At last I’ve added the metal details to my little hobbit. If I haven’t missed anything, he just needs a jewel painted on the scabbard of his sword and that marvelous pompadour. I’m also planning to put some stripes on his pants, but right now that is still optional.
I used TMM, mostly because I feel more comfortable with that approach. The metal areas were pretty small, and I think I could have pulled off NMM, but I do plan to put this mini into competition and figured I needn’t handicap myself. That said, I want to get back to some non-metallic painting, which I’ve ridden to a few awards this year.
I didn’t want the shiny metallic paint to overwhelm the rest of the mini, though, so it is tinted with inks & acrylics to minimize the shine from most angles.
I tinted the gold/brass detailing on the sword purple to suggest that perhaps the sword has some magic about it. I wonder where I came by that idea?
I’m rereading The Hobbit for the first time in a few years. Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves have just liberated the elven swords from the troll hoard. Though he hasn’t named it yet, Bilbo is carrying Sting.
One of the great things about Tolkien’s storytelling is his creation of memorable unique objects.
I also gave him some nice silver buttons for variety.
I’m in the home stretch now, and should be finished painting in the next few days. Stay tuned to watch the end of the process and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.
Happy hobbying!
