, Gimli

 During this painting process, I was seriously wishing I had picked up that book from a few years back where they published the screen shots from LotR.  It was a beautiful book, the info and pictures were great, but at the time I couldn't justify the price.  Well, now I can justify the price. 

Aragorn, Legolas

 Most of the colors chosen are from the GW box art, some of it is from online pictures of movie stills, and some of it is my own because I didn't want the figures to appear too dingy and dirty. 

Boromir, Gandalf

 Then, there were the TSR miniatures:

Bazz Draconians

 Apparently there are little to no descriptions of what Bazz draconians look like and I honestly don't have the time to re-read the book series to see how they are described, so I went with these colors.  A number of other painters used similar colors (so we must be like-minded, scary thought really) and there were a few pieces of cover art that used greenish olive colors too.

Tika and Goldmoon

 When researching images for Tika and Goldmoon I came across some weird-ass images of fan art and people in costumes.  Please do me a favor and google Goldmoon, you'll see a hilarious image come up of someone wearing a shiny, gold jumpsuit and glasses, with a huge, gold, moon in the background.  You'll see what I mean when you get there.  Make sure you acquire some brain-bleach before viewing. 

 I'm not happy with the sculpting of their faces on Tika and Goldmoon, they are rather flat and manish.  Otherwise, these are some nice, classic figures and I can't complain too much.

I don't get too uppity about the sculpting of figures.  I look at it this way, these are the predecessors, the parents, of the modern figures.  Sure, the modern figures are more detailed and in most ways ten times better.  But, you've got to look at the technology being used today to create these new figures, they didn't have that in 1983.  You have to appreciate these older figures for their charm and nostalgia, for what they are, and admire them. 

Tode and Verminnard

 Verminnard is hilarious. I never recall thinking, back when I was a kid, that his outfit was S&M, but now I really see it.  I like the figure because it reminds me of my childhood reading the TSR series and my husband and I can bond on what we thought the characters looked like; we frequently disagree.

Drizzt

 This has got to be my favorite, if only because I had the hots for Drizzt when I was like 14.  This old skool Crystal Shard Drizzt really takes me back.  Again, don't google Drizzt unless you want to see some strange fan art of him naked and making out with Artemis.  There isn't enough bleach in the universe to undo what I've recently seen.  Oh what I do for my painting.  And to think, I was too lazy to go up into the attic to get the Crystal Shard book so I could look at the lousy cover art.  I really should have done that.  Really.

druid, Sturm Brightblade and radom ninja

 As you'll see here with the druid and throughout, I chose to add a little detail to the clothing here and there.  I feel that adding simple designs to rougher figures can really enhance them.

fighter, cleric, and druidess

 For the druidess I wanted her clothing to appear diaphanous and sheer.  There is just the hint of skin at her breast and thigh.  Later, Bob went back over her clothing with a varnish to make it shimmer a little but yet not appear slick like silk or satin.

cleric and two mages

 Again, you'll see with the cleric and mage at the center that I added designs to liven up their cloaks.  Since the cleric had a Ankh in her hand I decided to go with the deity Isis.  The mage with her staff of the moon and sphere just made me think celestial so I gave her a simple cloak of stars.

three mages

 With these three mages I patterned up their cloaks or shirts accordingly.  The mage on the left I went with glowing alchemical symbols (they are random) and made his sphere and staff one resembling fire.  As for the elder mage on the right, his robe was simple enough (flat enough) to give it a robe of eyes.  In the center, that mage just needed a patterned shirt.

I usually choose to give clothing patterns only because it suits the figure.  I don't try to force a pattern on to something.  Sometimes there are cloaks/robes that are too furled/rumpled to do much with and it would take me forever to get a pattern onto it.  And then the pattern would be obscured.  When a cloak is flat enough, that's when I like to give it a pattern or huge design.

Well, that's it for this order.  Like I said, if you really want to know what colors I used for a particular figure, just message or post to this and I'll be happy to tell you.  For now I've got to go, I've got some gardening to do and a TON of Cthulhu figures to do for an order.  Right now I'm working on some Mi-go and Ghouls.  I bet you can't wait to see them.

Later,
Allison Chicka