During my Olim Adventurers project, I naturally had to paint a miniature for myself. Human Wizard. I love the aesthetic of Privateer Press' steampunk elves, such a great mix of fantasy and sci-fi. So, I present to you Elgan!

I painted with washes as a shortcut to complete him in a reasonable amount of time, but still added some of my special touches. Read on, and I'll detail some specifics of how I approached his OSL, (Object Source Lighting) metallics and my gels.
Base Coats

Started out with a white base coat. I don't often do this because I love the dark contrasts of a black primer, but a white primer lets you use shortcuts for tabletop quality miniatures the best.


Painting the Model

To start, I quickly painted his face, then:
  • Object Source Lighting
    • I watered down some bright green and painted it over the areas I wanted to be glowing.
    • By painting the bright paint over white, it gives me the brightest colour I could ask for.



  • Painting with Washes
    • Next, I've used a dark brown wash over the bulk of the miniature and a chestnut wash over some of the wrappings and the cloth down his front.
    • Not pictured: I actually re-washed the the chestnut areas with a red wash because I wanted them to stand out more.



  • Painting Metallics
    • I've started with a dark brown paint, followed by dark tin / brown metallic.
  • Object Source Lighting
    • As I've painted the metal, I ended up painting over some of the glowing outsides, that's OK.
    • In the case of his open hand, I simply didn't paint the metal over the green areas. Again, this keeps the green strongest there.
  • Painting with Washes
    • So, that first step up above really did the bulk of the work. If you wanted to, you could stop there.
    • OPTIONAL: I've highlighted cloth in the photo below. Beige on the bulk of him, then a light-red on the wrappings.
  • Basing
    • I've simply super-glued on some sandbox desert-like sand.



  • Painting Metallics
    • As a final step, I've highlights edges with a brighter bronze like metallic.
  • Object Source Lighting
    • I watered the green paint down again and washed it into the crevices and details around the green spots creating my glow.
  • Painting with Washes
    • OPTIONAL: Just a little more highlighting on the beige robes to whiten some of the highest edges.



(Don't criticize the close ups too closely, I just painted tabletop quality so I could get back to my Hordebloods sooner..)

  • Sculpting Gel
    • I've used some of my sculpting effects gel and created a twisting funnel from his spellbook to his closed fist as well as some sparks that are shooting out of his gauntlet.
    • Since I don't paint it thickly, you can see light shine through some.
  • Object Source Lighting
    • Washed the gel with the thinned green paint.
    • Highlighted the edges with white, like pure energy spikes shooting off.
    • I've also added some white to crevices where the energy would be brightest.




  • Painting Metallics
    • I've added a little gold to some of the metals as a stronger shine.
  • Sculpting Gel
    • Just pointing out that on the open hand, I've used gel to create energy sparks here too.
  • Object Source Lighting
    • You can see in better detail how I've washed bright green in the detail crevices.
    • I've highlighted with white, just on the light sources and his eyes.
What I really like about this look is it's as if he's channeling magic from his book and out his raised hand.


Completed!