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Christmas is coming, and to celebrate it, Games Workshop sent me this fun miniature to paint before its release. Here I will show you the process I followed to paint it and the final result.

Lets start!

Airbrush, brushes and materials used

I get a lot of questions about the tools, brushes, airbrushes, etc. that I use. So before I start the tutorial, I’ll show you my must-haves. For all my airbrushing processes, I use the Iwata Hi-Line HP-BH, as it offers me maximum efficiency and precision.

About the brushes, I use Artis Opus brushes. In this tutorial, I have used the following:

Artis Opus Series S – No. 2- Base colors and washes.

Artis Opus Series S – No. 0 – Base colors in small parts

Artis Opus Series S – Nº 00 – Profiling and final lights

Finally, I have used the Resgrassgames wet palette to be able to paint without problems during long painting sessions, and to be able to make mixtures without any problem. I have also used the Redgrassgames holder to be able to hold the miniature correctly in the painting process.

Conversion

As you know, I usually like to customize my miniatures a bit before I start painting them. In this case, I opted for something simple and created a gift ribbon for the dynamite using green stuff.

Likewise, I was encouraged to create a snowman in a quick Orky style, using a gun for one of the arms, a crosshair for one of the eyes, bullets for the mouth, and so on.

I did not glue this snowman to the base, so that I could place or remove it if I did not like the final result.

Primer

I started with a black primer all over the miniature, using Surface Primer Black.

Red fabrics

To paint the red fabrics of this Santa, I opted for a combined airbrush and brush technique.

First, paint the clothes with a mixture of Game Air Nocturnal Red 76111 and Game Air Warlord Purple 76014.

2.- Leaving the shadows with the previous color, now apply Game Air Scarlet Red 76012.

3.- In the maximum light points, Game Air Bloody Red 76010 is used.

4.- Now using the brush, we outline the fabrics with Game Color Bloody Red 72010.

5.- On edges and points of maximum light, Game Color Hot Orange 72009 is used.

6.- Finally, apply a light spot with a mixture of Game Color Orange Fire 72008 and Model Color Ice Yellow 70858.

Final result:

Below you can see the colors used in the RedGrassGames wet palette:

Base:

Using the airbrush, I start painting the base with the references you see in the photo.

Green skin

To paint the skin of this funny character, only the brush has been used:

1.- We start with the black primer.

2.- Paint all skin with Game Color Hexed Lichen 72015

3.- Paint all the skin, leaving the nooks and crannies and shadows with some purple, using Game Color Angel Green 72123.

4.- Reducing the area to be painted, a mixture of Game Color Angel Green 72123 and Game Color Scorpy Green 72032 is used.

5.- Game Color Scorpy Green 72032 is used, further reducing the area to be painted on the skin.

6.- Finally, for the maximum lights, dots are applied with a mixture of Game Color Scorpy Green 72032 and Game Color Bile Green 72122.

In the final steps of this tutorial, we will apply a few finishing touches to the skin.

Final result:

Base colors

To paint the white color of the clothes, the stippling technique has been used. Starting with Model Color Neutral Gray 70992, then Game Color Wall Gray 72049 and finally Game Color White 72001. Game Color Bone White has been used for the fabrics.

The base colors of the rest of the miniature details are painted. For the metallic ones I used Leadbelcher, and for the gold ones Retributor armour.

Washes

To achieve definition in all these details quickly, washes are used. Black wash has been used for the metallic parts, sepia for the gold parts, and brown for the fabrics and teeth.

Final lights

Edge highlights and final lights are applied to all these details of the miniature, using lighter tones than those used for the base colors.

Dynamite

To paint the dynamite effect, a dry brush has been made with the Small Artis Opus Series D, using gray tones.

For the ignition effect, red glazes have been applied, passing through orange, and finally yellow in the part of the fuse, each time reducing more and more the painted area, as can be seen in the following photo.

Lenses

To paint the lenses of the eyes, I used Game Color Abyssal Turquoise 72120 as the base color. At the bottom of the lenses I have applied Game Color Turquoise 72024, and finally a light of Game Color Sunrise Blue 72118. To give the effect of shiny lenses, I applied a dot of white on the top of each lens.

Base

I have painted the roof lights, using the references that can be seen in the photo.

Before applying the snow, I have used Model Color Deck Tan 70986 on all the areas where the snow will be applied.

To create a realistic snow effect, I used the AMMO Winterizer set.

Finishing touches

Finally, in the mouth area, glazes are applied with Game Color Nocturnal Red and Game Color Deep Magenta, and possible defects are retouched.

This is the final result:

And then with the snowman:

And here are some photos with dark gray background: