Sunday 26 July 2009

Paint a Polka Dot Hoss

Let's get it up and paint one of these fluffy polka dot hosses I so cherish. I'll show you how to paint the riderless one in the two pictures below. Miniatures are Artizan-Berbers, 25mm. I used this technique in 15mm too, click the "Parthian" Label to have a look.I use a pointy size 3 brush ("rotmarder"-hair). Click on the pictures for a bigger image.
Step 1: Over the sprayed-on white primer paint the fury parts with a very dark Red-Brown (mix Chaos Black with a swaller of Blood Red. Keep the paint not too watery, it should let the white shine through a bit so one still can perceive the redish-grenadine hue.
Step 2: Apply the first VERY watery layer of egg-white over all fury parts (Bleached Bone + Skull White) and let it dry. If too much paint gatheres in crevaces, suck it up with a dry brush.
Step 3: Apply a second VERY watery layer just like highlighting. But don't wash over the whole horse, that was step 2. Keep in mind: The back, behind, and neck should end up very light while the lower parts of the legs stay dark. The horse to the right has 2 layers, the one to the left has 1 layer.
Step 4: A third watery layer (Horse to the left). Remain confident, even if the horse starts too look REALLY bad! The last layer of dots will help blend the sometimes revolting contrast you create at this step.
Step 5: A last, fourth layer of egg-white. Remember: alsways let the former layer dry before you start a new one. Really let the back, neck and behind shine with this last layer.
Step 6: Apply egg-white polka dots, densley over back, behind and back of neck. The paint should be less watery, so the dots stand out a bit. If contrast is too mush, add more water.
Step 7: paint the hooves, saddle, reigns, hair... finished!

6 comments:

Neldoreth said...

Very nice article here man. I read it an I can relate to so much of it, especially the part where it looks worse before it looks better! Great stuff!

n.

Maerk said...

I like the background of the "7 +FIN" pictures.

Kingo said...

Perfik!

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Great looking horses and thank you for the tip!

Anonymous said...

Summa Cum Laude... Bravo !!!

best crossbow said...


wow, awesome article post.Thanks Again. Really Great.




This blog is dedicated to ancient and medieval miniature wargaming. I'd like to share pictures of my painted armies and models, self made terrain-pieces and sketches of projects still residing in my head or on a piece of paper.
My main interest at the moment is creating armies and accessories, researching for historical or made-up scenarios and campaigns for the fast-play wargaming rules from "De bellis Antiquitatis" (DBA) with 25mm and 15mm figurines.
I use the blog-format rather unconventionaly. It is more like a scrapbook. And I update the older posts so keep checking. I recommend utilizing the labels to the left. So if your just interested in miniatures click the "Miniatures"-label and you will be presented with posts concerning painting, figurines etc. And don't forget to click on "older posts" at the bottom of the page for more. And many thanks for commenting!
Photographs showing painted toy soldiers, terrain pieces, scratch-built things and drawings © Menic Rüttimann 2.Nov.2006. Please notify me if you wish to use these.

Let your fancy flow...
Menic