Take a break from painting my LOTR minis, see you uploaded a new video, watch someone else paint the same set, go back and realize I've got a long way to go! Your videos are helping, though. I just keep reminding myself I've just started a few months ago.
Hey there! I bet your figures look 100 X better than when they were unpainted! I do aim fairly high when I'm painting hero figures, but it's just to share ideas and show what's possible, and I too have many painters who I also look up to and learn from. We're all on our own painting journeys after all :)
With every new video I grow more and more certain that we've all been deceived and that Sorastro is actually the ultimate Turing test! There's no way a human can be that precise!
Hey Sorastro, I've got my daughter interested in painting miniatures. And of course we are using your videos as a guide. Thank you Sir for your very inspirational videos. Thanks Sorastro & have a wonderful day.
who is the one person to thumbs this down!? Must be a hater... On another note, thanks for this upload, you continue to inspire myself and an entire community!!!!
@@Sorastro Been waiting for your heroes for the entire month now, painted all the monsters according to your awesome guidelines (my first ever attempt at painting minis). I even got down to painting the heroes on my own, but still watching you work is pure delight!
You seem to have an almost instinctive understanding of what colors to add. I'd never think to add orange to green and yet it really made the whole miniature pop from the base coat on. I wonder how you learn to figure out what colors to add for the best mixes.
Thanks Michael! I guess it partly comes with practice and experimentation, but I also spend time looking at paintings, illustrations, and nature to get inspiration :)
As usual, a piece of art again. I must say, the model itself is also of very nice quality. And congrats, the patreon names now take 1 minutes and 13 seconds to display 😁
Hey I want to say that those videos was a great inspiration on how to approach the miniatures. Now I have a small issue and not sure how to solve, so want your oppinion on that. I dont have athonian camoshade in order to tone up those green painted clothes, since I'm using Army's Painter color series, like D&D Monsters Paint Set which includes 3 washes, so my question is should I use Shadow Wash instead of athonian or tis better Athonian? Not sure how the miniature will look using Shadow Wash .....
Thanks George! I'm afraid I've not tried the Army Painter washes so I can't really comment. You'll just have to give it a go and see how you like it I guess :)
Hey can you paint the other heroes?? Idk how to paint and these help me so much. And you haven't painted some of the other heroes yet any chance you can paint them any time soon?
Great skill displayed here. For me, I am not 100% certain about the greenish tinge to the underside of the face, but judging by the comments so far I am in a minority of 1 on that point!
Hi. So glad to see you back. By the way, I ordered some rosemary and co brushes to middle east. £7 delivery and shipped next day. Amazing service. Looking forward to using them.
I did my Legolas today, finally. When arriving at the highlights I really struggled, especially with the skin. ;( I can’t achieve smooth transitions here, I can always see each layer of color. Not sure if my color is too thick or the brush too loaded… I will post it soon on my instagram, maybe you can take a look if I do and tell me what you think.
Sure Sascha! It could just be a case of getting the consistency just right, and remembering to wick some of the paint off the brush so it isn't overloaded.. 🙂
Your work and sensibility is stellar. I really like tonhear your off voice, is very relaxing!! I wonder if you also play the games, and i will love to know your favourites!
Thank you very much! Yes I do play the games (that's the main reason I paint them!). My favourites therefor are simply the games that I cover on the channel :)
Tim McKnight I presume by experimentation. Though a bit of colour theory also works. Yellow for example, can brighten a colour in a warm manner but also desaturate it, so it appears less green. The real knack is to tinker. I am but a beginner of 2 weeks, but crafting a decent green cloak over 5 hours (learning as I went along) I learnt a lot. I have no doubts next time I can halve my time, and again.
Hi Tim! Yes.. I think especially since I've restricted myself to a pretty small number of paints for this series, I'm doing quite a bit of mixing! Choosing colours to mix really depends on what my "target" colour is, then just adding what I think will get me there. I personally rely on a fair bit of intuition, a limited amount of colour "theory" knowledge, and some good old trial and error! :)
@@Sorastro Seeing some of your mixes (both on the LOTR minis and the various SW minis) has definitely emboldened me a bit, and I've tried a bit more mixing myself lately. I've scrapped a few concoctions, but intuition and trial and error have been my guiding forces. It's good to know I was kind of on the right path. I don't know anything about color theory though, so maybe I'll go find something to read or watch related to that. Thanks for responding, and I look forward to the next video!
Hi Sorastro, i noticed that beginning with the heros you stopped applying a white drybrush. Is this simply because you are adding more detailed highlights by hand? Would there be any benefit or harm if i added the drybrush step to these figures while also adding thedetailed highlights at the end? Thanks so much for your super helpful videos for beginners like me!
Hi! Yes - I went with the dry brush for the speed-painted models as I was really relying on getting as much of the values to show through the thinned paint as possible. There would be no harm in dry brushing the heroes too though :)
Hi Sagar! I'm generally thinning to a "layer" consistency - so actually pretty opaque, but not so thick that it creates a raised texture on the model :)
@@Sorastro thanks! I'm going to thin my pots with flow aid and further thin with acrylic medium as necessary. I will aim for somewhere between layer and glaze. More towards a layer. Citadel paints are too thick out of pot.
Thanks for this video, helped me a lot and gave me some tips on how to do some new stuff. I have one question though, and it would really help if you could answer it. I'm a beginning painter and online i read a lot about highlights, and the thing that they mostly said is very thinned, transparent paint needs to be used. However now i saw you, and several others not doing this. Did i misinterpret the thinning down or is it just a different technique? I hope you can help me :)
I. Love. Your. Videos! (And music!) Did you do any highlighting to the legs (green/blue basecoat) or is it just the shade effect? Can’t tell if I missed that step. (Same with the silver bits, too)
@@Sorastro thanks for answering! I couldnt find, sorry. Watched your video about tips but no saying about that base. Cool video tho! And super cool content im general! Thanks
No problem! Here's a link to the complete LOTR playlist (the basing will be in the first episode): ruclips.net/p/PL6xOeNhrVj9ubJb-dNd-S_M4G3jRGrsBJ&si=3FujILFcH9tkD5rb 😀
@@Sorastro oh, Im sorry. I was refering to the thing you hold, that hold the mini. I called "base" but probably it isnt. How do you hold your minis to paint
Oh I see, sorry, lol! You can stick the mini down to a paint pot or something, but what I'm using there is part of the Hobby Holder system, and there's a link in the video description 😀
I just completed my entire LOTR Journeys through your vidoes. You are such an awesome artist! Thank you so much for your guides and videos. Where can I find guide for Bilbo? Also are you going to cover Shadowed Paths in the near future?
Thanks a lot Piyush! You can find a PDF guide for Bilbo here on my website: sorastro.com/2019/08/31/bilbo-pdf-painting-guide/ And yes, I will be resuming the series to cover the Shadowed Paths expansion very soon: twitter.com/Sorastros/status/1295379894738788353?s=20 :)
This video sent me down a rabbit hole of Legolas' hair colour. From what I can tell, it's never actually mentioned conclusively. Interesting but I'd still make him blonde personally.
Another awesome video. Quick question, do you ever slather on some varnish or anything that protects your nicely painted miniatures? Do you even need to or can you get away with not doing that?
@@Sorastro Excellent, thanks for the response, my guy. Will try this out whenever I get around to getting my hands on it. A follow up question though if you would please; Varnishes, either sprayed or brushed on tends to either darken the contrast of your colors on your mini or leave it shiny and glossy. Does Testor's Dullcote have any dramatic changes onto your colors/miniatures?
I like the change you made to the broach. The flowers are a real nice touch! I have to say that I was extremely impressed by what I saw in episodes 1-3. The final look on the Ruffians, Orcs and Goblins is very appealing! Given all the fur texture, the Wargs seem like a daunting subject to paint, but you made it look easy and they turned out great! The Wights presented yet another difficulty and at first I wasn't sold on the glow, but they turned out well. In those episodes, the subtle shading and shadow enhancements you added worked with the real light from the studio making it feel quite real. I suspect the same would be true in a game room. Conversely, the additional shading for light effect on the Hill Troll and Legolas feels like the paint is fighting against the real light that is shining on the model, making it feel very artificial. Maybe a bright room with flat lighting will make it look different? For me, I think I will stick to the techniques you presented in the first 3 episodes. For the arrows in the quiver, the nock end of the shafts looks strange. They need some wood tone to set them off from the feathers. That mold line on the bow, just above the arrow shaft sticks out like a sore thumb. :(
Ah good (it's always worth checking!). Regarding the highlights - there's certainly no "conflict" with the overhead, diffuse studio lights since the highlights I've added are basically zenithal. If you don't like them though, that's cool; in fact if you prefer the look of a mini that's just had some Shade thrown on it over one that's been "manually" highlighted, you'll be saving yourself many hours of painting in the future. 😁
Thanks a lot Chris! Yes - I often won't use a wash for such small areas that are also relatively un-textured. I also wanted full control over the hue and contrast through the build of of the highlights from quite a dark base tone :)
I dont know why, but im not able to dot in the eyes here. With Elena it was not a big deal, but Legolas has a head poition which makes it more difficult for me. it always looks stupid or im not able to produce a nice dot, its more like a line. :-( Any tips? More color on the tip of the brush? where do you place the dots? just in the middle?
Hi Jonathan! Good question; I sometimes prefer not to apply a wash to larger, flatter areas because it can create some rather ugly pooling which looks kind of unnatural, whereas just highlighting up from a darker base tone gives me much more control :)
Thank you! I've not made a final decision for all of them yet, but I'm certainly covering Elena as a PDF, and possibly Beravor. My next video will be for Aragorn. :)
Looks awesome as usual. Just a quick question, which you might have answered earlier. Do you not use Citadel paints anymore, and if not, why is that? I am just curious :)
Thanks Henrik! I enjoy using quite a few different paint ranges, and I do still use Citadel paints. For this series however I wanted to restrict my colours to a single "starter set" to help ease new painters into the hobby, and I feel that the Vallejo "Basic Colors" set is probably the best out there for new hobbyists.. :)
Hello! Please note I haven't yet edited the PDF guide for Elena, but will be doing so a bit later on this month where you'll be able to grab it at: sorastro.com/ :)
Sorastro - is there a chance you will be showing how to paint warbands from WARCRY by GW? I would love to see you tackle these. They are great looking models, it's new and popular and I bet a lot other people would love to see it.
@@Sorastro Thanks for the reply :) I wanted also to tell you that your videos GREATLY helped me start with painting and progress. Really appreciate it! Looking forward to warcry stuff if it happens :)
As someone not heavy in the IP and saw the movies THEN read the books, this dark haired Legolas messes with my senses. I like him with platinum blonde hair. I'll be painting my mini with these colours though vs blonde.
Why? The books never actual mention his hair color but his father had blond hair so it stands to reason Legolas would also have blond hair. Clearly Sorastro painted him like the poor artwork for the game. Frankly, i'd never have guessed it was legolas unless the game specified it if i saw that artwork out of context. I love the paint job, but the hair color just doesn't work for me. It should have been blond.
I moved to my parents during lockdown and left my painting supplies behind. I wish I could take my hindsight and smack my past-self around the head with it.
I know I'm getting old when I follow the video think '' that's great, if I follow along how wrong can it go?''...then pick up the mini and realise I can hardly see it never mind the details on it.
i know what you mean , but the only way to raise your level of painting is to push yourself . and seeing video of what you need to do to do that is a great way to learn . but in the end if you're happy with what you paint , it's all good !
Hi! Actually, virtually most of that last section is highlighting, and you could really spend as long as you like there. I go to town with the hero figures to ensure they look good when photographed up close (and just to show what's possible I guess), but you could use far fewer increments in you highlights, and still get a really nice table-top quality :)
Hello! Here's a link to where you can download a free PDF painting guide for Elena: sorastro.com/2019/08/02/elena-pdf-painting-guide/ Enjoy! :)
Sorastro's Painting You forgot about Elena's pointy ears. She's an elf.
Dear Sir, you are a real artist and magician! I'm a proud patreon of your superb work. Please keep on producing this awesome content!!
Thank you so much Bastian! I'll keep doing my best :)
Ha - I didn't spot those ears hiding in the hair there! (Not that I recall Tolkien describing the elves as having pointy ears...?) :)
I love how you always use color theory....I learn so much every time!
Thanks a lot! I'm really glad to hear that :)
Another Sorastro vid? Life can wait...
Ha ha - thanks friend! :)
Take a break from painting my LOTR minis, see you uploaded a new video, watch someone else paint the same set, go back and realize I've got a long way to go! Your videos are helping, though. I just keep reminding myself I've just started a few months ago.
Hey there! I bet your figures look 100 X better than when they were unpainted! I do aim fairly high when I'm painting hero figures, but it's just to share ideas and show what's possible, and I too have many painters who I also look up to and learn from. We're all on our own painting journeys after all :)
With every new video I grow more and more certain that we've all been deceived and that Sorastro is actually the ultimate Turing test!
There's no way a human can be that precise!
Ha ha! Thanks Francisco 😄
I like the subtle orange tones
Thanks Jeff :D
Hey Sorastro, I've got my daughter interested in painting miniatures. And of course we are using your videos as a guide. Thank you Sir for your very inspirational videos.
Thanks Sorastro & have a wonderful day.
Thank you so much Matt! What a wonderful dad (and lucky daughter!) :)
OMG!!! So exciting....and congrats on the Marathon run!!! much respect good sir...
Thanks a lot Timothy! The run went really well :)
This Series has inspired me to begin model painting, thank you so much!
Thanks a lot Tom! I'm really happy to hear that :)
excellent once again! don't understand how anyone can give this video a thumbs down? You are an artist!
Thanks so much Brian! Maybe it's just some angry Dwarves? :D
@@Sorastro that must be the case ;)
You videos set the standard. Thanks again.
Thank you so much Billy! :)
From now on I'll only buy games that you have tutorials for. This really, really helps for newbies like me lol
Thanks man! I'm really happy to hear that 😁
You're a wizard, Sorastro.
Thank you! That would be cool.. 😁
This is great! the mixing of orange and green to get a more olive green helped me understand color theory better.
Thanks a lot! I'm glad you liked that colour mix :)
i love how you prime! such an awesome trick! can't wait to print our set. thanks for another great video!
You're very welcome! :)
Your videos are a work of art. Thank You
That's very kind - thank you Juan! :)
As always very interesting video. Each of your videos is a moment where people must not disturbing me . i m here for nobody during 30min^^
Ha ha - thank you friend :)
This is my favorite asmr
Love the video. I enjoy watching you paint fantasy minis. Any future legion guides? Thanks for the priority supplies pdf.
Thank you mate! Yes - I'm actually painting the X-34 Landspeeder this week, and will soon be covering quite a lot of the Clone Wars stuff too... :)
Oh man! Can’t wait to see you take on grevious!
Oh yeh - me too! :)
God- such raw talent...you wanna make me buy the game and try to paint like you do 🤩 Stunning job on every single of your vids!
Thank you so much Skraal! I really appreciate that :)
Sure mate, you are a boss !
I have a lot of healthy envy as you paint miniatures 😉😊
Ha ha - OK, as long as it's healthy! :)
Thanks. Hope you having good time with your daughter. Have a nice day.
Thanks a lot Etienne! We've almost finished the main campaign, and I'm now keen to try it again with some different characters.. :)
Always pleasing to watch your video!
who is the one person to thumbs this down!? Must be a hater...
On another note, thanks for this upload, you continue to inspire myself and an entire community!!!!
That's so kind - thank you Antonio! 😀
Hell, it's about time!
Hey! A wizard is never late... ;)
@@Sorastro Been waiting for your heroes for the entire month now, painted all the monsters according to your awesome guidelines (my first ever attempt at painting minis). I even got down to painting the heroes on my own, but still watching you work is pure delight!
You seem to have an almost instinctive understanding of what colors to add. I'd never think to add orange to green and yet it really made the whole miniature pop from the base coat on. I wonder how you learn to figure out what colors to add for the best mixes.
Thanks Michael! I guess it partly comes with practice and experimentation, but I also spend time looking at paintings, illustrations, and nature to get inspiration :)
As usual, a piece of art again. I must say, the model itself is also of very nice quality.
And congrats, the patreon names now take 1 minutes and 13 seconds to display 😁
Ha ha - thanks a lot mate! :)
Really cool.
Thank you mate! :)
sits down to a sorastro video. Well this is a pretty plain mini lets see...omg wtf omaze.
Lol - thanks a lot buddy :)
So clean hands! When did the "paint on hands to check paint amount in brush" stop? And what do you use now?
Ha ha! I do still use my hand actually. I think I just shot this episode in several small sessions, so the paint didn't have a chance to build up. 😀
Brutal! Are you think to paint the miniatures of Nemesis the board game?
Thanks! Nemesis looks great but I don't currently have plans to paint it. Sorry! 😀
@@Sorastro 😫
Any chance you'll do models from the SBG? Love your work!
Hey Sorastro, will you be painting a miniature of the nemesis board game?
Hi there! No, I'm afraid my schedule is already too full as it is - sorry! :)
Amazing
Thank you Rod! :)
Good job dude 😉👍
Thank you mate! 😀
10 minutes painting and 20 minutes finishing touches! :)
Ha ha - well, it's mostly 20 minutes of highlighting.. :)
Excellent video! Is the song used in the Outro (and at 16:30ish) on Spotify?
Thanks a lot! Those tracks aren't yet on Spotify, but I've pencilled them in to launch on an album next year.. :)
Hey I want to say that those videos was a great inspiration on how to approach the miniatures. Now I have a small issue and not sure how to solve, so want your oppinion on that. I dont have athonian camoshade in order to tone up those green painted clothes, since I'm using Army's Painter color series, like D&D Monsters Paint Set which includes 3 washes, so my question is should I use Shadow Wash instead of athonian or tis better Athonian? Not sure how the miniature will look using Shadow Wash .....
Thanks George! I'm afraid I've not tried the Army Painter washes so I can't really comment. You'll just have to give it a go and see how you like it I guess :)
Hey can you paint the other heroes?? Idk how to paint and these help me so much. And you haven't painted some of the other heroes yet any chance you can paint them any time soon?
Hey Zachary! You'll find PDF guides for all of the remaining heroes (up to the Spreading War expansion) here: sorastro.com/ 😀
Love this paint job as always, are you planning on doing any of the miniatures in the new star wars legion clone wars set that releases in October?
Thanks James! Oh yes, I'm planning to cover the entire Clone Wars Core Set 😀
You got more videos coming? I have a game Hero Quest from the 80s. Got any ideas Sorastro? Thanks
Hi! Yes I'm working hard on some more videos! I don't actually have Hero Quest I'm afraid 😀
@@Sorastro I love your videos. I painted the Star War Rebel Assault miniatures. You explain the steps so well. Love it. Thanks again
Thanks so much 😀
Great skill displayed here. For me, I am not 100% certain about the greenish tinge to the underside of the face, but judging by the comments so far I am in a minority of 1 on that point!
Ha ha - thanks Jeff! I'm sure you won't be the only one however 😀
Hi. So glad to see you back. By the way, I ordered some rosemary and co brushes to middle east. £7 delivery and shipped next day. Amazing service. Looking forward to using them.
Hi Neil! Oh good; yes I've always found R&Co provide great service. I hope you enjoy your brushes when they arrive! 😀
I did my Legolas today, finally. When arriving at the highlights I really struggled, especially with the skin. ;( I can’t achieve smooth transitions here, I can always see each layer of color. Not sure if my color is too thick or the brush too loaded… I will post it soon on my instagram, maybe you can take a look if I do and tell me what you think.
Sure Sascha! It could just be a case of getting the consistency just right, and remembering to wick some of the paint off the brush so it isn't overloaded.. 🙂
Your work and sensibility is stellar. I really like tonhear your off voice, is very relaxing!!
I wonder if you also play the games, and i will love to know your favourites!
Thank you very much! Yes I do play the games (that's the main reason I paint them!). My favourites therefor are simply the games that I cover on the channel :)
You mix colors together that I'd never expect. How do you determine what you want to mix into a color?
Tim McKnight I presume by experimentation. Though a bit of colour theory also works. Yellow for example, can brighten a colour in a warm manner but also desaturate it, so it appears less green.
The real knack is to tinker. I am but a beginner of 2 weeks, but crafting a decent green cloak over 5 hours (learning as I went along) I learnt a lot. I have no doubts next time I can halve my time, and again.
Hi Tim! Yes.. I think especially since I've restricted myself to a pretty small number of paints for this series, I'm doing quite a bit of mixing! Choosing colours to mix really depends on what my "target" colour is, then just adding what I think will get me there. I personally rely on a fair bit of intuition, a limited amount of colour "theory" knowledge, and some good old trial and error! :)
@@Sorastro Seeing some of your mixes (both on the LOTR minis and the various SW minis) has definitely emboldened me a bit, and I've tried a bit more mixing myself lately. I've scrapped a few concoctions, but intuition and trial and error have been my guiding forces. It's good to know I was kind of on the right path. I don't know anything about color theory though, so maybe I'll go find something to read or watch related to that. Thanks for responding, and I look forward to the next video!
Hi Sorastro, i noticed that beginning with the heros you stopped applying a white drybrush. Is this simply because you are adding more detailed highlights by hand? Would there be any benefit or harm if i added the drybrush step to these figures while also adding thedetailed highlights at the end? Thanks so much for your super helpful videos for beginners like me!
Hi! Yes - I went with the dry brush for the speed-painted models as I was really relying on getting as much of the values to show through the thinned paint as possible. There would be no harm in dry brushing the heroes too though :)
Refractive Green would be more like Castelan green or Death World Forest?
Hi! How much do you thin your base layers and cloak layers before applying?
Hi Sagar! I'm generally thinning to a "layer" consistency - so actually pretty opaque, but not so thick that it creates a raised texture on the model :)
@@Sorastro thanks! I'm going to thin my pots with flow aid and further thin with acrylic medium as necessary. I will aim for somewhere between layer and glaze. More towards a layer. Citadel paints are too thick out of pot.
Thanks for this video, helped me a lot and gave me some tips on how to do some new stuff.
I have one question though, and it would really help if you could answer it. I'm a beginning painter and online i read a lot about highlights, and the thing that they mostly said is very thinned, transparent paint needs to be used. However now i saw you, and several others not doing this. Did i misinterpret the thinning down or is it just a different technique?
I hope you can help me :)
I. Love. Your. Videos! (And music!) Did you do any highlighting to the legs (green/blue basecoat) or is it just the shade effect? Can’t tell if I missed that step. (Same with the silver bits, too)
Thanks a lot! Hmm it was some time ago when I made this so I can't honestly remember - sorry! 😄
I want to pain his hair blonde. Help me! How should I do this? (I'm a beginner painter)
Hey Paulo! Check out my Thor video for a nice simple blonde "recipe" 🙂
Thanks! I'll do it
Im curious about this base you use. looks DIY, I like it! do you have tutorial on this as well? please link it :)
Thanks Leo! I'm pretty sure I cover the basing in the first episode of the series; let me know if you struggle to find it, and I'll get you a link 😀
@@Sorastro thanks for answering! I couldnt find, sorry. Watched your video about tips but no saying about that base. Cool video tho!
And super cool content im general! Thanks
No problem! Here's a link to the complete LOTR playlist (the basing will be in the first episode): ruclips.net/p/PL6xOeNhrVj9ubJb-dNd-S_M4G3jRGrsBJ&si=3FujILFcH9tkD5rb 😀
@@Sorastro oh, Im sorry. I was refering to the thing you hold, that hold the mini. I called "base" but probably it isnt. How do you hold your minis to paint
Oh I see, sorry, lol! You can stick the mini down to a paint pot or something, but what I'm using there is part of the Hobby Holder system, and there's a link in the video description 😀
I just completed my entire LOTR Journeys through your vidoes. You are such an awesome artist! Thank you so much for your guides and videos. Where can I find guide for Bilbo? Also are you going to cover Shadowed Paths in the near future?
Thanks a lot Piyush! You can find a PDF guide for Bilbo here on my website: sorastro.com/2019/08/31/bilbo-pdf-painting-guide/ And yes, I will be resuming the series to cover the Shadowed Paths expansion very soon: twitter.com/Sorastros/status/1295379894738788353?s=20 :)
This video sent me down a rabbit hole of Legolas' hair colour. From what I can tell, it's never actually mentioned conclusively. Interesting but I'd still make him blonde personally.
same I mean his dad is blond...
In the games‘ artwork it’s black. So this colorscheme fits better to the game!
Do you spray a clear matte or gloss coat over the figures to preserve the paint at all? What are your thoughts on clear coat?
Hi! Yes I usually protect the minis with Testor's Dullcote :)
Hello master when are the other heroes being added ?
Hi! Aragorn will be arriving a bit later this month, followed by Gimli and the last two probably as PDFs 😀
@@Sorastro thanks for the quick response take care
No problem 😀
what brushes do you use? tips are so sharp and neat!
Hi! Please see video description for info like that - thanks! 😀
Another awesome video.
Quick question, do you ever slather on some varnish or anything that protects your nicely painted miniatures? Do you even need to or can you get away with not doing that?
Hi! I usually spray them with Testor's Dullcote for protection 😀
@@Sorastro Excellent, thanks for the response, my guy.
Will try this out whenever I get around to getting my hands on it.
A follow up question though if you would please; Varnishes, either sprayed or brushed on tends to either darken the contrast of your colors on your mini or leave it shiny and glossy. Does Testor's Dullcote have any dramatic changes onto your colors/miniatures?
I like the change you made to the broach.
The flowers are a real nice touch!
I have to say that I was extremely impressed by what I saw in episodes 1-3. The final look on the Ruffians, Orcs and Goblins is very appealing! Given all the fur texture, the Wargs seem like a daunting subject to paint, but you made it look easy and they turned out great! The Wights presented yet another difficulty and at first I wasn't sold on the glow, but they turned out well.
In those episodes, the subtle shading and shadow enhancements you added worked with the real light from the studio making it feel quite real. I suspect the same would be true in a game room.
Conversely, the additional shading for light effect on the Hill Troll and Legolas feels like the paint is fighting against the real light that is shining on the model, making it feel very artificial. Maybe a bright room with flat lighting will make it look different?
For me, I think I will stick to the techniques you presented in the first 3 episodes.
For the arrows in the quiver, the nock end of the shafts looks strange. They need some wood tone to set them off from the feathers.
That mold line on the bow, just above the arrow shaft sticks out like a sore thumb. :(
Hi Tom! Thanks for the comment. I'm curious; what device are you watching the videos on?
@@Sorastro
I have a MacBook Pro with a 23" second monitor. I am a landscape photographer (hobby) so both are calibrated.
Ah good (it's always worth checking!). Regarding the highlights - there's certainly no "conflict" with the overhead, diffuse studio lights since the highlights I've added are basically zenithal. If you don't like them though, that's cool; in fact if you prefer the look of a mini that's just had some Shade thrown on it over one that's been "manually" highlighted, you'll be saving yourself many hours of painting in the future. 😁
Yes! I was waiting for this!
As always wonderful job. My way to thank you it's place link to this channel in sub box
Thank you sir! :)
Inspiring video, as usual. Quick question - is there a reason you didn't use a shade/wash on the skin tones - just base + highlights?
Thanks a lot Chris! Yes - I often won't use a wash for such small areas that are also relatively un-textured. I also wanted full control over the hue and contrast through the build of of the highlights from quite a dark base tone :)
I dont know why, but im not able to dot in the eyes here. With Elena it was not a big deal, but Legolas has a head poition which makes it more difficult for me. it always looks stupid or im not able to produce a nice dot, its more like a line. :-( Any tips? More color on the tip of the brush? where do you place the dots? just in the middle?
Who made the Character art that inspired you? I attempted listen and CC at 38sec but can't make it out/
Here you go: www.magali-villeneuve.com/ :)
I'm curious as to why you didn't shade the cloak on this occasion?
Hi Jonathan! Good question; I sometimes prefer not to apply a wash to larger, flatter areas because it can create some rather ugly pooling which looks kind of unnatural, whereas just highlighting up from a darker base tone gives me much more control :)
@@Sorastro Nice one - thanks for the reply and keep up the excellent work. You've helped me get back into painting and to really enjoy it
@@TheLeedsKnight Oh great! Thanks - I'm happy to hear that 😀
Bought the game because of your videos! 😀 have you decided which heroes will have videos and which will be PDF only?
Thank you! I've not made a final decision for all of them yet, but I'm certainly covering Elena as a PDF, and possibly Beravor. My next video will be for Aragorn. :)
Looks awesome as usual. Just a quick question, which you might have answered earlier. Do you not use Citadel paints anymore, and if not, why is that? I am just curious :)
Thanks Henrik! I enjoy using quite a few different paint ranges, and I do still use Citadel paints. For this series however I wanted to restrict my colours to a single "starter set" to help ease new painters into the hobby, and I feel that the Vallejo "Basic Colors" set is probably the best out there for new hobbyists.. :)
@@Sorastro Ah that makes sense :)
Do you continue KDM ? :) I love your Work
Thank you so much! Yes - I'm building up to painting the King's Man soon.. 😀
Hello! Please note I haven't yet edited the PDF guide for Elena, but will be doing so a bit later on this month where you'll be able to grab it at: sorastro.com/ :)
Sorastro - is there a chance you will be showing how to paint warbands from WARCRY by GW? I would love to see you tackle these. They are great looking models, it's new and popular and I bet a lot other people would love to see it.
@@MazariPL Hi Killyox! I do rather like the look of Warcry actually, but I'd better clear some of my backlog before taking anything new on! 😀
@@Sorastro Thanks for the reply :) I wanted also to tell you that your videos GREATLY helped me start with painting and progress. Really appreciate it!
Looking forward to warcry stuff if it happens :)
@@MazariPL Thank you mate! Much appreciated 😀
Sorastro's Painting Are you going to do the other heroes? I would love to see them all.
Great work ! 👌🏻
Sorastro, Bringing Sexy BLACK! (Killer music too Maestro!)
Lol - thanks buddy :)
Do you use a protective coat when complete?
Hi Matt! Yep - I use Testor's Dullcote 😀
Lol why is Legolas holding his arrow wrong :P
Beautiful work, as usual. Still waiting on that 'how to paint a dark elf' video tho ;)
Ha ha - I hadn't noticed that, but now I can't un-notice it! :D
It's not wrong though. It's how arrows have been handled in centuries past in many places (for a good reason too) :)
@@MazariPL Interesting! 😀
At last, a non-blonde Legolas! Take that, Peter Jackson!
Ha ha - indeed! 😀
Not only peter jackson . the animated movie from ralp bakshi the legolas is blond too.
@@guillaumebellanger9716 This is true 😀
As someone not heavy in the IP and saw the movies THEN read the books, this dark haired Legolas messes with my senses. I like him with platinum blonde hair. I'll be painting my mini with these colours though vs blonde.
Why? The books never actual mention his hair color but his father had blond hair so it stands to reason Legolas would also have blond hair. Clearly Sorastro painted him like the poor artwork for the game. Frankly, i'd never have guessed it was legolas unless the game specified it if i saw that artwork out of context.
I love the paint job, but the hair color just doesn't work for me. It should have been blond.
I moved to my parents during lockdown and left my painting supplies behind. I wish I could take my hindsight and smack my past-self around the head with it.
Doh! :)
I was waiting for your video))
Everything is always on top!
Are there plans for warhammer or warhammer 40,000?
Thank you! I don't currently have plans to cover Warhammer or 40K (which lots of people cover anyway), but I never say "never"... :)
I know I'm getting old when I follow the video think '' that's great, if I follow along how wrong can it go?''...then pick up the mini and realise I can hardly see it never mind the details on it.
Only a pdf for poor Faramir, always drawing the short straw.
Hi! There isn’t actually a Faramir in the game yet. 😀
I know it's way past my level of skill when finishing touches make up 2/3 of the video...
i know what you mean , but the only way to raise your level of painting is to push yourself . and seeing video of what you need to do to do that is a great way to learn .
but in the end if you're happy with what you paint , it's all good !
Hi! Actually, virtually most of that last section is highlighting, and you could really spend as long as you like there. I go to town with the hero figures to ensure they look good when photographed up close (and just to show what's possible I guess), but you could use far fewer increments in you highlights, and still get a really nice table-top quality :)
Legolas is blond. 😔😔😔
Hi Thomas! They made him blonde in the movies but Tolkien never describes him as being blonde. 🙂
You probably think that Sauron is a giant flaming eye floating on top of Barad-Dûr too I imagine, but I forgive you. 😄